I have had many family members who have served in the military, said Eli Johnson, a junior at Barnum High School and the male chosen to go to Minnesota Boys State 2023 by Barnum’s Peterson/Westerberg American Legion. Johnson elaborates that his grandfather was a Corporal E4 in the Marines and another one was in the Navy.
Johnson plans to go on to study something in the science field, possibly physics.
Berri Stecyk, was chosen by the Moose Lake American Legion Auxiliary Unit #379 for the Minnesota Girls State 2023. She is a junior at Moose Lake High School and on the honor roll. A few of her favorite subjects are creative writing, drama, art, Spanish, weight training as well as history and WWI. She is a summer camp leader and interested in learning about how the government works and hopes to improve it some day.
“The purpose of Minnesota Girls State is to provide Americanism and good citizenship training by participating in city, county and state elections in a two party system,” said Karen Johnson, auxiliary member. “Minnesota Girls State Program strives to empower young women with leadership skills, foster fellowship and creative expression.”
The Barnum and Moose Lake American Legions both offer to send one male and one female junior student from the local school to the Twin Cities for one week all expenses paid in June to learn how the government works. The students role play and are assigned a specific person to play, like a senator or whoever. They learn how to cooperate, make bills and more.
The students speak during the Veterans Day celebration and tell them what they learned and what the experience means to them. Sometimes they put together a presentation to show the veterans what they did as they talk with enthusiasm about the unique experience.
While the students do not need to have military in their family, they do need to apply in February for the opportunity. This year, Johnson is the only one attending for the Barnum legion as no females applied.
Sending students to state is only one of the many things the local American Legions do for the community.
They fundraise for a variety of causes including student scholarships, charter area Boy Scout program in Moose Lake and participate in the combined honor guard, as well as hold Memorial Day Services each year.
Their biggest mission is to take care of fellow veterans as well as make sure that veterans are remembered year round, not only on Memorial Day.
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