Out of all of the fish in the sea, very few were selected to be casted into the American Legion Auxiliary Girls State and American Legion Boys State. Even though these camps have a few differences, these students were picked based on the same qualities and characteristics. They demonstrate leadership, success, and citizenship.

For the girls, 14 juniors were chosen to be a part of the American Legion Auxiliary Girls State within the Wentzville School District. Four out of these 14 are from Holt. These girls are:

Sarah Broughton, Kimberly Coulon, Paige Pieper, and Hailey Szuba.

“I’m really looking forward to making connections with other senior girls with similar interests as me. I think it’s going to be a really amazing experience that I will remember for the rest of my life,” said Paige Pieper (’19).

Founded in 1940, this camp takes place every year that brings together women who have a sense of leadership. It works to improve that leadership and patriotism.

The girls will work together for a week to create a running government. This will be held at the University of Central Missouri from June 24-30.

On the boys side, 23 juniors were chosen to be a part of American Legion Boys State from the Wentzville School District. Out of the 23, there were 12 that were from Holt. These 12 individuals are the following:

Logan Arellanes, Kane Calvillo, Christian Gard, Caleb Hunn, Palmer Soberg, Justin Waller, Clayton Waple, Joey Williams,Dylan Hicks, Bryce McQuerrey, Jack Poulsen, and Hunter Richardson.

During this camp, the boys will be gone for eight days and get an experience in the fundamentals of government. This camp helps to bring together the best juniors to help them learn tools to use later in life.

This is the 79th year of Boys State. So far, over 40,000 boys have been able to take a part in this experience. This will be held at the University of Central Missouri from June 16-23.