The American Legion Post 25 is preparing for this year’s American Legion Buckeye Boys State program and is open for assistance with sponsoring students.
The program is scheduled for June 14 through June 21. The program allows each participant to become a part of the operation of local, county or state governments.
According to chairperson of Buckeye Boys State, Paul Sands, co-chair of Buckeye Boys State, Glenn Rankin, and chaplain of The American Legion Post 25, David Frederick, they are hoping to send at least 20 local boys to the program this year. Last year they were able to send 16 boys. In order to attend the program, $300 is needed per individual.
“Once the boys get there they are already set up and they form cities,” explained Sands. “Now all the boys from here don’t stay together. They get put in different cities and they do that with all the boys so they can meet other young men. Then they have to set up a city government but they can run for governor, for representatives, for senators.”
“It’s civics live,” explained Frederick. “It teaches people what it’s like to be a mayor of a town. You don’t realize how many people it takes to run this town. You have a sewage department, a police department, lawyers and whatever else. State. That’s what these kids learn—you have to have councilmen, you have to have judges.”
The gentlemen explained that both full and partial sponsorships are helpful as partial sponsorships can be combined to create full ones. Those sponsorships can come from businesses, organizations, individuals, etc.
“A lot of people that have gone before want their sons to go,” said Frederick. “This program has been around for a long time.”
According to Rankin and Sands, the Buckeye Boys program has been around for approximately 37 years and Ohio’s program is ranked the highest with approximately 1,700 boys attending the program, which will be held at Miami University in Oxford.
“Two years ago, the governor of Buckeye Boys State (Blaise Tayese) came from Washington Court House,” said Sands.
Last year, according to Sands, one of the local boys, Grant Debruin, won a $20,000 Samsung Scholarship which only goes to four students nationally. There are different scholarship opportunities available through the program which can be found on www.legion.org/scholarships.
To sponsor a boy for the Buckeye Boys program, please contact Sands at 740-323-6416 or Rankin at 740-505-9335. Donations can be made anonymously if desired. Donations must be in by Feb. 28 so reservations can be made.
Reach Jennifer Woods at 740-313-0355 or on Twitter @JennMWoods.
