By Yegor Zenkov

Last summer, Hanley Carter and I were nominated to go to Boys State. After dropping our bags off at the NAU dorms, we were each assigned to a city and a political party. Twenty people were grouped into each city, and three cites would make up a county.

The next few days passed in a blur of assemblies and city meetings until the political platforms were set up and elections were set to begin. Boys State elections run from local to state, meaning that the fire marshal, police chief and mayor for each city were chosen on the first day, county positions would open up during the next few days, and so on. Elections were happening constantly, allowing anyone to jump in and run for a position. This proved extremely valuable because it gave me a feel for what works and what doesn’t.

I was set on becoming a Supreme Court Justice. When I lost two elections in a row, I had to rethink my entire campaign strategy. I went on to get the most votes for Supreme Court Justice, but I know I couldn’t have gotten any support without learning from my initial losses.

As illuminating as the campaign was, the most enjoyable part of the whole experience was actually serving in the positions that we had worked so hard to earn. You didn’t have to be elected to high office to have a full experience at Boys State. The program taught me that every place in government is created equal, with every position as impactful as the next.

Thankfully, in between all of the governing, prosecuting, and campaigning, we were given just enough time to get to know our city and our counselors, who were absolutely spectacular. Boys State turned out to be an eye-opening experience, and I hope that more of our students will choose to experience what we did.