OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Mississippi will host the American Legion’s Boys State beginning Sunday (May 29), allowing young men from across Mississippi to perform the duties of state and local governments during a weeklong event designed “to develop tomorrow’s informed, responsible citizens.”
UM was chosen to host Boys State this year and will host it again in 2017 and 2018. As many as 400 delegates will stay on campus and be able to take advantage of the many resources of the university’s departments and programs.
Chancellor Jeffrey S. Vitter said the partnership between Ole Miss and Boys State is a natural one.
“Both Boys State and the University of Mississippi have a long history of nurturing young leaders and helping them develop their potential, so it’s only natural that we try to combine our efforts,” Vitter said. “We welcome all the Boys State participants to our campus and look forward to watching them mature and begin to serve our state and nation in the years to come. We expect great things from all of them.”
U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, U.S. Reps. Gregg Harper and Trent Kelly, Gov. Phil Bryant, Attorney Gen. Jim Hood, Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith, as well as State Rep. Jay Hughes, D-Oxford, and State Rep. Shane Aguirre, R-Tupelo, and several other officials are among those who will address the delegates.
The young men will learn how city, county and state governments function through simulating those jobs. They also hold debates and give speeches ahead of the Boys State elections. The election results will be announced live at 7 p.m. Wednesday (June 1) in Nutt Auditorium.
The delegates will also participate in a Memorial Day service at 11 a.m. Monday at the flagpole in the Lyceum Circle. The general public and local officials are invited to attend.
Brandi Hephner LaBanc, vice chancellor for student affairs, and her team lead efforts to bring Boys State to Ole Miss. She said the university is the perfect setting for it.
“We are thrilled about hosting Boys State and see it as another opportunity to serve Mississippians,” Hephner LaBanc said. “We believe our campus will be a perfect setting for them to meaningfully engage, learn and become empowered leaders.”
The Illinois American Legion created the program in 1934 and Mississippi’s began in 1938. The program was officially adopted by the national organization in 1945. The goal of the program is to show that democracy needs both an intelligent citizenry and also a moral, honest and impartial administration that is responsive to the will of the people.
The nonpartisan program is open to young men who are high school juniors and it is conducted each year across the country through each state’s Department of the American Legion. It’s estimated that more than 28,000 young men annually participate in the civic workshops.
The gathering is designed to be a virtual 51st state with a constitution, statutes and ordinances constructed by its citizens to govern themselves. Mississippi’s Boys State is known as the mythical state of Magnolia. Participants are required to review their knowledge about political workings of state and local government, but they also perform the same duties as actual officeholders in the real world.
“Boys State has a tradition and proven track record in educating young people about the vital role of state and national government,” said William Gottshall, executive director of the UM Trent Lott Leadership Institute. “Boys State is a welcomed addition to Ole Miss’ leadership programming.”