By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
Badger Boys State and Badger Girls State offer a weeklong opportunity for high school juniors across the state and nation to attend a government and leadership conference at which they form a fictional 51st state called Badger and run that state for a week. Delavan-Darien High School sent several students to participate this summer.
Badger Boys State was held at Ripon College from June 8-15. Badger Girls State was held from June 16-21 at UW-Oshkosh. Both are sponsored by the American Legion and a select few participants get selected to attend a national version of the event.
Most schools nominate two or three students to attend the state conference. The boys conference had additional openings available for alternates, so the following DDHS boys attended the event in Ripon – Ivan Aranda, Ben Butke, Jarod Comas, Oliver Hetzel, Ryan Hoey, Andrew O’Niel, Jacob Prado and Burke Struck. Payton Gordon attended Badger Girls State.
The conference includes elections to local and state offices, including governor, opportunities to participate in band or chorus, a color guard, a student newspaper, sports competitions, discussion sessions, and more.
Read more including comments from some of the Delavan-Darien students that attended, in the July 4 Delavan Enterprise.
