Boys State 2023

Hailey Heseltine
ECB Publishing, Inc.

Across the nation, hundreds of boys gather in universities during the summer. They are all juniors in high school, and they must be exemplary students, both in academics and their interactions with others. At the universities, they create an imaginary government with invented parties, where they vote, engage in debates, give speeches, preform duties of office holders and practice handling disasters—thus, they learn how the government functions through firsthand experience. At the end of the week, they return home, and life seemingly goes back to normal. However, many alumni of the program report that long after the program's end, its effect on their lives still manifests itself. For some, the course of their lives has been changed forever in just that one week.
This is Boys State, an elite leadership program sponsored by the American Legion. It was founded in 1935, and it is intended to help youth learn about citizenship, government structure and law. The participants get to see and understand firsthand how local, county and state governments operate as they are elected by peers for certain positions and act out those positions for their “state.” This year, a local student of Aucilla Christian Academy, Gannett Fulford, was selected as a delegate for the 2023 Florida Boys State program by the American Legion.
Fulford has lived in Jefferson County for his whole life. He was raised on his family's farm, Fulford 6 Farming Company, which primarily grows corn, peanuts and cotton. He has enjoyed his rural upbringing, and he believes that it has helped him cultivate skills that will help him succeed in other areas of his life.
“It's taught me a lot of things I wouldn't know otherwise,” he says.
At Aucilla Christian Academy, where he is now entering his senior year, he holds the position of ambassador. Ambassadors are exemplary students nominated by teachers to “represent the school and Christ,” according to Fulford. They are responsible for lending a hand to students and teachers in need, and they are meant to be role models and guides for their peers.
“It means we're here to help people and to be a leader,” he explains.
Throughout his academic career, he had heard about the Boys State Program from former delegates and teachers. Though Fulford did not consider it for himself at first, hearing motivating words and good experiences piqued his interest. A counselor helped him apply, and he was called for an interview. Later, he was delighted to learn he had been selected as a delegate of the 2023 Boys State program at Florida State University (FSU), held June 18 through 24.
“I knew it would be a new experience, but none of what I had heard could've prepared me for it,” he says.
During the program, Fulford met hundreds of other like-minded boys with whom he would spend the upcoming week learning, discussing, debating and cooperating with. He says that everyone there was very friendly, and though there may have been a spirit of competition among some, he did not feel it.
At the start of the week, the boys would head to the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center for the various activities that lay ahead for them. Classes on government, law and citizenship were held to enhance the delegates' knowledge of political infrastructure and to help them understand how their role as an American citizen fit into it all. They were randomly separated into two fictitious political parties, and as the week progressed, they began to meet in the capitol and preform the actions real office holders would on city, county and state levels.
Fulford was elected by his peers to hold several positions, such as city councilman, county commission and senate. However, upon winning senate, Fulford was promptly also offered a position as supreme court justice the following day. Since it was a higher position, he accepted it and did the activities of a justice instead. As part of his job as a justice, he did mock cases and learned how the supreme court makes decisions. He said that it was very different from being a regular judge, because the decisions you make are not to be based on your own judgement, but rather, the constitution.
Some of his favorite Boys State moments came from the mock debates, during which he got to see his peers in a whole new light.
“Hearing them debate one another was fascinating...they were all very well rounded, very smart. It was interesting hearing all the different ideas, but it was also funny. Some of them were standing up there being all serious, and others just acted like regular teenage guys. It was just a really fun experience,” he says.
The Boys State experience impacted Fulford's life in several ways. He says that learning more about the government gave him “an idea of what it truly means to be an American citizen.”
“It taught me the complexity of what that means [to be an American citizen], and it taught me to value elected authority and to value the others around me,” he explains.
He also appreciates the connections he was able to form with his peers throughout the program, and he says he looks forward to seeing them again.
“I got to meet a lot of great people from all across the state...all the guys were really bright, really friendly. I still talk with some of them,” he says.
Fulford believes the program taught him many valuable lessons, such as how to succeed, how to lead and how to form connections with others. He now wants to use those skills in every aspect of his life. He even has begun considering a path that he never would have pursued before Boys State—local politics.
“Getting to know the people around me and using my skills to help build a better world for those people...it really appeals to me now,” he says.
Fulford says he is “incredibly grateful” to the American Legion Post 49 for sponsoring his Boys State journey, which he recently expressed in a speech at the post on Aug. 8th.
“It changed my life, and it was definitely the highlight of my summer,” he says.