“Are you ready for the week that will change your life?” the old man screamed at the top of his lungs to be able to talk over the mass of young men standing in front of him. Being polite they yelled yes even though only a few heard what he said. He continued with welcoming us to the 75th year of the American Legions Boys State of Kansas. Boys State of Kansas was the most profound intellectual experience ever created.

During my time at boy’s state, teenagers got to learn about government and a few traditions of the American legion. Marching is one of the legions traditions, imagine trying to get over 500 dreary eyed teens. At six in the morning marching was a rude awaking to what we thought was a vacation, although each group has to come up with a chant to march to which make it somewhat bearable. McCarther County was the loudest of all the groups that marched an example of a chant from McCarther would be,
The instructor would start with “You can’t ride in my little red wagon!” Then the whole group would repeat.
“Because the axles broke and the wheels are dragging,” he would continue and the group would repeat both phrases back and forth for five times with each time getting harder to understand until you get random gibberish that had the same rhythm as the beginning. Learning to march was an important part of working together as a group. Everybody’s strengths and weaknesses were being exposed. When we were divided in departments we used our ability’s to make it thrive.
Once departments were open for businesses, I was given the opportunity to work in the department of environment and wildlife, were we were responsible for everything from endangered species to state of emergency relief. For endangered species we were given information on a carp and we had to decide if it was endangered or if it was an invasive species that didn’t need protection we declared it a pest and the ecosystem would prosper if they died out. When a storm ripped across Kansas we declared a state of emergency and we instituted an open door policy so representatives of the county’s effected could quickly get the money necessary for repairs and also set up a method to quickly decide who and how much was given so we don’t give too much or too little efficiently
Marching taught us to balance hard work with fun and department work encouraged team work with real life problems in a relaxed setting Boys State was the most profound intellectual experience of my life.