American Legion Post 68 to send 31 Bridgeport students to Mountaineer Boys State

BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (WDTV) - School’s almost out, and while most kids in the state are gearing up to kick back for the next couple of months, some local teens are taking time out of their summer to invest in their future.

American Legion Post 68 is sending 31 students from Bridgeport High School to Mountaineer Boys State at Jackson’s Mill. This is a record-breaking class, as Bridgeport’s Post 68 typically sends around 10 students each year.

While at Boys State, around 400 young men from across West Virginia will participate in activities like mock elections and legal proceedings, hear from guest speakers, and learn more about how their state and local government operates.

Mountaineer Boys State began in 1936, making it the second oldest American Legion Boys State program in the country. It is also the only Boys State that is still held at the same place it started, at Jackson’s Mill in Lewis County.

Attending Boys State can also open the door to many other opportunities for students, like scholarships at colleges in the state and, possibly, the chance to attend Boys Nation, a national program that takes place in Washington D.C. There, each state is represented by two students who attended Boys State. The program is similar to that of Boys State, but focuses more on how the federal government is run.

Ken McCrory, First Vice Commander of American Legion Post 68, says programs like this can teach students valuable lesson about leadership and cooperation.

“It’s seeing that there’s a lot of different organizations that come together that provide support for our cities, our state, for our country, and they can see how they all mesh together, and people have to work together to accomplish a common goal.”

This year, Mountaineer Boys State will take place from June 11th to June 17th.

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