June 12-18 will be the 72nd consecutive year of Tar Heel Girls State, and for the tenth year, Catawba College will host the weeklong session.
At the annual event, sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary, Department of North Carolina, several hundred girls from across North Carolina, all high school juniors who are academically in the top third of their class, will participate. The Girls State program is a weeklong practical study of the structure and operation of North Carolina State Government. In a non-partisan atmosphere, participants take a "hands-on" approach to learning how state and local governments function. Citizens, as the participants are known, develop an understanding of the responsibilities of citizenship by creating and living under their own mock government.
During the week, citizens are grouped into cities as they organize their own local government, elect officers, prepare a city charter and conduct city activities. Citizens also assume the role of a senator, representative or lobbyist to research and write bills and resolutions for the Girls State Legislature. Each citizen is also a member of a fictitious political party which will develop a party platform, engineer campaigns for party candidates and ultimately elect a slate of officers to govern Tar Heel Girls State. Parliamentary procedure is used to conduct all meetings.
Again this year, the session will be run by Auxiliary members from across the state who volunteer their time. Two of these Auxiliary members, Chair of the Commission Kaye Brown Hirst of Salisbury and Program Director Julie Cooper Head of Valdese, will be participating for their 24th year with the program. Other local individuals involved on staff include Dr. Michael Bitzer, parliamentarian; Mary Jane Thompson, house mother; Tina Brown, music director; Fran Simpson, speaker; Katye Beaver, Assistant Counselor; Anita Overstreet and Rena Ogle, Junior Counselors; and Gloria Wilhelm, Commission member.
"The citizens have a wonderful opportunity during the week to become involved and learn the rules of civic engagement," Hirst said. "These young women will be our leaders soon, and they will gain valuable experiences in leadership that will help shape and guide them as they become community, state and national leaders in the following years."
The Honorable Judge Beth Dixon of Salisbury will swear in the girls as Girls State citizens on the evening of Sunday, June 12. Guest speakers scheduled for the 2011 Tar Heel Girls State session, all of whom will speak in Keppel Auditorium of the Robertson College-Community Center, include Elaine Marshall, N.C. Secretary of State; Catherine Johnson from Davidson County Family Services; Major Diana Stumpf who just completed a year in Iraq with the National Guard; Kristi Hyman with Department of Justice; and Sierra Moraven, 2010 Tar Heel Girls State Governor.
While the Girls State Program is held in every state in the nation, North Carolina is the only state in the country to have had Girls State for 72 consecutive years, according to Commission Chair Kaye Hirst. The program is an Americanism project of the American Legion Auxiliary and an American Legion Auxiliary Unit approves all applications and nominates girls for the program.
Hirst reiterated that moving the program to Catawba College ten years ago helped strengthened the nationally recognized program thanks in part to the strong support from the local community.
Local girls from Rowan and Cabarrus counties will be among the participants. From Rowan County, students are sponsored by American Legion Auxiliary Units in Salisbury, Faith and Landis. From Cabarrus County, students are sponsored by American Legion Auxiliary Units in Concord, Kannapolis, Harrisburg, and Mt. Pleasant.
Two delegates from Tar Heel Girls State will be selected to participate in Girls Nation. The names of these two individuals will be announced during closing ceremonies of Tar Heel Girls State.
Notable former Girls State participants include Bernice Lerner and Ashley Moore, both of Salisbury, who were from Rowan County and elected governors at Tar Heel Girls State; as well as national figures who participated in Girls State programs in other locations like television personality Jane Pauley, former Texas Governor Ann Richards, former Miss U.S.A. Terri Utley, and the First Female Wing Commander in the U.S. Air Force Academy, Captain Michelle Johnson.
TAR HEEL GIRLS STATE MEDIA CONTACTS:
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- Kaye Brown Hirst, Chair:
(704) 647-1013 (cell)
(704) 633-5946 (office)
; - Julie Cooper Head, Program Director:
(828) 874-1422
(828) 432-2822, ext. 201
; - Beginning Sunday, June 12, Girls State Headquarters on Catawba College Campus:
(704) 637-4251
; - Tonia Black-Gold, Chief Communications Officer (Catawba College - Salisbury, NC):
(704) 637-4393 (office)
RELATED CONTENT:
First Independent Govenor at Girls State (SalisburyPost.com)
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