In June 2022, I spent a week at American Legion Jersey Boys State. At the time, I was just a rising senior who thought it sounded like a cool leadership program. I didn’t realize it would quietly become one of the most informative weeks of my life.
Four years later, I think about it all the time, and January-March is the time if you're rising senior in high school to look into the Boys State & Girls State programs in your state, and see if you can go.
Before getting into my experience, a quick bit of context... Boys State has been around since 1935. It was created after the American Legion noticed how easily young people in Europe were being swept into authoritarian movements, such as the Hitler Youth, or League of German Girls. Their idea was simple but powerful: if democracy is going to survive, young people actually need to understand how it works before they become voters.
So they built a program where high school juniors run a mock state government for a week. And almost a century later, it’s still running.
It’s also quietly one of those programs with a ridiculous alumni list. Neil Armstrong. Bill Clinton. Michael Jordan. Dick Cheney. Jon Bon Jovi. Bruce Springsteen. Cory Booker. Chris Christie. A weird mix of astronauts, presidents, athletes, musicians, and politicians who all once did the same thing: showed up as teenagers and spent a week pretending to run a state.
16 year old Bill Clinton shaking hands with JFK at boys state
At 17, that sounded cool.
At 21, it still sounds cool, but it also sounds kind of insane.
Functionally, the program is basically a full-scale government simulator. Nearly a thousand rising seniors from across New Jersey are split into cities and counties, randomly assigned to one of two political parties, and then immediately thrown into elections, campaigning, legislation, court proceedings, and public administration. Within days, students elect a governor, pass bills, argue court cases, run city and county governments, hold party conventions, and build an entire state from scratch. It’s equal parts summer camp, leadership seminar, and government boot camp, fast, chaotic, and surprisingly real once you’re inside it.
We Built a Fake State That Felt Weirdly Real
For one week at Rider University in New Jersey, we ran a fully simulated “51st state.” My experience was not exceptional on paper, but I still held a few different roles: the Municipal Judge and County Road Supervisor, I also made an unsuccessful yet character-building bid for City Council.
At the time, it felt chaotic and unreasonably fast. Now, looking back, it feels like the most hands-on civics class you could possibly imagine.
As a municipal judge, I presided over mock court cases and had to make decisions based on laws passed by our government and procedures we were learning in real time. I also had the opportunity to meet real judges, sitting in a courtroom seminar with real judges at 17 years old felt surreal.
As County Road Supervisor, a title that sounds incredibly boring, I learned something I still think about: most government work is not glamorous. It’s logistics, records, coordination, and planning. It’s roads, budgets, and documentation. It’s the stuff that quietly keeps society functioning.
Running for City Council was its own crash course in democracy. Petition signatures, campaign speeches, party meetings, late-night strategy sessions in dorm hallways. I didn’t win, but that was the most valuable part. Losing an election in a safe, simulated environment teaches you a lot about leadership, humility, and public speaking very quickly.
In six days, I saw federalism up close. Not in theory, but in practice.
A picture I took from a brain storming session of our assigned political party, to draft municipal level policy positions. Behind the camera there are about 20 other people, all deep in debate, and discussion.
The Real Lesson Wasn’t Politics
The biggest takeaway wasn’t about political parties or policy, as the parties are entirely made up, and policy positions are made at the municipal level on local political issues within your assigned made up city. The biggest takeaway was about how much work and coordination goes into making government function at even the smallest level.
Every day was packed: legislative sessions, court proceedings, elections, speeches, caucuses, guest speakers, and somehow sports tournaments squeezed in between. It was exhausting and energizing at the same time.
What stuck with me most was how normal the process felt once you were inside it.
Bills weren’t scary. Court procedures weren’t mysterious. Elections weren’t abstract. They were just systems built by people, run by people, and dependent on people choosing to participate.
Then I Took AP US Government & Politics
A few months after Boys State, I took AP US Government & Politics in high school. And everything clicked instantly.
The branches of government, federalism, elections, courts, legislation, none of it felt theoretical anymore. I had seen it. I had done it. Even in a simulated environment, I had lived inside the machinery long enough that the textbook suddenly made sense.
That experience made me realize how rare this kind of exposure actually is.
Most people graduate high school, and some college, without ever really understanding how our government works beyond headlines and soundbites.
That’s not a criticism of anyone. It’s just the reality. And I think it hurts us as a country. You can’t care about a system you don’t understand. You can’t participate in something that feels distant and confusing. And when government feels abstract, it becomes easy to disengage from it entirely.
Gratitude
Four years later, what I feel most is gratitude.
Grateful that someone nominated me.
Grateful that my local American Legion post sponsored me to attend.
Grateful that I got exposed to how our system actually functions before I even realized how important that knowledge was.
Boys State didn’t turn me into a politician. That was never the point.
But it did turn government from a distant concept into something real, human, and understandable.
And I think more people deserve that experience.
Because democracy works best when it isn’t a mystery, and people participate in change.
Thank you for reading.
Learn more about American Legion Jersey Boys State (ALBJS) here.