Virginia Girls State, part 1.

This will be a part series, just because I have notes scattered about from the different speakers, and they are not on hand right now.

Last Sunday, I embarked on what would become an amazing week of sleep deprivation, learning, and most of all, relationship building. About 2 to 3 months ago, I was selected to attend Virginia Girls State. As I anxiously walked into my dorm at Longwood University, I was filled with a strange emotion that I am still yet to label. I got off the elevator on the fourth floor to see my two smiling counselors sitting there, waiting to greet us. I quickly settled into my room, said goodbye to my mom, and walked back up the four flights of stairs wondering what I had just gotten myself into. I soon migrated from inside my room to the hallway, in which I saw smiling girls staring at a map of Virginia. We began circling where we were from, and I was the furthest south. A smiling face piped up, “Who’s from Danville? That’s where I’m from.” A friendship soon began, and in less than 30 minutes we were in the hallway, playing name games and talking like we had been friends for years.

On June 21st, I stumbled into a new city, Pocahontas. By June 27th, I know have a new home town; the amazing city of Pocahontas, the city of dream catchers. After a long Sunday night, I was still unsure of what I wanted to run for. For those of you that do not know, Girls State is a week long study of state government. From local,
to party, to state politics. By Monday morning I had made the decision to run for governor. Although it was an unsuccessful run, at my party convention I placed 3 out of 9 girls running. Most importantly, I gave a speech to 350 plus girls! After the elections were said and done, I was appointed to the Governor's Cabinet. My city supported me all the way and I was appointed the Secretary of Finance.

Through out the week I heard some amazing speakers, and I'll have notes on what each of them said. I also had the priviledge of taking a Women in Government class, in which I met some amazing ladies that help run this state.

This has been one of the most memorable experiences of my life, and I'm missing all my Pocahontas ladies.

There will be more later, I'm in the process of piecing together all that happened this week. There is one overarching theme though, as much as I learned about VA state government, I learned at least twice as more about myself.