By MiLee Vogel – City of Sycamore
What a world we are living in right now. If you would have told me a few months ago, that I would get into Arizona Girls State but it would be completely online, I would have never believed you.
Today blasted off our start to Arizona Girls State 2020 but new and improved through Zoom, entering the realm of the mythical 51st state. The meeting started off with a wonderful introduction from our Arizona Girls State Director, and then an introduction virtually to our Arizona Girls State Governor. What an inspirational speaker! Her main message that left the most impact on me was “Challenge Yourself, Change Your Mind, and Cherish Your Memories.”
The meeting continued on with outstanding speeches from Arizona politicians: Governor Doug Ducey, Senator Martha McSally, and several others. After the welcomes were finished, we were split into break out rooms with our political parties: Federalists or Nationalists.
I got the honor of being placed into the Federalist Party and our main ideals are the three E’s: Empathy, Education, and Environment. Empathy represented our drive to provide for the homeless and less fortunate, striving to help those in need to get easier access to essential resources. Education represented our mission to drastically improve our mythical states education system with increased funding and better utilization of technology for young scholars. Environment represented our goal to improve our parks and recreations and to provide better medical care to our community.
Time passed quickly as we all brainstormed our ideals and got to know one another, and before we knew it the session was over. What a fantastic start to our virtual Arizona Girls State! I can already tell that this is going to be a week full of cherished memories and new friendships!
Here’s to a better future, MiLee Vogel signing off.