By Juliana Li – Ocotillo City Reporter
When asked what emotions the newly arrived delegates were feeling, one sentiment prevailed amongst all of Ocotillo city: excitement. Whether that emotion was preceded by nerves or hopefulness, excited was the most common word when asked to “describe your first day.” All delegates felt they were thrown into the complex and confusing environment, but with the kind support of their peers, they quickly became hopeful of what is yet to come.
In the first Ocotillo city hall meeting, the air was tense, partially thanks to Ms. J Solis’ bad intuition of how high the AC should be blasted, but also because being placed into a group of twenty-two strangers feels deeply uncomfortable. But, as we introduced ourselves, we quickly found commonalities.
We giggled as we struggled to find our hometowns on an Arizona map, we broke tensions when asking each other for pens, and all gained more insight into the exciting program we had ahead of us.
Before our first election, I went around the hall and interviewed Ocotillo city citizens on how their first day went, starting with the holistic question: day one, one word? My second question was: how long was the drive, and how was it?
When realizing the first emotion for Girls State was often nervousness and not excitement, the drive can have a lot to do with why. Over the course of a long drive from Phoenix, Glendale, or Buckeye, the nerves seem to set in, and spending a week away from your family starts to become real.
I wanted to take a deep dive into everyone’s personal experience, since despite the nerves being universal, the experience that accompanied the nerves was not. Some interviewees also commented on their outlook for the rest of the week.
Jazmine McKnight, my roommate, was the first interviewee. Her answer to the one word question was, “exciting, because I was surrounded by people who are willing and eager to learn. I’m looking forward to something new every day going forward.”
Next, Hailey Helm’s answer to the first question was, “Eventful. It was crazy in a good way because I was learning how things work and meeting new people.” Her comments on the drive were, “I am from Bukeye, and the drive is 2.5 hours, so it was long.”
Claire Catkins, Hailey’s roommate, was next. Her answer to the first question was, “Exhausting. You think you have time to chill and then you’re bombarded with info… but it’s helpful!” Claire also thinks that the next steps of Girls State will have, “A lot to learn, a lot to do, and a lot to get done.”
It’s clear that the girls have already become close, as leaving the interview, Claire and Hailey said they already get along so well, as seen by their similar sleep schedules: going to bed and waking up early.
Daniela Putu-Kang shared the same sentiment. She said she felt, “excited, and meeting new people was easy because they were very kind. I liked getting involved.” However, her drive was more tumultuous than most. It was described as being two hours from Glendale in a hot car with the AC off.
Finally, Sonya Colattur also felt the day was hectic. She said it was, “eventful! There was a lot of stuff happening back to back.”
Her drive was described as a little boring with no scenery, but there was a surprise Ostrich farm coming from Phoenix! Sonya says she’s now excited for what’s to come but has no idea what to run for.
Overall, it seems like spirits are high going into the rest of the week, with some nerves remaining, but only because there’s so much to get done. Ocotillo looks forward to the future, with our second election happening right now!