By Jordan Casey – Juniper City Reporter
All of us come from different backgrounds, different areas, and different types of lives. Be that as it may, we are all women living and facing the world together. And we might have more in common than what the naked eye perceives.
I interviewed all my fellow city members (Juniper City), specifically asking what they want to learn from Girls State. The answers were common, yet complex. Everyone had different responses, yet all were similar in multiple ways.
Most of these girls responded in a similar manner of wanting to learn more about the government functions – how it can be related to real life and gaining experience with hands on learning in government situations: Kaitlyn Espinoza, Aria Everett, Blythe Brown, Savannah Harrell, Hannah Harding, AnnMary Terrence, Sarah Witte, Niamh Waddell, Bailee Ramierz, Camila Lavayen, Chloe Chun, Kaiya Chun, Evangelia Sai Pen, and Amutha Rajasundaram.
Further, the rest of the girls here at Juniper City ranged in answering with wanting to develop interpersonal skills and gain social connections, then some others wanted to learn the true meaning of leadership: Abigail Rasmussen, Ashley Vega-Rosales, Leah Callahan, Sofiya Galanyuk, Ayushi Setia, Skyla Bird, Britanny Noriega, Sierra Titus, and London Bonelli.
The other question I followed up with asking was what my city members want to get out of Girls State. The greatest common answer here was friendship and knowledge. I believe that as a group we will all get what we want from this situation, and I hope they believe that, too.
What I want to learn from Girls State is the considerable understanding of how politics really work, and the motivations from all ends from any person involved. I’m here to learn all opinions, because different viewpoints are relied upon in democracy. Whether those opinions are agreed upon or not. I want to leave Girls State knowing how to develop my opinion and what to develop it on in relation to politics. I want to create my own voice. One that’s heard and echoed.
I also want to leave Girls State with memories. Memories that cloud the mind and I’ll think back to forever. I want to remember this era of my life. This little week of my life, and yet, it will have such a big impact on how I think, behave, and go on into the age of adulthood. Womanhood.
We might be rival parties. Rival counties. Rival cities. But the raw truth of our situation is that we all live in the same world. We walk the same ground, breath the same air, and look up at the same stars. We all welcome the same beginning in the stages of life. Well, I have a challenge for you; lets welcome this beginning at Girls State together. We will walk through the ups and downs of Girls State as one. We will take the obstacles and face them together. And when we leave this little era of our lives on Saturday, we will remember the laughs and smiles we all shared.
Will we remember the knowledge we retained? Yes, we will.
But most of all, we will remember each other.