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13 June 2006 60th Virginia Girls State to be held June 18-24 at Longwood
The 60th annual Virginia Girls State, a citizenship training seminar for rising high school seniors that Longwood University has hosted since 1974, will be held June 18-24. An estimated 625 delegates are expected to attend the program sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary in cooperation with civic clubs and school groups. Gov. Tim Kaine, Lt. Gov. William Bolling and Attorney General Robert McDonnell will address the delegates, who have to be nominated by their respective schools and are selected based on leadership, initiative, character and scholarship, among other qualifications. Participants learn about parliamentary procedure and city and state government. After being assigned to one of 14 “cities” and one of two parties, they elect various officers, including city mayors, a governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. The governor returns the following year and presides over that session. Jessica Guthrie of Fredericksburg will preside as this year’s governor. They also elect two delegates and one alternate to represent Virginia at Girls Nation, to be held July 22-29 in Washington, D.C., which is similar to Girls State but with a focus on national government.
Attorney General McDonnell will speak Tuesday, June 20, at 11 a.m.; Lt. Gov. Bolling the same day at 1:15 p.m.; and Gov. Kaine on Thursday, June 22, at 2 p.m. Virginia Girls State began in 1946 and was held on other campuses before moving to Longwood. Last year some 616 delegates attended. The director is Jerry Woodson of Amherst, who took over after Verna Vance of Chesapeake, who had directed Girls State for 30 years, died in November 2004. Boys State is held the same week at Liberty University.
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As in recent years, the Girls State office this year will be on the first floor of Curry Hall, the delegates will be housed in Curry and Frazer halls, and the assemblies will be held in Jarman Auditorium. Among the activities are a program in which they learn how to properly dispose of a U.S. flag (conducted by members of American Legion Post 16 of Lynchburg) and a program honoring U.S. soldiers who are Missing-In-Action from the war in Vietnam.
