SALT LAKE CITY - Three Catholic high school juniors attended Girls State at Southern Utah University in Cedar City June 7-12. They met government officials, learned how the government systems work so they could become informed citizens and further developed their leadership skills.
The week-long event for high school students throughout the United States is sponsored by the American Legion auxiliary. Participants create a fictional state in which they run for office, elect public officials, create and enforce laws, and participate in all phases of running a working government modeled on their own local, county and state governments.
The Catholic Woman's League (CWL) offers scholarships to young women from Utah's Catholic high schools to participate in the program.
This year's scholarship winners were Michelle Howe and Kristine Voet from Saint Joseph Catholic High School and Chelsey Montrone from Judge Memorial Catholic High School. Scholarship recipients meet rigorous standards of academic achievement, demonstrate leadership skills, and participate in their community and school, said Alexis Myland, CWL Girls State representative, adding that Howe and Voet demonstrated academic achievement by being members of the National Honor Society. In leadership, Howe is the captain of St. Joseph's cheerleading team and Voet is the captain of the girls' volleyball team.
Montrone was the 7th-grade president and 8th-grade co-captain of the cheer squad. She also was a student ambassador for the People to People Organization and has traveled to Australia, Fiji and New Zealand. As an ambassador this year, she will travel to the Galapagos Islands.
"This is really exciting for me," Montrone said. "I've learned how our government works and now when I go other places, I can see how different it is to live there."
At Girls State, Montrone was elected as a delegate, and decided who would move on to the primary election. "Girls State is a good learning experience even if you are not looking at going into politics or government work," she said.
A highlight for her was Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's presentation, she said. "He was really concerned about teens and drugs and alcohol awareness. His main point was to be safe, and we could really tell he cared about teens on a personal level because he has teenagers of his own."
Howe said she was intimidated at first because there are only 180 students at St. Joseph and there were 318 girls at Girls' State, but soon she realized her thoughts were just as good as anyone else's, she said. "Being one of few Catholics, my views were different, but I expressed them. There were people who were with me and understood, and those who respected me even though their views were different. We prayed every day and I was asked to say a Catholic prayer, so I prayed the Our Father. That meant a lot because they were open and welcoming to other religions. We were divided into cities, and there were a few other girls who were different religions in my city. It was a great experience."
Voet said she was impressed by other participants after hearing their resumes as they ran for office. "It was awesome to be able to discuss the oil spill and the death penalty with them," she said. "We had very intellectual conversations while we were deciding on a topic for our bill. Our bill was on education and equal opportunities for everyone, including white people, because some white people are turned away for scholarships because the colleges haven't met their quotas for African Americans and Hispanics."
Voet learned she has to know all of the bills and issues for which she is voting because all of the candidates are going to have something she doesn't like, she said. "You have to weigh the people to see which one you agree with more before making a decision."
Stay Connected With Us