TUSCALOOSA
— From Monday, June 11 through Thursday, June 14,
560
rising high school seniors will clean and landscape areas at
McKinnet, Monnish, Kaulton and Sokol parks, and along the Pettus
Randall Walking Trail in
Tuscaloosa.
These students have come from all over Alabama to participate in the 75th
American
Legion Alabama
Boys State,
being held this week on the campus of the University of Alabama.
Boys State is a leadership program for rising
senior boys, whose motto is “We Build Citizenship.” This is both a
declaration and a promise to the young men selected from high schools across
the state to be representatives at the week-long program.
The purpose of this program is to further develop the strong
leadership skills and talents of the participants, and to instill in them
virtues of civic responsibility and an understanding of the machinery of
state and local governmental institutions.
The program gives participants the opportunity not only to understand
their state and local government, but to create it.
Over the week the participants will form political parties, elect
candidates to state and local office, and run their government as members of
the legislature, board of education, courts and city councils.
Also as part of the program this year, Boys State
participants will devote some of the time in their busy schedules to
community service projects in the
Tuscaloosa
area. These projects will be
capped with a Service Celebration in Sokol Park on Friday, June 15, at 2:45 p.m. with government
representatives from Tuscaloosa and a flag
football game between some of the Boys
State participants and young children
from the Tuscaloosa
community.
“Being selected for Boys State was a great honor,” said
Richard Todd, quarterback for the Crimson Tide from 1972-1976, who went on
to play 12 years in the NFL for the New York Jets and New Orleans Saints.
“I was one of two boys chosen from my high school (Davidson
High School in
Mobile).
It was, and still is, a great leadership opportunity.”
Todd and some 100 other former Boys State
participants attended the opening session on Sunday, June 10, with some
participants dating back to 1938. These participants included physicians,
farmers, and members of the business and legal communities.
Judge O.L. “Pete” Johnson, director of Alabama Boys
State, is very excited
about this year’s program, giving the boys the opportunity to do something
great for their state.
“It has been my honor to work with the American Legion
Alabama Boys
State for the past 50
years. Boys State
gives young leaders the opportunity to learn how their government works,
hands on. Boys State
inspires these young men to make their state and nation better.”
Over 34,000 participants have gone on to serve their state
and nation. Many have gone on to
serve their country in the armed forces, with too many making the ultimate
sacrifice. James V. Thompson, the first governor of
Alabama
Boys State,
was killed in action during World War II on Nov. 30, 1944 in France.
A few other prominent former participants include Jim Sumner,
director of the Alabama Ethics Commission; former Gov. Fob James; Gov.
Robert Bentley; Tim Jones, CEO of Apple Computer; Mike Warren, CEO of
Children’s Hospital of Alabama; and many other successful farmers
businessmen, lawyers, doctors, bankers and members of all professions.
Guest speakers for the 75th Anniversary program include
Birmingham Mayor William Bell, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox, Lt. Governor
Kay Ivey, and political journalist Steve Flowers.
The Alabama Girls State,
a program for young women, also rising seniors, is directed by the American
Legion Women’s Auxiliary, held at
Troy
University. It is also
underway this week.