Life Lessons at Girls State

WAITSBURG - Emma Philbrook - like most students - is quite familiar with the phrase, "Be all you can be." But her experience at Girls State last week left her walking away with the realization that she could be even more than she thought she could be - or at least something different. That and the state level Samsung American Legion Scholarship.

Philbrook left for Evergreen Girls State, held at the Central Washington University campus in Bellingham, Wash., on Sunday, June 15 and returned home the following Saturday. She said the days were "grueling" with a 6:30 a.m. wake-up followed by a fast-paced schedule of events that often ran late into the evenings, but well worth it.

Approximately 180 girls attended the event and each was assigned to a mock political party - either Nationalist or Federalist. The first part of the week was dedicated to developing platforms and running for positions. Philbrook, who has considered the possibility of becoming an attorney, decided the role as attorney general would be good experience. She ran and won against three other girls to secure the final nomination in her Nationalist party before winning the spot against the Federalist contender.

Several hours each day were spent in "session." Philbrook was in the judicial sessions and spent her time arguing cases. She was assigned a "more boring" Supreme Court case regarding urinalysis for school athletes. Philbrook argued that urinalysis should be allowed since," in this case, the athlete was the head of the drug culture in the school and since drugs increase the risk of injury, it was necessary to protect the students." Her argument passed unanimously.

Attendees are also assigned to a "city" where they are presented with a problem to solve. Philbrook was given the city of Cantwell and was nonplussed with their assigned problem. While other cities faced more colorful issues such as gang turf wars and facing a flood from a breached dam, Cantwell was posed with addressing an outdated sewer system.

"We tried to address the problem as creatively as possible," said Philbrook, explaining that creativity is part of the final score. Her team chose to build a facility out of town where waste would be processed and superheated to kill germs before being returned to the city where it would be mixed with seaweed and seashells (they were in a beach community) to be used as fertilizer. "We placed second in the City Problem contest so we did OK. But we had a very creative, dynamic group and I think we could have placed first if we were given something more interesting than sewage to work with," she said.

Having participated in a similar Youth & Government program last month, Philbrook noted what she called some core differences. "What it boils down to is that Youth & Government is fun but Girls State has the power to change people's lives," she said. Philbrook noted that Youth and Government had more of a political focus and students were encouraged to spend time building networks, websites and promoting on Facebook prior to the event. "At Girls State we all start on an equal footing. There are no pre-made materials and you are among complete strangers so that you can reinvent yourself and step out of your shell a bit."

Philbrook says she doesn't know how many school offices she has run for and lost and had no idea she would be elected attorney general. "Just because you're not a super successful person in your own student government doesn't mean you can't be in life." Philbrook said one of her new friends put it best, "You're not stuck as the person you've been for the past 12 years." Philbrook took the opportunity to "talk a lot more than usual" and enjoyed being surrounded by people that were so "open, dynamic and inspiring."

On a material level, Philbrook left the experience with a $1,100 Samsung American Legion Scholarship and is in the running against 98 other Boy's and Girl's State winners for one of nine $20,000 national scholarships. One a less tangible level, Philbrook said she learned some valuable lessons. "One person can make a difference - the system is not a big daunting thing - if you don't like the way it's going you can go out and change it. And you can be something different than what you've always been."