Recently, a few select Central High School juniors were nominated to participate in the American Legion boys state event and the American Legion Auxiliary girls state event this summer. The American Legion and the American Legion Auxiliary, or ALA, are two of the largest veterans support organizations in the United States.

Every summer, the American Legion holds a boys state event and the ALA holds a girls state event for high school juniors. This year, select Central juniors that are apart of the JROTC program will be attending the events.

Most years, two boys and two girls from Central’s JROTC program are chosen to attend. However, Major David Spencer, Central’s JROTC-Army instructor, was able to choose an additional two girls to participate in the ALA program. This year’s participants from Central are Anna Frazier, Jessyca Foster, Sydney Stone, Mikiah Tate, Jack Graham, and Zane Ferrying.

“Each state has one and you go to a university in your state for free for a few days in the summer to learn about the government and play mock politics,” explained Junior Jessyca Foster, who will be participating in the girls state event this summer.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the event will be held over Zoom this year instead of on a college campus. However, each event will still be associated with a state university. The girls state event will be held by Trevecca Nazarene University and the boys state event will be held by Tennessee Tech. This year the girls event will be held June 1-4 and the boys event will be held May 25-28.

“I want to participate as it is a good way to get some hands on college exposure, as Tennessee Tech is a school that I am looking at going to. I am most excited about being able to see how the students go through their day to day school routine and how college classes operate even though this year it will all be over Zoom instead of in person,” shared Junior Jack Graham about the boys state event.

Although the events will be held over Zoom this year, Central’s JROTC students are excited to be able to participate in the event that they have been waiting for since their freshman year. Students are excited that no matter how the event is held, they will be able to get first-hand experience with the American government as well as an exciting early college experience.