Women's Club recognizes Girl's State participants
Jul. 20—FAIRMONT — West Virginia Rhododendron Girl's State has been a staple for as long as M&M's have been around —1941.
Community members gathered Tuesday afternoon at the General Federation Women's Club to celebrate area youth who attended the civic and service-oriented program in 2021 and 2022.
"It's not about the leaders of tomorrow. It's about the leaders of today. You are leaders in your school," Director of Rhododendron Girl's Sate Rosemary Thomas said.
Guests honored Fairmont Senior High students Marin Parker, Madison Awbrey and Stella Episcopo and East Fairmont High student Sofia Lucente who took part in this year's program and Maddie Alix and Lauren Delbrook from the 2021 program.
Alix became a senator at girls state in 2021, which was online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year she was able to attend as a junior councilor, which she said was fun, but there was a bit of a learning curve, since she had never attended in person.
Also, Sydney Megna, who attended in 2021, from North Marion High was elected governor, so she went to Washington D.C. along with other elected governors. She is the first Girl's State governor from North Marion High.
"The girls state that we know today could not function without Marion County," Thomas said.
Attendants said it was nice to learn new things and make new friends. The only challenge was balancing their work schedules with a week of time off.
"Something I learned at Girl's State is to not let fear or anxiety get in the way of opportunities. So, if there is public speaking or networking that needs to be done, you shouldn't be scared — you should just jump in," Parker said.
Awbrey agreed and said she is looking forward to implementing some of the new things she learned at Girl's State within the clubs and activities she's involved in at school.
"All of the people who came in to speak to us about the certain things that they're involved in and the opportunities that are out there — they encouraged us to make a difference with those opportunities and apply it to some of the things that we can do," Awbrey said.
Girl's Sate is held annually at Davis and Elkins College, but it has been held at different colleges across West Virginia in the past. It was started in 1941 in West Virginia and is a national week long camp for girls to attend to learn about government and leadership.
There are typically 300 participants, but after the COVID-19 pandemic and a year online in 2021, Thomas said they were told they would likely only get half the attendees.
The pandemic also affected the sponsors. Girl's State attendees are typically, but not required to, have a sponsor to alleviate some of the costs of registering for the program. However, with the pandemic, it was difficult for many sponsors to host their fundraising they typically use for Girls State, Thomas said.
Applications for West Virginia Rhododendron Girl's State are available online.
Reach me at sshriver@timeswv.com or 304-367-2549.
