56th Girls State Scheduled

by George Zamora

SOCORRO, N.M., May 27, 2003 -- More than 250 high school juniors representing over 100 high schools from throughout New Mexico will attend a week-long series of educational workshops at the 56th annual session of New Mexico Girls State, which will be held the week of June 1 to June 6 on the New Mexico Tech campus.

During the week, Girls Staters set up and operate city, county, and state governments that are designed to parallel New Mexico's own governing bodies. The non-partisan program, which uses a "learn by doing" approach to teach participants about government and citizenship, has been sponsored over the years by New Mexico's American Legion Auxiliary organization.

Girls State representatives are selected by their respective schools, in coordination with local American Legion Auxiliary members, on the basis of their demonstrated leadership, character, scholarship, service, and citizenship.