Girls, Boys State reps announced

Justine Clark, a student at Richard McKenna Charter High School, has been named to the prestigious American Legion Girls State mock government exercise.

Clark, joins five other girls from Mountain Home in the Girls State exercise and six entrants for the Boys State exercise.

"I'm just excited, I look forward to getting to know everyone and learn more about how governments run," said Clark.

The Mountain Home representatives are:

* Girls State -- Chasity Custer, Justine Clark, Chelsea Jackson, Jennifer Lewis, Amanda Raines and Alicen Wendall.

* Boys State -- Robert Welle, Thomas Garza, Marcus Guadarrama, Raif Armstrong, Joe Russell, Brock Morris.

The 2009 Boys and Girls State exercises will be held at Northwest Nazarene University.

The Boys State exercise will start Sunday, June 7, and conclude on Friday, June 12. The Girls State exercise will start on Sunday, June 14 and conclude on Friday, June 19.

Boys State has been a program of the American Legion since 1935, while Girls State, sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary, has been a program since 1937.

American Legion Boys State and American Legion Auxiliary Girls State are the premier programs for teaching how government works while developing leadership skills & an appreciation for civil rights.

While part of the program, participants can run for office, learn public speaking, create and enforce laws and actively participate in all phases of creating and running a working government.

Famous alumni of the Boys and Girls State programs include Rush Limbaugh, Bill Clinton, George Pataki, Mike Huckabee, Tom Brokaw, Jane Pauley, Michelle D. Johnson, Nick Saban, Michael Jordan, Mark Wahlberg, Neil Armstrong, Russell Jones, Nancy Redd, and Henry J. Bianco IV.