 Today
citizens went through what will become their morning routine
for the first time. Citizens woke up, showered, and cleaned
their rooms before going to breakfast at 7:00. Many cities
rearranged their rooms in unique, yet uniform manners, so
that they could catch the eye of the Governor and his attaché
as they did morning inspections. Citizens moved beds, desks,
and anything else they could find to make their rooms seem
better than the others. All of this effort was expended in
hopes of attaining the prestigious Model City award.
Following breakfast, citizens went to a worship
service of their choice. Citizens were given a choice of Protestant,
Catholic, or Jewish services. Following church, the citizens
attended a lecture on campaigning, speech-writing, and effective
speaking. Here they learned how to express themselves well
and what the conduct would be required to be a proper statesman.
Their
final activity before lunch was to attend their schools of
instruction. Throughout the program, the citizens will be
given the opportunity to get a brief overview of each of the
five schools: Law, Government Executive, Legislative, Law
Enforcement, and Media. In these schools, citizens learn not
only how to do the things that will become their jobs this
week at Boys State, but also things that will make them an
effective citizen in society as a whole. This morning, the
citizens saw the first of these presentations, but more will
follow.
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Sunday afternoon, all citizens had a brief meeting
in which they learned the basics of parliamentary procedure
and the suggested voting procedures they would be following
at Boys State. Following that, they broke into their ward
meetings. Here, they selected candidates for city council,
and appointed other positions.
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Jay Nixon was the featured speaker during a general assembly at
Hendricks Hall. As always, the Democratic attorney general was
a hit with citizens.
Delegates to statewide and county committees
also met and began building their respective platforms.
Cities also set their slate of candidates for Monday’s city
elections, and the night ended with cities hearing from candidates
during the city political rallies.
Attorney general, gubernatorial candidate, addresses general assembly
 BY JUSTIN WHALEY
BOYS STATE CITIZEN
CARNAHAN CITY
“Take the skills you’ve learned to be leaders in the future.” If ever there were a message so clever or advice to be taken, that one quote would surely be it. Attorney General Jay Nixon spoke Sunday night at the special general assembly of the MBS citizens.  He spoke of his influence
to get into politics, his parents.
With his father a former mayor
of Desoto and his mother the
president of the school board, he
jumped into the political world
at an early age by answering to
the complaint line. His mother’s
passion to reform schools and
his father’s drive to improve the
public sewage system in Desoto
sparked his own drive to enter
the political system.
A true innovator is one who
makes creative changes for the
best, and Nixon is surely working
towards that.
His plan? The Missouri
Promise.
What is it? For starters, the
A+ School Program will be
made statewide. Every student
participates. The program will
increase from a two-year to a
four-year program. Students
then go into a written contract
promising a B average and 50
hours of community service.
The A+ scholarships will be
transferable to many large universities.
In all, this means more
money for students to attend
college.
With the speakers here at
MBS, there normally is a Q-and-
A session. When asked what
he’ll do to fix Matt Blunt’s mistakes,
he jokingly stated, “I’ll try
to keep this under a minute.”
While much discussion was
made of Blunt’s political moves,
Nixon stood firm in his support
for universal healthcare coverage.
“If we can value life, we can
value health care,” he said.
Backstage, Nixon was asked
about the rising prices of ethanol,
as well as natural gasoline,
and what sources we can use to
aid ourselves during this period
extremes in gas prices. He suggested
that we should have a
menu of ways, such as commuter
transport and hybrid cars, as
well as more E85 ethanol stations,
to help with the crisis.
Nixon’s strong plans and
encouraging spirit will benefit
him in his quest for the position
of governor. He definitely had a
great response from all the Boys
Staters, and he left a positive,
lasting impression to the end of
a motivating night.
To learn more about the Missouri Attorney General go to www.ago.mo.gov
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Did you know...
June 14th is Flag Day. This celebrates the day in 1977 that the Second Continental Congress passed the resolution adopting the flag of the United States. This day usually falls during the week of Boys State and we commemorate it during our evening colors ceremony.
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