'Boys State puts men on a track to succeed'

Rontel Batie gets right to the point.

“I wouldn’t be here without it,” Batie said.

Here is Batie’s role as a legislative aide for Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., who serves as the ranking member on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee.

It is American Legion Boys State, which served as the steppingstone for Batie to emerge from his rough neighborhood in St. Augustine, Fla.

“Boys State got me out of town for the first time,” said Batie, who participated in the Department of Florida's Boys State program held at Florida State University in Tallahassee in 2006 before his senior year of high school. “That was the exposure I needed.”

The experience showed him the potential he had, especially when he earned a full scholarship to Florida A&M University in Tallahassee during his week at Boys State.

A committee selected Batie to receive the scholarship based on interviews, community activities, volunteer service and other criteria.While Batie’s uncle Robert Batie Jr. isa veteran, and Batie himself worked as a janitor at the National Guard while in high school, he didn’t know what Boys State was before he was encouraged to go.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do after high school, but I knew I wanted to get out of town,” said Batie, who eventually realized that going to Boys State would give him good exposure to the world at large.

He also “didn’t know anything” about politics, but upon arrival at Boys State, Batie saw other young men campaigning for mayoral positions.

“I watched guys get up there and do these one-minute speeches and I knew I could do that too,” he said.

Batie ran for, and won, election as police chief and judge for his “city” at Boys State, and added duties as chief financial officer.

With scholarship in hand, Batie headed to Florida A&M after graduating high school. There, he was freshman class president and president of the university’s chapter of College Democrats. He would end up interning for Congresswoman Brown in 2010 through the Congressional Black Caucus intern program.

“I applied for this program three times, didn’t get in three times,” Batie said. “But I just busted my butt, tried to show how talented I was.… she stayed in contact with me, visited my family.”

Batie worked in Brown's office as an aide before earning a full-time job in her office as an advisor on veterans affairs, housing and higher education issues.

All because Batie got a chance through American Legion Post 194 in St. Augustine, a chance he touts every opportunity he gets. He also helped spur his cousins and younger brother to attend Boys State.

“It is a good example (to other boys here), you can do the same thing if you put your mind to it,” said Joe Logan, first vice commander at Post 194.

“A lot of guys in my neighborhood took to other means to help their families, they sold drugs … I was surrounded by people getting in trouble every day,” Batie said. “We had no one telling us, you can go to college …

“I think (Boys State) is life-changing, especially for young men that come from underserved communities. … Boys State just puts men on a track to succeed.”