'It's been a win-win'
The son of a military man, Dr. Peter Trzop graduated from high school in Germany in 1992, a student at the Department of Defense-run Heidelberg High School. Lacking some opportunities other high school students have, Trzop decided he didn’t want the students at Guantanamo Bay’s W.T. Sampson School to miss out on the same chances.
That’s why Trzop and Stevie Ray – both Kentucky residents and on the staff of Kentucky Boys State – brought up the idea of bringing Sampson students to Kentucky Boys State. The idea became reality last summer when five boys and three girls traveled the thousands of miles from Cuba to attend Kentucky Boys and Girls State.
“What (I) didn’t get, it doesn’t mean other people shouldn’t get it,” said Trzop, executive director of Kentucky Boys State. “It means why aren’t we doing something about it?”
The seeds for expanding the Boys State program to overseas students were first planted during a Legion Overseas Deployment team visit to Guantanamo Bay last April that was organized by Trzop. During a follow-up visit in April, Kentucky Boys State political advisor Stevie Ray urged Trzop to pitch the idea to base leadership.
“We met with a little resistance, and I understood the resistance,” Ray said. “This was pretty new and traumatic, quite frankly.”
Ray assured base leadership that money wasn’t an issue; Ray’s private family foundation funded the eight students’ trip to Kentucky. “It just kind of opened the doors,” Ray said. “(Naval Station Guantanamo Bay Capt. David Culpepper) blessed it. We worked it out. It was quite a lot of details and paperwork. Peter did a lot of things on the DoD side.”
After finalizing the details, the students made their way to Kentucky last June. One of those was Ryan Eckert, who has been at Guantanamo Bay for more than a year and a half while his father works as a contractor.
Wanting to enter the military after he graduates, Eckert thought Kentucky Boys State would be a good step in that direction. “It was tiring, but it was fun,” he said. “We had to get up and make speeches in front of a lot of people. I’m taking a speech class right now, and I feel a lot more confident getting up in front of people.”
Annie Bergot attended Girls State. Her mom Deanna, a teacher at W.T. Sampson, immediately saw the benefit in her daughter, and the other students, attending. “There are so few opportunities for these kids to do normal high school things,” Deanna said. “This gave them an opportunity to see other high school kids in a situation where they had to interact and problem-solve in a way that they just don’t get. Any time we can find an opportunity for kids to get off-island and interact with other high school kids, I just think it’s so important for them.”
Bill Mittenzwey, Guantanamo’s school liaison officer, said that students on the base probably get less opportunities for interactions with the outside world because of limited flights to and from the base. “We saw Boys State, initially, as an avenue to let these kids express themselves on another level,” he said. “We’ve had two trips in two years for the (school’s students). So I saw this as an opportunity for kids. And all of our kids stood out. It’s been a success story.”
Culpepper liked what he saw from the base students’ first trip to Boys State. “I think it was a really incredible opportunity for those kids — boys and girls – and they really had positive things to say about that,” he said. “It’s been win-win, from my perspective.”
Culpepper said that Boys State provides a valuable lesson to its participants. “Being an informed voter is the most important part of citizenship,” he said. “Part of being an informed voter is understanding government. I kind of think that state government is one of the (least) understood things not just for young voters, but for the general population: understanding how your government works and how it impacts the bigger picture.
“So giving these kids an opportunity at such a young age to go deal with something that focuses on state government … gives them an opportunity to participate in it, what a great thing that is.”
During the most recent visit to Guantanamo Bay, Ray and Trzop found out that base leadership wants to continue the Boys State relationship in the future. Trzop and Ray plan on making a presentation to the Boys State portion of this weekend’s National Americanism Conference in Indianapolis.
“If (Culpepper) is on board, if the Department of the Navy is on board and if the Department of Defense is on board, we need to spread this all over the world,” Trzop said. “That’s why this is successful. When you serve other people – and you’re not making money, and people see that – this is what you have. That’s what we have to be.”
While Ray was on base in September he received a note from Antonio Archuleta, now a senior at W.T. Sampson and one of the Kentucky Boys State participants. Archuleta praised the program in print and later did so verbally, admitting that he wasn’t a “social person” and said he hoped the program would change that.
“At (Boys State) I really learned to be more social with people and make friends more easily,” said Archuleta, who ended up becoming the program’s clerk of the Senate. “It really inspired me to be a leader when a leader is needed. They definitely delivered on their promise on ‘a week that changes a lifetime.’ I feel like that is exactly what it did to me.”
Ray said hearing reactions like that are why he worked so hard to bring Boys State to the Cuba base. “I’m a funeral director by trade, pretty stoic,” he said. “I don’t cry a lot, but … there was a tear of joy.
“Yes, we have problems with young people. They have things that are facing them … that we have never faced. But I really deter any comment … that there’s no value in our youth and we’re going to have a bad future. The future is bright because we have people like the students at Boys State who are our next leaders and will step up to the plate. I believe that with everything I have.”