Former Boys Nation senators’ experiences in the program bring them back to serve as counselors.
Although at first Harrison Henry’s memory of attending the 2023 American Legion Boys Nation session sounds painful, it was, in fact, a wakeup call of sorts.
Henry is in Arlington, Va., through July 26 in his first year as a junior counselor for the program. A sophomore at U.S. Naval Academy and native of Fayetteville, Ark., Henry said his experience two years ago ended up motivating him going forward because of the senators around him.
“It was kind of like a punch in the teeth,” Henry said. “It was like, ‘Hey, there’s some really sharp kids out there that are more qualified and have better ACT (scores), everything than you.’ It was incredibly motivating for me. It was comforting that, ‘Hey, I’m going to experience similar caliber of people at the service academies.’
“I was not the best anything and didn’t get elected for much at all. It was a really humbling experience being around people who are equally, if not more, driven. And I found that same exact thing when I went to the Naval Academy. So if anything, it taught me to be in a room with people who are light-years ahead of me and be willing to just learn from them and just talk with them.”
Henry decided to serve as a junior counselor, in part, to help those in the program considering applying at a U.S. service academy. “I was in a room with about maybe 20 people, and about half of them wanted to go to the service academies when I first was a senator here,” he said. “A lot of these kids are prime applicants for those service academies. They have the intellect to really compete in an environment like this, but also the patriotism to contribute to something greater than themselves. So if I can be a little bit of a nudge in the right direction to go to the right academy, then that’s what I want to do.”
Henry said the lessons taught during Boys Nation somewhat mirror those of what he is experiencing in Annapolis. “It instills the values of The American Legion, which are just good-person values,” he said. “One of the big things I learned at the Naval Academy, my biggest takeaway so far, is just be a good dude or gal. It’s the idea that is what you’re doing, is that being a good dude? And I think what (Boys Nation) is is just instilling good-dude values.”
“The Stars Aligned, And Here I Am.” Twenty-one years ago, South Carolina’s Riley Harvell was elected Boys Nation president. Twenty years later, Harvell returned to the program to serve as a counselor, thanks to the right circumstances unfolding.
A member of American Legion Post 51 in Belton, S.C., and a volunteer at Palmetto Boys State for more than 20 years, Harvell found out two years ago that volunteers were needed for the national program. He was at a point in his life where he didn’t hesitate.
“If it had been 10 years earlier I probably couldn’t have done it,” said Harvell, who served in U.S. Marine Corps Reserves from 2006 to 2021, activating in 2007, 2008 and 2009. “With life, career and kids, trying to take two and a half weeks off for Boys State and Boys Nation, you can’t. Now, my kids are in high school, and they’re at camp both weeks this week. My job and my career have matured to a point where I have the luxury of some additional time off. The stars aligned, and here I am.”
Now the senior counselor in the Madison Section, Harvell said he returned to the program because of what it offers its participants. “All of the young men that come fall into two categories. One is gung ho: get elected, run for president, go to Harvard,” he said. “The other – and we’ve seen some of these in South Carolina – they’re going to be great. They’re going to be business owners. They’re going to be city councilmen. And they may never come back to Washington, D.C.
“For all of those senators, this program provides them that opportunity to get out of their home state, see the nation’s capital, learn about the nation’s government. For me, personally, it was eye-opening. Politics in South Carolina are so incredibly different than they are at the national level.”
Getting elected president isn’t something for which Harvell accepts full credit. “Being elected president, I describe it as you could flip a coin and pick any one of the 100,” he said. “We had an amazing senator from Rhode Island that, honestly, got me elected. He was the Whip and ran around and got the votes. I have a hard time asking people for stuff. He didn’t. He made it happen. And it was a really amazing experience.”
Harvell said he made friends during that experience that he still has today. And being Boys Nation president meant Harvell was able to attend The American Legion National Convention later that summer in Nashville, Tenn., an invitation made to all of the Legion’s youth champions.
“The Legion put us up, and we had an amazing week,” Harvell said. “President Bush came. When myself and the Oratorical champ (addressed the convention) back to back, President Bush was there in the building. You’re 17 years old. That doesn’t happen. But the Legion made it happen. Seeing that, with all the Legionnaires that attend, that was an amazing experience.”
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