The program held its Political Night at the museum in Grand Rapids for the first time.
When the opportunity arose for Michigan Boys State to spend an evening at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, program leadership didn’t hesitate.
Michigan Boys State Director Mark Brejcha is hopeful that Political Night at the Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, Mich., can become a regular fixture of the “week that shapes a lifetime.”
Political Night at Michigan Boys State gave the rising high school seniors the opportunity to interact with politicians, participate in breakout sessions and tour the museum.
“What they’re learning to do, they’re learning what the different parties are all about, and also to sift out their values systems through the political system,” Brejcha said. “Politics is about values, and the boys for the first time are kind of breaking away from their parents’ values or what they’ve grown up with; they’re developing their own. This night allows them that opportunity to develop their own value systems, find out who they are.”
Teijin Wing, one of those attending Michigan Boys State, said the event served as a reminder that “no matter how far left-leaning or how far right-leaning … we don’t have to be divided; we can still work together as Americans.”
Brejcha said the lessons from the week will carry with the Boys Staters throughout their lives.
“They’re going to leave here and look at the man in the mirror and say, ‘This is who I am.’ It changes through the years, but this is a starting point for their life for them to say, ‘This is who I am, this is what I believe.’”
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