Boys, Girls State Delegates Address American Legion Post 30
This article was published in the Edgefield Advertiser on September 24, 2025
Future South Carolina community leaders stood before a friendly gathering of American Legion Post 30 on September 18, 2025. Delegates returning from the week-long immersive political role-play event, The American Legion (TAL) Palmetto Boys State and Girls State, dropped in with their families to update their sponsors, Edgefield Post 30 and Unit 30 Auxiliary.
The American citizenship training summer program is a hands-on experience where delegates form a mock government and test out the roles of civic life. Simulating state and local government, participants form “cities” and “counties” and run for office, conducting political campaigns and elections to fill positions such as mayor and city council.
This year’s delegates were Kayce Ashley, Chloe Ellis, and Asa Knapp of Fox Creek High School; Mollie Bartley, Christian Haskins, and K’Mya Moore from Strom Thurmond High School; and representing Wardlaw Academy were Sam Coughenour and Katie Forrest.
Boys and Girls State Delegates (l to r) K'Mya Moore, Sam Coughenour, and Katie Forrest
In a back and forth with a welcoming audience, Sam Coughenour, Katie Forrest, and K’Mya Moore answered many questions, gradually sketching an image of the student-led government program that brought together excited and inexperienced young people, strangers to one another, for what became a life-changing opportunity. They emerged with improved public speaking skills and a better understanding of how government functions. A smiling Forrest volunteered, “I ran for city council and I got into that, which was really fun.” She also competed for Commissioner of Agriculture and, although not selected, said the effort “made me more comfortable to speak in front of people.” Moore called it “a good experience for me to …see how everything, the voting process and everything works.”
The enjoyable civic bootcamp develops skills that further group cooperation and leadership while also guiding participants to draw on internal strengths necessary to nudge them into the spotlight of public speaking and decision-making. Each described the initial trepidation of addressing large crowds, while gaining confidence over time. Coughenour evoked the excitement of “slowly going higher and higher in the system to voted positions” whether it was themselves or supporting their new friends, “especially if they're in your city and they end up being a top person.”
The delegates described forming what they believe will be lifelong friendships. According to Moore, “even though it's three months later, we still talk every single day.” Coughenour confirmed “we had all grown so close” that his cohort maintains an ongoing group chat, underscoring the bonds of “a very supportive group of friends that we can all rely on.”
Coughenour referenced getting much needed advice from Colt Bailey, Post 30’s 2024 delegate who returned to Boys State this year as a counselor, explaining, “he was in my county …so I saw him every morning.” Having Bailey there allowed Coughenour to get an idea of what was expected, “like what type of things I need to talk about to be successful” in the impromptu deliveries delegates were called upon to give. Forrest applauded the program overall, noting “there was just so much support,” adding “I was just really honored and I'm so glad to be able to have that opportunity.”
Jerome Childs, Johnston Post 222 Commander and American Legion state officer reminded everyone that Boys State and Girls State attendees may qualify for tuition scholarships at participating universities, specifically noting the generosity of Presbyterian College, although other institutions also reward delegates to varying degrees.
But it is engaged citizens who made this first step possible for Boys State participants, namely Ben Herlong and Dr. George Inabinet, Jr. and Barbara (McKie) Inabinet. Likewise, Girls State is supported by Edgefield Post 30, Johnston Post 154, Senator Shane Massey, Fox Creek High School, Edgefield Mercantile Funeral Home, Honda Cars of Aiken, and Passera Events. This is a generous community initiative that pays huge dividends for all of us.
Article and photos by Diane Peterson