For those of you who don’t know what Girls State is, it’s a week long program that is held every summer for girls who are about to become seniors in high school. It teaches everyone who attends about government and politics; however, it teaches the girls so much more than just that. With this article, I hope to help everyone who doesn’t know anything about the program appreciate it more, and then help the girls who attended this program reminisce on the memories.

It prepared me for a sisterhood in my sorority.

I never imagined myself as a sorority girl, but after spending every day from 6 am to 11 pm all week, I started to picture it. It’s crazy how close 50 plus girls can grow in such a short time. Attending Girls State gave me so many lifelong friends and sisters. At the end of the week, girls were crying their eyes out and holding on to each other because they didn't want to leave each other. That kind of bond never fades. Earlier this year, one of the girls from my parish my citizen year was in a car accident and died, and a group of us wore our girls state shirt and attended her funeral because our love for each other was still so strong, even a year later.

It taught me how to be myself.

In high school, I was usually shy unless I was around my good friends. I was awkward and didn’t know how to socialize, but this week changed everything. It taught me how to instantly make friends. It taught me that these girls like me for me, not for who I was pretending to be.

It was a chance for different people to interact.

This camp was a place of refuge. You didn’t have to worry about the cheerleaders making fun of the nerds, because everyone was equal. It didn’t matter who was who, or who did what, because there was no judgment. Girls were genuine and kind.

It made me change my perspective on myself.

Before attending Girls State, I had extremely low self-esteem. I wasn’t confident in who I was, and I was embarrassed to be me. This program gave me a different environment to be in and it let me figure out who I wanted to be. After this week, I was a totally different person. I went into my senior year with confidence and sass. I joined more clubs, volunteered for more activities, danced without a care, and was just the best me I could be.

It gave me a way to make new friends every where I go.

It's amazing how many new friends I can make just by saying "oh yeah, I went to Girls State." At least once every week, I see a girl with the Girls State shirt on at Walmart or at the mall, and I have to fight the urge to run up to her with excitement and introduce myself, but honestly a lot of the times I can't hold it in and I go up to her anyway.

It gave me a deeper love for my country.

I remember when I attended Girls State as a citizen, and the DJ was playing music during the down time, otherwise known as convocation, and they played “God Bless the USA,” and then other country songs similar to it. I guess I never really listened to the songs, because all of a sudden I felt beyond proud to be an American. Seeing all of my newfound friends balling their eyes out because their dad or grandpa was in the army and it reminded them of that really changed my outlook on life. Ever since that week, I get so excited to talk about the great country we live in and will be the first to rock anything red, white, and blue.

It gave me a lifetime of memories and chants.

9 times out of 10, if we’re speaking, I’m probably annoying you because I will constantly say, “When I was at Girls State…” But it’s so true because I made the best memories of my life during this week. To this day, I feel like I’m cheating if I sit down to eat without chanting and dancing like a fool. When I see a boy from Boys State, the teenager in me wants to freak out and scream about it. (By the way, if you have never attended girls state, this one probably doesn’t make sense to you)

It showed me the importance of government.

I never even though about politics when I was in high school because it just seemed so irrelevant to me, but this week changed that. I know stuff about the voting process now, I know stuff about campaigning, and so much more. I also learned that nobody really knows how to pronounce the word “abstain.” I learned that our votes really do matter and that we shouldn’t take that for granted, because if we don’t vote then we don’t get what we want. Shout out to Cane Parish at LAGS2014 #neverforget

I could talk about Girls State for the rest of my life if someone let me, but I think I would run of characters in this article if I did that. Louisiana Girls State was the best week of my entire life, and I wouldn’t change it for anything. You make a lifetime of memories, learn valuable life lessons, and make lifelong friendships. I’m beyond blessed to have gotten to go, and even more blessed to have been invited back as a counselor for the last two years. Girls State is honestly my favorite time of the year, and I hope every high school junior gets the chance to experience this.