American Legion Auxiliary Flickertail Girls State

Girls State Board Members:

Amanda Dinger (Director)
Position open
Chulita Goodman
Lauren Hillebrand
Alicia Randall

Girls State Commitee:

Girls State Board
ALA Department President Gloria Covert
ALA Department Secretary Marcy Schmidt
ALA Department Treasurer Sonnie Otto

Hello everyone,

This year, American Legion Auxiliary Flickertail Girls State came with a lot of changes including me stepping into the role of Director and being in a new UND  building in Grand Forks where we set up our week-long operation. Even with all of the changes, Girls State week was a huge success.

On June 10 our staff arrived and settled in. The counselors hit the ground running with training and prepping for the week. On Sunday, the students arrived. It brings me great pleasure to announce that we had 63 girls in attendance for the entire week. On Sunday evening, the girls assembled poppies as a community service project and wrote thank you cards, participated in a flag retreat, and broke the ice within their ‘cities’ by electing mayors and other city officials.

Girls State Lt Gov

On June 12, the girls participated in a flag raising before heading over to take in a wonderful city government lecture before hopping into city functioning. This functioning included some city disasters to solve and working to get their cities back on their feet. Monday was also filled with both parties composing their platforms and making some amazing campaign posters. Monday evening was filled with learning how to run for office on the state level and getting an amazing skit on parliamentary procedure.

On June 13, the girls heard from some amazing women in government who encouraged them to not be afraid, find their voices, and speak up. The afternoon found the girls at Party Conventions in which they finalized their platforms and then filled their ballots for all the positions available at the state level. Tuesday night featured a pep rally and then campaign speeches by the candidates fighting for the backing of their party. After voting was completed the successful candidates would have two different opportunities to convince their fellow citizens to vote for them.

June 14 was county function day and additional candidate campaigning before a statewide election would occur. Wednesday evening we were honored to have Department Commander Dan Brown and Past Department Commander Steve Anderson in attendance as well as 2023 Boys State Governor Hayden, Boys State staff Garret, and many other members of the American Legion for our Legion night. Each city came up with skits that were performed that evening along with having our first-ever talent show.

June 15 found the girls working on state functions all day and voting in state elections. Taryn Romfo was elected 2023 Girls State Governor, Daci Wells, Lt. Governor, and Lauren Beck and Marjorie Rue were elected 2023 Girls Nation Senators.

Graduation on the 16th was the final occasion with Abby Redfearn being named the finalist for the Samsung scholarship. Finally, everyone said goodbye to new friends made during this intense week-long event.

The Girls State staff and I are extremely proud of all the Girls State attendees and everything they accomplished at the 2023 Girls State week. As a staff, we couldn’t be happier with how well the week went.

We want to thank you all for supporting this important educational program and we look forward to prepping for next year.

Amanda Dinger
Flickertail Girls State Director

2023 Year-End Report