Each year, the American Legion sponsors a wonderful event that enables young men from all across Ohio to participate in one of the best leadership programs in the nation. Nearly 1,200 high school juniors are invited to attend the week long session (typically a week in June), at which they will become part of a challenging, character-building experience like nothing they have ever experienced. Hosted at the University of Miami in Oxford, Ohio, the students come together to turn the campus into a large-scale government simulation. Upon their arrival, the students are lodged in the various residence halls all over campus, with each residence hall having been divided into figurative ‘cities’ consisting of nearly 40 students each. Throughout the course of the week, the students will interact with participate in their own campaigning, elections, and simulated ‘work’ days in their respective jobs.

When I attended Buckeye Boys State as a delegate back in 2015 (my junior year of high school), I was nervous and didn’t know what to expect. However, upon leaving the program at the end of that incredible week, I knew that I was leaving as a changed person. I developed a confidence that I never knew I had, and for the first time I started to recognize what it really meant to be a leader in today’s society. While most kids left the program forever, I was one of a select few invited to return as a counselor. Out of ~1,200 of Ohio’s best and brightest young men, only eight of us were given such an opportunity to return and contribute our skills to the development of future generations of delegates. With this, I was able to serve as an Ohio Buckeye Boys State counselor this summer (it is an unpaid position), and it is something I plan on doing for many years to come.

As the counselor of Zulch City (named after a fallen WWII veteran and American Legion member), I was in charge of 43 students for a total of seven days (counselors were required to report to the program four days earlier in order to receive necessary training). For many of my kids, this was their first time being on their own away from their parents. I had a diverse group full of kids who came from all different kinds of ethnic, socioeconomic, and religious backgrounds. Though they didn’t know it yet, these kids would leave the program as brothers, and many would stay in touch for the rest of their lives.

To be frank, this was one of the most challenging experiences of my life. Each day, I would have to wake up at five in the morning to make sure that my kids were up and ready to leave for breakfast by 6:15 AM. From there, my day was packed with facilitating organized events and interacting with the students as they made the experience their own. After the evening ceremony (which usually ended at 10:00 PM), I would have to host a required ‘city’ meeting with my kids and then make sure everyone was in bed by 11:00 PM (counselors are required to submit their head accounts immediately after lights out). Even after such a long and stressful day, my night was only just beginning. At midnight, all of the counselors in each residence hall had to attend a ‘county meeting’ (all of the cities in one residence hall constitutes one county). These meetings would go on until 1:30 AM, but then I would also have to update my city’s bulletin board and prepare for the next day’s events. At the end of it all, I wouldn’t get to bed until at least 2:00 AM each night (that means three hours of sleep!).

Despite the stressful schedules and seemingly insurmountable level of fatigue, I started to learn what I was truly made of. Why would anyone voluntarily give up ten days of their summer to endure such a grueling test of integrity? Well, the answer is really quite simple: we believe in the program. As counselors, we recognize the valuable impact the program had on our own lives, and we are willing to do whatever it takes to give the same opportunity to other young, aspiring students (I guess this is similar to what it’s like during medical residencies when it is required to work an unimaginable number of hours per week). Through it all, the counseling staff becomes closely knit and lasting friendships are made. Together we are a brotherhood of  those who strive to make an impact in the lives of these young men, in the hopes that one day they too will do the same.