WILMINGTON — Wilmington AM Rotary recently welcomed WHS senior Seth Murdock, who spoke about his experience at American Legion Buckeye Boys State.
The club sponsored Seth for the June 11-18 event, which was held for the first time at Miami University as Miami hosted nearly 1,200 young men from across the state.
American Legion Buckeye Boys State is an eight-day hands-on experience in the operation of the democratic form of government, the organization of political parties, and the relationship of one to the other in shaping Ohio government. Participants learn about city, county and state government through a non-partisan objective education approach.
Seth was elected by his peers to be the Majority Leader for the House of Representatives.
“One of the many lessons that I learned at Boys State was to be prepared,” he said. “Every position at Boys State is voted on by the Boys State delegates and since none of us had any prior affiliation with one another, it was basically whoever had the best speech got the position.”
Being a musician allowed him the opportunity to participate in the Boys State Band where he was the primary snare drummer for the ensemble. He performed the cadence for the daily march of the flag bearers.
When asked to do this, Seth said of the opportunity, “I immediately said yes without remembering that I would be playing in front of over 1,000 people by myself. I not only ended up playing at the beginning of the nightly meeting but also at the end alongside one of my fellow classmates here at the high school, Alex Totten.”
He said he and other participants really appreciated the entire week-long experience.
“One of my friends that attended Boys State texted me that same night and told me that this program was the closest feeling to a family that he has had in years,” said Seth.
He thanked the AM Rotary for its support. “I wish them all the best of luck in the future as they allow more young men to have the opportunity to go to Buckeye Boys State and I hope that they all enjoy and take away from it just as much as I did.”
