Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Taley plans to go back to Girls State as counselor

Gurdon High School student Destiny Talley gave a report on her Girls State activities for the summer to her sponsors at Rotary club Thursday.

Talley said, There were nearly a 1,000 girls in attendance at Harding University in Searcy from May 29 through June 3

"It was the 63rd Girls State session and I had a great time going. I also learned a lot," she said. "We talked about careers, which mine will be nursing."

Talley mentioned a political knowledge contest, blue vs. red. It was federalists vs. nationalists. She enjoyed the competition and said she got to know a lot of people who ran for office through Girls State.

"We had inauguration and voting offices, but we had to wear caps everywhere. When we had our contest, they let us take the caps off. We were tired of those caps and glad to be rid of them for a little while," she said.

"I got to be in the House of Representatives and went to the state capital."

"We voted on bills at the ctate capital. We also learned that the Star Spangled Banner has three verses."

Talley said they recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag nightly and retired the flag each time.

Each participant had a fictional county and city. Talley's was Balkman County and Nicholson City from Osceola. She said you had to get out and mingle to get votes. She did that and was elected City Clerk, plus she was one of six delegates to the county convention and on a committee.

Talley said every group made up two bills.

"We passed a bill to make an appropriation to the Arkansas Heritage Fund to preserve landmarks and tabled a bill that would have increased the salaries of teachers," she said.

"We also decided not to pass an Act to Protect the Health of Arkansas because of the restrictive nature of the bill and the fact many of us have family members who smoke."

Talley said the health act was just too restrictive for the girls to pass.

She said she plans to attend again next year and has signed up to be a counselor.

"Anyone can be a counselor, so I said I would," she said. "I learned so much and want to help out."

In addition to thanking the Rotarians for making her experience possible, she thanked the American Legion Auxiliary for having been a supporter of Girls State over the years.