Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Rotary Club Hears From Local Boys State Attendees

Members of the Gurdon Rotary Club were told of Boy's State in their weekly meeting, Thursday, June 19.

Three students from Gurdon High School attended Boy's State, Ryan Cox, Rusty Freeman and Marcus Wright. Wright was involved with the Upward Bound program and was unable to attend Rotary.

Freeman and Cox roomed together at Boy's State, held on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas at Conway. However, each was assigned to different political parties. Freeman was in the Nationalist Party, while Cox was a Federalist.

Cox said the organizers kept them busy for the entire week they were there, going to programs, hearing speeches and having group discussions.

The day began at Boy's State at 5 a.m., ending sometime around 11 p.m., the two said.

Each night a leadership discussion was held, with the attendees talking about the different way things are done, with some people leading by example and others being more vocal and acting as role models.

In all, they said there were some 900 boys from across Arkansas in attendance at Boy's State.

Cox and Freeman said they made several new friends and learned a lot about respecting others and not fighting.

They also learned how government works.