Weisenburger represents Montana at Boys Nation

SEELEY LAKE - Each year, 100 boys are selected to represent their home state at Boys Nation in Washington D.C. This year, Seeley-Swan High School student Sam Weisenburger represented Montana.

Weisenburger was chosen to represent his home state after his performance at Boys State this past spring. He was accompanied at Boys Nation by Thomas Henley of Helena.

Boys and Girls State offers high school juniors a hands-on opportunity to learn how the government operates by attending a six-day session where the student delegates write bills and work to pass them through legislative bodies.

Each state, excluding Hawaii and including the District of Columbia, are represented at Boys Nation. The boys are picked based on their performance at Boys State.

"These are all the best of the best, every kid who got selected for Boys Nation was at the top of their game," said Weisenburger. "It's really tough competition and there are really gifted kids there and I was just honored to just be there and meet these great people."

At Boys Nation, Weisenburger was named Secretary of State. He also wrote a bill modeled after a land parcel bill that failed during this past legislative session. According to Weisenburger, his bill was one of the few that successfully made it through the senate proceedings at Boys Nation, and was likely one of the only bills that concerned land management. He dubbed it the Land Transfer Act and would allow the state to make transfers of land through the Department of Interior.

"When I wrote my bill I wanted to represent Montana," said Weisenburger about his decision to focus his bill on land parcels. "State and Federal, lands in general are a really big issue here."

Weisenburger was given the opportunity to explore Washington D.C. during his time at Boys Nation. He was also able to meet Senator Steve Daines, Senator Jon Tester and Representative Greg Gianforte.

Overall, he said his favorite part of the experience was meeting new people. Each participant is given pins in the shape of their home state and can be exchanged throughout the week. By the time Weisenburger arrived back to Montana, he had accumulated nearly 35 pins.

"[Boys Nation] changed my life forever," said Weisenburger. "You have to learn not to just lead but how to follow. That kind of hit me hard at first but I realized that in a lot of situations it's much more important that you're not out up front. It's about supporting people."

He wants to help spread the word about Boys and Girls State with more students at SSHS.

"It's something everyone should have the opportunity to do," said Weisenburger.

For more information on how to be a part of Boys State, contact Montana Boys State Director Greg Phole at 855-0056, or visit http://www.mtlegion.org/department/boys-state.html