Edmunds County Tribune -

The 73rd Annual American Legion Auxiliary South Dakota Girls State is planned May 27 through June 1, 2019 at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.

IHS students Tessa Kilber, Jayna Sanborn, Lexi Stafford and Avery Sylte will attend. They are sponsored by the Ipswich American Legion and Auxiliary and the Ipswich Commercial Club.

The American Legion Auxiliary's (ALA) Girls State program was first presented in 1937. ALA South Dakota Girls State was founded at Mitchell in 1947. From an enrollment of 117 girls in 1947, ALA Girls State has grown to its present enrollment of over 400 girls.

Each summer, approximately 16,000 young women participate in weeklong ALA Girls State programs across the nation. Every Girls State program operates with the same values through a nonpartisan curriculum where students assume the roles of government leaders, campaigning in mock parties (often called "Federalists" and "Nationalists") to become mayors, county and state officials of their ALA Girls State.

Participants were selected by local posts following recommendations by school officials.

The American Legion Department of South Dakota reports that high school boys from across the state of South Dakota will be arriving in Aberdeen on Monday, May 27, 2019, as the 77th annual session of the South Dakota American Legion Boys State will convene on the campus of Northern State University. The program will conclude Friday, May 31.

Over 250 high school students who have just completed their junior year, will arrive on the NSU campus on May 27 for registration and the opening of the American Legion Boys State in South Dakota.

No local boys chose to participate this year.