A SUCCESS STORY WISCONSIN AMERICAN LEGION

BADGER BOYS STATE Prepared By Russ Hanseter 2008

INCREASING PARTICIPATION

Strengths of the BBS Program • A Consistent starting date• Solid counselor & support staff• An involved BBS Board of Directors• Continuous Evaluation of the program• An excellent Citizenship program• A very good website• A fledgling Alumni Association• Supportive Posts and other sponsors• Attention to the 3 R’s of BBS• A realization that the only place where work

comes before success is in the dictionary

RH 2008

WISCONSINBADGER BOYS STATE 2008

2008 BADGER BOYS STATE 814 CITIZENS

135 SUPPORT STAFF

INCREASING ATTENDANCE IN 2008

• At the Boys State Directors Conference in October, Americanism Chairman Joe Caouette, addressed the movers and shakers of the various Boys State Programs. He began by reading Resolution #1 passed by the NEC, its title, “Expression of Concern in The Decline of Boys State Participation”. The resolution addressed the national organizations’ concern over the decline in overall number of participants. He asked that all in attendance make a special effort toward reversing the trend of decline in attendance.

• As Chairman of the Board of BBS I took that challenge back to the

Department Executive Committee and the BBS Board of Directors.

WHAT MUST WE DO TO SUCCESSFULLY REVERSE THE DECLINE?

• There are a number of “axioms” or self-evident truths as Webster would call them, that come into play here. As follows:

• The only place where “success” comes before “work” is in the dictionary.

• There is a lot of competition for the most gifted and talented of our high school juniors in summer programs.

• To attract these “best of the best” we must have the best program possible it must mean something to have attended the Boys State Program therefore, we must be the “best we can be”.

• Excellence is the result of caring more than others think wise, risking more than others think safe, dreaming more than others think is practical, and expecting more than others think is possible. Excellence is not a destination it is a journey.

• As a Director and now as Chairman of the Board of BBS I have always said; “Don’t bring me a problem without at least one solution”. So what are the solutions?

GETTING THE WORD OUT

• The problem was clear the declining numbers. The solution would take several pathways to achieve.

• I In January I reported to the Department Executive Committee the concerns of the National Organization and presented a Resolution adopted by the DEC to encourage Posts to make every effort to increase participation at BBS in 2008. I prepared a resolution for the Department Executive Committee to put there support behind the program.

• II In February I submitted an article to the Badger Legionnaire titled “Badger Boys State 2008 session can be a year of increasing numbers” , an article aimed at Legionnaires. I pointed out that some Posts were not filling their quota and that those that have been filling their quota and would like to increase their number could do so.

• The question was would reservations, the commitment by sponsors to pay for a boy to attend, go up? • What did we need to do to make sure reservations became registrations which are the commitment by a

boy to attend the upcoming session? • And, what impact would requests for refunds have on the budget and how could we avoid them?

• Again the solution was to approach the problem on several fronts. Legion leadership, our sponsors, the schools, our Post contacts, and a direct appeal to our legionnaires to become involved. These individuals or groups and the Reservation, Registration, and Refund process would all be our targets. We needed to pay special attention to the three R’s of the BBS program.

GETTING THE WORD OUT ON THE UPCOMING SESSION

• In December letters were sent to schools announcing and explaining the up-coming session along with BBS informational brochure. (Tri-fold Pamphlet)

• Also a mailing goes to all Posts and sponsors. The letter explains sponsorship, includes a BBS business card, BBS informational brochure, a copy of the school letter and includes a reservation card.

• Some reservations cards, which are the commitment by Posts and sponsors to pay for a high school junior to attend, begin coming in immediately.

• Once a reservation is in a Registration card is sent out for each reservation paid for. This goes to Posts and sponsors who then deliver them to the schools. The school now knows how many boys can be selected. Some Posts have more involvement than others however, all work through the schools. The boys then must send in their registration and medical information to our office secretary before receiving final information.

THE CHALLENGE BEGINS• Once the BBS secretary begins to receive registrations of high school juniors from around the state they

must be assigned a registration number, assigned to a dorm and numbers balanced to even out the 27 cities in the eight BBS county’s.

• An informational brochure and other important information is sent to each young man registered and “Orientation Sessions” are posted on our website.

• At some point we need to become concerned about a lack of return of registration cards. We have a March 31 cutoff for full refund for sponsors unable to fill their reservation quota. As of March 31, 2008 we had 14 requests for refunds. Calls were made to all of these to see if they could get an alternate or whether they would sponsor a junior from some other school district. The final request for refunds was reduced to six of the fourteen originally requested. Also by following up on reservations without registrations we were able to cut back on unfilled slots.

• We had 862 reservations paid*, six refunds reduced the numbers to 858. We had 814 citizens on Sunday June 15, the second day of the program. There were 21 registered citizens that did not show up for the program and each of these were contacted as to whether they were in fact going to attend. Only one had notified the sponsor that they would not be attending, nine said they had decided not to attend, and one was unable to attend for undisclosed reasons, one guardian knew nothing about the commitment to attend, and the other nine could not be reached or would not return a message left on an answering machine.

• That unfortunately left 21 unfilled slots for the session. There were another seven other sponsors that requested late refunds leaving eight reservations unaccounted for that may have been recorded twice.

• *Deposits show 857 paid reservations not 862.

THE KEY TO INCREASING OUR NUMBERS

• Director Duckworth, the BBS secretary Jill, Fred Berns a member of the Board and member of our on-site legal team and myself as Board Chairman made calls to those Posts and sponsors that were not getting there registrations in.

• In some cases they were intending to get a refund or partial refund or just lose their reservation fee. There were several that agreed to sponsor a boy from another school when asked. That is a question that will appear on future reservation cards with a check-off.

• With considerable effort using the phone the number of registrations improved and our attendance went from 772 in 2007 to 814 in 2008. If it weren’t for the “no-shows” where we had no inkling they weren’t coming we would have had a 8.5% increase over last year.

WHAT IS OUR CAPACITY?

• BBS signs a three year contract with Ripon College. They agree to provide accommodations including room, board, educational and recreational facilities, and parking facilities as required. The contract covers a ten day agreement period and agrees to accommodate up to 980 Boys State citizens, counselors and administrative staff members. We have about 135 staff on-site of which about 100+ are housed on campus.

• We operate very close to capacity with 862 reservations and with 100 staff on campus we would be at about 99% of maximum capacity. Our numbers must be managed very carefully.

KEYS TO SUCCESS- OUR WEBSITE

• Our website was one of the earliest established and has been used as a model by other Boys State programs. It is I believe the best and most economical way of spreading the message on your program. The orientation paints a true picture of the overall program and the pictures of the previous session show their classmates involved in the previous years program. At orientations, parents are told they can follow the week long session with daily pictures and election results.

• We have also opened the doors and welcomed sponsors, parents, and legionnaires to attend our evening assemblies including the Thursday Inaugural ceremonies with the BBS Band and Chorus performing, with distinguished guests such as State of Wisconsin Lt Governor, State Supreme Court Judge swearing in BBS State officers, the Adjutant General of the Wisconsin National Guard leading the inaugural parade, and by inviting veterans and other visitors to our Friday evenings Veteran’s salute. Both events are not soon forgotten.

COUNSELORS &SUPPORT STAFF

• We have 65 counselors on staff for eight counties and 27 cities and everyone has passed through the Boys State Program and eight past Boys Nation participants serve as counselors or assistants. We have a Counselor Recruitment Team made up of Dr. David Schuler a school administrator, Rev. Thomas Skrenes a Lutheran Bishop, and Dr. Mark Matosian an Administrative Counselor in the School of Business at U.W. Madison. Last year they had 140 applications to fill ten counselor staff openings.

• Legionnaires make up most of the support staff including eleven Past Department Commander’s and eight of those serve on the Board of Directors.

• The college athletic coaches and staff help run our sports activity program.

• The program features motivational speakers and public officials from city, county, state, and national elective and appointed offices. With Schools of Instruction in Law, Public Speaking, Parliamentary Procedure, Ecology, Lobbying Techniques, Leadership, and Peace Officers School. We have Catholic, Protestant, Wisconsin Synod, Jewish Services, a non-denominational service and a special discussion option on Sunday. We have a choice of seven different political seminars including Principles of Persuasion, Party Organization Techniques, Campaign Strategies, Current Political Issues, Legislative Process & Techniques, Lobbying: The Politics of Pressure Groups, and Public Relations Techniques. Candidate schools are also held for all potential office holders.

• We evaluate and consider new offerings or changes at the conclusion of every session to be considered by the Board of Directors.

SURVEYS CAN MEASURE YOUR SUCCESS

• What the citizens take back home from their Boys State experience is an important component of success to our program as anything we can do.

SURVEY RESULTS- An agent for change

• The Annual Citizens Survey provides valuable feedback to Board• Summary of Favorable Ratings:• Orientations & Mailings Prior to BBS 61%• BBS Platforms added to the BBS session 52%• BBS Manual was useful 94%• BBS Manual was easy to follow 92%• Displays of Patriotism added to the BBS experience 88%• Allotted time for recreation should be reduced 6%• Schools of Instruction useful for BBS experience 81%• Rate Schools on 0 to 7 scale helpful by course• Public Speaking 5.90• Leadership 5.86• Parliamentary Procedure 5.84• Law School 5.44• Peace Officers School 5.36• Ecology 5.04• Lobbying Techniques 4.95• Above provided information useful after BBS 87%• Availability of City Counselors 96%• City Counselors took personal interest 97%• County Counselor effective in explaining program 87%• County Counselor was available when needed 66%• Now have a better understanding of State Gov. 95%• A better understanding of the Political Process 96%• Meeting new people 94%• Experience increased confidence in public speaking 87%• Difficult to keep up with the pace of BBS 64%• Will be more involved in my community as result BBS 82%• Assemblies were an important part of program 87%• The Band was an asset to program 89%• The Chorus was an asset to the program 67%• The Color Guard was an asset to the program 86%• The Bugle Citizen was an asset to the program 86%• The variety of food was adequate 41%• The quality of food was adequate 36%• Overall I had a great time at BBS 94%• Will recommend program to others 96%• The above was taken from a survey in 2005 and was useful in having the college food service make some very positive changes. The 2008

survey is not yet complete. I want to thank Rob Reff PHD a City Counselor for his expertise and dedication to improving the overall program. RH

CATALYSTS, SYNERGISM, & STEWARDSHIP

• In my closing message I included the following in summary; Enzymes are catalysts in living systems when present good things happen. They are not used in the reaction and can be used over and over again. I asked that they become catalysts in their schools and communities. To make good things happen.

• I talked about how Synergism refers to any combination of actions in which the result is more than that which would be attained if the actions were entirely independent of each other. In other words the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I asked that they used the principal of synergism and as a 67th class of BBS they would achieve great things.

• I closed with stewardship, and it could be best expressed with the example of a shepherd who cares for his flock, just as we are all stewards of the land. I told them that they were a pivotal generation in the preservation of our environment and of the American way of life. Now that these citizens of BBS have discovered that they can make a difference it is now their obligation to make a difference. They are to be stewards of the American way of life and of our environment. As they stay in contact, as they work together as a member of the 67th session, they would accomplish more than they can do individually.

• Their eyes are “bright with the future” and they will make a difference. Russ Hanseter Chr. of Bd BBS Inc.

A Letter to a Veteran written by a citizen of Badger Boys State

Dear Friend,I would like to start out by telling you why I am writing to you. I am 17 years old and just

completed my junior year in high school. I was chosen as one of three students in my class to attend Badger Boys State. This program is a week long and is held at Ripon College in Ripon, Wisconsin. Over 850 students from Wisconsin come here and we are separated into dorms which are our “counties” and each county has certain rooms that represent “cities”. As a whole, we represent “the 51st state” or Badger Boys State. We hold elections for government positions at each of the levels, city, county, and state. Throughout the week meetings are held at all three levels and different laws can be passed and amended. It is really a great experience for everyone involved. We have grown very close as friends. I will walk away from this experience with lasting friendships and knowledge that can’t be taught in schools.

• This is relevant because this entire thing is sponsored by the American Legion and almost everyone attending is here because their local Legion post paid their entire cost. There are dozens of veterans here who have had the opportunity to share their stories with us and I have really taken it to heart. My grandfather was a veteran from the Korean War and is a nineteen year volunteer at BBS. It is mostly due to him that I am here because he has been pushing me to do it my entire life and he is an active member in the post that has sponsored me to be here. I have considered joining the Armed Forces after this week of being here because I have seen first-hand what importance it has on a community and the things these men have done for everyone is amazing.

• Now I would love the opportunity to thank you. It is people like you that help defend our country at your own expense that makes it what it is today. I am sure that you do already, but I hope you understand how thankful I, and all the other boys/men here at Badger Boys State are to have you fighting for us.

• If you wish to write me back you may, but please know it is entirely up to you and I will not be disappointed if a response doesn’t come my way. My contact information is as follows:

Tommy Grelecki211 Stoneridge LnSeymour, Wisconsin 54165 or tgrelecki@gmail.com

• Sincerely,Tommy Grelecki

TESTIMONY TO SUCCESS

SUMMARY

• The BBS program is continually monitored, evaluated, and changed to provide the best experience that we can. The survey by Robb Reff covers the entire scope of our program and because they do not identify themselves is as true a measure of our program as we can achieve. It has proven to be a tremendous asset to our program as we strive toward excellence.

• Our counselor staff with a mix of experience and fresh input of junior counselors each year continues to hone their skills needed to make the Boys State experience the “best that it can be”. Imagine 140 applications for 14 openings. We continue to attract our Boys Nation Senators to return with eight on staff last year, many returning after attending graduate programs around the country. With eight attorneys volunteering and nine PDC’s working in the program working wherever they can show dedication to the program makes it strong.

• And, “There eyes are bright with the Future”.

• Thanks for listening! RH 2008