Girls State: The Government of Tomorrow
Throughout the past three years, I have been a part of civic and government programs for high schoolers, including Next Generation Politics where I am a podcaster and co-Editor in Chief of this blog. Each endeavor has prompted me to grow as a student and as a citizen. Several months ago, I was chosen to participate in another exciting program from a pool of students at my school: New Jersey Girls State.
The purpose of Girls State is not only to engage students in government, but also to encourage them to see themselves as a necessary facet of that government. Throughout the program, each of the participants were urged to run for a position. Winning or losing the election was irrelevant to the experience. The emphasis was instead on running, a decision that required developing and thinking through a platform, how to present yourself as a candidate to the other girls, and how to address the city issue. This allowed each of us to consider ourselves as representatives of an idea rather than simply individuals.
I first found out about Girls State from my mom as a freshman, and after speaking to my guidance counselor, I was determined to be selected for the program two years later—spoiler alert: I succeeded! I was one of six delegates chosen from my school to attend the all-virtual Girls State program for New Jersey. The 280 delegates from all around the state were divided into two parties, Nationalist and Federalist, and eight cities, all named after various feminist icons throughout American history.
As the program began, I immediately launched myself into the immersive experience, deciding to run for the mayor of my town, Perkins. As part of the election process, there is first a primary election among the candidates for a position from one party, and then the winners of the primaries go to battle it out in the general election. Following this procedure, the first speech I gave as part of the Girls State was to be the Nationalist mayoral nominee for Perkins City, which was by no means an easy task.
Holding a program that is typically in-person in a completely online format is obviously challenging, especially when the premise of said program hinges upon interpersonal relations. Such was the case for Girls State—there was no traditional campaigning, no designing posters, and no shaking hands with voters for prospective candidates. Everything was conducted over a computer screen, which made running for office so much more difficult. Hence, gaining the trust and support of my party was the most important thing, and I was able to do that through my two-minute speech for mayor, being voted as the Perkins City mayoral candidate for the Nationalist party.
Then came the general election; not only did I have to speak to my party, but I had to speak to the entire “city” and convince them that I was the preferable candidate to the Federalist party nominee. By speaking about myself as a candidate and outlining my clear interest in politics as a career beyond this program, I demonstrated my abilities and dedication to the position. To my delight, I was voted in as mayor and then turned my attention to my next goal: making it to Girls Nation.
Girls State is a state program that feeds into a larger program: Girls Nation. From each Girls State program, two outstanding delegates are selected to represent their state as senators. These senators are then sent to Washington D.C. for a week—in person—in order to attend Girls Nation with 98 other girls, two from each state, to replicate the federal government and discuss bills that they write themselves. It’s an absolutely amazing opportunity, but that also means a lot of people vye for it.
The selection process for Girls Nation senators varies based on state, but for New Jersey, it was as follows: each of the eight cities vote on one Girls Nation nominee, then those eight nominees are voted on by the entire program to pick the top four, and the top four are then interviewed by the Girls State staff. Two are chosen to be senators and two are chosen to be alternates.
What’s special about running for Girls Nation is that you are not simply portraying yourself as a candidate, but you are also tasked with coming up with a federal bill idea and explaining why your bill is necessary. My bill idea was the New ERA. You may be familiar with the ERA, also known as the Equal Rights Amendment, which aimed to guarantee equal legal rights regardless of gender when it was proposed back in the 1970s. I believe that we are now in a new era, one which requires a New ERA, one that guarantees equal rights based on gender and sexual orientation. I was inspired by the recent Supreme court case that voted 9-0 that Catholic adoption centers could legally turn away same-sex couples, and disagreed with that ruling, believing that sexuality should not determine one’s ability to parent a child in need. Hence, my proposed bill was just that, the New ERA, and I filmed a video justifying my choice and demonstrating to my fellow Girls State delegates why I was fit to represent the state on a national level.
I am extremely grateful to have been chosen as a Girls Nation senator, and thankful to everyone that supported me.
What stood out to me about Girls State was not only the sheer caliber of young women there, each of whom were ambitious and hard-working, but also the amount of camaraderie we were able to form in such a short time. For a week-long program over Zoom, I was pleasantly surprised to form friendships with the other girls in my mock town, county, and state. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience that has opened my eyes to the world of government, as well as allowed me to interact with today’s girls and tomorrow’s leaders.
If you have any questions about Girls State or Girls Nation, feel free to contact me at inica.kotasthane@gmail.com! Stay tuned for an article about my experience at Girls Nation!
Inica Kotasthane is a rising senior from Watchung Hills Regional High School in Warren, New Jersey. She is the Co-Editor in Chief of the Next Generation Politics blog and a member of the Next Generation Politics Podcast Team. Kotasthane is the Editor in Chief of her school newspaper, The WHRHS Student Newspaper, and is passionate in speech and debate. She remains active in politics by co-chairing the Social Media Committee of her local League of Women Voters chapter and was in the Youth Leadership Program for her county. Kotasthane is passionate about community and social change and hopes to attend law school one day!