Natalie Blair, a senior at Lehighton Area High School, spent a week this summer learning the ins and outs of how the local, county, and state governments work. Blair was selected to attend Keystone Girls State, held June 16 to 21, at Shippensburg University.

The Shoemaker-Haydt Post 314 Auxiliary, Lehighton, was her sponsor.

Blair shared her experiences with the Legion Auxiliary at a meeting last night.

The American Legion and the American Legion Auxiliary host an annual event called ALA Girls State.

The purpose is to education young women in the duties, privileges and responsibilities of citizenship; to give them an opportunity to learn just how the government works; and to instill a deep sense of the personal responsibilities and obligations which this citizenship entails.

Each of the 50 states holds an event, with some selected to move on to Girls Nation, a national level program.

During the weeklong event, students learned firsthand how a government operates by creating their own mock government. They first formed cities, which were usually the hallways, and learned how to run for office and be elected.

“We were able to be elected to government positions for our cities and counties,” Blair explained. “We had a mock house and a mock senate. Then someone runs for state offices and someone is elected governor and lieutenant governor.”

During the procedures, Blair was elected to the Department of Homeland Security for her city, which was called Greiman City.

She was also elected County Commissioner for Red County. Then she was elected Speaker of the House for the state.

Blair recounted how students, when walking to other buildings, had to come up with chants that would help keep their city spirits high. They had to compose songs about their cities and then perform them at a talent show.

“We got to learn about how a government actually operates. We see how sometimes how difficult it is to get elected to a position, we had to publicly speak in front of 50 or 100 people. I learned how difficult it is to get bills passed like in the house. I was speaker of the house, and found it was very difficult to operate a room of 100 or 150 people, especially people we don’t know very well.”

Students had a chance to visit the real state capitol in Harrisburg. One of the representative spoke with them and shared how he went about getting elected to his position. Students also toured some of the rooms inside the Capitol.

“It was a wonderful experience. I learned a lot, made a lot of friends. It was weird at first, staying with a lot of people I didn’t know; but, we quickly learned about each other and were able to get along really well.”

Natalie Blair lives in Lehighton with her parents, Terry and Nadine Blair, and her brother, Thomas. She worked as a lifeguard at Baer Memorial Swimming Pool, Lehighton, and is a pianist and choir director at St. John’s UCC, Mahoning Valley.

She plays clarinet with the Lehighton High School Tribe Band, and is an active volunteer at St. Luke’s Carbon Hospital.