La Feria Represented at BOYS STATE

Story and photos submitted by Cindy Hinojosa

Five young men from La Feria High School recently had the incredible opportunity to attend Texas Boys State in Austin, Texas. Boys State is made up of almost 1000 young men who have just completed their junior year of high school. They are selected to attend Boy State by their local American Legion Post based on their leadership and character. They form the mythical state of Magnolia where they are divided up into groups of cities and counties. Delegates learn how state and local government and elections work by campaigning for one of the many offices on the state, county, or municipal level and then actually doing the work that their real-world counterpart would do. They work on bills in

their legislature and they work on economic development projects in their city, all the while competing against other delegates and cities. This “practical experience” will allow the delegates to leave Boys State with a real-world understanding of democracy, from campaigning for office to the many dynamics of state and local government.”

The following upcoming high school seniors, Christian Banos, Michael Clancy, Benjamin Facundo, Samuel Hinojosa, and Jesse Vega, would like to express their deepest gratitude to our local American Legion Post #439 for making this experience possible. The boys were housed at Jester Hall West on the campus of The University of Texas in Austin and they spent the entire week learning the political process. Throughout the week, they heard from various state dignitaries and members of state and federal law enforcements. On their last day, they marched down Congress Street for their final assignment at the Texas State Capital. There they participated in mock state legislative procedures where House Bills were presented, elected officials were

recognized, and they were honored by a motivational speech by The Governor of Texas, Rick Perry! “I felt really good being one of the thousand of the boys given the chance to see where Texas laws are created and passed,” said Clancy. Banos added, “I got a feeling of accomplishment from the week long process of the political debate that we went through

and it was a great feeling to end it at the State Capital.”

Aside from campaigning for many of the political offices, these young men also participated in sports including, 7 on 7 football, dodge ball, and basketball. Boys State also had a marching band where our very own state soloist, Benjamin Facundo, marched and had the chance to showcase his skill at the saxophone as he played on the steps of The State Capital! “It was a great experience to have gone to Boys State because it taught me leadership and the opportunity to make life-long friends,’ said Facundo.

We would also like to acknowledge that Jesse Vega was elected County Surveyor and Samuel Hinojosa was elected into The House of Representatives and also served as sub-committee chairman for the Social Issues Committee. Samuel wrote a Bill for the state’s drug policy that was approved to be brought forward to his fellow members of The House. “Boys State was a true learning experience and I consider myself lucky to have shared the amazing

experience with the other 1000+ people involved. I didn’t know what to expect of it upon my arrival, the motto was ‘Learn By Doing’ and that is exactly what we all did. The political process was very complex, but we picked it up very easily after the second day,” says Hinojosa.

All of these boys not only learned, but grew from this experience. They would also like to recognize and thank the members American Legion Post #439 of La Feria for their generous sponsorship and opportunity to now be members of this very prestigious alumnus.