2010 Boys’ State and Girls’ State Winds Down

June 18th, 2010

With only closing ceremonies remaining, it is time to relfect back on a great week at Stonehill College. There are over 50 videos and video clips on our YouTube page that were posted this week….everything from our special guests Governor Deval Patrick, Attorney General Martha Coakley, Judge William Young and more, to some one-on-one conversations with Boys’ Staters and counselors that illustrate just how special this week really is. We hope that parents, alumni, 2010 Boy’s Staters, and future Boys’ Staters find them information…please let us know what you think by posting a comment!

We also have more footage that has not been posted yet (including the Boys’ State Band), so please check back as we continue to upload over the next week or two.

Here’s a link to you YouTube page, and small sampling of some of the videos that have been posted:

Boys’ State YouTube Page


 


 




Governor Deval Patrick Addresses Boys’ State on Inauguration Night

June 17th, 2010

The Governor of the Commonwealth was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to address Boys’ State on Inauguration Night. Thank you for joining us and sharing your words of encouragement Gov. Patrick!

Governor Deval Patrick, part 1 of 2:

 

Governor Deval Patrick, part 2 of 2:

Oath of Office at Massachusetts Boys’ State

June 17th, 2010

Pomp and circumstance was the theme of the evening last night as the state-wide election winners were sworn in on Inauguration Night. We were especially privileged to have the Honorable William J. Young of the United States District Court in Boston preside over the swearing in ceremony.

Judge Young has had a lengthy and very distringuished career in public service, starting when he served as a captain in the United States Army from 1962 until 1964. He attended Harvard College and Harvard Law School. Judge Young has worked in the legal field since 1967, and he was a Massachusetts Superior Court Judge before being appointed to the federal judiciary by President Reagan in 1985.

Perhaps the most well-known of Judge Young’s criminal cases was the 2002/03 trial of Richard Reid, known also as the “shoe bomber”. At Reid’s sentencing, Judge Young delivered what has become a rather famous statement which has been widely disseminated on the internet; there are many places to find/read it, including Wikipedia at this link:

Richard Reid Sentencing Statement

Judge Young was eloquently introduced by Eric Christofferson, who was elected Governor when he attended Boys’ State in 1993 and has been a member of the Boys’ State counselor staff ever since. Eric is now an accomplished attorney in Boston. After graduating from law school in 2002, Eric clerked for Judge Young and was in the courtroom when Reid’s sentence was imposed.

INTRODUCTION:

 

SOME WORDS FROM JUDGE YOUNG:

SWEARING IN CEREMONY:

And the winners are…

June 16th, 2010

Congratulations to all the winners in today’s general election!

Auditor: Jordan Ruttenberg (Federalist)

Treasurer: Philip Allison (Federalist)

Secretary of State: Dominic Ferrante (Federalist)

Attorney General: Noel Corbin (Nationalist)

Governor / Lt. Governor (elected as a ticket): Padraig O’Brien / Brendan Pozsgai (Nationalists) 

US Sentators: John Geiger (Federalist) and Sam Richman (Nationalist)

Senators Geiger and Richman will have the honor of representing Massachusetts at Boys’ Nation in Washington, DC this July.

All the candidates deserve a tremendous amount of credit for running great campaigns.  Several of these offices were decided by only a handful of votes!

Speeches from Candidate’s Forum

June 16th, 2010

Here are the speeches from Candidate’s Forum held Tuesday evening.  You can also see them on our YouTube page.

SPECIAL THANK YOU TO JARED BOWEN of WGBH-TV, A MEMBER OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BOYS’ STATE CLASS OF 1993, FOR PRESIDING OVER THIS FORUM.

AUDITOR:

 

TREASURER:

 

SECRETARY OF STATE:

 

ATTORNEY GENERAL:

 

LT. GOVERNOR:

 

NATIONALIST CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR:

 

FEDERALIST CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR:

 

Q&A WITH GOVERNOR CANDIDATES:

SENATOR CANDIDATE 1:

SENATOR CANDIDATE 2:

Q&A WITH SENATOR CANDIDATES 1 & 2:

SENATOR CANDIDATE 3:

SENATOR CANDIDATE 4:

Q&A WITH SENATOR CANDIDATES 3 & 4:

Candidates Forum was a Rousing Success!

June 16th, 2010

Last night (Tues, 6/15) was the Candidates Forum.  This is typically a very high energy evening as the final candidates from the Nationalists and the Federalists get their first chance to address all the citizens of Boys’ State together in an effort to cross party lines and win votes.  We saw some terrific speeches and the audience was very enthusiastic in support of the candidates. We do have video of all the speeches and will post them here just as soon as they can be uploaded to our YouTube page.

Voting took place this morning just a few minutes ago and the results are being tabulated now, so stay tuned for the announcement of the winners! 

BRIT TV makes its debut

June 15th, 2010

Couselor Brittney Bedard, with the help of several Boys’ Staters, launches the nightly Boy’s State webcast show, BRIT TV…

Federalists Debate Their Platform

June 15th, 2010

Members of the Federalist Party showed a great deal of poise, thoughtfulness, and respect when all 200 of them debated each plank of thier proposed pltform over the last two days.  Below is an example of the high level of the discourse from the debate on the healthcare plank…

PART 1:

 

PART 2:

PART 3:

Creating a political party from scratch

June 15th, 2010

We ask a lot of the boys this week, and one of the more important tasks is creating a platform for each of the two parties that they are randomly and equally assigned to upon arrival, known as Federalists and Nationalists. Starting on Sunday, the members of each party hold Party Convention meetings each day. One of the first tasks is to determine leadership of the party, which starts by electing a State Committeeman from each Boys’ State city and town. The State Committeemen then select a chairman and secretary from among their ranks, as well as a platform committee and a rules & steering committee. These boys are then charged with running the party meetings, determining the rules for debate, and developing a proposed platform for the party based on input from the boys that they represent. This is a lot ot absorb in a short period of time, and the boys have done a great job of jumping in and making it happen.

The videos below show the results of this process, as of Monday evening, in the Federalist party. Chairman of the party, Jim Hamilton who hails from South Easton and the Boys’s State town of T-3, leads his party through the proposed issue-based planks, resolutions and legislation for the party to include in the platform. 

PROPOSED ISSUE PLANKS – FEDERALIST PARTY:

 

PROPOED RESOLUTIONS – FEDERALIST PARTY:

PROPOSED LEGISLATION – FEDERALIST PARTY:

The next step is to debate each of the planks and adopt the final language for the platform which the candidates for office with then run on, stayed tuned for some video of the debate on the healthcare plank coming soon…

Rashaun Martin, Boys’ State 1996

June 15th, 2010

Rashaun Martin, Boys’ State 1996, addressed the Boys’/Girls’ State Convocation on Sunday evening and shared his remarkable story of success through perseverence and hard work.

PART 1:

 

PART 2: