Among the delegates and alternates from six Hays County high schools chosen by San Marcos American Legion Auxiliary Unit 144 for this summer’s Bluebonnet Girls State session are (left to right) Erin Wieser, Hays High School; Lindsey Yazbek, Hays High School; and Kacy Peterson of Lehman High School. Not pictured is Lehman delegate Tori Van Wart. The Hays and Lehman delegates will be among the 500 or so coeds attending the American Legion Auxiliary’s Bluebonnet Girls State program at Texas Lutheran University in June. (Photo by Pat Murdock)
STAFF REPORTS
Nine young women from six Hays County high schools have been selected to represent San Marcos American Legion Auxiliary Unit 144 at the 2012 session of Bluebonnet Girls State, scheduled for June 10-16 at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin.
The Hays County teens will be among some 500 girls who attend the American Legion Auxiliary government-in-action program. All participants will have just completed their junior year of high school.
Delegates chosen from San Marcos High School are Vaughn Houser, sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. John Navarrette, and Misty Williamson, sponsored by Frost Bank.
The delegate chosen from San Marcos Academy is Kayla Chandler. Her sponsor is San Marcos attorney Tom Gardner. Alternate for both San Marcos Academy and San Marcos High School is SMA student Jamilyn Patton.
The Hays High School delegate is Lindsey Yazbek of Kyle, sponsored by Texas Lehigh Cement. Selected as alternate for Hays High School is Erin Weiser, also a Kyle resident.
Delegate from Lehman High School is Tori Van Wart of Kyle, sponsored by Texas Lehigh Cement. Alternate from Lehman is Kacy N. Petersen, also from Kyle.
Delegates from Wimberley High School are Nicole Green and Katrina Spangenberg, sponsored by the Wimberley Lions Club, and Mackenzie Young, sponsored by Ingram Readymix. Hanna Vest, the delegate selected from the Katherine Anne Porter High School in Wimberley, is also sponsored by the Wimberley Lions Club. The alternate for both Wimberley schools is Sierra Hickman.
Margie Villalpando, Unit 144’s Girls State chairman, notes that the corporate, organizational and individual sponsors make it possible for the young ladies who represent San Marcos Unit 144 to participate in the Bluebonnet Girls State experience.
Texas Bluebonnet Girls State is a mythical 51st state where, for a week, participants organize their own city, county and state governments. They elect their own officials, learn the duties of the various government offices and introduce and debate their own bills in a mock legislature. The program concludes with a visit to the State Capitol to sightsee and meet state officials. The purpose of Girls State is to educate young women in the duties, privileges, rights and responsibilities of American citizenship.
San Marcos’ Unit 144 has compiled a pretty good success record for choosing Girls State delegates with four unit delegates elected governor or advancing to Girls Nation in the past 13 years. In 2008, Amber “Kera” Harmon of San Marcos, a senior at the Katherine Anne Porter School in Wimberley, was elected governor. Chelsea Bordovsky of Kyle, then a student at Jack C. Hays High School, was elected governor in 2004. San Marcos High School student Lauren Rogers was elected governor in 2000 and, in 1998, Hays graduate Jennifer Hall advanced to Girls Nation where she was elected vice president.
