Youth Attends American Legion Boys State

Korbyn Skubinna, a junior at Whitewater High School, attended the annual American Legion Boys' State held in Helena, Montana. The six-day adventure was founded in 1935 and is still active today.

The purpose of Boys' State is to teach juniors in high school the fundamentals of government, from city, county and state. This year the young men converged in Helena beginning on Sunday, June 16, and closed the session on Saturday, the 22nd.

Over the years, local American Legion Posts have sent one, two, three, four, and as many as five delegates to this educational opportunity. Last year, Bradley Brown of Dodson, a student at Malta High School, attended and represented American Legion Post 57 for Malta; it had been years since there was anyone interested in attending.

At the same time, American Legion Girls' State is ongoing, as well. This is the first year the two ventures have been run together and the response was overwhelming. No girls from the local American Legion from Unit 2, which includes Malta, Chinook, Havre, Turner and Big Sandy attended.

Skubinna spoke at the local American Legion meeting on Tuesday, July 16th. Students who are juniors this fall were encouraged and invited to come listen to his presentation. The local Unit would like to send several youths to this opportunity of a lifetime.

The trip is paid for by the American Legion, and no one has ever regretted taking time to better themselves. It is an opportunity that only is offered at the end of the junior year in high school; it is open to those attending the schools in the county as well as home-school students. Ken Wiederrick is Chairman of the Boys' State program and would welcome the opportunity to discuss and share the program with students and parents.

From those attending, delegates are selected to attend Boys' Nation, held in Washington, DC.

Korbyn is the son of Paul and Sarah (Dunbar) Skubinna; his mother was a Girls' State delegate when she was a junior.