Rockwood Students Gain Civics, Leadership Experience at Boys, Girls State Programs

Nearly 40 Rockwood School District students participated in a hands-on, weeklong experience of leadership, citizenship and democracy at the Missouri Boys State and Missouri Girls State programs. 

Missouri Boys State, sponsored by the American Legion, and Missouri Girls State, sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary, were both held at Lindenwood University from June 21-28.

Both programs, which have been held annually for more than 80 years in Missouri, are open to rising high school seniors who are chosen through an application and interview process. Candidates are evaluated for participation based on traits such as leadership abilities, interest in government, service to others and academics.

During the weeklong Boys State and Girls State sessions, participants utilize the democratic system as a basis to form their own state, teaching the value of public office, the strength of the individual voice and the importance of voting. Participants hear from notable speakers throughout the week and hold elections to choose representatives at the city, county and state level.

A total of 20 Rockwood students from all four district high schools participated in Boys State this year, and 18 Rockwood students from all four high schools participated in Girls State. Out of those 38 students, 17 earned election to a city or county office during their sessions and one -- Marquette High's Shreyas Iyer -- was elected state treasurer.

Here are the Rockwood students who participated, along with their elected positions:

Boys State

• Finley Abernathy, Lafayette
• Mateo Chapa Ponce, Lafayette (city municipal judge)
• Broderick Davenport, Rockwood Summit
• Rohan Deshpande, Marquette (city senator)
• Luke Deutschman, Eureka
• Zachary Diethelm, Lafayette
• James Drewes, Eureka
• Jeremy Engle, Rockwood Summit
• Kyle Floyd, Rockwood Summit
• Shreyas Iyer, Marquette (state treasurer)
• Gideon Kercher, Marquette
• Andres Moeller, Lafayette
• Connor Murray, Rockwood Summit
• Samuel Niblett, Lafayette (city treasurer)
• Asher Paramalingam, Lafayette (city treasurer)
• Krish Roy, Lafayette (city senator)
• Nathan Schwallie, Lafayette
• Noah Schweitzer, Marquette
• Bilal Sunasara, Marquette (city representative)
• Vidvath Venkataraman, Marquette (city representative)

Girls State

• Isabelle Albert, Lafayette (associate county commissioner)
• Harshitha Aravind, Marquette (city representative)
• Erin Canis, Marquette
• Claire Chrum, Eureka (city representative)
• Sarah Deluca, Rockwood Summit
• Emily Eldridge, Eureka
• Anjali Gottumukkala, Marquette
• Trevi Guest, Rockwood Summit
• Manaswini Gunturu, Marquette (city senator)
• Taylor Hemmann, Marquette
• Sarah Hou, Rockwood Summit
• Audrey McGhee, Marquette (city representative)
• Samantha Perz, Marquette (city representative)
• Mary Piercy, Lafayette (county presiding circuit judge)
• Ishita Shah, Marquette (city representative)
• Katherine Smith, Lafayette
• Pushpa Voleti, Lafayette (city representative)
• Hayden Vonder Haar, Rockwood Summit

Click here to learn more about Lafayette student Pushpa Voleti's Girls State experience, in her own words.