Where Leadership Meets Belonging For Young Women

A week can change the way a young woman sees herself. From the floor of the American Legion Midwinter Conference, we sit down with Magnolia Girls State director Abby Burris and past department president Angela Kilcreese to unpack how a hands-on mock government turns rising seniors into confident leaders, sharp communicators, and informed citizens. They share what truly matters in a delegate—initiative, service, and the courage to try—while challenging schools and parents to look beyond the usual picks and elevate students who bring grit and heart.

We walk through the nuts and bolts that make the transformation possible: statewide in-person orientations for families, a professional dress code that sets the tone, secure dorms at Ole Miss, and a clear medical plan that prioritizes safety. You’ll get concrete guidance on applying, sponsorships, early-bird pricing of 275 dollars before April 1 (300 dollars after), and the April 20 capacity cutoff. Abby and Angela offer practical packing tips—yes to mattress toppers and snacks, no to big electronics—and explain why late afternoons fuel both debate and the need for a fridge in the room.

Beyond logistics, this story is about belonging and visibility. Delegates meet peers from the Coast to the Delta, build friendships that last into college, and experience the supportive force of the American Legion and Auxiliary. Thursday Auxiliary Night brings sponsors and students together, highlighting programs like poppies and VA&R while modeling etiquette and civic pride. If you’ve wondered how to boost college readiness, public speaking, and real leadership skills in a single week, this is your playbook—complete with selection insights, safety details, and an invitation to step forward. Ready to help a junior apply or sponsor a seat at Magnolia Girls State? Subscribe, share this episode, and leave a review with the one question you still want answered.

Transcript

Welcome From The Midwinter Conference

Jerry Allhands 0:02

This is the Veterans Stand Off Podcast. I'm your host, Jerry Allhands, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Army. On each episode, we will visit with veterans and hear their stories and experiences. This week, we recently attended the American Legion Department of Mississippi's Midwinter Conference in Camp Shelby, Mississippi. Alright, we are at the Midwinter Conference for the American Legion at uh historic Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg, Mississippi. If you haven't been here, I encourage you to come and check out the Armed Forces Museum and the grounds here. The military police will let you on the post. I guarantee it, but they may not let you off the post if you don't behave yourself, Abby.

Abby Burris 0:41

So I'm gonna get kicked off. They didn't even drove on here. I just drove over here, got lost. Took me 30 minutes to get here. Because my map don't work.

Jerry Allhands 0:53

No, it doesn't. GPS does not work on this post.

Angela Kilcrease 0:55

Well, did you say map or map?

Abby Burris 0:58

Either one, I don't know.

Meet The Magnolia Girls State Leaders

Jerry Allhands 1:00

We're talking today. Talking today with Abby Burris, who is the is it titles the director? Is that right?

Angela Kilcrease 1:07

She's now the new director.

Jerry Allhands 1:08

The new director of Magnolia State Girls State program. And along with her is past department president Angela Kilcreese. Did I get that right for a change?

Abby Burris 1:18

Yes, she's. And I also squirreled her in to being my assistant director. Yes.

Jerry Allhands 1:22

Oh.

Angela Kilcrease 1:23

No, I've been with this group since 87 doing girls state.

Jerry Allhands 1:27

Mercy.

Angela Kilcrease 1:28

I kept retire. I keep trying to retire. No, you're not retiring. She can retire when I'm done.

Jerry Allhands 1:33

Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope.

Angela Kilcrease 1:34

There we go.

Jerry Allhands 1:35

Y'all both can be around here for a long, long time. Oh, heaven help us. Let's talk about Girl State today. It's coming up in uh May. End of May? First of June.

Abby Burris 1:44

June 7th through the 12th.

What Girls State Is And Why It Matters

Jerry Allhands 1:46

Okay. Girl State, for those who may not be aware of it and they're listening to our show today for the first time. What is Girl State?

Angela Kilcrease 1:54

Girl State is a leadership program for young ladies who are leaving the junior year into the 12th year. We use, of like Boys State, we use our state form of government as our leadership tool. And they come for an intensive week of doing all levels of state government from county, city, county, and state with some judicial thrown in there for the mix. And they go through the process and they learn to uh believe in themselves and put themselves out there and get a little um self-confidence and we hope learn some leadership skills to carry them through to their senior year.

Abby Burris 2:36

If I was to give you a five-second spill, life-changing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, that's only one week, all about government, all about leadership.

Angela Kilcrease 2:44

Seven seconds.

Abby Burris 2:45

Seven seconds. I'm glad you timed that.

Angela Kilcrease 2:47

She's gotta tell you she's not good with math.

Abby Burris 2:50

I have a master's degree in engineering, and you would think I could figure out math.

Jerry Allhands 2:56

What um what are you looking for in a delegate for girls state?

Who Gets Selected And What We Seek

Abby Burris 3:00

Uh, we're looking for the best of the best. We always are. We're looking for somebody interested in government. Maybe not. We've had people not interested in government come have a great time and learn about government because government affects all of us, and so you get to learn it on that level. Very I say dumbed down, but very on your level right in front of you, and you get to learn about it.

Angela Kilcrease 3:22

Well, and it helps with the citizenship too, because a lot of them don't know anything about state government um on any level, and they're not involved in government, they don't vote yet, but most of them. So this just just an introduction to them, and they get to hear speakers from from our from our legislature or from the the uh top eight officers in in the state or whatever, and they get this exposure, but it's not really even about the government, it's it's just the tool that we use to help them empower them as young ladies that you can be all you want to be, not to borrow the army's term, but to have confidence in yourself and put yourself out there. You gotta try it to do it, you know, and that's that's what it's all about is just empowering these young ladies to do something else besides play on their phone or on the computer, to to bond as as girls and get to know people and on face to face. And it's not about the phone, put it down face to face, and that's that's what I'm saying.

Abby Burris 4:28

One of the few places where you can meet people from across the state. Like I found when I was in high school, like you would just get so close with the people that you went to school with or whatever. This is the only place where, hey, my new friends from Corinth or my new friends from Hattiesburg. I was from Macomb. So I met people from places that I've never been.

Jerry Allhands 4:48

You still got a relationship with I do.

Beyond Grades: Finding True Leaders

Angela Kilcrease 4:50

And most of them and a lot of them that come have have lifelong friendships. And then they go to college together. A lot of them will decide where they're gonna go to college just so they can be with their friend from Girl State. Oh, I know. It is for me. And that's what we tell the girls in orientation. You're gonna make lifelong friends and you're gonna meet people of different walks of life that that you may never been exposed to. I mean, folks on the coast are different than folks in the Delta. True. So, and but you're mixing them all together, and that gives them another thing for preparation for college, diversity and in people that you're gonna be around. So it's it's a win-win.

Jerry Allhands 5:28

Get you away from your best friend and your clique in your school.

Angela Kilcrease 5:31

Get away from your clique and and branch out.

Jerry Allhands 5:33

Okay. When you're looking at the girls who are who may be wanting to come to this, what what are you looking for in that individual?

Abby Burris 5:42

Go get her. Go get her.

Angela Kilcrease 5:45

I'm not afraid to try. You know, we not to be so shy. Um uh to believe in yourself, but you know, we I just told them in in the meeting where they're looking for, they were talking about GPA, and it's not so much okay, 2.5 is typical, you know, GPA for extracurricular activities. But we have some, we Abby, we had you told them the the general the the average was a 3.8 across the girl class.

Abby Burris 6:14

To me, it's very high achieving. But at the same time, like we don't need to put a lot of stress on the GPA or on the ACT, but also look at that. Is this a well well-rounded girl? That's a hard word to say.

Angela Kilcrease 6:28

Uh and but and sometimes our B students are our best students. They're the ones that's gonna be the go-getters. They may not have the perfect grades, but they try. And and I by my experience in all these years that those do not put don't count them out. And we also look, we know we put it on their application, we want to know what kind of cr community service do they do. We want to know what extracurricular activities are they involved in at school.

Abby Burris 6:56

I mean, do you cheer?

Angela Kilcrease 6:58

I mean, right, and it all goes into because if they are doing things, then you know that they are already a go-getter at school.

Abby Burris 7:06

And they're a leader. And they're a leader.

Jerry Allhands 7:08

So we we're looking for the positive attributes. What kind of a delegate do you not want? Well, we don't enjoy themselves.

Abby Burris 7:17

But at the same time, I wouldn't bring a girl that is chronically ill. That's that's also a whole thing. But at the same time, like I don't know. I think you look on the positive side of the thing, I think every junior girl could take something away from this.

Speaker 2 7:34

Okay.

Lifelong Friendships And Diversity

Angela Kilcrease 7:34

There are a lot of girls in these schools that they don't get the opportunity that some of the popular girls do. The counselors tend to to pick those those quality the cheerleaders and the uh all those those kind. I know it was when I was in high school way back in the 70s. That's all the cheerleaders got to go to Girl State, nobody else. But when you when you when you dig down deep, there are other people that can contribute just as much. And they're even more involved than what someone that's popular and always just there for socialization.

Speaker 2 8:09

Right.

Angela Kilcrease 8:10

You're looking for somebody that really and you're giving that person the opportunity. And that's why, you know, we get them from all sorts and and uh all schools, and and we and it's it is good because if we can help that child or help that young lady, then she may get this opportunity that she never would have had before. And that's to me the most important thing for the auxiliary that we're doing this for the young ladies in Mississippi.

Jerry Allhands 8:36

I like that. Uh tell me, if you would, what's the long-term benefit from having attended Magnoia State?

Abby Burris 8:44

Okay, so long-term benefit, I would say I've been out of girls state for more than five years. Long-term benefit I have carried forward with me is a group of friends that I've had forever, a better civic-minded opportunity. I mean, I voted at Girl State before I voted in a general election, so I got to understand a lot an election better. Um I mean, there's millions of different things, but those would be the couple of things that I hit on.

Speaker 2 9:10

Okay.

Angela Kilcrease 9:11

And and and watching Abby, and I uh she was a delegate of mine. And um watching her the way she's been the last couple of years with Girl State and working, I I think it built her self-confidence. I think she's already had some, and that came from her attributes from her parents. But it built her self-confidence and she's accomplishing great things, and um it's just an an opportunity for her to showcase what she's built. But for a lot of these young ladies that come, it's just it gives them the friendship, sure, but the self-confidence to go forward. Because they're fixing to go into a very important part of their life and they gotta believe in themselves in order to get through the struggles of senior year, and we know how that is, and then go into college. Yeah.

Long‑Term Benefits And Confidence

Abby Burris 9:57

Girl State also will put somebody behind you that believes in you. If nobody else at Girl State believes in you, I believe that you can go do whatever you want to do. So there's always somebody there that believed in you more than you believed in yourself.

Angela Kilcrease 10:11

And the American Legion Auxiliary Ladies are are a prime example. They believe in this program, they believe in these children, these I don't want to say children, these young ladies, and this is a passion that they want to give this opportunity to the ladies in their communities and and give them give them girl state. It's a gift.

Jerry Allhands 10:32

I like that. All right, girl state.

Abby Burris 10:35

Um, cost $275 if you pay before April 1st. After that, it's a $25 late fee.

Jerry Allhands 10:43

By April 1st.

Abby Burris 10:44

After April 1st.

Jerry Allhands 10:45

You pick April Fool's Day.

Angela Kilcrease 10:47

And it's not a fool, it's very appropriate for us, though. It's a winner.

Jerry Allhands 10:57

I'm gonna have to do video on this one of these days. $275 before April 1st. After April 1st, it's $300.

Abby Burris 11:07

$300.

Jerry Allhands 11:08

Wow.

Abby Burris 11:09

Okay.

Angela Kilcrease 11:10

It's a late fee. It's a late late fee.

Jerry Allhands 11:12

Yeah, so be motivated, you know.

Angela Kilcrease 11:14

It is a motivation factor because it there's a lot of work involved in getting all of the things that we need from one young lady to go to Girl State. Right. Because we're women and we have sat up late at night and thought up all these things we got to do. And so we create this long, long laundry list. And it takes a lot of work to get their shirts and get the room assignments and get this and get that, put them in parties, blah, blah, blah. And the quicker we can get everybody in and settle that we know who's coming, then we can deal with the the little minor hiccups along the way. If, you know, if somebody has to drop out or somebody wants to come in, you know. No, that's we can deal with that if we have the majority done.

Costs, Deadlines, And Why They Matter

Abby Burris 11:55

If the biggest thing is orientation. So what differs us uh in a lot of ways, we differ a lot from Boys Day, is we have in-person orientation where me or Angela will go to all across the state. I think we have six lined up so far. And we talk to these girls so they can understand more about our program. We can understand them, they can understand us. We meet, yay, happy, go lucky.

Angela Kilcrease 12:20

But we we invite the parents. We invite the parents. We invite auxiliary members so they can learn more.

Abby Burris 12:25

And we go through our packet, we talk about what that we do, we talk about everything, so we get a little bit more of an understanding on both sides. So we want them to register before April 1st so they're able to come to orientations, which will start in April.

unknown 12:39

Okay.

Statewide Orientations And Preparation

Angela Kilcrease 12:40

So And if you train them, then you prepare them. And it it's a win-win for us that we have girls that come that are more prepared. They understand. Nobody knows. You know, it seems like these kids just don't know what girl state is. They're just told this is something you need to go do. Right. But if these orientations and the information is coming from the horse's mouth, we know the best, the program, and we tell them this is what you're gonna do, this is what this is, this, this, this, this, and this. And here's the tips on how to get, you know, do your best if you're running for office and blah, blah, blah.

Jerry Allhands 13:12

Okay.

Angela Kilcrease 13:13

So it's a win-win.

Jerry Allhands 13:15

You do an in-person orientation after April 1st, and uh the program starts in June. Okay. Uh where do they go to apply for a girl state?

Abby Burris 13:26

ALA. MagnoliaGirl State.com. There you go.

Jerry Allhands 13:31

You gotta do that again.

Abby Burris 13:32

ALA at Magnolia Girls State.com.

Jerry Allhands 13:36

She almost sounds southern.

Angela Kilcrease 13:38

I don't know.

Abby Burris 13:39

You don't know where I'm from.

Jerry Allhands 13:42

A L A Magnolia Girls State.com. Okay. So we've said it four times. It's easy to find, easy to navigate on a website. All right. Uh sponsorship. Does an auxiliary unit have to sponsor the dollar?

Abby Burris 13:59

Does an auxiliary unit have to sponsor it's good if they do.

Angela Kilcrease 14:04

Okay. And we had training with our uh young our women this morning about how to get out into the schools. Get to the schools, put your name up, put your face out there, become friends with the counselors. There's so much competition for these young ladies for different programs, cheerleading, sports, all all during the summer. You have to put your foot in the door. You can't just wait for them to come to us. But we have a lot that uh also the parents. They they're they've been they they went to Girl State before and they want to send their child now that she's ready.

Abby Burris 14:35

Dad went to Boy State.

How To Apply And Sponsor Support

Angela Kilcrease 14:35

Yeah, dads went to Boy State.

Jerry Allhands 14:36

Well, I tried to go to Girl State, but y'all wouldn't let me go. Yeah. As a delegate.

Angela Kilcrease 14:40

There's a lot of reasons. It was a different time. And you still wouldn't be able to go.

Jerry Allhands 14:45

This is not the Boy Scouts, right?

Angela Kilcrease 14:47

This is not. This is not the Boy Scouts. Yeah, we don't take much. We require a birth certificate.

Jerry Allhands 14:51

Ah. Okay. Well, speaking of that, let's talk about security at Girl State.

Abby Burris 14:57

Uh Ole Miss provides the best security to us, and I don't say anything else.

Angela Kilcrease 15:02

Our dorms are are well locked down, and they have to have a pass key to get in.

Abby Burris 15:06

Um we have it's it's I mean, last year we had a tornado and a couple of different things for staff, and Ole Miss was literally standing at our door.

Angela Kilcrease 15:16

Wouldn't let me leave the room.

Jerry Allhands 15:18

Okay.

Angela Kilcrease 15:19

Yeah, we had we had practice with the tornado drill. Yeah. Yeah, I like those. We did. It was a it was an added bonus to the curriculum.

Jerry Allhands 15:26

But I think I was there that day.

Angela Kilcrease 15:27

Were you? Well, one was Thursday night, but the one of them was the was we were in training in staff training. Was Saturday training? Thank goodness the girls swamped.

Abby Burris 15:36

I was trying to leave with my golf cart from the back. The guy comes running down, he says, You can't leave.

Angela Kilcrease 15:41

And even the water was coming in the building from the back door. It was crazy.

Jerry Allhands 15:45

One time in a million. That doesn't happen every time. All right. Let's talk about medical. Uh what uh I'm assuming they fill out medical forms and everything you have to do.

Angela Kilcrease 15:54

Yes, medical is very, very important.

Safety, Security, And Medical Policies

Abby Burris 15:57

Medical is taking a new place after last year. So if they go to the ER, they go home. That's kind of a new rule, but it's been there.

Angela Kilcrease 16:07

Well, we've got an agreement now with the university um OMIS for their clinic. Uh we can take them there during the day. And then in the evening, if they need to have if they're really sick, you know, if we we've determined that the triage them and say we need to go to the emergency room, and we take them to the emergency room, we call the parents and and go from the discussion from there. But I think our policy is going to change a little bit. I don't want to go into it yet till we're firm on everything. Okay. And we've I mean we are firm.

Abby Burris 16:37

We are pretty firm and the committee decided that if they go to the ER, they will go home.

Jerry Allhands 16:45

We can't provide medical care to if it does. But I play one on TV.

Angela Kilcrease 16:50

Yes, I play one on TV.

Abby Burris 16:51

I'm in doctoral school, but not that kind of doctor.

Jerry Allhands 16:54

Let's talk about you know, if a student comes or a delegate comes with with medication, they're you know, they've got a whatever, they're taking asthma or whatever. Yeah. Does that medication stay with the student or does it go to a depends on what the parent wants to do.

Angela Kilcrease 17:07

Sometimes the parent will let the the the student keep it, or she may talk to the senior counselor when they arrive and check in, and she needs to inform the senior counselor of what she's taking. And the senior counselor makes those notes on her for her girls that she has, and that you know they can ask her, can you please make sure she takes her medication every day? And and the senior counselor has to work with the girls at that point. Okay.

Abby Burris 17:30

And that that'll be about it.

Angela Kilcrease 17:32

Yeah.

Abby Burris 17:32

I mean, them coming to Girls State, we're expecting to them being a fully functioning human being that knows what to do. I understand they're young girls, but next year they're going to college. So next year they're gonna have all these responsibilities for college.

Angela Kilcrease 17:47

So And this is the girl state may be their first bump into adulthood.

Jerry Allhands 17:51

So then you know, we all we're easing out of the teenage years into the semi-adult years.

Abby Burris 17:56

To me, I'm giving them all the responsibility, all the trust to do right. They've just gotta pick up the flag and take it.

Growing Up: Meds, Responsibility, Trust

Jerry Allhands 18:03

Okay, all right. Let's talk about Girl State and the um clothing that we're going to wear or be issued or given.

Abby Burris 18:12

They'll have the cute t-shirts this year. So if you've seen our sweatshirts, those would be our t-shirt design this year. I'm excited about that. Um clothing be the same dress code as last year.

Jerry Allhands 18:24

Okay, now let's assume nobody's been there last year.

Abby Burris 18:26

So oh, so we require everyone to wear pants or skirt that meets mid-calf. And no shorts, no anything like that. Pants skirt meets mid-calf. Easiest dress code I've ever heard in my life. No, no holes, no rips, no leggings, no athletes you'll wear. Don't show up in your sweatpants, don't show up in your ripped jeans.

Angela Kilcrease 18:45

And the idea of that is is this is a leadership program, it's not a camp.

Speaker 2 18:49

Right.

Dress Code And Professionalism

Angela Kilcrease 18:50

And you come dress for success, we have guest speakers come in, the girls are sitting out in the audience, and you may have a young uh a man there, one of our state officials, and they're out there looking, and if they got shorts on, some of them get pretty short. And it's just not appropriate. Thank you. But we've learned over the years, and you know, this it's leadership. You have to take pride in yourself and don't come in here and you know, with hoodies and things like that.

Abby Burris 19:16

To me, it's a respect thing, it always has been. And I mean, I went to a little private school that did dress code, but at the same point, it's a respect thing, and yeah. I mean, you're learning skills for life, and I hope when they leave Girl State they go, hmm, maybe that dress code meant meant something. That couldn't be now, but maybe 20 years down the line.

Angela Kilcrease 19:36

I understand what they were saying. I understand what they meant. Yeah.

Jerry Allhands 19:39

Okay. So what should a delegate bring from home to make life a little more comfortable?

Angela Kilcrease 19:45

A mattress pad. Amen. Get a topper. Those beds are the worst on your bones I ever felt in my life.

Abby Burris 19:56

Maybe we're old.

Angela Kilcrease 19:57

Maybe we're old and no, I don't care how old you are. That hurts.

Abby Burris 20:02

Maybe we're old.

What To Pack And What To Skip

Angela Kilcrease 20:03

That's that's my number one purchase this year is a big, thick topper for that.

Abby Burris 20:08

One of the things that I'm putting in the suggestion things is maybe like a tote or a rolling bag that you can carry in because it is a a hike. I'm not gonna say it's not.

Jerry Allhands 20:19

But it is it's a good hike from the parking lot. It is. Yeah, and for an old man like me, that is a long walk to the city. It's a hike. It is.

Abby Burris 20:25

And so if you're carrying all your junk up the stairs.

Angela Kilcrease 20:28

And that's why I I still to this day I feel for my my father's out there, and I tell them get prepped, get prepped, just do some training before you come, bring plenty of water because it's left to the parents. The mom and the and the child will, I mean, the young lady will go up to the room and they'll check out, oh, this is like this and this. And the dad is the one hauling up the stairs with the stuff. So I have I have a a good place in my heart for the dad.

Jerry Allhands 20:57

So don't bring a big screen television.

Angela Kilcrease 21:00

Oh, don't bring any electronics.

Jerry Allhands 21:02

There you go.

Angela Kilcrease 21:03

There you go. Don't be don't bring anything that they would hate to lose or or break or misplace.

Jerry Allhands 21:10

So a mattress topper and a good pillow.

Angela Kilcrease 21:12

Oh, yeah. And and a mattress cover that will hold you in place because they have slick beds, and you can if you just have a sheet on there, you're going to wind up in the floor at some point in the night.

Abby Burris 21:23

Bring all your toiletries, all your medications, anything that you could need for a week's day.

Jerry Allhands 21:29

Okay. So is we're food and snacks.

Angela Kilcrease 21:32

Snacks for the room. Yeah.

Jerry Allhands 21:33

Snacks for the room.

Food, Rooms, And Daily Life

Angela Kilcrease 21:34

They can bring snacks. Oh, yeah. Okay. Because they always stay hungry and and we uh the university makes us eat like at 5 30 in the afternoon. And I said, by eight o'clock they're gonna be ravenous. Uh brief snacks.

Abby Burris 21:45

A microwave and a refrigerator.

Angela Kilcrease 21:47

We do have a microwave and a refrigerator in the rooms, which is pleasant. They have private bathrooms for well, the private room, um bathroom for a private room. Okay. It's only two persons to a room. Two person to a room.

Jerry Allhands 21:59

Cool. I remember last year between boy state and girl state, I gained about ten pounds.

Abby Burris 22:04

Why?

Jerry Allhands 22:05

There was all that junk food around.

Abby Burris 22:07

Oh. No, I always lose weight.

Jerry Allhands 22:10

You were too hard.

Abby Burris 22:12

I think I lost weight.

Angela Kilcrease 22:13

We don't get to eat in the cafeteria very much.

Jerry Allhands 22:16

That's true.

Abby Burris 22:17

I mean, I think I looked at my phone one day and I walked seven miles every day of Girl State. And then I said, I had a gonfk. She has a gunk one.

Jerry Allhands 22:25

But you're walking.

Abby Burris 22:26

But I'm walking seven miles a day.

Jerry Allhands 22:28

Okay. Good leadership. There you go.

Abby Burris 22:30

And then one day I couldn't go eat lunch and somebody brought me lunch. I mean.

Angela Kilcrease 22:34

And then she got out, she seeks not to go get junk food out of the fast food restaurant. I mean, gets big shakes or whatever. I had to buy her a big shake one day.

Jerry Allhands 22:44

I will admit now the food in the chow hall over there is pretty good.

Angela Kilcrease 22:48

It's really, I mean, if you can't find something to eat in there, you don't need to eat.

Abby Burris 22:52

You know what I'm saying? They got a sprite, they got ice cream olives.

Jerry Allhands 22:56

And they got coffee. And they have a boy, do they have coffee.

Abby Burris 23:00

They have coffee. I do not drink coffee. Have we gone over that? I don't drink coffee. You don't need to drink coffee, no. I don't need to drink coffee. I got my sprite. We'll be fine.

Jerry Allhands 23:10

You don't need caffeine, honey. You're good. Well, one last time. Where do we go to register for Girl State?

Abby Burris 23:17

You said I sounded too southern.

Jerry Allhands 23:19

No.

Abby Burris 23:20

It's online.

Enrollment Goals And Program Scale

Jerry Allhands 23:21

It's all online. And the address is It's Magnolia Girlstate.

Abby Burris 23:26

A L A Magnolia Girl State.com.

Angela Kilcrease 23:30

A L A Magnolia Girl State.com.

Jerry Allhands 23:32

Okay, for those of us who are writing it down, A L A Magnolia Girls State.

Abby Burris 23:40

Girlstate.com.com.

Jerry Allhands 23:42

Okay. Make sure there's two S's there. Girls State. Because otherwise you you get a website you really don't want to go to. Nah.

Abby Burris 23:51

Nah.

Angela Kilcrease 23:51

And the email email is just as simple as Magnolia Girlstate at gmail.com. Okay.

Abby Burris 23:56

And you'll talk to me, most likely.

Angela Kilcrease 24:00

Okay. Thank goodness.

Abby Burris 24:02

I I get about 20 emails a day.

Jerry Allhands 24:05

Wow. Okay.

Angela Kilcrease 24:06

It keeps her brain active. You know, it's a good thing.

Jerry Allhands 24:08

There you go. $275 before April 1st, $300 after April 1st. The reason being is accountability.

Angela Kilcrease 24:17

And we take no more applications after the 20th of April.

Abby Burris 24:21

After the 20th of April. I won't be able to take you because of capacity, but email me. Maybe we can do something. Probably.

Angela Kilcrease 24:30

We always work with special cases. We're not going to turn anybody down if we could possibly help it.

Jerry Allhands 24:34

There you go. What's the number you're looking for this year?

Abby Burris 24:38

200 is probably what I'm looking for.

Jerry Allhands 24:40

Okay.

Abby Burris 24:40

I hope to be at 200 because I went to national conference this year and I was with all the 100s to 175, and I really want to be at that 200 table.

Auxiliary Night And Community Ties

Angela Kilcrease 24:51

Well, and we really want to get to our max, which is which is about 300. 300 is about all we can handle. Okay. Um, staffing-wise, and uh to give them a quality program. Um, so but we we were at 300 not too long, well, several years ago. Yeah. And it was a great conference. We got all of our our offices filled. It worked out with all the political um units of the the uh instruction. So 300 was a good magical number that we found. So we're working back to that, and um I think we'll we'll we'll it'll grow fast.

Abby Burris 25:26

I mean, I don't ever see us being 700, 800.

Angela Kilcrease 25:28

I just well that was in my early years, yeah. We that's that's like we were younger back then. Yes, I was younger back then. I would age quickly. No, this was in yeah, in in the in the late 80s, early 90s, and we we would have anywhere from five to six hundred students, but we had a lot more auxiliary members at the same time. Yeah. And and that could staff.

Abby Burris 25:48

You would be amazed at some of the girls state programs, they'll bus their girls to Girl State and they'll have 700 kids. Wow.

Angela Kilcrease 25:56

Arkansas is is one of them. Arkansas.

Abby Burris 25:58

It's Missouri.

Angela Kilcrease 25:59

No, and Tennessee, no, Arkansas always has really yes, and it's amazing because I always used to ask them, I said, Well, how do you do it? Now they have a good uh money system. Okay, and I'm not sure. Now in Tennessee, they had um Pick uh Pixu, you know, Pixuite, the director of Girl State, the her family owned Pixuite. Okay, and they had a really great program. Oh, I like that. I'm not sure how it is now, but yeah.

Jerry Allhands 26:27

Let's talk about the uh the Thursday evening program. Where definitely goes auxiliary come. So uh family members, uh tell me about it. What is it?

Abby Burris 26:35

What is so auxiliary night this year probably look a little bit the same last as last year. We have a dinner for most of our uh our invited guests.

Angela Kilcrease 26:44

Our invited guests, mainly your state legion and auxiliary members, some of the um district presidents and things like that.

Final Advice And Registration Links

Abby Burris 26:51

So they'll be invited to come eat dinner with all of our girls. In the cafeteria. We hope you come eat dinner with us. Here's my invitation. Uh and then after that we have a small little program uh about our scholarships, about the auxiliary. We try about the whole week to teach them about the auxiliary, the auxiliary families programs through the week. Um so we talk about the poppies, we talk about membership, we talk about V A and R, everything throughout the week. So at the end of the week, they get to see us.

Angela Kilcrease 27:20

Black code etiquette and things like that. We try and teach them these little things. But the premise of auxiliary and and legion night, and it used to be just Legion Night, but we added auxiliary because the auxiliary is the one that funds it.

Speaker 2 27:33

Yeah.

Angela Kilcrease 27:34

But we bring them in, this is it's so they can see the girls, especially, you know, and meet the the the ladies that they have sponsored. Um, to see what we do. And this is really an honor night uh for the for the legionnaires and the auxiliary members that work so hard for these programs. This is the the young ladies get to meet, especially like the the city names, which is after a past living past department president, and the county name to Living Past Department Commander. They get to meet their who their their benefactor is. So and they take pictures, but it is exposure uh to the auxiliary and to the legion for these young ladies basically.

Abby Burris 28:14

I mean, I will I will give the commercial that I knew nothing about the auxiliary, the legion before girl state.

Angela Kilcrease 28:21

Wow. And most don't.

Jerry Allhands 28:23

Okay.

Angela Kilcrease 28:23

And that's why it's important when we do auxiliary orientations, we do the girl state orientations, that we go into a post home to do it. And we invite the the uh they they come to the post home.

Speaker 2 28:36

Okay.

Angela Kilcrease 28:37

So they walk in that door, they see a post home and what it's all about, and it's veterans. You can just smell the veterans when you walk in. And that's no no good way. It's their essence. And their service. And they're they're exposed to this. And they get an a sense before they come to Girl State, these people are the ones that are doing this for you.

Jerry Allhands 29:00

Yeah.

Angela Kilcrease 29:01

And they're veterans. And they keep and they keep giving and keep giving, not only from their service, but they continue to give to their community through something like that.

Closing And Listener Support

Jerry Allhands 29:12

As we get ready to wrap up, is what's the what's the one thing that you would say to a prospective candidate? Uh to a former candidate or no, to somebody who's thinking about coming to Girl State.

Abby Burris 29:27

They may apply, don't be stressed out. There you go. Why are you stressed out? Like apply, don't sit there and say, Oh, I'll apply tomorrow. Okay, I've got ten things that I said I was gonna do tomorrow, last week. I mean, go ahead, apply. Uh doesn't take that long. Come on. We'll have a good time. There you go.

Angela Kilcrease 29:49

And I would say, take a chance. This is a program, you may not know anything about it, but it is a leadership program, and you need leadership when you go to college and apply for colleges. They want to see what kind of leadership programs you've been in. Take a chance. Go, you know, you may not know anything about it. We're gonna try and teach you a little bit something about it before you come. But take the opportunity and make the best of it.

Jerry Allhands 30:15

Come and have a good time. A-L-A MagnoliaGirlstate.com. We got it. Ladies, thank you so much. The A team here today, Abby and Angela.

Angela Kilcrease 30:27

Thank you, Jerry, for always supporting Girl State and the Right and the Legion. Everything you do.

Jerry Allhands 30:32

Privilege, my honor. Thank you so much. Y'all have a great time. Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend. Thank you. This series is made possible through the financial gifts of people just like you. If you'd like to help us, please show your support simply by clicking on the dollar symbol in the upper right hand corner of this page and follow the instructions thereafter. Be sure to leave me a message when you do, and I'll give a shout out to you in an upcoming episode. Thanks for joining us on this episode of the Veterans Sound Off podcast with Jerry All hands. It's a production of Allhands Media LLC, All Rights Reserved.