For Hub City Times

MARSHFIELD — Five Marshfield High School seniors took part in the Badger Boys or Badger Girls State Leadership Program this past summer. Attending were Ayush Shukla, son of Sanjay Shukla and Kavita Bhatia; Ben Donahue, son of James Donahue and Maria Mascola; Sam Huettl, son of Chris and Sara Huettl; Roma Shah, daughter of Milind and Alpa Shah; and Erika Roeglin, daughter of Dave and Deb Roeglin, all of Marshfield. The students were selected to attend by their high school faculty.

Both Badger State programs offer young men and women training and experience in aspects of government and responsible citizenship as practiced in a democratic society. Both programs included nearly one thousand participants from high schools all over the state of Wisconsin.

During the program, participants were grouped into cities and counties to form a 51st state. For the duration of the week, the citizens of this new state carried out all the main functions of state government, using procedures of the state of Wisconsin as their guide. They also had the opportunity to develop a party platform for their national party, similar to the Democratic and Republican Parties.

In addition, speakers lectured on various topics, including leadership, motivation, and civic responsibility. This year’s speakers included Gov. Scott Walker; Shirley Abrahamson, associate justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court; and Charles Wiley of the Press Corps.

Badger Girls State was held at UW-Oshkosh in Oshkosh, and Badger Boys State was held at Ripon College in Ripon.