By Bob Price, Post 342
For the Salisbury Post

Beginning on Father’s Day each year, some of North Carolina’s brightest rising senior boys gather at Catawba College for seven days to take part in a program sponsored by the Department of North Carolina American Legion.

During this week, they were exposed to an intense course on the workings of government from the city through the state levels called Boys’ State.

Harold B. Jarret Post 342 had the honor of sponsoring five young men for this program: Jacob Horner and Jonathan Bost of Carson High School and Nicholas Peltz, Isaiah Woods and Luke Brady of Salisbury High.

This year, 191 young men formed nine cities, three counties and a state government. They wrote a platform defining what their political party stands for and campaigned for offices ranging from city mayor and sheriff to governor, then conducted elections. By week’s end, they had created budgets, addressed local problems and worked on legislation for the betterment of the Tar Heel Boys’ State.

Many of the lessons they learned came from individuals who are or had filled those positions in the past. They learned from the experience of Justice Robert Edmunds Jr., a North Carolina Supreme Court justice; Linda Johnson, a member of the General Assembly, Rowan County Commissioner Greg Edds; and N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore.