American Legion Post 91 honored Boy’s State, Girl’s State and Americanism Award winners on Sunday afternoon.

Americanism Award recipients

The Americanism Award is the highest honor given to American youth by the American Legion. To be considered for the award, an individual must be a graduating senior and meet the following criteria:

• Courage: spirit to stand up to others
• Honor: strength and stability of character
• Patriotism: unfailing love of country
• Scholarship: evidence of industry and application in studies
• Leadership: ability to lead and work with others
• Service: kindness and welfare toward others without thought of personal award.

The following were named the recipients for the Americanism Award. The Austin High School Boy’s Americanism Award was given to Josh Belden, while the girl’s award was awarded to Sarah Bachmeier. The Pacelli Boy’s Americanism Award was given to Dan Nelson and Abigail Bollingberg was Pacelli’s girl recipient.

Boy’s and Girl’s Participants

Also announced during the awards ceremony were the participants for Boy’s State and Girl’s State. These are students who are chosen by their respective schools to learn the rights, privileges and responsibilities of an American citizen and are trained on the structure and workings of city, county and state governments. These are all operated by students that are elected to various offices.

To be eligible, students must be finishing their junior year and be in the upper half of their class academically. The following six criteria to determine eligibility are as follows:

• Must be a leader
• Able to work with others
• Enthusiastic with well-rounded personality and good character
• Honest
• Interested in citizenship training programs
• Demonstrated good quality work in the classroom and community.

The American Legion pays the registration fee for each participant and has nothing to do with the selection process. The individuals representing Austin American Legion Post 91 at Boy’s State and American Legion Women’s Auxiliary for Girl’s State from June 9-15 at St. John’s University in Collegeville are as follows:

Austin High School Boy’s State participant is Evan Anderson and Pacelli’s Boy’s State participant is Sunny Morgado.

For Girl’s State, Lauren Riskedahl and Chloey Camerer will represent Austin High School and Rory Bickler will be representing Pacelli High School.