By Andrew Wang, Opinion Editor | City of La Follette, Howe County

Last night, there were many speeches given at the assembly that collectively covered a wide range of topics.

The speakers included the head of the American Legion, the director of Badger Girls State and a counselor that attended Boys Nation last year among many other people.

While all the speeches last night gave citizens something to reflect on, the one presented by the counselor that attended Boys Nation last year, Grant Heminger, stood out to me the most.

Heminger’s speech resonated with me more than the other speeches primarily because of his background. The fact that he was a citizen last year made it possible for him to make his statements about Badger Boys State that were more nuanced and precise.

For example, Heminger admitted that at this stage in the camp he was still relatively unsure about what his feelings were about it. This claim draws a sharp contrast from other more bold claims that I have heard earlier in the week.

His ability to relate with the audience gave him an inherent advantage.

In addition to his ability to relate, it was clear that Heminger knew how to effectively appeal to everyone in the crowd. The way his speech was structured clearly demonstrated this.

He stated that popular citizens and citizens with high level positions do not win nominations from counselors by default; instead, counselors are looking for citizens who do the right thing regardless of how popular they are or how high of a position they hold. This statement effectively appeals to the audience as most citizens do not have high level positions and are not popular which reinforces them with hope and motivates them through the rest of the week.

Based on these two factors and great delivery, Heminger’s speech blew me out of the water, and it really made me rethink how Badger Boys State is run and what the true purpose of the camp is.