By Jack Kelly | Asst. Randall City Counselor, Howe County
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker visited Badger Boys State Thursday night to participate in the program’s annual inaugural ceremony.
Gov. Walker, who attended BBS in 1985 and was selected as one of the program’s Boys Nation Senators, addressed a crowd of parents and citizens in Ripon College’s Willmore Center.
Following the ceremony, Gov. Walker spoke with the Bugle Citizen about his favorite BBS memory, how the program helped him develop as a leader and more.
Edited excerpts are below.
What is your favorite memory of BBS?
The friendships. The people I got to know over the years, including some who are in your staff tonight that got a couple of those big [service] awards. It’s fun memories of the years about getting together here and helping the citizens and joining the company of the people you know who have similar commitment, not only to BBS, but to community service.
What are some of the ways that BBS helped you grow as a leader?
It gives you a lot of confidence, by getting out and running, giving speeches, talking with others. It gave me a lot of confidence to try new things. I was never in choir before, but senior year I was in swing choir because I tried new things and got involved. It helped me build up that confidence, say “Hey, I’m going to try new things and if it doesn’t work, I’ll try something else.”
I grew up in a small town, so to meet kids from Milwaukee, and then to get along with them well enough to go and hang out with them during senior, that was really eye-opening for me as well.
Probably the best thing, and I constantly remind myself of this, is all the veterans. Obviously this program is driven by veterans, and now a lot of educators as well, and they really instilled that sense of patriotism and pride in me. And it wasn’t for a political party or a cause, it was for this larger sense of the principles that we hold so dear. To see people living that, and being passionate about that, really reminded me to look at government, and politics even, as public service, not as a game.
What role does BBS have to play in the development of Wisconsin’s future leaders?
I think it’s really important, for any age, but especially for millennials, we see social media, which I think is designed to better connect us, disconnects us from reality and is often times part of the polarization in American politics. When you get here, when you can relate to people, when you get this group of people together that the only thing they have in common is that they’re highly regarded in their communities, but their politics might be different, their religions might be different, their backgrounds are definitely different, and yet there is this common bond built throughout the week. I think it is a great reminder, obviously it is a special time during the week so you can’t 100 percent replicate it, but I think a bit of that spirit can be carried through everyone of the citizens here long after they are at BBS.
What is the one thing that you would tell potential 2019 citizens to convince them to come to BBS?
I would tell them that they don’t want to miss it. I’ve talked to some many people over the years that told me that they had been offered to come, or they were planning on coming and then backed out, and they totally regret it. Because everyone they’ve talked to, almost to a person, from my class as well as everyone else, said that they had no idea how impactful this week is. This program is much bigger than politics. It is much bigger than learning about government. It really is transformational in terms of leadership, passion and drive, and that’s why a lot of people I still connect with today from BBS aren’t in politics, they’re doctors, they’re lawyers, there’s a film producer, there’s a bishop, there’s just so many different people. To a person, they’ve said that this was one of the pivotal moments in their life.
