ALA GIRLS STATE STUDENT FROM BRIDGER HIGH SCHOOL

Below is an article written about Mandy Steiger, senior from Bridger High School, who attended American Legion Auxiliary Girls State 2025. Great recognition for this program.

Bridger student recounts time at ALA Girls State

Alastair Baker News Editor

May 7, 2026

Bridger High School senior Mandy Steiger called her experience at last summer’s ALA Girls State in Helena, “one of the best weeks of my life.”

“I’m not even joking about that,” she laughed.

The venture seems tailor-made for Mandy, offering her a chance to spread her wings and her passion about politics.  This is at the very core of the Montana American Legion Boys State and Montana American Legion Auxiliary Girls State programs; an immersive, week-long civic leadership program that teach high school students about government, democracy, and the importance of civic engagement.  These programs empower young leaders through hands-on learning, public service simulations, and leadership development activities.

Mandy loved the experience from the start.

“I think the main reason why I felt that way is because I met a lot of like-minded people.  Coming from a small school in Bridger, I gotta say there isn’t a lot of kids who are super passionate about government and politics and understanding how the system works and wanting to be a part of the debate. Well, at Girls State that just happened naturally.  Kids would randomly debate.  They were respectful about it.  They were respectful of other people’s beliefs, and you got to expand your ideas on certain things, and that was a lot of fun for me personally,” said Mandy.

The opportunity to step up was laid before her and she took it.

“It was definitely new to me.  It was probably new to me in a way more different than I think for some of the other kids who went, just because in Bridger we don’t have speech and debate.  A lot of those other kids they definitely did.  And so, I think that it was probably, I don’t want to downplay the opportunity that it was for the other girls who went, but I feel like for me personally coming from a smaller background, that it kind of opened my eyes as to what I could do.  You know?  And the people who where there are people who really care and want to be a part of politics and political life.”

Another aspect of the State is the students are given the opportunity to simulate local-level and state-level politics through mock elections and government positions.

Mandy jumped at this and was surprised by the generational response to it.

“Another of my most fond memories was bringing a Bill to the floor.  I got to draft my own Bill.  Again, going back to the small school thing, I made a Bill to consolidate Class C schools into larger districts.  And normally when you  talk about that to adults, you get a very passionate reaction and very negative because it’s part of their identity. Well, when I talked to kids about that, their questions were more like, “What are the logistics behind that?  How long is this going to take?  What are the advantages, the disadvantages?’  They thought logically about that. And I got different perspectives from other people as to maybe this couldn’t work because of these certain things.  Sort of like along those lines.  And that was really good for me personally, because it is a topic that I’m passionate about.  It was good for me to think about because I wasn’t hearing those things.  All I was hearing was the identity politics.  It was strange that the more mature arguments I was getting was from my own peers, and that was like probably to the first time it has ever happened to me in my entire life.”

Another one of Mandy’s experiences was to run for Chief Justice.

“I did not get it, unfortunately, but just the ability, the opportunity that I got… I made a speech in front of everyone, and they were all super supportive. They were like, ‘Hey, good speech.  You did such a good job.’  You know, everyone knew that they were there to take the opportunity.  It was carpe diem for everyone.  It was seize the day for all of them.  Nobody made fun of each other for wanting to try.  And that was something completely foreign to me.  It was ‘Well, why not?  Why don’t you try, you know?’  And that mentality alone was awesome to be around for a whole entire week.”

The feeling was strange to Mandy because she admits she isn’t the most “people person out there.”

“I do have a social battery that drains. But there, I wasn’t, you know. None of the girls there were like, “Gosh, I’m just so tired of her’, you know? Everyone was polite and kind.”

“It was an amazing experience.  I think anyone, especially anyone who is passionate about government and politics, local politics, especially.  After I came back from Girls State, I was like, ‘Man, I love the idea of local politics.’”

Mandy put this down to being able to talk to some of the local represent-tatives, and the lieutenant governor.  Unfortunately, they were supposed to hear (Sen) Daines, and (Sen) Sheehy, but that was right around the time when the Big Beautiful Bill was coming out and they got called into Washington D.C.  “Some of them did send videos, though, and that was really cool. You know they recognize the importance of Boys and Girls State.  I’m pretty sure Bill Clinton was a Boys State graduate.  And you were in the room with people who you knew in some form, or another are going to shape either the state of Montana or the country as a whole.”

“The feeling of that was awesome,” said Mandy, who recommends that students should experience this opportunity.

Asked if she could be one of those people, Mandy answered “I’m training to become a social studies teacher, so I might not become a politician and make legislation, but I do hope to help, shape the next generation and hopefully make the next generation be more civically minded.  That’s kind of my goal.”

The 2026 American Legion Boys State and American Legion Auxiliary Girls State will be held June 14-20 at Carroll College, Helena.  The program is usually at no cost to the participant as expenses are covered by local American Legion posts or other sponsors.