Attending the American Legion Buckeye Boys State Program left an impact on Windham rising seniors Matt Kolaczek and Ethan Thornton. The Bombers’ duo acknowledged that participating in the mock government program in the week of June 8-June15 at Miami University in Oxford exceeded their expectations.
“It was very memorable because I got to meet people who are probably going to stick with me for the rest of my life, so it has helped me prepare so I am not completely alone in the future,” Thornton told The Weekly Villager on June 19.
The Weekly Villager previously reported Kolaczek and Thornton were selected to be Windham’s delegates by the Windham American Legion Post 674.
According to Kolacek, he originally thought that the Buckeye Boys State program would be like his studies in the classroom at Windham High School.
“I thought we were going to sit in the classroom the whole time and just learn about government like it was school all over again, but it was much different for me and we got to actually do jobs and enjoy the time,” he noted.
The students were divided into several buildings, which were designated counties, and then assigned a respective city, named after people from the American Legion. Each city met on a separate floor. Thornton and Kolaczek became members of Coppin County but belonged to different cities, as Thornton was assigned to Chapman City and Kolaczek was placed in Pennell City.
In each city, students either ran for or were assigned a specific job at the state, county or city level. Thornton took on the role of deputy inspector general for Chapman City while Koleczek became Pennell City’s treasurer.
The first few days were spent deciding on specific roles for each student while the second half of the program allowed each City to simulate government operations.
Thornton said that the role of deputy inspector general fit his strengths because of his nature to always want to help people.
“It was good because it let me be isolated but if I needed help, I could go and ask so I was not completely alone. I was able to do what I wanted to do instead of what somebody else wanted to do the whole time,” he said.
According to Kolaczek, the role of city treasurer suited him just fine because it required him to make good use of his judgement.
“My title fit because you know most of the time, I was just signing papers to just give money to people and I had to make sure everything was good,” he added.
Kolaczek said that operating as a city treasurer also gave him some insight into what his mother, Casey Timmons, experiences in her daily responsibilities as Windham Township’s Fiscal Officer.
For Thornton, his role of deputy inspector general not only had him work as the right hand to the inspector general but also granted him independence to make unilateral decisions.
“Inspector generals are like detectives for high-ranking government stuff,” he said. “Say one department of government isn’t doing something or doing something suspiciously, the inspector generals will investigate it and once they get all of their information, then they send that information to the attorney general.”
Thornton said that program also acted as a competition, as at the end of each workday, the cities would convene for an assembly and the city that performed the best in each county would receive a flag as a trophy. Chapman City was deemed to have run the smoothest government operation of any city and won three flags throughout the week.
With the Buckeye Boys State experience, the Windham duo said that they now have a better understanding of what it means to be a government employee.
“It shows that the government jobs are not terrible and can actually be fun to do if you can do them right or have people that you like to work with,” Thornton said.
Thornton and Kolaczek have one final year of high school before they set off for college but have yet to decide on where they will continue their studies. For the time being, they will use the summer to prepare themselves for their final year of high school.
Kolaczek will get a head start on his future collegiate education by taking some courses at Youngstown State University in addition to his high school studies and is also gaining more government experience by working part-time for Windham Township.
“Doing landscaping with the Township and helping around there has given me job experiences and will make me prepared for the actual work jobs,” he said.
