The goal of ALA Girls State/ALA Girls Nation is to provide students, either completing or having just completed their junior year in high school, with an intensive week studying responsible citizenship, government, and leadership. The citizens will spend a week self-governing within their assigned municipality by electing officials, debating bills, and solving community problems. They should leave the week with a better understanding of local and state government, and how to be an active citizen within their communities.
The participants are sponsored by an American Legion Post, American Legion Auxiliary Unit, their school, or any other organization or business within their community. The program is built on the American Legion and American Legion Auxiliary’s foundation of Americanism and God and Country, in the spirit of service not self.