Luverne High School was very well represented at the American Legion Boys State of Minnesota last week at St. John’s University in Collegeville.
Gunnar Oldre, sponsored by the Hardwick American Legion, and Jordan Winter, sponsored by the Luverne American Legion, both were elected to statewide offices at the annual event.
Oldre was also selected to be the senior senator from Minnesota at Boys Nation in Washington, D.C., July 19-26.
Each state sends two boys who demonstrate outstanding leadership and involvement during their Boys State experience to the national event.
Boys State is a weeklong program that provides selected high school juniors the opportunity to experience how government works.
This year, 252 boys from around Minnesota attended Boys State.
Of those 252 delegates, eight were selected as statewide officers by the end of the week. Oldre and Winter were two of the eight.
Winter was elected secretary of state and Oldre was elected associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court.
The boys first ran for city and county positions earlier in the week. Oldre was elected mayor of his hypothetical city.
Winter and Oldre then had to give speeches and participate in debates and interviews as they ran for their statewide positions.
“To have two delegates from the same high school elected to statewide office is pretty cool,” Oldre said.
Winter echoed his classmate’s sentiments. “It was just a great experience and a really fun week,” he said.