KU News Release

KU to host about 315 high school seniors for 67th Sunflower Girls State June 7-12

LAWRENCE — About 315 high school seniors-to-be from throughout Kansas are expected to attend the 67th annual American Legion Auxiliary Kansas Sunflower Girls State June 7-12 at the University of Kansas.

Lori Reesor, associate vice provost for Student Success at KU, will address the opening assembly at 7:10 p.m. Sunday, June 7, at the Lied Center.

Delegates, sponsored by their local American Legion Auxiliary units, will study government at all levels, national patriotic traditions, voting, volunteerism and women’s health and safety issues. The young women also will campaign for state and county offices and hold general elections. Most sessions will be at the Lied Center and the Dole Institute of Politics.

Sunflower Girls State is sponsored by KU Continuing Education with funding from the American Legion and a grant from the University of Kansas Office of the Provost

Camilla Han-He of Overland Park, 2008 Sunflower Girls State governor, and Allie Rader of Wichita, 2008 Sunflower Girls State lieutenant governor, will preside at the sessions. Anne Werner of Axtell is director of Sunflower Girls State, and Michelle Eckermann of Harlan, Iowa, is assistant director.

For Werner, the week marks a personal milestone because her daughter, Casey, will be among the delegates. Casey is an Axtell High School senior sponsored by the Marysville American Legion Post 1163 Auxiliary. In 1983, the Marysville auxiliary sponsored Anne Werner at Sunflower Girls State at KU. The family’s American Legion Auxiliary membership is through Anne Werner’s grandfather, the late Lyle Baake, a World War II veteran from Marysville.

Speakers will include Mary Christine Banwart, associate professor of communication studies, on “Women as Political Leaders” at 7 p.m. Monday, June 8, at the Lied Center; and Ron Thornburgh, Kansas secretary of state, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 11, at the Lied Center.

Delegates conclude the week with a trip to the Capitol in Topeka to meet with state officials on Friday, June 12. Then they will return to Lawrence for the 3 p.m. awards assembly at the Lied Center. Scholarship winners and Kansas delegates to the 2009 Girls Nation July 18-25 in Washington, D.C., will be announced in the assembly.

Other scheduled speakers include: Renee Slick and David Egleston of RRG Consulting in Manhattan, on identifying young drivers at risk of involvement in serious crashes; Dr. Hannah Maxfield, assistant professor of family medicine at the KU Medical Center, on women’s health issues; Lisa Beardsley, a crime scene investigator with the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department, on safety for women; and Loring Henderson, executive director of the Lawrence Community Shelter, and Paige Blair, AmeriCorps staff member at the Roger Hill Volunteer Center in Lawrence, on volunteerism.

Girls Staters also will hear talks by Kansas Court of Appeals Judge G. Joseph Pierron; state Reps. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence, and Elaine Bowers, R-Concordia; Rachel Willis, executive director, Kids Voting Kansas and Kids Voting USA; Sam Robinson, communications manager for Picerne Military Housing at Fort Riley; Myrna Rogers of Augusta, president of the Kansas Department of the American Legion Auxiliary; and Emily Deaver of Augusta, Miss Kansas 2008.

American Legion Auxiliary board members, in addition to Werner and Eckermann, who will be at KU are Myrna Rogers, Augusta, president of the Kansas Department of the American Legion Auxiliary; Sharon Spiker, Wetmore, auxiliary vice president; and board members Bonnie Boyer, Shawnee, Lisa Dethloff, Hutchinson, Janice Stathas, Kansas City, Kan., and Sarah Hummel, Tulsa, Okla.

Seven former Sunflower Girls State directors helping this year include Becky Keller of Hunter; Stathas and Linda Hicks, Kansas City, Kan.; Jeanne Haas, New Strawn; Heidi Blair, Wathena; and Pam King and Claudia Satterlee of Winfield. Altogether, a volunteer staff of about 50 American Legion Auxiliary members and Sunflower Girls State alumnae will assist during the session.

Flag-raising ceremonies will be between 7:45 and 8:10 a.m. June 8-12 at the Dole Institute, and flag retreats will be between 1:50 p.m. and 7:10 p.m. June 7-12.

Sunflower Girls State has been offered through the American Legion Auxiliary since its inception in 1939 at Washburn University in Topeka. In 1941, the program moved to KU, where it has been every year since, except 1943 to 1946 because of World War II. American Legion Auxiliary units pay $250 to sponsor each delegate they select to attend Sunflower Girls State.

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