Travel issues just a bump in the road as Boys Nation 2024 begins

The senators of American Legion Boys Nation crowded together on the floor in front of the screen as a short film depicting the events surrounding Francis Scott Key’s ode to the American flag played out in the Fort McHenry visitors center Sunday afternoon.

Key’s description of the flag still standing strong after the fort was bombarded by the British Navy in September 1814 would, of course, serve as the basis for the national anthem.

For the 100 Boys Nation senators from across the nation, it was a chance to see a piece of history as their own week that shapes a lifetime — the 78th such session of Boys Nation — began in earnest over the weekend.

“History does leave out a lot of details about so many events,” said Chance Bradford of Arkansas, who said he took notes throughout the movie.

Bradford, who was sponsored to Arkansas Boys State by Mills University Studies High School in Little Rock, Ark., said it was “an honor” to get the chance to visit Fort McHenry as part of his week at Boys Nation.

“I’m especially thankful, because I’m not the most devoted to all the politics and stuff like that. I respect so much of it, because people do so much to make sure their country is the type of place that they want to live in, and seeing remnants of what they fought for, seeing it all played back, it's a different perspective,” Bradford said.

Nader of North Dakota said Fort McHenry and the giant flag flying above it was “an impressive spectacle.”

“I didn’t expect it to be this historically accurate,” he said, referring to the wooden flagpole at the center of the fort itself. “I can really sense the history here.”

Nader was sponsored to North Dakota Boys State by Post 297 in Harwood, N.D.

The senators capped their Sunday afternoon off campus with a visit to American Legion Post 136 in Greenbelt, Md., where the Legion Family provided dinner and National Commander Daniel J. Seehafer spoke about the importance this week will have for the young men from across the nation.

He also took the opportunity to emphasize the Be the One campaign and how anyone, even the teen senators from Boys Nation, can “Be The One” to save a life.

“You’re leaders. You can make a difference, you can change lives, you can save lives,” Seehafer said. “… You never know when somebody could cross your path, and you could be the difference between life and death.”

Taking charge

On Saturday afternoon, the senators voted for half of the slate of four elected officials who will lead Boys Nation — the president pro tempore and the secretary of the senate. The president and vice president will be elected later in the week.

Eshaam Bhattad, F-Ill., was elected president pro tempore and will lead the Boys Nation senate for the first part of the week. He was sponsored to Illinois Boys State by Post 964 in Lake Zurich, Ill.

Bhattad emerged from a field of 12 initial candidates and received the necessary majority vote on the fourth ballot.

Elected secretary of the senate was Charan Bala, F-Md. He was sponsored to Maryland Boys State by Post 300 in Columbia, Md.

Waiting on a jet plane

Sunday’s excursions and Saturday’s activities came after the global tech outage played havoc with senators’ flight plans on Friday — traditionally a day which ends with section meetings that help set the tone for the week.

Instead, those section meetings were pushed to Saturday morning, giving more, though not all, of the senators a chance to get acclimated to the sections they’re divided into by state. Indeed, a handful of senators didn’t arrive until Saturday night and very early Sunday.

That in turn pushed the Boys Nation senate oath of office ceremony back a bit. But there was still time for American Legion National Security Commission Chairman Matthew Shuman to delve into the oath and ensure the senators understood the deeper meaning behind each line.

After the oath, Shuman and Will Smith, a fellow Arizona native and the legislative director for Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., took questions from the senators and posed for a selfie with them.