Grant for Boys State Delegates Col. Gene McVay of Fort Smith (left) receives a $750 grant from a South Shore Foundation Trustee, Jodie Elizabeth Jeffrey. The grant will make it possible for six boys to go to Arkansas Boys State the summer of their junior year in high school. The six will come from South Shore area schools, which are Flippin, Bruno-Pyatt, Lead Hill, Omaha, Yellville-Summit and Bergman. McVay is the vice commander of the American Legion, Department of Arkansas Northwest. South Shore Foundation plans to fund a similar program for girls, Girls State, sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary.

Thanks to a South Shore Foundation grant of $750 to the American Legion, six boys in area high schools will be able to attend Boys State this summer. A program of citizenship education and participation, Boys State had approximately 600 participants last summer in Arkansas. The weeklong program is held on a college campus.

Boys State has been a program of the National Americanism Commission since 1935. Forty-nine states participate serving about 28,000 young men. The American Legion Auxiliary sponsors a similar program for young women, Girls State, for which the South Shore Foundation approved a similar grant.

According to state vice commander of the American Legion in Arkansas, Col. Gene McVay, "Boys State is a unique summertime educational program that does not emphasize classroom lectures and textbook learning. Instead, it focuses on participation and personal experience in a model state, complete with governing bodies and elected public officials." Col. McVay said it is designed to mirror the structure and operation of the state in which it takes place.

Local American Legion chapters choose the delegates, based upon recommendations from the schools they attend. Criteria include having qualities of leadership, character, scholarship, loyalty and service to their schools. The South Shore Foundation grant will cover the cost of attending the weeklong program for each of six boys.

For more information about Boys State, contact Gene McVay at (479) 646-1960 in Fort Smith or by e-mail at genemcvay@aol.com.

The South Shore Foundation is the charitable arm of Northern Arkansas Telephone Company at Flippin, a family-owned and operated, independent telephone company founded in 1951. The foundation makes grants to nonprofit agencies to advance education, preserve the environment, develop the local economy, and assist in community betterment. For more information or a grant application, call 1-800-775-6682.