My name is Michael Doeberl and I was the fourth author for boysstateny.org and my experience is as follows. I came to Boys State under the impression that this would be super easy and the week would blow right by. This was not the case however. After my first day here I realized this program would not be as simple as I expected. My schedule everyday was packed with things to do, whether drilling or deciding political positions in the county. What I also realized is that while everybody here is from different backgrounds and has their own history, Once we put on the Boys state T-shirt and fall into formation we are all the same.

I joined website design because of my previous experience in the creation of websites. I was surprised when I was told we would be writing articles and blog posts instead. This brings me to the second thing I realized about Boys State. It’s about adapting to a situation. When I first got here I was out of my comfort zone. On the first day I spoke to nobody simply because I did not know them. By the second day I realized the only way I was going to make it through the week is to talk to anybody and everybody I meet. By halfway through the week I began running for positions in my county (to no avail). By Thursday night I had fully adjusted. I had become comfortably in my new unfamiliar surroundings. I had enough confidence and motivation to get up onto the stage in the assembly hall during the talent show. When I got up there I gave a small talk of my background. How I was from Sherburne-Earlville school in Madison County and a couple reasons why I was here. After that I handed the microphone of the MC and did a back flip in front of over 1000 people. The crowd cheered, and my friends back in Scheiberling County had only high fives and handshakes to offer afterwards. I truly believe I earned their respect that night, all because I was able to build up the confidence to step out of my comfort zone.

If you ask me the biggest thing you can learn, and take out of Boys State here in New York is confidence. Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone, because once you do you’ll never regret it. Had I not gone up on that stage I would have regretting it for the rest of my life. I’m glad I did, so now I never will.