On June 30th, the 2025 Boys’ State governor, David Brophy, appeared before the 2026 Boys’ State citizens as a guest speaker. Although his speech was short, he stood among all the other guest speakers the citizens of Boys’ State had seen this week.

During his interview, David Brophy revealed that one of his main goals is to make real change in the government. Brophy stated that a reason for this goal was due to a lack of involvement from the government to aid one of his friends when they were hospitalized and had a massive bill forced down to them. This experience made him realize that there was a real need for change in the government and that he would need to act on it.

Learning of Boys’ State through the award winning documentary “Boys State (2020),” Brophy would become interested in the program and eventually participate in Boys’ State 2025. Brophy, when asked about his first thoughts of Boys’ State, Brophy praised Boys’ State as a “Banquet of opportunity.” During this time, David would become the elected governor of Boys’ State 2025 and make his way to Boys’ Nation.

Making his way to the semi-finals, David never made it to the position of President of Boys’ Nation but undoubtedly still made quite a large achievement throughout the summer of 2025.

David can be described as prideful, honest, compassionate, and open. He shows pride in being able to change and inspire others to improve themselves. David professed that despite all these qualities, he struggles with creating strong networks with others. Even though he struggled at this, David was able to push past that and become governor, a position that requires creating strong connections. During Boys’ State 2026, David even assisted the newly elected governor in his duties out of his own time.

Overall, David’s presence both last year and this year are impactful and really do show that David is a compassionate and hard working individual. His actions reflect sincerity and a wish for a better government perfectly. At the end of the day, we cannot forget that David Brophy, former governor or not, was still a citizen of New York Boys’ State.