New Ulm High School student Adeline Ringhofer (left) and Camryon Murphy (right) share their experiences as representatives at 2024 Girls State. Photo by Clay Schuldt

NEW ULM – Last month Camryn Murphy and Adeline Ringhofer of New Ulm joined over 200 other girls from across Minnesota in the American Legion Auxiliary Girls State program at Bethel University.

The two soon-to-be seniors attended the week-long program from June 9 through June 15 that teaches young women about citizenship and governments.

Murphy and Ringhofer were inspired to attend Girls State by last year’s New Ulm delegate Alex Groebner.

Ringhofer said as a member of the high school student council, the leadership aspect of the program was exciting. However, the two admitted to being nervous before the program started. In the end, they both came away with an appreciation for the political process.

“I walked out of that with so much I didn’t have before,” Ringhofer said. “It gave me a great insight.”

On the first day of Girls State, all the students were assigned to simulated communities. There were eight towns across two counties. Murphy and Ringhofer were sent to separate cities in separate counties.

Ringhofer said it was fairly common to place girls from the same real-life town into separate mock towns. It forced them all to branch out and meet different people.

By the second day, the girls got to work setting up a local city government.

“The first thing we did was choose the type of government we wanted to have,” Murphy said. They had to choose between forming a city with a weak or strong central government. By the end of the day they elected mayors, councilors, city clerks and chief of police.

Ringhofer said she was surprised at how many options there were for setting up a city government. At first, the weak central government sounded bad, but there were benefits to the option.

Early in the process Murphy was appointed as an election judge and was busy setting up polling and making sure everyone followed voting regulations. It was a challenging position and Murphy did catch multiple errors in the voting process that forced students to redo it.

She said it was mostly spelling errors. A candidate’s name would be wrong on the ballot, or the candidate would be filed under the wrong position.

The girls moved to the county level on day three, picking judges and party delegates. On the fourth day, the focus was on the state level with students taking on the roles of State Senate and House members. Ringhofer said she ultimately was appointed to the State Senate and served as the clerk.

Since the delegates at Girls State only had a week, the entire campaign and election cycle was streamlined into only a few days.

Ringhofer said though they had limited time to campaign, the girls were allowed to make campaign posters and give stump speeches.

“People were getting really creative,” Murphy said “They were making up dances and songs.”

One of the challenges of the Girl State program was the random political party assignments. The program divided students between two parties; the Nationalists and Federalists. Each party had its own political planks.

“Regardless of your political affiliation in real life, when you are separated into those parties, it was very difficult for some people to conform,” Ringhofer said. “I didn’t personally agree with a lot of the Federalist ideas.”

On the second to last day of the program, the girls visited the Capitol and St. Paul and many were able to participate in mock debates in the real Minnesota State Senate room.

Ringhofer said the debates at the Senate were some of the best parts of the Girls State program and it was an eye-opening experience; especially in terms of the process.

“I was surprised with how many bills did not pass,” Ringhofer said.

Many of the bills failed because of a disagreement on a small part of the whole bill and they ran out of time before it could be amended. “I think we failed more bills than we passed.”

“People were very particular with wording,” Murphy said. Even on the county level, the delegates were picky about language. If a bill was not spelled just right, no one would approve it without an amendment. The amendment process was so long, that sometimes bills were dropped rather than make the changes.

Ringhofer said there was a bill that everyone agreed with, but it was missing a period. They tried to amend it but there wasn’t enough time to pass it before the session ended.

Even if a bill passed the Senate, it needed to make it through the House too. Ringhofer said the Senate passed 14 bills, but most died in the House. Ringhofer and Murphy said it was shocking how much of the experience was reflective of actual politics.

“You have kind of a fourth-wall moment where you realize, wait, this what happens in real life too,” Murphy said.

On the county level, Murphy was able to take part in a mock trial. This was her favorite part of Girls State. She served as a witness for the prosecution and her side. Murphy credited the student attorneys for presenting a strong case.

Ringhofer said her favorite part of Girls State was the connections she made with the other young girls.

“I currently talk to every single person in my city daily,” she said. “That’s a really valuable thing because we all come from different walks of life and it was powerful to come together.”

Murphy agreed that it was easy to connect with their fellow delegates.

“You don’t think you are going to get attached to 20 random girls that you have in your city and then on the last day you’re in tears after you leave them,” Murphy said.

Looking back a month after attending Girls State, Murphy and Ringhofer strongly recommended it for anyone interested in the government process.

Asked what advice they would give to the New Ulm girls who attend Girls State in 2025, Murphy and Ringhofer said “Just do it.”

“Throw yourself in there,” Murphy added. “That’s what we did and we loved it.”

“I am not considering a political position when I grow up,” Ringhofer said. “I think it is still important to understand how this works so you know how to vote and how important it is.”