Badger Boys State Badger Boys State Badger Boys State is a week-long youth program held each June to teach Wisconsin high-school students leadership and the workings of government. Forty-nine states (all except for Hawai'i) have a similar yet distinctive program for boys and a separate program for girls. The program hosts approximately 850 students (called citizens while attending the program) and over 100 volunteer staff members for 8 days on the Ripon College campus. During the week, a mock government is created as citizens elect leaders in 27 cities, 9 counties, and a "51st" state that encompasses the entire program. Badger Boys State
Badger Boys State its program now requires a full-time volunteer staff of over one hundred people, plus a part-time special lecture staff of 45. Attendance has grown from 484 in 1939 to an all-time high of 1,066 in 1982. Ripon College was forced to place some restrictions on space in the late 1980s whereby total citizen attendance is restricted to 973 per session. Many Badger Boys State graduates serve public office or work in business, the professions, industry, and the armed forces. First Day - SATURDAY, June 21 - Registration • Election of Ward/City, and County Committeeman • Party Caucuses, city and county.