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Teen Finds Challenges
As Boys State Governor

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM

Assistant Editor

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16

I®

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1991

t 17, Seth Berg al-
ready has served as
governor. He's been
kidnapped by international
terrorists. He helped a city
overcome financial struggles
through the establishment
of a spring water bottling
company.
It all began when a bunch
of boys got together in Lans-
ing.
A senior at Berkley High
School, Seth was one of 800
teens from throughout Mich-
igan who last summer at-
tended Boys State. His week-
long visit was sponsored by
the American Legion, which
selected Seth and two other
Berkley students based on
leadership abilities, school
and extracurricular ac-
tivities.
Seth, who's had a longtime
interest in politics, was in-
trigued by the idea of Boys
State, which teaches
students the workings of
local governments by having
them run an imaginary
state. So he set off for the
convention, held at Mich-
igan State University, for
what would be a week with
virtually no sleep.
When the teens arrived,
each was assigned to a city
and a political party, either
Federalist or Nationalist.
Between 50-100 boys went to
every "city." Their job was
to work together and deal
with economic and social
issues facing their city.
Seth's city was called
Jackson. He said he and the
other teens assigned to
Jackson, "saw it as our own
little world." They studied
maps of the imaginary town,
considered population fig-
ures, and began vying for
city offices, which included
"everything from mayor to
dog catcher."
But Seth had little time to
get too comfortable in his
new hometown. He had
greater ambitions than just
Jackson. He wanted to be
governor of the entire Boys
State.
"I always liked pushing for
the top," Seth explained. "I
was curious and I thought it
would be interesting. I also
like to be heard and get my
point across, and I like to
make things better."
Of course, no political
campaign would be complete
without speeches, and runn-
ing for governor of Boys
State was no different. Seth

Seth Berg:

Pushing for the top.

said he prepared his
remarks both with his ex-
ecutive board and his father,
"a very good speech writer."
At the outset, the Fed-
eralist and Nationalist par-
ties had about 10 boys each
running for Boys State gov-
ernor. Once the parties had
selected final candidates,
they held party conventions
and Seth made the rounds
meeting voters and making
posters.
Once elected, Seth
discovered he had inherited
a $14 billion deficit for his
state. He faced numerous

In the end, Seth
managed to solve
just about
everybody's
financial problems,
"though nothing
like this could
happen in real life."

requests from various cities,
each looking for ways to
reduce their local budget.
(The water bottling company
was one such project.)
In the end, Seth said, he
managed to solve just about
everybody's financial prob-
lems, "though nothing like
this could happen in real
life. Things became a success
simply because we decided it
would be that way."
He also discovered
"terrorists" at his door one
day — in fact a group of
teens carrying through a
Boys State tradition of .kid-
napping the governor. They
demanded a ransom, but
Boys State counselors
managed to save Seth
without paying a cent.
During their week at Boys