Largest class in the previous seven years to enroll at Arkansas Boys State

Little Rock, Arkansas – Arkansas Boys State is a week-long leadership and participation program for junior high school boys, and it begins on May 26 with 560 kids from 191 high schools participating.

The 83rd session of the event is being held this year, and this class has the highest enrollment in the previous seven years.

Eighty staff members volunteered to lead the program, and they will all be leading the session on the UCA campus.

“Arkansas Boys State continues to be a premier youth leadership experience for students throughout Arkansas, as it has for thousands of delegates since 1940,” said Dr. Lloyd Jackson, the program’s executive director. “As we prepare to welcome our largest class of delegates in seven years, we are excited about the life-changing impact ahead for the week.”

Dr. Charles Robinson, the chancellor of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, will deliver the keynote address. Other speakers at the event include Arkansas state legislators, Major General Jonathan M. Stubbs, Chief Justice John Dan Kemp, and Governors Sarah Huckabee-Sanders and Asa Hutchinson.

“Each of these 560 young men will embark on a week that shapes a lifetime, and our staff is looking forward to investing in the future of our state,” Jackson said. “Our program speaks for itself with its rich history and family of alumni – truly an institution for youth leadership and civic development in Arkansas.”

In addition to engaging with other members on social and political concerns, the participants will lead keynote speaker sessions, run a mock government, and take part in the program’s Marquis Schools of Instruction program.

Arkansas PBS and Arkansas Boys State will continue to collaborate by using the Arkansas Citizens Access Network to webcast speeches, presentations, and elections.

“Our 83rd session is just the most recent iteration of a program that truly invests in and changes the lives of young men in Arkansas,” Jackson said. “We look forward to opening this year’s session and welcoming our newest cohort of delegates.”