Ole Miss hosts Boys State and Magnolia Girls State this summer

The University of Mississippi has turned its Oxford campus into a statewide leadership lab, bringing hundreds of rising high school seniors here for Mississippi Boys State and Magnolia Girls State during two summer sessions that put state government, public speaking and civic responsibility at the center of campus life.

Boys State ran May 24-30, and Magnolia Girls State is scheduled for June 7-12. Together, the programs brought hundreds of students to Lafayette County to campaign, debate, elect officials and learn how government works through hands-on simulations rather than classroom lectures alone.

That matters in Oxford because the programs do more than fill dorms and meeting rooms for a week. Delegates use the University of Mississippi as a home base while they practice the skills that often shape later work in local government, business, healthcare and civic leadership: teamwork, communication and the ability to work through public problems under pressure. The Mississippi Boys State program says participants learn government through city, county and state simulation activities, while Magnolia Girls State centers on responsible citizenship, leadership and a fictional self-governing municipality where delegates elect officials, debate bills and solve community problems.

The university has made the programs part of its own calendar in a sustained way. Ole Miss has hosted Boys State since 2015 and Girls State since 2023, giving Oxford a regular role in preparing some of the state’s most ambitious students for public life. In 2024, Boys State drew more than 250 rising seniors. Girls State brought 165 delegates from 78 high schools across Mississippi, including students who met with Oxford Mayor Robyn Tannehill and state officials such as Attorney General Lynn Fitch, State Auditor Shad White, Secretary of State Michael Watson and House Speaker Jason White.

Magnolia Girls State itself dates to 1936, and The American Legion’s Boys State program has operated since 1935. The American Legion Auxiliary says more than one million young women have attended Girls State since 1937, underscoring how deeply rooted both programs are in civic education across the country. The American Legion was chartered by Congress in 1919.

For Oxford and Lafayette County, the value is local as much as it is statewide: every summer, Ole Miss hosts a new class of teenagers who spend a week learning how public service works and how Mississippi’s institutions are supposed to function.