Ariq Rahman, a rising senior and class president at Masuk High School, recently won an election to serve as Connecticut’s lieutenant governor and, rather than resting on his laurels, the ambitious young politician traveled to Washington, D.C., where he is now seeking to expand his influence at the federal level.
Rahman is taking part in a governing simulation offered in an American Legion sponsored program for select students.
He was chosen to participate in the Boys State program by Jamie Sherry, the history and social studies instructional leader at Masuk. Then counselors there chose Rahman and another student, from among the 110 students in the program, to represent Connecticut in the Boys Nation program in Washington.
“I knew it would be a great experience,” Sherry had told Rahman, “but your selection for the national program is a testament to your skills and academic excellence. We are so proud of you. I can’t wait to hear all about the national program and your experiences there!”
“Ariq is a passionate civic-minded student who was selected by multiple Masuk social studies teachers to represent Masuk for this experiential learning opportunity,” Principal Steve Swensen said. “I am confident that Ariq’s knowledge, abilities, and personality will continue to bring him success in Washington, D.C., just as it did at the University of New Haven.”
“We are so proud of Ariq and look forward to hearing about this additional opportunity to represent himself and Masuk on the national level,” Swensen added.
According to the American Legion website:
Boys State was founded in 1935 to counter the socialism-inspired Young Pioneer Camps. The program was the idea of two Illinois Legionnaires, Hayes Kennedy and Harold Card, who organized the first Boys State at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield.
American Legion Auxiliary sponsors a separate but similar program for young women called Girls State.
At Boys State, participants learn the rights, privileges and responsibilities of franchised citizens.
Rahman said he believes the saying, “a week that shapes a lifetime” is true, adding, “I’ll never forget Boys State and I look forward to Boys Nation.”
Still from Monroe
Rahman, who had served as a student representative for the Monroe Board of Education last school year, remembers learning about his selection for Boys State from his history teacher Andrew Townsend.
“I don’t why you got picked for this,” Townsend joked.
“He had a paper with surface level information,” Rahman said during an interview at Edith Wheeler Memorial Library. “I looked it up online. I figured I was picked for the opportunity, so it would be a waste not to do it.”
Staying at a dormitory at the University of New Haven from June 22 to 27 was the first time Rahman went away for a week to live on his own.
Rising seniors from high schools across the state were selected as delegates for Boys State. After taking a survey they were divided into two fictional political parties: the Federalists (which was actually a party in the country’s earliest days) and the Nationalists.
The dorm hallways represented towns named after former presidents and the rooms, with three roommates each, were residents’ homes.
Ironically, Rahman lived in the town of Monroe, a hallway named after James Monroe. The other “towns” were Jefferson, Hayes and Madison.
Students from both parties picked their local leaders in each town and nominated their candidates for town positions such as first selectman, Board of Education and Town Council.
Cracking down on violations
“The town level stuff was fun,” Rahman recalled. “Once we had a first selectman and a Town Council picked out, we had to convene and make ordinances and laws. We had some fun ones. We made funny ordinances.”
Not only did they create ordinances, the students also appointed law enforcement officers and a prosecuting attorney to enforce the rules.
Students often ordered dinners through Uber Eats, so one ordinance made it mandatory to thank the delivery person in a high pitched voice, recording it so everyone knew the rule had been followed.
“Our town was called Monroe, so every time you went through a doorway in town, you had to slap the door and yell, ‘Monroe,'” Rahman said of another ordinance. “Most of the violations were for that. In common areas of our town, people would catch violators breaking the law on video.”
Rahman served as prosecuting attorney, trying and winning all three cases that went to trial.
The biggest case involved an adult counselor, who allegedly arrived at a town meeting last and refused to sing a song of residents’ choice as required by another ordinance.
Rahman had broken this rule before and found himself singing, “Careless Whisper” by George Michael.
In the case of the counselor, he denied breaking the rule and testimony proved another counselor arrived after he did. However, he was found guilty on the charge of not slapping the door and shouting “Monroe” when he entered the room, so Prosecutor Rahman got his conviction.
A campaign rally
State candidates were chosen at a convention. This included the “Big Six” most desired offices of governor, lieutenant governor, comptroller, treasurer, secretary of the state and attorney general, as well as two senators and five state representatives from each town.
This year, for the first time in the program’s history, the state election had co-ed legislative candidates from Boys State and Girls State.
Rahman said he ran in a race to be one of Monroe’s senators and lost, but managed to secure the Federalist Party nomination for lieutenant governor.
“We had a big campaign rally night before the election,” he said. “We all gave a speech. I think it went very well.”
Aside from appealing to his own party’s platform, Rahman spoke to members of the rival party to see what Nationalist issues aligned with goals in the Federalist platform, so his speech could garner support across party lines.
“I went down the list. ‘This is the issue. This is how we can solve it,'” he said.
During the program, Rahman gave eight speeches in six days and his experience paid off. His lieutenant governor speech made inroads, lifting Rahman to an Election Day victory.
“Once I was in the Big Six position, we received bills from the legislature that passed and ended up on our table,” he said, adding they talked things over with the governor who decided to sign or veto the legislation.
Aside from signing a bill into law, the state officials interviewed nominees for the State Supreme Court and appointed them to be vetted by the legislature.
“As lieutenant governor, I presented all nominees to the senate and they confirmed them,” Rahman said. “It was fun. I wanted to be a senator, but I still got to preside over the proceedings as lieutenant governor and to vote in the event of a tie.”
A talent show
Boys State featured a packed schedule as most participants woke up around 6 a.m. so they could eat breakfast before morning announcements in the auditorium at 8:40 a.m. And most nights did not end until 11:30 or midnight.
One highlight was an American Legion Youth Luncheon at the Marriott in Trumbull, featuring veterans from organizations all over Connecticut. Rahman and other “governor’s office” officials from Boys and Girls State gave speeches.
“We had speakers almost every day,” Rahman said of the program.
Among them were the Boys State governor from last year, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, and Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz.
State officials had a question and answer period and Bysiewicz’s presentation was interactive. She named an issue and picked two people to argue each side of it, according to Rahman.
“I was picked for gun control,” he said. “I chose to be on the pro gun control side.”
Another topic was Donald Trump vs. President Joe Biden on abortion.
“She had good interactivity with the audience,” Rahman said of Bysiewicz. “It was fun.”
Students often played sports during their free time and Rahman said there was a co-ed talent show on the last night.
“I was involved in that one,” he said. “I did a silly cover of ‘Heartless’ by Kanye West. I’m not a singer. That was fun. I had sunglasses on and I sang the song.”
Rahman said the show featured a lot of talented musicians singing and playing instruments, as well as comedy acts.
“There was a lot of screaming energy,” he said, adding it made the program more fun.
A graduation ceremony
The program ended with a graduation, which included an awards ceremony. Rahman and other members of the “Big Six” gave short speeches.
The last two awards from Boys State Connecticut were senatorial positions to represent the state in Boys Nation this July. The counselors chose Sky Zhang of Wilton High School, who had won secretary of the state, and Rahman.
“I’m very happy about that,” Rahman said. “We got an envelope with a $1,000 scholarship. They said I was the easy pick in their eyes, because of my rally speech.”
The national program is from July 19 to 27.
Boys Nation will have a total of 100 students hailing from every state except Hawaii. During the program there will be an election for president, vice president and two other positions, but Rahman said a lot more emphasis will be on the senators passing bills on the floor.
“I’ll run for one of the positions. I’ll throw my hat in the ring,” he said. “I will give it a shot and, if I don’t win, no big deal.”
A network of friends
During his experience at Boys State, Rahman lost elections for town vice party chair and senate, before winning the race for lieutenant governor. He said the program helped him improve upon his public speaking and to feel more confident.
Rahman said he also made friends with some of the top high school students in Connecticut.
“I might need their help one day,” he said with a smile. “Same with Boys Nation. I’m hoping to meet, some interesting, smart, fun people. I met a lot of people I consider more accomplished than myself. It was impressive. It was humbling. I’m glad to meet them early on. Some of them with do great things one day.”
Rahman is interning for Beth Cliff, a Democrat running for state senate, for his Capstone Project. Prior to Boys State, he said pursuing a political career was always in the back of his mind.
But after his experience, Rahman said he is less sure because of all of the work that goes into it and how tough losing can be. “I don’t know if I’m built for that level of stress,” he said. “But I wouldn’t rule it out.”
Rahman said he most enjoys talking to people during a campaign. “If it’s an issue I care about, I can talk people’s ears off about it,” he said.
Boys State has senior counselors and junior counselors, who are teenagers who participated in the program the year before.
“I’m thinking of being a junior counselor next year, because I had fun — unless something comes up,” Rahman said. “I really liked Boys State. A part of me wondered about having cold feet days before going, but I’m really glad I went.”
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