It is rare for two generations of the same family to attend the summer Boys State program, but in Marlborough three generations hold the distinction; Dr. Anthony Pascale in 1967, his son Nick in 1994 and grandson Christian in 2024. Both Dr. Pascale and Christian went to SUNY Morrisville while Nick went to SUNY College of Technology at Alfred. 

 

Boys State is a summer leadership and citizenship program that started in 1937 and is offered to high school Juniors, through their local American Legion Posts. The focus is on how American government and politics work. 

 

To date a notable list of alumni reads like a who’s who across the American landscape: George Pataki, 53rd Governor of New York; Neil Armstrong, astronaut and first man on the moon; Scott Bakula, actor and singer; Jon Bon Jovi, American singer/ songwriter, guitarist;  Garth Brooks, country singer/songwriter; Chris Christie, 55th Governor of New Jersey; Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States; James Gandolfini actor; Bruce Springsteen, rock singer/songwriter and performer; Scott Walker, 45th Governor of Wisconsin and Carroll Dale, former Green Bay Packer (1965-1972) and Minnesota Viking (1973), to name just a few. 

 

Last week Christian first spoke at the American Legion Viebey-Sutton American Legion Post about his recent week at Boys State. He said a typical day started at 5:30 a.m., followed at 6am with a physical fitness routine led by a Marine that includes jogging, push-ups and jumping jacks; 6:45am is breakfast, which lead into elections that involved all 600 boys who attended. Christian said after lunch there were more elections, followed by sports activities from 4pm to 5pm that included basketball, soccer, cross country, softball. After dinner there were elections and readings. It was lights out at 10:30pm.

 

Christian said there is a military aspect to Boys State, with an assigned Marine who taught his company how to stand at attention and to march and drill. The boys were also taught how to make their beds in the proper military way.  

 

Christian said every day there were assemblies with speakers who spoke on various topics, such as military aircraft from fighter jets, to helicopters to cargo planes. He said there were also two state Congressmen who talked about how they represent their districts and one person who talked about public speaking techniques. There was also a police K9 unit that demonstrated how they search for drugs.

 

Three generations of Pascales sat down for an interview with the Southern Ulster Times about their respective experiences at Boys State. 

 

Christian became interested in Boys State partly because of his  family but also because he had done some volunteer work at the Legion. He is a senior member of the track team at school and guides the younger members. He is also thinking about running for a position as an officer in the National Honor Society in the upcoming school year.  

 

Nick said he had a similar experience as his son Christian. 

 

“We had more boys at the time, but they were divided into political parties, then divided into counties, and either cities or platoons depending on how it was organized,” he recalled.

 

Nick said the divisions were done to allow for individual candidates to emerge as a way to model it on state government. 

 

“You had your two major parties, then the Assembly and Senate and eventually somebody gets elected Governor,” he said. “That person and then an alternate get to go to Boys Nation [in Washington D.C.],” he said. 

 

Nick recalled that the program tries to,” split your time between the political aspect of it, which is organizing into your caucuses and getting  candidates elected and then participating by drafting bills, debating, voting, passing legislation and electing candidates, just as you would in an ordinary political structure in real life.”

 

Nick said the other half was recreational and every division had a Marine who spent a lot of time with the boys, “by organizing us into units and teaching us how to march, stand at attention, right face, left face. Some of it is to instill some of the para-military aspect into it, but also at the end of it they do have a parade with all of the boys and then there was a graduation ceremony with all of the parents in attendance.” In addition, their elected Governor gives a state of the union address.

 

When Dr. Pascale attended Boys State there were only 8 buildings at Morrisville but it has expanded since 1967. 

 

Dr. Pascale believes this year Boys State attendees passed the highest number of bills and legislation – with Christian saying that 16 pieces of legislation went through the Senate, the Assembly and to the Governor’s desk, within two and a half days. He added that these ‘bills’ later go to the official New York State Assembly to see if they can get a member to actually sponsor one or more of the Boys State bills.   

 

When asked what each of them took away from their experience, Christian said, “Our politicians should be public servants and they should be focused on what we as the constituents want, so when I was an Assemblyman I talked to people about what was important for them and what they wanted me to focus and vote on and the issues that they cared about.” Even though 30 years have passed since Nick attended, “I can tell you that if you think about it, we’re always only one generation away from losing your citizenship, so it is important to have your youth go through these sorts of programs where civic pride in your nation, your state and in yourself and interest in the political system and discipline is developed. It’s important for every generation to have a program like this and I hope the American Legion keeps it going and that the state of New York continues funding it.”

 

Dr. Pascale said before he attended, “I was a big fish in a small pond and when I got to Morrisville, I was a little fish in a big pond. The seven days I was there, I met kids with all different ideas, all kinds of kids who were Asian, African and American. There were liberals, conservatives with all kinds of different ideas and we all got along. It opened my eyes to know there was more than Highland and Marlborough. It was a very good experience and the American Legion does a great service for these kids just to get them to be civic minded.”