American Legion Auxiliary recognizes local student’s efforts in Sacramento
Auxiliary President Jan Fletcher presented Lassen with certificates. | Catherine Stachowiak/Kern Valley Sun
The American Legion Auxiliary hosted a luncheon honoring Kasey Lassen on Saturday at First Baptist Church of Kernville.
Lassen was selected and sponsored by Kern River Valley Post 711 as a delegate from her high school to represent the valley in Sacramento last summer. During the lunch, she gave a presentation sharing her experiences learning about government at the state capital.
Auxiliary President Jan Fletcher presented Lassen with certificates of recognition for her work with the team she represented at the California Girl State 2022 event hosted at Sacramento State.
“I’m so grateful for this experience,” Lassen said. “I think it was a great preparatory event to get me ready for college. It was truly such a life-changing event.”
Lassen gave a presentation to 500 people in Sacramento.
Before attending the event, Lassen was required to author a mock bill in the form of an actual bill. She wrote her bill about allocating more money to rural and under-resourced schools to give students opportunities to pursue technical careers rather than going to a university. Her city picked her bill to go to the state legislature at the event.
At the Girl State event, girls were sorted into cities, which made up counties, and the counties made up the state.
“I was with 26 or 27 different girls,” Lassen told the auxiliary. “They tried to put people from northern California with others from southern California to encourage diversity.”
Lassen met girls from all over the state.
“I think it’s just so cool to be able to see where everybody came from. I made friends with a girl from San Diego and another who lives in San Francisco,” Lassen said.
Participants ran for specific offices. Lassen was elected as treasurer of her county. Her team had to make a budget for the mock county she represented. Girls were also required to develop rules for their respective cities.
Lassen plans to major in biomedical science and wants to apply to medical school later.