Seventy-five rising high school seniors from Middlesex County attended the 71st session of American Legion Jersey Boys State (ALJBS).
The college-level seminar, sponsored by the American Legion Department of New Jersey, is an action-oriented approach for teaching civics and government at the local, county and state level, according to a statement prepared by the ALJBS organization.
The young men ran their own mythical 51st state of the union. Within 24 hours of their arrival to ALJBS, the statesmen formed 18 mythical cities, divided into political parties and elected a mayor and city council from within their ranks. Each statesman had an opportunity to participate in the political party process by running for office and voting in elections, among many other events, according to the ALJBS.
By the end of the week, the delegation elected a new ALJBS governor, lieutenant governor and two Boys Nation senators, who will attend a national program in Washington, D.C., this summer.
This year’s delegation included 986 students from more than 325 New Jersey municipalities. Students are typically chosen and sponsored by local American Legion Posts and other community-based organizations.
Local Middlesex County statesmen included Aldo Aguayo, Sayreville, Post 294; Colin Barlow, Spotswood, Post 25; Jacob Bautista, Woodbridge, Post 87; Lance Bean, North Brunswick, Post 12; Tilak Bhatnagar, Edison, Post 87; Andrew Buiko, Milltown, Post 25; Nevin Bunag, Sayreville, Post 164; Tyler Cannon, Parlin, Post 211; Dennis Cherian, East Brunswick, Post 25;
Matthew Crowley, South Amboy, Post 211; Srikant Devarajan, East Brunswick, Post 25; Raymond Dreyfuss, Monroe, Post 182; Andrew Faulkenberry, Spotswood, Post 25; Kory Hatton, South Amboy, Post 211; Ignatius Hazelwood, Avenel, Post 3; Jonathan Hyun, Edison, Post 65; Syed Jamal, Monroe, Post 502; Nisarg Joshi, Metuchen, Post 65; William Kacani, Metuchen, Post 65;
Aaron Kellett, Milltown, Post 25; Ibshar Khandakar, Monroe, Post 502; Jatin Khona, East Brunswick, Post 25; Vishnu Kumar, Sayreville, Post 211; Pranav Kuruba, Monroe, Post 522; Christopher Kwok, Metuchen, Post 65; Mehdi Lemdani, Woodbridge, Post 471; Aiden Lewis, North Brunswick, Post 25; Dairath Majumdar, North Brunswick, Post 25; Mohmoadsani Manjara, Iselin, Post 471;
Rushabh Mehta, East Brunswick, Post 263; Matthew Mischler, Monroe, Post 471; Waleed Mujib, Jamesburg, Post 227; Thomas Murray, East Brunswick, Post 25; Rishik Narayana, Monroe, Post 522; Keyur Palan, Iselin, Post 248; Nihar Parikh, Colonia, Post 248; Chris Patel, Sayreville, Post 211; Umang Patel, Iselin, Post 471; Eugene Petronchak, Colonia, Post 248;
Andrew Polinski, East Brunswick, Post 344; Andrew Popow, North Brunswick, Post 25; Om Prabhu, Monroe, Post 522; Genaro Prencipe, Port Reading, Post 87; Rishi Roy, Edison, Post 324; Ayush Saxena, Edison, Post 87; Michael Schraft, Monmouth Junction, Post 339; Sahil Shah, North Brunswick, Post 430; Vraj Shah, Edison, Post 324; Darshan Singh, Edison, Post 324; and
Connor Small, Edison, Post 25; David Stolte, Parlin, Post 211; Prem Trehan, Colonia, Post 248; Aman Virdi, East Brunswick, Post 25; Patrick Walsh, South Amboy, Post 62; Kyle Wavro, South Amboy, Post 211; Ethan Wolfe, Metuchen, Post 65.
“It’s our honor to welcome 986 statesmen to Jersey Boys State,” David Bagatelle, director of ALJBS, said of the event held June 19-24 at Rider University. “ALJBS shapes the future for so many young students each year who become our political, community, military and business leaders.”
