Submitted Photo Boys State officers, left to right, are: front, Governor Braden Li, Fargo; State Treasurer Levi Bowman, Jamestown; back, Attorney General Nicolas Sanford, Bismarck; Lieutenant Governor Zuan Park, Fargo; Agriculture Commissioner Dane Hansen, Coleharbor.

WAHPETON — Malychi Baldin of Minot and area youth were among 68 high school students from across North Dakota who gathered at North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton for the 82nd annual American Legion Boys State program, held June 8-13.

Braden Li of Fargo was elected governor during the week-long government and leadership simulation, which is open to young men entering their senior year of high school. Delegates participated in mock city and county governments, disaster simulations and daily media production, with additional instruction provided by visiting officials and speakers.

Area participants included Dane Hansen of Coleharbor, who served as agriculture commissioner; Kingston Martinez, Teagun White Eagle and Basil Huntsalong, New Town; Easton Tibbs, Crosby; Levi Repnow, Underwood; James Odenbach, Watford City; and Blake Engleman, Brayden Reinholdt, Logan Brown and Andrew Cauthen, Williston.

Other participants elected to state positions were Lieutenant Governor Zuan Park, Fargo; Secretary of State, Hunter Boelke, Wahpeton; Attorney General, Nicolas Sanford, Bismarck; State Treasurer, Levi Bowman, Jamestown.

Boys State guests this year were Gov. Kelly Armstrong, North Dakota Supreme Court Justice Douglas Bahr, talk radio host Joel Heitkamp, political consultant and Theodore Roosevelt impersonator Joe Wiegand, and Breanna Koval, director of Wilkin County Emergency Management in Minnesota.