News : Four VSHS students selected for Iowa Legion Auxiliary Girls State

Vinton Girls State nominees Stephanie Lash & Mackenzie Stueck with Raela Uthoff, Post 57 Auxiliary.

Shellsburg Girls State nominees: Elle Osborne, Auxiliary member Kay Bonesteel and Victoria Kramer

Four VSHS students were selected for the Iowa Legion Auxiliary Girls State event this summer.

For weeks, four Vinton-Shellsburg moms had to keep a secret. Then one day, four girls were called to the high school office between classes. There, they met their parents and Legion Auxiliary members Kay Bonesteel of Shellsburg and Raela Uthoff of Vinton. The four girls -- Mackenzie Stueck, Elle Osborne, Stephanie Lash and Victoria Kramer -- were chosen to represent Vinton and Shellsburg at the Iowa American Legion Auxiliary Girls State event in Ames this summer.

Also attending was Katie Stueck, Mackenzie's older sister who had attended a Girls State a few years ago, and encouraged her younger sibling to apply for the program. Girls State is a week-long event that helps teach a variety of leadership and citizenship skills for girls entering their senior year of high school.