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After hosting national youth programs, Hillsdale College hosted Michigan’s Boys State program for the first time this year.

Since 2024, Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Mich., has hosted two of 91Ӱ���ƽ��’s premier youth programs in the National Oratorical Contest and the Junior 3-Position Air Rifle National Championships.

So it was “kind of a no-brainer,” as Michigan Boys State Director Mark Brejcha put it, for that program to move to Hillsdale College as well when the opportunity arose.

“As soon as we made our first site visit here and sat down with our leadership team, it was like, ‘Perfect, this is it, this is where we need to be.’ And here we are a year later, it has exceeded all expectations,” Brejcha said.

“We so much appreciate the welcome that we have had here at Hillsdale College.”

Michigan Boys State took place at Hillsdale College for the first time from June 21-27, with 150 soon-to-be high school seniors from across the state participating in the program.

That’s an increase from 2025, which Brejcha attributed in part to the additional space available at Hillsdale.

The partnership is mutually beneficial, according to Boys State and the college.

“It’s a great honor to have them here,” said Pat Hornak, senior director of campus operations for Hillsdale College. “It’s something we’ve been working with them on the past four to five years, trying to get them here with us. Of course, hosting the oratorical contest and junior shooting, this was another addition we were trying to piece in. We are big on the Constitution and government and how everything runs, so we figured this was a great piece for Hillsdale College to host.”

Michigan Boys State staff who attended the program elsewhere said they’re pleased by the move to Hillsdale.

“It’s been a very warm welcome by Hillsdale College and we’re grateful for the partnership,” said Nikhil Mukkamala, the program’s director of education and a 2017 Michigan Boys State alumnus.

Xavier Evoy, a 2025 Michigan Boys Stater and Boys Nation delegate who returned this year as a junior counselor, said the transition to Hillsdale College has been “a seamless process.”

“Hillsdale has been very accommodating for us,” Evoy said of the college and community he called “the unofficial capital of youth programming for 91Ӱ���ƽ��.”

“And best of all, they understand the gravity and importance of the boys’ experience here and what they do will one day go on to help change our nation and hopefully the world,” Evoy added.

Hornak agreed that having Michigan Boys State at Hillsdale College is an opportunity for the campus to sell itself to those still deciding if and where they’ll go to college.

“There’s probably many of the kids here who never heard of Hillsdale College. If you’re in the (Upper Peninsula), how many times are you getting down to the southern piece of the state?” Hornak said.

In similar fashion, Brejcha said bringing Michigan Boys State to Hillsdale College provides an opportunity to dispel some of the perceptions of the college.

“When I think of Hillsdale, and actually what I’ve experienced here at Hillsdale, is diversity and inclusion,” Brejcha said. “When you walk around and see the statues of the people representative of the people that have spoken here — you’re talking Ronald Reagan, but here’s Winston Churchill, you’re talking Margaret Thatcher, you’re talking Frederick Douglass — you look at all these statues, and then you roll up on Hillsdale’s founding placard out there, that it was the first Michigan college to include women and minorities of all different races, colors, creeds; it’s right here, and as we walk around, we meet the people, we see the clientele, the students that are here for the summer, and we realize that truly they are an institution that welcomes all, and that focus is on diversity and inclusion.”

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Ultimately, regardless of where the program takes place, the goal of Michigan Boys State is to produce great citizens and great leaders, Brejcha said.

“Where they end up on the political spectrum and their faith walk and all of that together, that’s up to them in their journey. But what we’re doing is we’re pouring a foundation here for citizens,” he said.

“What they see — and we don’t really emphasize it, but it’s kind of evident — but what they see on social media and out there isn’t very attractive. But what we do is we sit here and say, there’s a better way. There is the way that I think our founders intended. But I think we take it a step further here at Michigan Boys State. We’re focused on civility and civics. We want people to govern with humility, with responsibility, with prudence, and all those other virtues that I think make our country effective.

“We’ve seen the eroding of that; this generation is going to bring us back from the brink. Our nation is going to be secure for the next 250 years, based on what we do here.”