Under the direction of Cheryl Hovorka of the W.O. Farber Center at USD, 2012 Girls State featured 400 girls who will enter their senior year of high school this fall. Participants were selected from across the state based on scholastic achievement, leadership skills and interest in government.

Molly Hermann of Sturgis was elected Girls State Governor and Charley Gross of Huron was elected Lt. Governor. Additional elections included KayDe Roth of Sturgis, Attorney General; Rachelle Moore of Artesian, Secretary of State; Morgan Pageler of Sisseton, State Auditor; Rebecca Buechler of Chancellor, State Treasurer; Shantiel Kaiser of Rapid City, Commissioner of School and Public Lands. Elected to the Public Utilities Commission were Caitlyn Bagley of Custer, and Audrey Gall and Lindsey Raker of Scotland.

In non-political elections, Girls State delegates elected Mary Ginsbach of Hot Springs, Mae Meierhenry of Sioux Falls, Camille Maciejewski of Hot Springs, Kassandra Friese of Sioux Falls, Caitlyn Schwebach of Tea, Kaylynn Noethlich of Doland as six justices to serve on the Supreme Court. Katelyn Johnson of Sioux Falls was elected as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Leslie Cope of Rapid City was chosen as the Speaker of the House of Representatives while Laura Alexander of Henry was selected as the Nationalist Party Chair and Elizabeth Renner of Crooks as the Nationalist Party Keynote Speaker. The Federalist Party elected Jenna Croymans of Aberdeen as keynote speaker and the Federalist Party elected Amanda Wagemann of Aberdeen as party chair. Megan Ford of Yankton was recipient of the outstanding journalist award and Kirstyn Fiala of Miller received the highest exam score. Justice Mack of Spearfish captured outstanding speaker honors and Laura Alexander of Henry was selected as the Outstanding Girls State Citizen.

Awards were also presented to Alecia VanTassel of Wolsey, Best Circuit Court Judge; Ann Shoemaker of Rapid City, Best Prosecuting Attorney; Mikayla Gallagher of Spearfish, Best Defense Attorney; Elizabeth Magnuson of Sioux Falls, Best Appellate Attorney; KayDe Roth of Sturgis, Best Appellee Attorney; Rachel Nevin of Sioux Falls, Outstanding Forensic Investigator; Mikala Hora of Yankton, President of Citizens Forum; and Tiara Gibson of Clear Lake received the Vice President Citizens Forum award.

Dana Kaufman of Freeman and Kayla Sylvester of Yankton were chosen as delegates to represent South Dakota at The American Legion Auxiliary Girls Nation in Washington, D.C. (Cara Beck of Mitchell and Sarah Larson of Watertown are alternates) while Jenna Brende of Renner was selected as the 2012 recipient of a $1,000 Samsung American Legion Scholarship. Kyla Melchizedek of Lesterville was awarded the Bonnie Slade Memorial Scholarship and Olivia Christopher of Yankton received the Travis Memorial Scholarship.

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