ABERDEEN, S.D. (Press Release) – The 238 high school boys between their junior and senior years, who were delegates to the 77th Annual Session of The American Legion Boys State of South Dakota, held their general election for state officers on Thursday, May 30th. After lunch, election results were announced by the Boys State Executive Officer Corey Rabenberg and are as follows.
Jonathan Smith of Sioux Falls, who will be a senior this year at Lincoln High School, was elected as Governor. Elected as Lt. Governor was Landon DeBoer of Sioux Falls, who is also a student at Lincoln High School.
Caleb Weiland of Beresford and Isaac Buchhotz of Pierre were selected as the two delegates to represent South Dakota at The American Legion Boys Nation in Washington, D.C. in July. Zachary Curd of Sioux Falls and Anders Svenningsen also of Sioux Falls were selected as Alternate Delegates.
Henry Heiberger of Brandon was selected as the 2019 recipient of the Samsung, American Legion Scholarship award. Henry’s application has been forwarded to the National American Legion Selection Committee. The committee will award ten, $10,000 scholarships to the National Finalists.
Other election results were Scott Shlanta of Sioux Falls for Attorney General; Michael Yousef of Sioux Falls for Secretary of State; Cadin Kallenberger of Leola as State Auditor; Eli Longville of Colton as State Treasurer; Grant Beilke of Sioux Falls as Commissioner of School and Public Lands. Elected as members of the Public Utilities Commission were Harry Heiberger of Brandon, Henry Heiberger of Brandon, and James Lusk of Milbank.
In non-political elections, the delegates also elected seven justices to serve on the Supreme Court. Elected as Supreme Court Justices were Hunter Hauck of Sioux Falls, Eli Kortan of Alexandria, Thomas Lafave of Mission Hill, Nathan Moon of Sioux Falls, Noah Mursu of Big Stone City, Cooper Vermeulen of Letcher. Court Anderson of Sioux Falls was elected the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
William Kessler of Pierre was selected as the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Anders Svenningsen of Sioux Falls was selected as the Nationalist Party Chairman and Scott Shlanta of Sioux Falls was the Nationalist Party Keynote Speaker. The Federalist Party chose Jackson Meyer of Sioux Falls as their Party Chairman, and Slater Dixon of Sioux Falls as their Keynote Speaker. Anders Svenningsen of Sioux Falls captured the honors of Outstanding Speaker.
Josh Lehman of Elk Point was selected as the Outstanding Boys State Citizen and Johnathan Smith of Sioux Falls received the Spirit of Boys State Award, which recognizes the Boys State Delegate who best exemplifies the purpose of American Legion Boys State of South Dakota. Mark Petrasko of Sioux Falls was elected as the President Pro-Tem. The Outstanding Journalist was Gavin Priebe of Mitchell.