At 17, Mariam Kish has already served as mayor of Grasso City and is now a state senator. On July 21, she heads to Washington, D.C., where she’s pretty sure she’ll run for president.

Call it the Year of the Woman or just a very productive summer, but things are in high gear right now for Mariam, an incoming Guilford High School (GHS) senior. It all began shortly after she was made a 2018 American Legion Auxiliary (ALA) Laurel Girls State delegate.

Each year, Guilford ALA Unit 48 sponsors the participation of two GHS juniors in Girls State. The unit's 2018 delegates were Mariam and GHS incoming senior Christen Backes. Delegates are nominated by their teachers and selected following interviews with ALA members in the spring. An annual donation made to ALA Unit 48 from Americian Legion Post 48 covers the cost of one Girls State delegate, and Unit 48 solicits contributions from local business, including a grant from Guilford WalMart this year, for the other delegate.

Between June 24 and 29, Mariam participated in ALA Laurel Girls State at Post University in Waterbury with more than 140 other delegates statewide. There, she so impressed program leaders that she was selected as one of two Connecticut senators who will attend ALA Girls Nation in D.C. from July 21 to 28.

At Laurel Girls State, the gathering of young women from across Connecticut were sorted into two political affiliations (Nationalist or Federalist) and became residents of one of three fictitious cities (including Grasso City) named after prominent Connecticut leaders. The residents then elect their leaders.

Mariam has been active in debate since the 7th grade and is currently the captain of the GHS debate team, so when it came to preparing for Laurel Girls State, she did her homework.

“Everyone came to Girls State with a state-level bill that was to go to committee and be debated,” says Mariam, who brought a bill concerning state employee retirement benefits.

“I was advocating for 401K IRAs and Roth IRAs over traditional pensions,” she says. “It got passed in committee and passed in the House and in Senate and was signed into law by the governor.”

As mayor and CEO of Grasso City, Mariam found herself in some familiar territory for a Guilford resident.

“Each city had to have a town-wide referendum, and ours was on building a new high school,” she says.

At GHS, in addition to leading the school’s debate team, Mariam is secretary of the Women in Science Club, a member of the Interact Club, and senior chairman of the Youth Advisory Group for the Guilford Foundation.

Mariam says she learned quite a bit from state leaders who spoke to attendees of ALA Laurel Girls State, including Secretary of the State Denise Merrill and Comptroller Kevin Lembo. The biggest takeaway for Mariam came from Lembo, she says.

“When State Comptroller Kevin Lembo talked to us about how we can get involved in politics, I thought what he had to say was very inspiring,” she says. “It was about finding your passion.”

While Mariam doesn’t plan to have a career in politics—she’s currently interested in becoming either a neurosurgeon or cardiothoracic surgeon—she is passionate about being “involved in the future” of this country, she says.

Pointing to the nation’s two parties currently at odds in U.S. Congress, she says, “one of the things that was absolutely amazing about Girls State was being among other young women, and you can sit at lunch with people on other sides of the political spectrum. It’s inspiring.”

Mariam also inspired her fellow attendees, because to be in the running to become a Girls Nation senator, she had to first be nominated for the competition by her political party. Then, representing the Nationalists, Mariam’s next task was to write a federal bill that was submitted to the counselors for review. From that, she was selected as one of 12 finalists in the running to be selected as one of two senators.

“The last round, a woman from national headquarters came to camp and asked us questions regarding current events, which we had to answer in front of the entire Girls State,” Mariam says.

Given one minute to respond, Mariam was put on the spot to discuss her take on the implications of the privatization of veterans’ health care, and what she regarded as the biggest pro or con regarding Internet neutrality.

“I argued privatization of veterans’ health care would be a negative, because of the effect of unequal health care between different states or towns. It’s written in the constitution [that] it’s the responsibility of the nation to protect the citizens, and under that protection would be veterans’ health care,” she says.

When it comes to net neutrality, Mariam said the effect of creating an unfair market with smaller websites that can’t compete doesn’t align the ideology of democracy. Mariam says she felt amply prepared for the contest thanks to her background in debate and what she learned during her week at ALA Laurel Girls State.

“It’s a program in Americanism. I definitely learned a lot,” she says.

Following the final competition, contestants had to wait a bit longer to learn the identities of the two senators headed to D.C.

“I didn’t know until the last day,” says Mariam. “At the graduation ceremony, they gave out awards, and for the Girls Nation senator awards, they called my name.”

Mariam will attend Girls Nation with her co-senator, a resident of Ridgebury. ALA Girls Nation will illustrate for them the procedures of government at the national level including passing bills, with visits to the House of Representatives and the Senate. They’ll also visit D.C.’s many monuments and Arlington National Cemetery. The trip culminates in a visit to the White House and a meet-and-greet session with President Donald Trump. Over the seven days, ALA Girls Nation senators will also hold mock Senate sessions, debate bills, campaign for elected office, and elect an ALA Girls Nation president.

As one might expect, Mariam intends to arrive prepared. She’s already co-authored a federal bill with her co-senator.

“It’s about gun violence; specifically, it’s for a permit to purchase handguns,” Mariam shares.

And, while she’s there, she’s likely going to take a run at being elected president of 2018 ALA Girls’ Nation.

“The day that I was first interviewed for Girls State, I researched Girls Nation and wanted to go. You can run for president, which I think I’m going to do.”