Seth Buckley, minister to students at First Church in Spartanburg, could not contain his excitement. “South Carolina Baptists should be proud,” he told The Baptist Courier. “Anderson knocked it out of the park this week.”
Marion Lawson and his son James, left, chat with Seth Buckley and his son Jacob during the Palmetto Boys’ State meeting at Anderson University.For the first time ever, Anderson University hosted the annual Palmetto Boys’ State for the top 850 rising high school senior boys in South Carolina. Buckley has worked with Boys’ State for 31 years and is its assistant director. His oldest son, Jacob, a student at North Greenville University, is a senior counselor.
A close friend of Buckley, Marion Lawson, who has been with the program for 30 years, is education administrator for Boys’ State. He is principal of Pickens High School and a deacon at Secona Church in Pickens. His son, James, also is a senior counselor.
The South Carolina high schoolers gathered at AU June 12-18 for a leadership camp focusing on politics, government, patriotism and other leadership development elements. Until this year, the American Legion-sponsored event had been hosted by The Citadel, Wofford College and the University of South Carolina.
Buckley told the Courier that the Boys’ State staff, in an effort to “keep developing the program to be on the cutting edge,” talked with several other schools before settling on Anderson University.
Buckley said Palmetto Boys’ State was “overwhelmed” by the Anderson experience.
“The Christlike spirit of each employee permeated the camp and made the big difference,” he emphasized. “Their servant attitude was a real indication of their desire for us to be there.”
One of the Boys’ State participants, Andrew Sobeski, a member of Spartanburg First who will be a senior at Dorman High School, called his week on the Anderson campus “life-changing,” and added, “It was unlike any week that I have experienced.”
The week of events featured a “mock” government setup that allowed the boys to run for city, county and state offices. The finale was a visit to Columbia where they paraded downtown and held their inauguration for the Boys’ State governor on the steps of the capitol. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley took part in the inauguration.
Buckley also was the main speaker at the event, saying to them that “each young man should determine in his heart that he would surrender his life to be part of a cause greater than himself.
“At some point in your lives,” he emphasized, “you will reach a crossroads where you must choose to serve yourselves or to surrender your lives to the cause that is greater than yourselves, and that is when you will experience the greatest joy.”
Several times during his message, Buckley received standing ovations from the students. Asked about that afterward, he replied, “I see in these young men a hunger to do something extraordinary, to be part of a cause, and they really do want to make a difference. They are impressionable young men. I do hope that the experience they had at Boys’ State will cause them to reflect on truth and to discover God’s redemptive plan.”
Buckley again had high praise for Anderson University as the venue for the event this year. “They have represented Jesus and South Carolina Baptists with such great distinction, passion and genuine servanthood,” he said.
“President Whitaker is to be commended for the leadership he has brought to this great school, and my prayer is that many of these boys will choose to come to Anderson because of their experience at Boys’ State, and that by coming to Anderson, they will be introduced to Jesus if they have not already been.”