By Jean Cole

For the Enquirer

When all the votes for governor were tallied at the annual Girls State event this month, Mary Frances Itsede of Hartselle was a bundle of nerves.

It helped that her bestie, Samantha Simmons, also of Hartselle, ran for governor at Girls State and won two years ago, therefore making the summit seem reachable.

Itsede knew she wanted to run for governor even before she got to Girls State, a weeklong event sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary in which participants learn about the political process by electing officials for all levels of state government and running a mock government. Each summer, approximately 20,000 young women participate in Girls State programs across the nation.

In Alabama, the program hosted 372 girls June 2-7 at Troy University, according to Alabama Girls State camp counselor Julia Smeds Roth of Decatur. Attending from Morgan County were two girls from Hartselle and one each from Decatur Heritage, Austin High School, Albert P. Brewer, Danville, Falkville, Priceville and West Morgan, Roth said.

“I’m a very ambitious person, but never go in with the lowest expectation,” Itsede said of her decision to run for governor. “I have a motivation to push past the mental barrier that I’ll fail.”

Handing out flyers and buttons, sometimes missing breakfast or lunch to take time to talk to each and every girl in the dining hall, covered the first few days of the weeklong event for Itsede.

“When you get to Girls State and you are running, you are assigned to a political party. You are either a Federalist or a Nationalist. I was assigned to be a Federalist. I think it was the third day, all of the gubernatorial candidates for the Federalist Party gave a three-minute speech to the rest of the Federalists.

“After the gubernatorial candidate for each party was chosen they would walk into a party room and there were probably 150 girls in each party room. We all got the same questions,” Itsede said. “They wanted to see if you knew what you were talking about and how you were answering difficult questions.”

She and her co-candidate had to field questions on everything from abortion to immigration to mental health.

“We were at the bottom of a lecture hall, so everyone is looking down at you. All of these questions were thrown at me, and I liked it,” she said.

Before entering a room, she had to ask herself, “Do I stay true to myself or cater to the audience? The only right answer is to stay true to who I am. I figured I made it this far being myself. It would set a very bad precedent for later in life if I didn’t.”

She had to wait until the next day to find out who was elected governor.

“After they announced my name, they all ran up around me and started chanting Mary of St. Stevens, that was my city’s name. All of them were so sweet. I said thank you and all my hugs to them,” Itsede said.

“I was crying when I heard my name; I was in awe.”

She immediately sat down with a staffer and chose who she wanted in her cabinet.

“I decided I wanted to give the chief of staff position to my opponent, Aria Foster of Huntsville. She is so kind and so sweet and a great speaker.”

After that came the inaugural ball and the dinner. She gave speeches for the ceremonies and on the last day toured the Statehouse. She took along with her four good friends among the cabinet of 315 positions.

She didn’t get to meet Gov. Kay Ivey as hoped because the real governor was in meetings, but she did get to help sign some legislation into law that day, she said.

Itsede, the daughter of Claudia Compton and Thomas Itsede, credits two strong women with inspiring her to achieve.

“I can feel the support and love from my mom in anything I do,” she said. “When I said I wanted to run for governor, she was all-hands-on-deck. My mom did not come from a lot at all. Her diligence and work ethic inspires me every single day.”

Another force in Itsede’s life is her debate coach, Kelly Cimino.

“She is such a hard worker, and she has been doing it more than 20 years,” Itsede said. “And, she just graduated from law school this May. She sacrifices her weekends to do tournaments and she will drive two-plus hours just for me and my success. Her kindness, her heart and her work ethic, I love them.”

The week did not close until two girls were chosen to go to Girls Nation.

At the end of the week the counselors gathered to choose two of the girls to represent Alabama at Girls Nation, a weeklong mock government experience July 20-27 in Washington, D.C.

“You have to get elected to go to Girls Nation. They don’t care if you were elected governor, you still have to go through the interview,” Itsede said. “There have been years where the governor was not selected to Girls Nation. I’d say it’s a fair process.

“When they announced the winners, they called my friend Sofia Self of Mountain Brook first, then they called mine. I ran and gave her a big hug. I was really happy. Everyone was cheering.”

Roth, one of the 13 counselors who interviewed the girls for consideration to go to Girls Nation, remembers Itsede well.

“She was poised, spoke well, unflappable and very positive with a lovely smile, and smart,” she said. “We asked the girls about their knowledge of government, who their elected officials are and different issues.”

In many ways Cimino sees Itsede as the ideal student.

“She loves to learn, and she loves to practice what she learns,” she said. “She incorporates experiences and information from everything that she’s been exposed to into the legislation she writes.”

Cimino said a girl can attend Girls State and not offer her own legislation for debate.

“Not Mary Frances,” she said. “Nope. If she’s going to go, she’s going to offer her own legislation that she is going to argue for and do all the research about it. She wants the whole experience, which I think is just really, really cool. She gleans so much from everything she experiences and the people she meets,” she said. “She just brings it all in.”

Itsede says if there is a girl out there thinking of applying to Girls State, her only advice is: “Try it. It’s a life-changing experience.”