Hundreds of pink, white and blue pieces of paper plastered the outside of the dining hall.
Those slips of paper are campaign signs, all drawn in crayon. Citizens at the Mountaineer Boys State stayed up late into the night crafting the perfect campaign slogans. One sign reads, "PANCAKE for Attorney General ... 'Not a Flop.'"
For one week during the summer, boys and girls from across West Virginia leave behind the stresses of high school and create their own mock society. Different campers - or citizens, as they're called - assume all the roles needed to run a community.
There's the governor, the state auditor, judges, journalists and, yes, even police. For one week, teenagers rule. Each camp hosts hundreds of high school juniors.
And the citizens take it all very seriously.
Katie Mossburg, who just graduated from Bridgeport High School, was the governor of the Rhododendron Girls State this year. She was elected last year and returned this year to serve her term.
"This year I have learned so much about myself, supporting our veterans and our civic duty," Mossburg said. "I've learned a lot about dedication and selflessness, because there are so many women who spend all years making this one week possible for us."
The first day of Girls State, Mossburg said she was terrified. She said she had no idea what she was doing, and she got lost immediately.
"I had no intention of running for governor until the first night," Mossburg said. "When you first show up that day, you don't recognize how incredibly life changing the program can be because you've only been up there for three hours."
But then the presiding governor spoke at an assembly. She gave a passionate speech about the importance of women being engaged citizens and how the camp has changed her outlook on the world.
Mossburg said heard this and knew she had to run for office.
The camps, sponsored by the American Legion, are held at West Virginia University Jackson's Mill and Wheeling Jesuit University for Boys and Girls State, respectively. At the end of the week, the American Legion hopes campers walk away understanding how good government works. Campers must have a strong interest in government, show they can be leaders, be active participants in their community and meet minimum GPA requirements.
Citizens say that a large part of the fun of Girls and Boys State is getting to be surrounded by like-minded people.
"When I'm around other people like this, I get energy really quick," said Graylon Brown, a citizen at Boys State. "Just being around other people and meeting new people really helps the day go by."
Brown needed that energy to make it through the week. He and the other citizens woke up at 6:45 a.m. every day. Brown said they had to immediately make their beds and make sure their cabins were ready for inspection.
"There's a lot more military influence than I thought there was going to be," Brown said. "It's not really what I came for, but it's good. It keeps everyone in line."
From there, citizens have a host of activities throughout the day. They spend part of the day campaigning, learning about their respective job in this new community and often, listening to speeches from actual governmental representatives.
Boys and Girls State is a microcosm of the larger world. Some citizens are conservative, some are liberal and many of them fall somewhere in the middle. In this weeklong camp, camp-goers don't shy away from tackling the issues that even adults have trouble dealing with.
Take bathrooms, for instance: In light of a law in North Carolina and President Barack Obama's Title IX directive, the nation is debating whether people who are transgender should be allowed to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity or not, so too are the citizens of Boys State.
A poll that appeared recently in the Boys State newspaper shows only about a third of citizens feel comfortable using the bathroom with a transgender person.
Once the week is over, citizens never really leave the Boys and Girls State family. Several handfuls of citizens will return over the next few years to volunteer to help run the camp, all for the chance to make sure the camp survives another year.
"I realized that this program has the ability to change people's lives," Mossburg said. "I knew I wanted to be a part of that."
Reach Jake Jarvis at jake.jarvis@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-7939 or follow @NewsroomJake on Twitter.