Firman Pieper inspires

By Brianna Schreurs

On Monday, the first general assembly of the week took place. Emily Firman Pieper, 1994 South Dakota Girls State governor, spoke excitedly to motivate the audience to make the most of the week.

“Everyone seems to smile more when Emily is here,” governor Lizzie Spier commented as she introduced Emily.

Peiper’s speech had the audience smiling and laughing right away as she talked about being a mother of three living in Flandreau, SD.

When talking about passion Pieper said, “If you change what you’re passionate about, you will make a fit.”

She has applied that idea to her own life by creating a community education studio in her hometown. There she teaches everything from painting to ballroom dancing.

Reminiscing about her time at Girls State, Pieper shared how she decided to run for governor. “My mother told me not to get my hopes up. And when you tell Emily not to do something, I do it,” and with that, Peiper made a wild goal of being Governor. Arriving to Girls State with stickers and buttons, she was determined to win. So determined, Peiper had her brothers sneak in a bathrobe and a tape of the Rocky Theme Song to impress the other delegates.

“I became a different Emily when I came to Girls State,” Peiper said on stage.

Emily feels that she gained more confidence than ever from attending. After Girls State, she felt more apt to participate in her local government as well.

“I was able to look at the elected officials in my community on my behalf and know that I have a voice there.” Peiper said, “A lot of other times people would look at me to have a voice there too.”

That is why Peiper loves Girls State, because it’s real.

“It’s not always going to be easy. There not always going to be situations that are catered to an experience. It just magically turns into real life. And that’s what were filling our tool box at girls state to do,” Pieper said.

Emily left an impression on the Girls State delegates.

Elise Schweer from New York said she was “Energetic and made you want to be enthusiastic about Girls State.”

Others, like Shelby Kluver from Washington, liked the fact that she was funny and personable.

These are the reasons why Cheryl Hovorka, Director and Chair of the Girls State Board of Directors, keeps asking Peiper to come back.

“She inspires the girls and gets them fired up about Girls State,” said Hovorka. “She’s just an all around amazing person.”

Pieper said she is always pleased to speak at Girls State because she believes it’s so important.

“The authentic depth, the history, the background [of Girls State]; you can’t do this artificially. Real sacrifices had to be made for this opportunity to exist, which gives it more human depth than any camp,” Pieper said. “This transcends into the real world, we take what we learn and reinforce it by our daily actions. Whether we choose to live it or not comes down to us.”

(Photo: Emily Firman Pieper, 1994 Girls State Governor, welcomes delegates to the 2015 session of South Dakota Girls State. Elyse Helkenn / Sacajawea Scroll)