Online Application Instructions

for Delegates, 1st Alternates, and 2nd Alternates selected by

the American Legion Auxiliary Unit

which has submitted a 2024 reservation for their school

PLEASE READ AND FOLLOW EACH STEP CAREFULLY!

1. Obtain the required paperwork from the American Legion Auxiliary Unit Girls State Chairperson of the ALA Unit that has sponsored your school and read each document carefully.

a. Letter of Selection

b. Structure of ALA Girls State

c. Delegate/Alternate Information Sheet with the American Legion Auxiliary Information section completed by the sponsoring ALA Unit Girls State Chairperson - Please disregard #1 at the bottom of the page. You do not need to scan each signature page of the Delegate Parent/Guardian Packet or Alternate Parent/Guardian Packet. These pages will be emailed for electronic signature after the online application is submitted. For the online application you only need to upload a photo of yourself (headshot).

2. Download the Parent/Guardian Packet.

- Selected Delegates should download the Delegate Parent/Guardian Packet.

- Selected 1st Alternates and 2nd Alternates should download the Alternate Parent/Guardian Packet.

- This packet with the watermark is for your reference. You may print it for your reference only or review it online. You do not need to scan or upload it.

3. Read the entire Parent/Guardian Packet carefully.

- When you complete the online application, there will be questions asking for the name and contact information for Parent/Legal Guardian #1 of the Delegate/Alternate. This is the first person that will be sent the electronic signature forms.

- You will be asked if you have a second Parent/Legal Guardian. Required signature forms need to be electronically signed by both parents/legal guardians.

- If you only have one parent/legal guardian, select no. Once your parent/legal guardian completes the electronic signature forms, the forms will be sent to the Delegate/Alternate for electronic signature.

- If you have two parents/legal guardians, select yes, then enter the name and contact information for Parent/Legal Guardian #2 of the Delegate/Alternate.

- Once the first parent/legal guardian completes the electronic signature forms, the forms will be sent to Parent/Legal Guardian #2.

- Once the second parent/legal guardian completes the electronic signature forms, the forms will be sent to the Delegate/Alternate for signature.

- The electronic signature forms will be emailed within 5 business days after the online application is submitted. Please remember we are all volunteers managing applications and questions from Delegates, 1st Alternates, and 2nd Alternates from over 475 schools!

- Electronic signature forms are due 7 days after they are emailed to Parent/Guardian #1. This deadline is different from the March 15 online application deadline.

4. Prepare a photo of yourself (headshot) to upload.

- The file must be an image file less than 1 MB.

- A selfie headshot will work well.

- The picture may be used on a slide during opening ceremonies or other social media announcements.

- The picture is primarily used to help staff remember names of students assigned to their city.

5. Be sure the photo upload can be accessed on the device you will use to complete the online application.

- Some devices issued by school districts will not allow you to complete the online application. You may need to use a personal device or a computer at a public library.

- If you used your phone to take your photo, you may email that pictures to yourself so that you can access the image file for upload on the device you will use to complete the online application.

- When you email the picture to yourself, most phones will allow you to choose to use the original file size for those pictures or a smaller file size. Choose the smaller file size so that the file is less than 1 MB. Please note that the stated file size may be rounded down to 1MB when it is actually more than 1MB.

6. Complete the remaining sections of the Delegate/Alternate Information Sheet.

- The American Legion Auxiliary Unit Girls State Chairperson of the ALA Unit that is sponsoring your school should complete the American Legion Auxiliary Information section.

- You will NOT need to upload this Delegate/Alternate Information Sheet.

- The Delegate/Alternate Information Sheet has information required in the online application. Completing the Delegate/Alternate Information Sheet will quicken the online application process.

- Remember to ignore #1 at the bottom of the page. (See 1.c. above.)

7. If you do not have a personal email address (not a school email address) already, create one.

- If you would like to use a gmail.com email address as your personal email address, you can create a gmail.com email address when you create a Google Account in the next step.

- Please do not use an icloud.com email address. That domain has not accepted our bulk emails in the past.

8. If you do not already have a Google Account, create one here.

- If you have a gmail.com email address, you already have a Google Account.

- When you create a Google Account, you are given an option to create a Gmail email address or use your current email address. If you already have a personal email address that you would like to use, click the blue "Use my current email address instead" link.

9. Sign out of any Google Account associated with a school address on the device you will use to complete the online application.

- When you go to google.com, if you see an icon in the upper right corner of the screen and click on it, there should be only your personal Google Account listed.

- Any other account listed should have "Signed out" appearing next to it.

- If your school email account is listed, even if it is not the primary icon, you may not be able to complete the online application.

- Scroll to the bottom of the listed accounts and choose "Sign out of all accounts".

- Then sign into only the Google Account associated with your personal email address.

- The online application form is accepting responses. If you receive a message that the form is no longer accepting responses, you likely are also signed into a Google Account associated with a school email address.

10. Complete the online application.

- Selected Delegates should complete the 2024 Delegate Application.

- Selected 1st Alternates and 2nd Alternates should complete the 2024 Alternate Application.

11. If you get a "Server rejected" error when attempting to upload files, please check your Google Drive storage.

- Go to drive.google.com.

- Look on the left side of the page for a cloud icon and "Storage".

- Make sure you have available storage space for the files you need to upload for the online application.

12. If you continue to get an error message, please do the following:

a. Sign out of all Google Accounts on the computer.

b. Clear the cache and the cookies.

c. Reboot the computer.

13. Contact your ALA Unit Girls State Chairperson if you need assistance with access to the online application due to poor wifi connections, no access to personal devices, or any other issue.

14. The American Legion Auxiliary is organized into Units (local organization), Districts (counties), and Departments (state). You should work primarily with the ALA Unit Girls State Chairperson of the ALA Unit sponsoring your high school. The ALA Department of CA Girls State Chairperson communicates with all the Unit and District Girls State Chairperson throughout the state. Please allow 5-7 business days for responses from alacagschair@gmail.com, the ALA Department of CA Girls State Chairperson. This volunteer is handling inquiries from throughout the state and processing applications for delegates, 1st alternates, and 2nd alternates from over 500 schools. Please include the name and city of your high school with all inquiries.

15. If you would like to verify whether your application has been submitted, please contact the ALA Unit Girls State Chairperson of the ALA Unit sponsoring your high school. The ALA Unit Girls State Chairpersons are able to see whether selected candidates from the high schools their Unit sponsors have completed the online application.

16. We encourage selected candidates to take the initiative to contact the ALA Unit Girls State Chairpersons rather than parents making inquiries on their behalf in order for selected candidates to develop skills that will help them during the ALA CA Girls State session and beyond with college applications and job interviews. We welcome questions from parents about the program, especially if there are issues selected candidates cannot address themselves.