Nebraska American Legion Auxiliary Department President Deb Albers

Story by Karen Ruiz

Many know this special person. Many have seen her throughout their time here at Girls State. She was a teacher for 38 years for family consumer science. Ten years ago she was able to gracefully do the splits. Finally, she has the special talent of being able to blow up three balloons at the same time. Deb Albers is this incredible person.

Deb Albers is the American League Association (ALA) Department President this year. However before becoming president she had to join the league. Deb joined when she was in college after her mother asked if she would be interested in joining. Linn had been involved in the league long before she joined though. “I would always watch my parents participate in ALA events when I was young,” said Albers. “When I was in high school, my mom became the ALA secretary and she’d always ask me to write up the minutes for her. She would bring the notes to me and I would write up the minutes for her. I learned a lot about the organization from helping her with that.”

Deb didn’t become an active member until 1976 when a friend of her’s who was the district 11 president at that time persuaded her to get more involved. Deb then became the chaplain of the district. During this time she composed a prayer book and attended her first ever convention. Her prayer book ended up making it to state but, unfortunately Deb was unable to attend.

Her career in Girls State began in 1990, when Jan Howard asked Albers if she was interested in helping out with Girls State. Deb quickly agreed and was soon made senior councilor. From there she moved up to the ranks education director and was in charge of the government exam while her assistant was in charge of the current events quiz. She wanted to be a counselor this year but was unavailable to do so because of her president responsibilities.

During her time as president Deb focused on raising awareness for a program called Gifts for Yanks who Gave. This program gives each veteran who is in a Nebraskan facility $20, however recently the program was $4,000 short. Thanks to Deb’s efforts though they were able to raise $20,000 through donations for the program.

As time goes on Deb has great expectations and hopes for the ALA. She hopes that the organization can become as strong as it once was. “There was a time we had a lot of strong members and high numbers in membership,” said Albers. “We were almost at a million members but today Nebraska loses about 1.5 members each day because of death. The membership is aging and we aren’t getting many new members. I hope we can get ours numbers back up and become a stronger organization.”

Her final words of advice for Girls State citizens are “Get out of your comfort zone and go for it. You’ll go further than you ever expected to make it. Don’t be afraid, you’ll do great.”