To most people, Lilly Mazuran just goes by “Lilly.”
But to her Girls State friends, she’s “Governor Maz.”
The recent Alta High Class of 2025 graduate holds the prestigious office of governor of this year’s Girls State, more formally known as the American Legion Auxiliary Utah Girls State. It’s a weeklong program in which more than 200 girls selected from throughout the state will gather at Weber State University in Ogden to learn about American history, government, civics, and patriotism. This year’s Girls State started June 1 and will run until Friday, June 6.
Girls State participants are selected during their junior year and four are elected to return to the next year’s gathering to serve as governor, attorney general and two Girls Nation senators.
“I originally didn’t know what I was signing up for, to be honest,” Mazuran said about applying for last year’s Girls State. “But as soon as I had that interview with Cindee Clawson, who I adore, I was hooked.
“I want to do this. I want to make a difference,” she said. “This is something that calls to me.”
Clawson, who works for Canyons District as the administrative assistant to Superintendent Dr. Rick Robins and Business Administrator Leon Wilcox, has a long family history with the American Legion and is in Utah’s legion auxiliary leadership.
“One of the roles I’ve taken on is interviewing” Girls State applicants,” Clawson said. She well remembers her interview with Mazuran. “Our interview was exceptional. She’s a real standout, even from all the years I’ve been interviewing people.”
As for Mazuran being elected the 2025 governor, “I think the girls fell in love with her energy,” Clawson said. “She’s very loving and easy going and has a way of including everyone around her.”
Mazuran is the daughter of Christopher Mazuran, who does marketing for Select Health, and Sarah Mazuran, who teaches art at Albion Middle. She also has two older brothers “who are my best friends.”
At Alta High she was captain of the golf team and secretary of Future Business Leaders of America. She’ll be furthering her education at Utah State University Eastern in Price as a business management major. After that, she’s leaning toward law school.
With most of her friends and family, she said, she goes by Lilly. At Girls State, “I go by Lilly or Governor Maz. All the girls that I ran with, they call me Governor Maz.”
As governor this year “I just help run the thing,” Mazuran said. “I make a lot of speeches … and I also conduct all our general sessions.
“I’m excited,” she said, “to learn how to lead better.”
All five of Canyons comprehensive high schools — Alta, Brighton, Corner Canyon, Hillcrest and Jordan — will be represented at this year’s Girls State. The District also typically has been represented with at least one returning official nearly every year for the past eight years. Girls State, Mazuran said, “makes you a better American. It gives you more pride in the people that fought for you. … And you meet all these amazing girls with ambition and drive, so why wouldn’t you want to meet them?”