Dear Minot:
Have you ever thought about what you’d do if you were mayor of Minot for a day? Well, here’s your chance to tell us – provided you’re in third grade or seventh grade, that is.
Every spring, the North Dakota League of Cities sponsors a statewide “If I Were Mayor” essay contest. The contest is open to third-graders and seventh-graders living in North Dakota. The contest encourages young people to think about public service and future community leadership.
The winners will be announced in conjunction with City Government Week (April 1-5). The winners will receive a $150 cash prize and have their essays featured in CITYScan, the North Dakota League of Cities magazine.
For specifics about the rules and process for submitting essays, visit https://www.ndlc.org/161/If-I-Were-Mayor-Essay-Contest or contact Jennifer at 701-223-3518 or jennifer@ndlc.org.
The essay contest is a great way for some of our young residents to share with us their thoughts on the role of a mayor. Obviously, a third-grader and a seventh-grader are going to have different views and perspectives on the duties and responsibilities of a mayor, and that’s what makes the contest exciting.
I’ll be very interested to read the local essays, especially. Will our area youth decide they would reduce taxes? Would they hire more police officers and firefighters? Would they decrease the City budget? Or maybe increase it?
It all sounds so simple, doesn’t it? Ever mayor in North Dakota would probably love to hire more police officers and firefighters to ensure the staffs of those departments is always full. Those departments are paramount to maintaining the safety and well-being of a community, whether it’s a small town like Glenburn or a larger city like Minot. If only it were that easy. We know, of course, that it’s not easy at all to keep those two departments, in particular, fully staffed.
And, yes, I’m guessing there are those who would choose to reduce the City budget, no matter where they live. But then the difficult decision would be this: Which City services would you trim or eliminate to correspond with the lower budget? Suddenly, the easy idea doesn’t seem so simple, does it?
But we’ll leave those questions for another day.
For this “If I Were Mayor” contest, I’m anticipating some plans and ideas that maybe we haven’t thought of, or at least ideas that are seen through the eyes of a third-grader or a seventh-grader. Students of all ages and backgrounds will see their community through a different lens, and that’s a good thing. The essays might open our eyes to issues our community is facing.
I’m looking forward to the essays, and I’d encourage any family with students in third and seventh grades to submit an essay. Why knows – maybe one of them will be a mayor someday, whether it’s in Minot or another North Dakota. How cool would that be – from mayor for a day as a seventh-grader to mayor for four years of a North Dakota town.
You can find more about what’s happening at the City of Minot at minotnd.org, or find us on Facebook and Twitter. We’d also encourage you to sign up for our monthly electronic newsletter on our website.