I am proud to announce that for the second straight year a student from Temple Middle School has won 1^st Place in District 4 of the Georgia Municipal Association’s essay contest entitled “If I were Mayor I would…..”. This is the second year in a row that a student from Mrs. Kelly Steele’s class has won this prestigious award and this year’s winner is Jerylin Cruz. She is the daughter of Jerry and Dee Cruz of Temple.

The “If I were Mayor I would…..” contest is a statewide annual event sponsored by GMA with winners chosen from each of its twelve districts. Temple is located in District 4. This year over 6,000 six graders participated in the contest statewide. The contest encourages students to be involved in what is going on in their respective cities. It also encourages them to be aware our day to day issues and to offer solutions to these simple to complex problems. 

At the request of Mrs. Steele, I have been involved with the essay contest since 2006 and have thoroughly enjoyed my interaction with our future leaders of tomorrow. I meet with Mrs. Steele’s class around essay time to make them aware of my mayoral duties and answer questions, typically about what the Mayor can and cannot do. I never cease to be amazed at some of their ideas. I come away every year thinking our city will be in great hands if some of these students choose to be involved in their community as they grow older.

The heart and backbone of this highly successful program is Mrs. Steele. She is an outstanding educator in the truest sense of the word. She leads by example and is in tune with the needs and pressures of today’s students. A heartfelt thank you goes out to Mrs. Steele and other outstanding educators that take their responsibility head on to mold the next generation of outstanding leaders.

I also want to thank each student who participated in the contest this year. I am so proud of our students at Temple Middle School, and our other schools. When we hear of young people making poor decisions, we need to be aware that a lot more young men and women are making outstanding decisions and are becoming leaders in our community that we can all be proud of.

Congratulations to this year’s winner, Jerylin Cruz, and her mentor, Mrs. Steele, for representing their community admirably.

Please take the time to read Jerylin’s essay and you will see why we are so proud of her. The winning essay appears in its entirety as follows: 

Jerylin Cruz
Temple Middle School
GMA District 4
Temple, GA
Teacher:  Kelly Steele 

            How would you like to go home after work to a beautiful, safe, and exciting city?  If I were mayor, I would work hard to make sure that my city was all these things and more.  If I were mayor, I would work hard to hire more police officers and firefighters, apply for grants to improve our city, and make sure laws are enforced to keep citizens safe. 

            If I were mayor, I would work hard to hire more police officers and firefighters. With crime on the rise, it is important that people feel safe in their community.  There would be enough police officers to patrol every neighborhood.  Children should be able to play outside without feeling scared that a stranger will take them.  There will be enough firefighters to help people so, that they do not have to wait for help.  Without firefighters, people could lose their homes to fires because help did not come soon enough. 

            If I were mayor, I would apply for grants to improve our city.  I would get suggestions from people on how we can improve our city.  Applying for grants would make our city more beautiful which would be important to me.  Having a pretty city may bring people to visit and spend money.  If our city could build big, beautiful parks, then families would have a place to hangout evenings and weekends. 

            If I were mayor, I would make sure laws are enforced to keep citizens safe.  People are not going to live in a city that is not safe.  It is important to explain to everyone why enforcing all laws is the thing to do.  No one will be excused from obeying the laws.  Wearing seat belts will keep people from getting killed.  If people aren’t allowed to throw trash on the ground, then it will keep the city nice and clean. 

            If I were mayor, I would work hard to hire more police officers and firefighters, apply for grants to improve our city, and make sure laws are enforced to keep citizens all safe.  Even though doing these things will be hard, the people of the city deserve it.  If people elected me to take care of them, it would be my job to see that everyone in my city is happy about where they live.  If I were mayor, I would take my job very seriously and take care of my city and the people that live there.