At a recent City Council meeting, two special Elk River sixth grade students from VandenBerge Middle School, Breanna Bode and Avery Louder, were recognized following a statewide essay contest by the League of Minnesota Cities (LMC).
In late August, LMC put out a call for submissions in a “Mayor for a Day” student essay contest. Kids were challenged to think about the variety of services cities provide that make a community great (parks and recreation, street maintenance, police and fire service, etc.) and to write about how they’d enhance those programs/services if they were "Mayor for a Day." City staff partnered with ISD 728 to get the word out about this creative and fun essay contest, which ultimately drew more than 450 entries from students across Minnesota.
Of those 450 submissions, three essays were published in the January/February 2019 Minnesota Cities magazine and three honorable mentions were recognized (link to article). We are so proud of both Breanna and Avery!