At the February 18 City Council meeting, two special Elk River students from VandenBerge Middle School, Gabriella Tobin and Elena Rangel, were recognized following a statewide essay contest by the League of Minnesota Cities (LMC).
Every fall, the LMC puts out a call for submissions in a “Mayor for a Day” student essay contest. Young people are 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 explain how they’d enhance those programs/services if they were "Mayor for a Day."
More than 300 students statewide submitted essays and two Elk River students were selected for recognition in the January 2020 Minnesota Cities magazine for their creativity, originality and innovate thinking. Gabriella Tobin, a sixth grader from VandenBerge Middle School was one of the three published essays in the magazine (read Gabriella’s essay here). Elena Rangel, also a sixth grader at VandenBerge, was awarded honorable mention in the publication (read Elena’s essay here).
In the 2018 “Mayor for a Day” essay contest two Elk River students were honored for their essays, and we’re very pleased to have Gabriella and Elena continue this tradition of innovative young thinkers and talented writers in this statewide competition.