Troy is a great city. It has excellent parks and recreation, a brand new library, a growing four-year university, and a wonderful public school system. But, while Troy may be a fantastic city, there are some things that can make it even better. Having grown up in Troy, I would like to contribute to making our town even better by serving as Mayor for a Day.

A valuable addition to our city would be a community service program that would allow local student to give back to their community. There are already school groups such as Junior Beta Club that require members to earn community service hours. But for younger students, there seems to be limited opportunities to earn these hours. Students already help with some events such as troy fest. But there could be more student involvement in other areas. Students could help out with projects and events at the Johnson Center for the Arts and the Colley Senior Complex. They could also spend time helping out at the nursing home or assisted loving locations by playing cards, reading with, or just talking and visiting with the residents.

The program could fall under the leadership of an already existing city department such as Public relations to avoid having to create a new department and hire more employees. Students involved could come from organizations such as Jr Beta Club and other local service organizations that require members to earn community service hours to maintain their membership. They city department would organize the project to assure that student s receive any necessary orientation needed before being assigned to a particular location or event to control the number of students volunteering at a give place or event.

A community service program could be a great addition to Troy. It would give students more options for earning community service hours but, more importantly, would enrich the lives of both students and residents receiving assistance from them. Most importantly, die to the volunteer nature of the program, cost to the city would be minimal thereby bettering our city in an economically efficient way.

Anna Robinson is a middle-school 8th grader at Charles Henderson Middle School was selected as a winner for ‘The Mayor for a Day’ contest. This is her winning essay.