Seventh grader students from around Troy took the seats of the mayor and council today – and city officials said the young men and women performed possibly even better than the true council.

“I had so much fun interacting with them today,” said Mayor Jason Reeves. “I told them I would probably learn more from them today than they did from me and that’s absolutely what happened. The support system for these children should take a lot of pride in them; they did a fine job. I enjoyed reading the essays and seeing everything they did and spending the day with them today.”

The students were participating in the “Mayor for a Day” program, which gives students an opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look at local government and what goes into the process of running a city.

“It was a great honor and I love anything to do with politics,” said Katie Mac Manning of Pike Liberal Arts School, who was chosen as mayor for the day. “I would love to do this some day. The City of Troy is great now and there’s also so much room to grow; it’s a cool place to grow up.”

Manning’s winning essay was to bringing businesses to further develop the city.

The council worked off of this as well as the other council members’ ideas to craft a resolution, which they passed unanimously Tuesday night at the council meeting.

The resolution is to create a planned commercial entertainment center in an area adjacent to Trojan Parkway and John H. Witherington Drive. The resolution includes plans to recruit a retail entertainment development group, craft an incentive package for the recruitment of businesses and create a job training center at the site to train residents to take on the new jobs.

New Life Christian Academy student Michael Thomas Vaughn, council president for the day, said his essay was to start the community trade center so that certified volunteers could teach trades such as cosmetology.

In addition to preparing and passing the resolution, the students were treated to a tour of downtown Troy with Reeves and local archaeologist and historian Tray Earnest; ate lunch with council members; toured the library, Johnson Center for the Arts and more.

Katie Mac Manning served as mayor; Jacob Meadows of Charles Henderson Middle School served as District 1 councilman; Abigail Taylor of CHMS served as District 2 councilwoman; Michael Thomas Vaughn served as District 3 councilman and council president; Addie Renfroe of PLAS served as District 4 councilwoman; Ashlyn Franklin of CHMS served as District 5 councilwoman; and Kate Nelson of PLAS served as city clerk.