Students win contest as they envision being mayor

By Frances Vanderploeg

Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008 | midnight

Fifth graders around Henderson have decided, if they had a chance to be mayor, they would make the environment and economy their priorities.

The ideas came out of essays Henderson students wrote for the annual "If I Were the Mayor of Henderson" contest.

Five students will read their essays at 2 p.m. Saturday during City Hall at the Mall at the Galleria at Sunset and again at the City Council meeting Dec. 16.

The winning students are Xante Brown of Green Valley Christian School, Kaitly Guerin of Sue Morrow Elementary School, Makynna Meegan of Lake Mead Christian Academy, Lindsey Murphy of Elise L. Wolff Elementary School and Jonathan Rolle of Neil Twitchell Elementary School.

Xante said she wanted to create a recycling law to help keep the environment clean and make parks available every 10 miles with shade and clean bathrooms.

Jonathan planned on putting recycling bins in every classroom and making a "No Driving Day," when only buses could be used for school and work.

Lindsey focused on incorporating solar power.

"It saves a lot of money and energy," she said.

In addition, the winning students thought it would be a good idea to make themselves more accessible to the public. Xante said one of her jobs would be visiting every school in the city.

"I would do that so all the students can meet me and maybe I can inspire them," she said.

Some winners said they really did have plans to be mayor or more.

Xante said she planned to make history by being the first black woman to be the mayor of Henderson.

Kaitlyn aspires to be the first woman president, but her mother, Lisa, said she got a little nervous during this year's election, with so many women in the spotlight. It hasn't dissuaded her, though.

"I really am into political stuff," Kaitlyn said.

Even though she may not be old enough to be mayor or president yet, Kaitlyn is still looking into what she can do as a fifth grader to help. The most recent project she's working on is figuring out how she can donate clothing she's grown out of to younger children who aren't as well off as she is, she said.

"I know at our school there are some kids that don't have a permanent home and everything, they don't have really great clothing that can keep them warm or cool," she said. "It's something I am determined to do because I think it's right."

The only complaint students had was that the 100-word limit didn't offer them enough room to express their ideas. It did make them think a lot more about the state of the city, though, and what they can do to help, they said.

The essays are on the city's Web site.

Frances Vanderploeg can be reached at 990-2660 or [email protected].