Crowell Elementary School found the perfect way to congratulate their newly appointed student council members by inviting a prominent figure who was recently elected himself: mayor-elect Gary Soiseth.
“Even though I’m mayor right now, I started out in fifth grade as a judge at Julien Elementary School,” said Soiseth. “I just wanted to come here today to promote civic engagement.”
During the ceremony, Soiseth talked about his new position as the city’s mayor. In simplest terms, he explained to students that his new job would entail a number of responsibilities, including leading the city, making sure citizens had clean water and roads would not get too bumpy.
Prior to announcing the school’s new council members, Soiseth took a moment to invite students who ran for city council to stand up in order to be officially recognized by their peers.
“Why am I having you applaud these students? Because these are the students who had the courage to put their name on a ballot in hopes of leading their school in a positive direction,” said Soiseth during the ceremony on Friday. “I’m very proud of them.”
Similar to everyone else who was in the packed cafeteria on Friday, Crowell sixth grade teacher Scott Cortez was grateful to Soiseth for taking the time to increase the school’s excitement about student government.
“He will help our students be more engaged and involved in student government, as well as make parents proud of our school,” said Cortez.