PORT ANGELES — An essay discussing why the city’s mayoralty is important — penned during a class assignment a few weeks ago — has netted one Port Angeles High School student a position it has taken some years to achieve.
Not bad for 40 minutes of work.
“I wanted to do as well as I could, considering we had 40 minutes,” said Harrison Day, 18, the student who was named the city’s first-ever “Mayor for a Day” on Wednesday morning during his contemporary issues social studies class.
Mayor Cherie Kidd made the announcement during teacher Scott Moseley’s senior social studies class after driving home the point that each student is important to the city’s future.
“You’re so important to Port Angeles,” Kidd told the class of 24 students. “You’re our future.”
Kidd said she asked for a one-page essay addressing the importance of being mayor, and Moseley assigned the essay a few weeks ago.
As mayor for a day, Day will come to Tuesday’s City Council meeting, sit where the mayor sits at the beginning of the meeting, lead the Pledge of Allegiance and receive a proclamation honoring him as the city’s first Mayor for a Day.
Kidd said she will lead the rest of the meeting as normal.
Tuesday’s City Council meeting will start at 6 p.m. Tuesday in chambers at 321 E. Fifth St.
Day also will join Kidd at the Port Angeles Business Association meeting the morning of the City Council meeting and later will get a tour of City Hall, the Police Department and the Fire Department, Kidd said.
Day and Kidd also will be guests on a KONP radio talk show Wednesday.
Kidd said she is looking forward to hosting a student in her job as mayor.
“We’re hoping to do this again next year and start a tradition,” Kidd said.
In his essay, Day said being the mayor is the most effective form of leadership on a local scale since decisions made by the mayor and the City Council directly affect city residents on a day-to-day basis.
“As a citizen, I would like to be mayor in order to positively impact the lives of people,” Day wrote.
Day also expressed a desire to help the city’s physically challenged population assimilate more easily into society.
Day moved to Port Angeles with his family five months ago, transferring from Pine Tree High School in Longview, Texas, which lies about 125 miles east of Dallas.
He plans to go into the Army after high school as an Army medic after he first considered attending at Duke University to study theoretical physics or work toward becoming an anesthesiologist.
Day said he’ll be shipped out to Fort Sill in Lawton, Okla., after he graduates next year.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
