Contest-winning students call the shots on mock Corner Brook city council

Jae-Ana Watkins, left, and Kenna Mangosing, who were chosen to be deputy mayor and mayor respectively, say they learned a lot and had fun being councillors. (Alex Kennedy/CBC)

Grade 6 students in Corner Brook got to run the show at city hall Monday, holding a mock council meeting and learning about the basics of municipal government.

The city organized an essay contest for students as part of Municipal Awareness Week, asking what they would do if they were mayors for a day. Seven winners made up the youth city council, which held a meeting Monday evening.

"It was actually really fun. I liked it a lot," said Kenna Mangosing, a student at Eastside Elementary who was chosen to be the mayor.

"I really, really like banging the gavel.… Really fun, it's like 'bam,bam,bam!' except you get to do it harder. Super-hard."

Kenna's essay extolled her leadership skills and described what she would do as mayor. She told Corner Brook Mayor Jim Parsons she'd like to see a fence placed around a local basketball court.

Jae-Ana Watkins, who was deputy mayor, said she was nervous at first but quickly found her stride. She delivered the land acknowledgement at the start of the meeting.

"I just started to get more into it. I felt like I wanted to learn about it more and more," she said, adding she'll likely think about a potential future in politics.

From left: Grade 6 students Jacey Donovan, Harper Lovell, Jae-Ana Watkins, Kenna Mangosing, Corner Brook Mayor Jim Parsons, Waelan Aguilar, Abigail Benoite and Madeline Targett made up the Corner Brook youth council Monday, hosting a mock city council meeting to learn about municipal government. (Alex Kennedy/CBC)

Both girls said they learned a lot in their brief stints in municipal government, including how important the work their adult counterparts do is.

"You try to be as responsible as you can, and it just ends up working. Like, bam," Jae-Ana said.

Kenna Mangosing said she recognized the importance of council meetings in the city's decisionmaking.

"You probably need to have them," she said. "If you don't have them, then nothing is going to be determined as a whole."

Parsons said it was great to have the children in the council chambers. He said he admired how well-spoken and confident they were once they got to the microphone, adding he saw some future councillors in the room.

WATCH | Meet the students whose essays earned them the chance to run a mock city council meeting:  

Engaging youth in municipal government is important, he said, adding he believes kids are often more in tune with their community than people think — especially in the age of information they live in.

"I went to talk to some kids at the classroom today, and they had really impressive, very important questions about, like, things that were going on in our city. Like, 'What about this construction project or that construction project? Why is that business going there? Why is that business not going there?'" Parsons said.

"They're really in touch, and so we want to encourage that engagement."

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