Mayor Hawkins traveled to the Stone Elementary to teach the second and third grade students what it takes to run a city as she read “Friends City.”  With each page, the students were eager to ask questions and share their own understanding of what city life is like.

 While most of the students that attend Stone Elementary don’t live within the city limits, Mayor Hawkins felt it was important for them to still learn about what it takes to run a city.  She shared, “Who knows, maybe one day they will live in the city and they will run for mayor themselves!”  She continued that at the very least, it's important for them to understand how communities work together to have hospitals, parks, safe roads, places to collect their garbage and people to serve as police or firemen.  

 As the students discussed the story, they recognized that many of their families do indeed help serve and lead in their community as they serve on the school board, as EMTs, with Search and Rescue, as Sheriff deputies, County Commissioners and as a part of the volunteer Fire Department.  Like the city in their story, it takes all the citizens working together to create a community where people can learn, grow and safely raise their families for generations to come.  

Later in the day, Mayor Hawkins spoke to the combined third grade classes of Malad Elementary School along with Destiny Hart from the Association of Idaho Cities about what kinds of services cities provide for their residents.  They was assisted in the presentation by City Superintendent Tyler Webster, who demonstrated one of the city’s vehicles, a front loader.  Recent DYW first alternate Raegan Smith also spoke to the third graders about her experiences working for the city.

Against the backdrop of the book pages on the school’s large projection screen, the mayor again went through the pages, stopping to ask kids some of the question prompts as they emerged.  There were no shy kids as the mayor asked the assembled students things like “what do you like about the library?” (“Nature books!” “All kinds of books!”  “Sitting and reading!”), “What do police officers do for us?” (“Keep us safe!” “Stop bad guys!” “Find lost animals!”), and “What animals would you want to see in a zoo if we had one?” (“Lions!” “Tigers!” “Bears!”).

When asked what kinds of things the students liked about living in Malad, many of them responded by talking about the city park and the splash pad.  Some requested new playground equipment, which is a project the city has been considering.  “That’s wonderful,” Mayor Hawkins said.  “I’m so glad that none of you said you mostly liked to play on your phones!  All of these outdoor activities are wonderful!”

Tyler Webster, City Superintendent, met with the students outside to discuss some of the city’s equipment.  On hand, he had a 924K wheel loader.  He explained the various things that the city uses the piece of equipment for, including snow removal, moving dirt, and road maintenance.  As with the mayor, the students were full of questions and comments, many having to do with how their dads drove a similar machine, or a different version of it.  “My dad lifts us up in the scoop part to watch the fireworks,” one student yelled.  “I used to do that until my son fell out,” Webster laughed.  “Now I don’t do that anymore.”

As part of the program, sponsored by the INL, the League of Idaho Cities, Association of Idaho Cities, and STEM, each classroom involved in the presentation will be entered into a drawing for $100 toward their classroom.  The program is designed to increase civic awareness and inform students on the range of services that come from an organized city system.