Tazaria Hardaway, 16, wasn’t sure what to expect when she walked into the Fort Worth City Council chambers.
When she stepped into the room Feb. 27, Tazaria thought it would be a stricter environment. She didn’t know residents could speak or address their council members — and say just about anything they wanted.
Seeing how everything worked and how council members voted and discussed agenda items interested her.
“What stuck with me was how they responded to everything. Something that I didn’t know was that they would just openly respond,” she said.
Tazaria was among a group of students from Crowley Collegiate Academy’s student voter empowerment club who attended a recent Fort Worth City Council meeting to learn a lesson in civics. March to the Polls, a youth voter engagement group, took the students to City Hall.
“I didn’t know that you can say how you feel. I think it’s very interesting that you can say what you believe and truly speak your mind. I thought it was very fun,” Tazaria said.
In particular, she liked how the council responded to questions they had from the public. How they asked questions and how the public received information is something that also stuck with her.
“That shows that they’re really interested and care about what we have to say,” she said.
Mayor Pro Tempore Gyna Bivens has lobbied for years to bring students to City Council meetings.
However, the City Council meeting time made it difficult because most meetings were in the evening. But, in November 2021, the City Council started holding daytime meetings, giving council members and city staff an opportunity to contact area school districts to set up field trips to City Hall, Bivens said.
Bivens wants students to see how government works, she said.
“I want these students to know how to engage in discourse: How do you talk to people who you disagree with? How do you make change happen? That’s what’s important. I hope to see streets improved because of these students who were here today,” she said.
During the students’ visit, Bivens showed off the city’s app, MyFW. She told them they can report issues they see in their neighborhoods, like potholes and broken street lights.
“They don’t know they can fix that,” Bivens said. “That’s what I want to see, the impact that these students are going to have.”
Bivens bets that in a year or so, there will be some positive improvements because of them.
Tazaria, the Crowley ISD student, already has plans to attend more local government meetings, she said.
Olla Mokhtar is a reporting fellow for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at olla.mokhtar@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
Republishing is free for noncommercial entities. Commercial entities are prohibited without a licensing agreement. Contact us for details.
