Forest Hill’s newest mayor is ready to stand firm in her belief on how a city should be run.
She began May 14 — a term that lasted only a day.
Giovanna Villegas, a seventh grader at Fort Worth ISD’s Leadership Academy at Forest Oak Middle School, served as the mayor for a day after winning an essay contest hosted by the elected Forest Hill mayor, Stephanie Boardingham.
The prompt asked, “What would the city look like if kids ran it?”
Giovanna knew her classmates would outline the benefits if children were in charge. She wanted to have a different point of view: Running a city is not fit for a kid.
“I wrote about the jobs that there have to be for the city to run,” Giovanna said. “Kids wouldn’t be able to take care of all the things needed to have a city run.”
Besides Giovanna, 13 other students submitted essays. Boardingham and Mayor Pro Tem Keith R. Smith, a former teacher, graded the essays. Each student who submitted an essay served on the honorary City Council.
When the students walked up, some nerves were on view. They moved slowly, hiding their smiles from their excited parents’ cameras. As they took their seats behind the U-shaped table, most disappeared behind their name placards. They sat on the edges of their fully raised chairs just to be seen.
The topics on which the students deliberated and voted were pressing. The student-led City Council voted to build a new dog park in Forest Hill and chose Gansito, a chocolate-coated, strawberry- and creme-filled cake, as the official snack cake of the city.
While the event itself was filled with smiles and snack cakes, the inspiration for Mayor for a Day stems from something much deeper, Boardingham said.
Boardingham sees the contest as a way to encourage leadership and literacy among students.
“We really have a focus on educating our youth to become future leaders,” Boardingham said.
Reading teacher Arlene Alejandro-Mace watched her students with pride as they took on these tall tasks.
“Some of them are real nervous to be here because they didn’t think it would go this far,” Alejandro-Mace said.
Third grader Bryce Marks, 9, offered some advice on how to handle those nerves.
“Be brave,” Bryce said.
Bryce would know, as he wants to one day serve as president of the United States.
Ryan Thorpe is an audience engagement fellow at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at ryan.thorpe@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.
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