Goshen News, Goshen, IN

Breaking News

Local News

Related Photos

  • Jaime Vazquez won the "If I Were Mayor, I Would..." essay contest. He served as Goshen mayor Monday, alongside current Mayor Allan Kauffman. AMANDA GRAY

    0612 Mayor for a Day.JPG
June 13, 2012

GMS seventh-grader Jaime Vazquez enjoys being Goshen mayor ... for a day

By AMANDA GRAY THE GOSHEN NEWS

GOSHEN — The Maple City had new leadership Monday — if only for a day.

Jaime Vazquez was named Mayor For A Day through a city-wide essay contest called “If I Were Mayor, I Would...” Vazquez, an upcoming seventh-grader at Goshen Middle School, sat in on meetings with Mayor Allan Kauffman and met with many department heads through his duties Monday.

“It was exciting,” he said. “I got to do so much.”

Vazquez wrote a page-long essay for the contest, which he won.

“I wrote that I would hear people out, and I would try to see what they wanted,” Vazquez said.

Around 120 essays were submitted, according to the mayor’s staff. First-, second- and third-place winners received two-day passes to the Elkhart County 4-H Fair and some Clover Cash. Vazquez received a $50 gift card as an additional prize from Interra Credit Union.

The essay contest has been sponsored by state-level organizations for nearly the past 10 years, according to Kauffman. This is the first year that the contest wasn’t sponsored by the state, but local officials decided to continue to sponsor it within the Goshen community.

Vazquez told the mayor he had more fun than he expected to have, according to Kauffman.

“He said to me that this job is more interesting than he thought,” Kauffman said.

Vazquez said the mayor’s job involved more duties than it seems.

“I learned you have to do a whole bunch more as mayor than I thought,” he said. “You have to go to lots of meetings, and you have to go through all of Goshen.”

The mayor himself wasn’t too bad, either, Vazquez said.

“He was funny and cool,” Vazquez said. “He wasn’t anything like I expected. I even got to ride in his car.”

Text Only
Local News
Parade
Magazine
Click HERE to read all your Parade favorites including Hollywood Wire, Celebrity interviews and photo galleries, Food recipes and cooking tips, Games and lots more.
Poll

Have recent scandals involving the U.S. government altered your opinion of President Obama’s job performance?

Yes, I think less of the president’s job performance
No, my opinions have not been impacted one way or the other
     View Results
Community Calendar
Loading…
Events by eviesays.com
AP Video
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools $1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids Raw: Bear Falls From Tampa Tree Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics Terror Suspect Due in Court in Idaho Friday Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge Could Tobacco Be the Next Biofuel? Wash. State Releases Draft Rules for Legal Pot Dying Man's Blinks Lead to Murder Conviction Officials: Texas Tornado Likely Had 200 Mph Wind Brothers Arrested in NOLA Parade Shooting