News from Girls Incorporated of Sarasota County

Dream Harbor News

October's focus was all about getting the Dream Harbor Government Center up and running. Girls as young as 9 years old were eligible to run for elected office. They learned about the role of the Mayor, Vice Mayor, Treasurer, Secretary and Historian. After completing the "Intent to Run for Office" form, the girls who were interested attended an informational meeting to understand the requirements for eligibility and expectations. Each girl was responsible for completing an application form, obtaining a reference from a teacher at school and a parent or friend and providing us with a copy of her report card. Girls had to have an average grade of at least a "B" with satisfactory citizenship grades and permission from their parents to run for office. After distributing the application packets and setting a deadline for submission, the field was narrowed down to 8 girls.

To create the tie-in with the real world model of government, we invited former Senator Lisa Carlton and Vice Mayor Kelly Kirschner to talk to the girls about key components of running a campaign and serving as an elected official. Ms. Carlton's tips included:

�         Run for office to help others - not yourself!
�         Tell others how you are going to help them and be a role model.
�         Eliminate the phrase, "I promise to..." and substitute, "I will work hard to..."
�         If you get nervous during your campaign speech, take a deep breath to get the jitters out, pause and speak slowly.
�         It is equally important how you react to a "win" as how you react to a "loss".

Vice Mayor Kirschner shared his now famous "popcorn machine" story about running for student government. It underlined the concept that before you make an empty promise to your constituents, you investigate the availability and probability of being able to deliver on it. Mr. Kirschner told the girls that one day he saw a popcorn machine in the janitor's closet. He had an idea that it could be used at the Friday events held at his school. But instead of blurting this out to his schoolmates and promising something he didn't know could really work, he set up a meeting with the principal and was given permission to use the machine. The principal was impressed with his maturity for going directly to the source and Kelly delivered on his idea once he was elected.

From that point on, the girls created campaign flyers and posters, held a candidate "Meet & Greet" at Market Day and wrote their speeches. They went on stage and delivered their speeches to an audience of about 100 girls ages 7-14. The girls listened intently, rating the content of the speeches and making notes on who they thought would be the best candidate. Election Day was held on Wednesday, October 21st and with 54% of the vote, Kiana was elected to the office of Mayor. Trinity, Lizzie, Alayna and Dakota all became Vice Mayors. Aysha and Jasmine were elected to the office of Secretary/Historian and Osiris became Dream Harbor's Treasurer.

The elected officials are now integrated with the Peacekeepers in the Government Center. The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for Tuesday, November 10th where the elected officials, representatives, Chief of Police and Peacekeepers will take their oath of office and officially be recognized as the leadership team of Dream Harbor MicroSociety at Girls Inc.