Maya Park sits comfortably at the mayor’s desk at Squamish’s Municipal Hall. She took over as mayor, at least for May 27.
Maya, a Grade 4 student at Squamish Montessori School, was chosen by district staff and Mayor Patricia Heintzman to act as Squamish’s Mayor for a Day.
“It was very surprising,” the nine-year-old said of being chosen.
In her written submission to the district’s Mayor for a Day contest, the young girl wrote about Squamish needing enough shelters for the homeless and protecting animal habitat.
“The animals should have a place to live, so make most of the forests surrounding us, a provincial park so the animals can stay there and live there for as long as they live,” she said.
Her essay was chosen out of the 80 submissions received at the district from local elementary school students, according to the mayor.
“She was very thorough,” said Heintzman. “She thought of so many different aspects of everything and was really thoughtful about, not just about wanting a Dairy Queen or a waterpark. It was very thoughtful about what would make a good town in the future.”
Maya was joined by two deputy mayors, Squamish Montessori School Grade 1 student Aliya Gaudin and Brackendale Elementary School Grade 5 student Alex Jones.
Aliya’s submission focused on animals as well and her love of snow tigers, Heintzman said.
“I also said I want Squamish to look like Disneyland,” Aliya added.
Alex’s essay shared his vision for solar-powered boats and other independent forms of energy. He also promised carrot muffins – and delivered, Heintzman said with a laugh.
The Mayor for a Day contest winners spent Friday morning with Heintzman doing various activities such as visiting the Squamish SPCA, touring the Squamish RCMP detachment and riding a Squamish Fire Rescue truck. They also got to share a pizza lunch with their classmates.
Heintzman said it was great to see young students in Squamish so full of vision and ambition. When she was the ages of the contest winners, she didn’t envision herself as a future mayor, she said.
“My brother is always the one who wanted to be prime minister and did all the debate club and stuff,” she said. “I was not that person. I was the person out there protesting against apartheid or more ice cream at lunch or whatever the big issue of the day was.”
Heintzman added she later learned activism is good for creating a broader vision, but to lead, you have to think about everybody, not just those who agree with you. “Activism is good to get you going, but activists without vision don’t make good politicians.”
Maya said she may consider a future as full-time mayor of Squamish. “Maybe, yeah,” she said. “It is pretty cool… this has been a very good experience.”
The Mayor for a Day contest was held as part of the district’s celebrations of Local Government Awareness Week.
