The Shadow
LOW MOOR — Maria Angle of Clifton Forge was named a regional winner in the Virginia Municipal League’s “If I Were Mayor” essay contest.
Maria, a student at Clifton Middle School, is the daughter of Billy and Lee Anne-Bowling Angle.
She was recognized by the VML at an April 15 Alleghany County School Board meeting. Maria was presented with a plaque and a check for $150.
The contest drew hundreds of entries from seventh graders throughout the state.
The challenge to the students was to describe what they would do if they were mayor of their hometown.
When honored, she was recognized with Clifton Forge Mayor Jeff Irvine.
The statewide winner was Maci Mitchell of Hamilton Holmes Middle School in King William. Angle was named the winner in Region 2.
There were eight regional winners in the contest.
“All the regional winners demonstrated a remarkable level of maturity in their essays,” said VML President Anita James Price said. “The judges were very impressed with their concern for their communities and how thoughtfully they presented solutions to the issues most affecting their fellow residents.”
In commenting on Mitchell’s statewide winning entry, Price said: “Not only well written, but her bullet points were well thought out as well.
“The items she identifies are certainly ones that her community clearly needs and have captured her attention. Education and infrastructure were topics that many of the writers identified, but Maci also recognizes the lack of health care in her town and makes it a priority.Congratulations to this future mayor.”
Mitchell received a plaque and $250.
Angle’s winning essay read:
“If I were mayor, something I would do to make my city an even better place to live is deal with less litter and air pollution, education, and roadways and traffic. Mayors are here for us to help them and are willing to listen to there community. They help make things better and keep things that we want in mind to”.
“The first thing I would do is work with the litter and air pollution. We want the wild animals and everyone safe so that way there is no harm to someone or something. The litter and air pollution has gotten wild nowadays because no one cares anymore about what the living creatures out in the wild lives are like, they just care about their own life”.
“Another thing I would focus on is the education that the kids get these days. Parents are just letting their kids stay home, play video games, and not come to school and get their education. The kids have gotten lazier with Chromebooks and so have teachers it’s like they just don’t care anymore. There are no paper notes or writing in classes. You only really use the Chromebooks nowadays with all the technology there is”.
“They need to do more hands on work while using Chromebook at the same time, I think. I have never really had a year that I feel like I’m not learning something. I feel like I’m learning how to use a chromebook and how to get unblocked games. I think the teachers should also have to work more with students one on one”.
“That’s why I would fix the education. Also we need to think of how we want our future generations. We want them to be able to help, not just to be all about technology and get the technology to do our jobs for us”.
“I would also really like to focus on the roadways and traffic. There have been bad accidents with cars and buses. I want everyone to be safe at all times while getting from point A to point B. We don’t want people to get injured because there was someone drunk driving or being dumb. We want everyone to be safe so I think we should have people watching the roads at all times and not just worried about the way people look or dress. I think there should be a thing on buses to notify the police if their bus is being bad or if they get in an accident more than once. The buses and anything that has a kid in it is what we should really watch out for because those kids are our future generation. We should also be worried about the adults as well because they help make the future generation and help the kids in general”.
“As you can see I have things I would want to fix if I was mayor. I would be willing to take the time to focus on what people want. I want to focus on what my community wants. I would love to become a mayor one day, fix what I want fixed, and what the people would want fixed.”
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Maria Angle, a Clifton Middle School student, was a regional winner in the Virginia Municipal League’s “If I Were Mayor” Essay Contest. Pictured, from left, are Clifton Forge Mayor Jeff Irvine, Clifton Middle School teacher Mary Persinger, Miss Angle and her parents, Lee Ann Bowling-Angle and Billy Angle. (Photo Courtesy VML)
