VALDOSTA — Valdosta Mayor John Gayle recognized the winners of the 2015 “If I Were Mayor” 6th Grade Essay Contest at the April 23 City Council meeting. The contest, sponsored by the Georgia Municipal Association and the City of Valdosta, encourages local 6th graders each year to creatively use their language art skills and civics knowledge to express, in 350 words or less, how they would make a difference if they held the city’s top elected position.

Local students from city and county schools, as well as home schools, competed in both a local and statewide contest, producing some award-winning essays and well-thought out ideas for our community. The Georgia Municipal Association received nearly 6,000 essays statewide and 702 of those were from District 11, the district that includes Valdosta.

This year’s winners are all students of Mrs. Whitfield’s class at Valdosta Middle School. The following students read their winning essays at the meeting in front of the mayor, city council members and others in attendance. Click here to view the winning essays.

1st Place—Abbi Long
2nd Place—Tyson Parker
3rd Place—Beth Ann Thornton

The city congratulates these student winners and all the participants in this year’s contest. For more information, contact Public Information Officer Sementha Mathews at (229) 259-3548 or at smathews@valdostacity.com.

Sementha Mathews| Valdosta City Public Information Officer