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CHS seniors participate in 35th annual Civic Day
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Canfield Mayor Bernie Kosar Sr. helped his counterpart, Canfield High School senior Mitchell Beck, during a mock City Council meeting for the 35th annual Civic Day, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Canfield, on May 1.
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Canfield High School seniors participated in the 35th annual Civic Day, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Canfield, by running a mock City Council meeting May 1.
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Canfield Mayor Bernie Kosar Sr. welcomed Canfield High School seniors to the 35th annual Civic Day, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Canfield, May 1.
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Canfield Mayor Bernie Kosar Sr. (left), Canfield High School senior Candace Smith and Canfield City Council member John Morvay (right) shared a laugh during a mock City Council meeting for the 35th annual Civic Day, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Canfield, May 1.
By ABBY SLANKER
The 35th annual Civic Day, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Canfield, was offered with 41 Canfield High School seniors assuming the roles of city, township and school officials on May 1. The day was organized by Canfield High School government teachers Todd Muckleroy and Mike Pavlansky and provided the students an opportunity to become familiar with the workings of their local government.
Each student was assigned an official from Canfield City Council, Canfield Schools or Canfield Township to shadow during the day. For example, Mitchell Beck took over the role of Mayor Bernie Kosar, Sr., Bryan Kristan assumed the role of City Council President Don Dragish Jr., Victor Arnoto took over the role of Public Works Director Todd Beeson, Collin Fishel assumed the role of Chief of Police Charles Collucci, John Lytle took over for Township Trustee Stephen Maszczak, Tori Pacheco assumed the role of Township Fiscal Officer Carmen Heasley, Alex Schoer took over the role of School Superintendent Alex Geordan, Andrew Griswold took over the role of C.H. Campbell Elementary School Principal Travis Lavery and Troy Williams assumed the role of Resource Officer Steve Garstka.
Civic Day started at the Canfield Local Schools Board Office where the students conducted a mock school board meeting with their official counterparts. The school officials helped the students understand how a school board meeting is conducted and explained policies and procedures for the meeting.
The students then took a tour of Canfield Village Middle School and were given a tour of the police and fire stations.
The students went to the Canfield Municipal Building where they were welcomed by City Council Member John Morvay and given an overview of City Council meetings.
“Welcome to Canfield City Council. Our meetings follow Robert’s Rules of Order and we structure our meetings around those rules,” Morvay said.
Mayor Kosar also welcomed the students and explained a few things about the City Council.
“We live in an excellent city. We have great things in this city, but they do cost money and it is the responsibility of these five City Council members here to get it done,” Kosar said.
The students took part in a mock city council meeting, with their counterparts. The students were coached through a council meeting, complete with motions, questions from meeting attendees, discussions, roll call, debates and banging of the gavel.
Toward the end of the meeting, a motion was made to provide the absence of final exams for Canfield High School seniors. After a second, the motion was put to a vote, the majority ruled in favor of the motion with a vote of 3-2.
At the end of the meeting, Morvay invited the students to visit a real City Council meeting.
“I would like to invite you all to a City Council meeting. We need young people like you to get involved because you are our future leaders. Thank you for coming and learning more about our city,” Morvay said.
The students then traveled to the Canfield Township Hall where a mock trustee meeting took place.
To close out the day, the Rotary Club of Canfield had a luncheon for the students and city, township and school officials at St. Michael’s Church.