Catherine Zbiegien – City of Cholla
Today was City Day at Arizona Girls State! This was the first day the delegates of the City of Cholla were able to meet each other! We appointed citizens to the city positions, which are the mayor, councilmen, and city clerk. Many stepped forward to volunteer for these important positions. Those who ran for mayor were Ms. Voelker, Ms. Peterson, Ms. Tang, Ms. Ralph, and Ms. Steenhard. Ms. Tang won by picking the number closest to the one chosen by our city advisor. All positions were won in this fashion.
We had a large number of girls volunteer to be one of the two councilmen. Ms. Peterson, Ms. Ramirez, Ms. Gregory, Ms. N̴onthe Sanchez, Ms. Dorrett, Ms. Fraizer-Bisner, Ms. Reaves, Ms. Ralph, Ms. Brimmer, Ms. Steenhard, Ms. Moroyoqui, and Ms. Vega all ran for the councilman positions; and Ms. Steenhard and Ms. Vega won. Last, but certainly not least, the city clerk was appointed. Ms. Ramirez, Ms. Fry, Ms. McCullar, and Ms. Moroyoqui volunteered; and Ms. McCullar won the position. Congratulations to these wonderful young women! I know they will do amazing things for our city!
We also discussed our plans for Cholla. We decided that the city should be medium sized and should focus on improving the lives of our citizens and protecting the environment. Many agreed that we should have a tourist attraction, like a lake. Green transportation was an important topic, and the idea of having a light rail was very popular. We also discussed establishing community gardens, building a community compost center, and reducing the use of plastic bags in stores. Ms. Valli-Doherty volunteered to come up with our budget based on these ideas, and Ms. Vega is drawing up our city map. I am very excited to see these plans come to life!