By Mark Rosman
Staff Writer
HOWELL – For about 30 minutes on the evening of May 2, Howell’s municipal government was in the hands of the leaders of tomorrow.
During a regular meeting of the Township Council, seventh-graders from Howell Middle School North and Howell Middle School South were in control of the township as they participated in the annual Student Government Day.
After spending time during the day visiting the municipal offices and observing what it takes to run a sprawling community such as Howell, students filled the roles of mayor, council members and municipal clerk to kick off the night’s council meeting.
Kelly Larkin served as mayor, Cian Dowd, Alexandria Procaccio, Mason Weiss and Katherine Taylor served as council members and Mia Milnes served as the municipal clerk.
The students’ efforts to observe the operation of a municipality and then to run Howell’s government won praise from Deputy Mayor Robert Nicastro, who said it is the job of the schools to give children what they need to be successful in their future and “hopefully to motivate them to become active in the community.”
Howell K-8 School District Superintendent of Schools Joseph Isola said the partnership between the municipality and the school district is outstanding.
As part of their duties, the mayor and each council member read a proclamation.
Kelly read a proclamation declaring May to be “Paint the Town Pink Month,” which promotes breast cancer prevention.
Mason read a proclamation declaring May 7-13 as “Be Kind to Animals Week.” Alexandria read a proclamation declaring May 21-27 as “Emergency Medical Services Week.”
Cian read a proclamation declaring May to be “Physical Fitness and Sports Month” and Katherine read a proclamation declaring May to be “National Hamburger Month.”
In comments from the dais, the student mayor and council members suggested that if they were really in charge of Howell, they would pursue plans to open the gymnasium at the Southard Community Enrichment Center at various times so their peers could enjoy physical activity and that they would pair up students with senior citizens to help older adults learn about today’s technology.
