Optimist Club of Erie

Essay Contest Winners Meet Mayor and Chief of Police

The Optimist Club of Erie held their first ever Essay Contest for the youth of the community. This project was created to give young people the opportunity to write about their own opinions regarding the world in which they live. The Essay Contest topic was: “If I Were Mayor or Chief of Police…” According to Brad Beck, President of the Club, “The contest was held to develop and promote creative writing skills, to instill a sense of civic pride, and to view how local government works.” Entries were solicited from Erie area Elementary, Middle and Senior High Schools.

The two winning entries are from, Chloe Schmolesky, who wrote “If I were Mayor” and Alex Santilli, “If I were Police Chief.” Each winner received a Certificate of Appreciation, have their essay’s published on the Optimist Web Site, and received a private tour of Town Hall and the Police Department conducted by Erie Mayor Andrew Moore and Police Chief John Hall.

Mayor Moore and Chief Hall helped by selecting the winning essay’s. Mayor Moore said, “What a pleasure it was to read through the wonderful, creative essays submitted. Even though I could only vote for "If I were Police Chief", I read them all and thoroughly enjoyed doing so. It was difficult choosing one, simply because there were so many that stood out. I'm am pleased with the writing capability and civic awareness of our youth which is so important for our future leaders to have. Alex Santilli's writing on being Erie's Police Chief captured my interest with his understanding of speeding, not smoking, and being proactive with safety in our schools.

Chief Hall was equally impressed. He said, ” The ability to express one’s thoughts in writing is extremely important. A large part of a Police Chief’s or Mayor’s job is accomplished through written communications. Virtually everything we do needs to be documented in writing. It was a pleasure to read all the essays and encouraging to see the writing skills already being developed by each one of the applicants. I selected the essay “As the Mayor” written by Chloe Schmolesky. Her essay starts out establishing a sense of self confidence, important for a person in a position of leadership. Then she discusses specific projects that she feels would be important to the community such as parks, new elementary schools, and a community center. Yet projects were not the only things of importance. She recognizes some important character traits for a mayor to possess such as creativity, fairness, dedication, open mindedness, respect for others and honesty. Chloe says, “It takes a very special person to be the mayor.”