Around 40 DeLand students packed into a DeLand High School classroom Oct. 19 for one reason: They want a say in the city’s affairs.
The students were organized for the inaugural meeting of the DeLand Youth Council, an initiative Mayor Chris Cloudman is especially happy to see come to fruition — and not just because one of his daughters was in attendance at the meeting.
“I want you all to weigh in on major topics in the city, but also bring things to us,” he said. “We’re not living in your shoes every day.”
Cloudman was joined at the meeting by Chris Graham, the city’s community information manager, and Dr. Lindsay Brinkmann, a DeLand High School history teacher who also works with the DeLand School of Government, a program that encourages students to learn how their local government works.
The goal for the council, they explained, will be for students to provide input on initiatives they’d like to see the city take on, as well as topics the city is actively discussing. For example, Cloudman said, learning where young adults stood on the city’s recent decision to allow tattoo studios in Downtown DeLand could have been instructive for the City Commission.
Projects like organizing an improvement plan for the city’s skate park and services projects were suggested as some of what the council may accomplish in its inaugural year.
Of the 40 students assembled, only 11 will nab a seat on the youth council. The 11-student council will be composed of a chair — a 12th-grade student — and a vice chair — an 11th-grade student — as well as students representing other grade levels and members who can be from any grade.
Students who aren’t elected to the council itself are still encouraged to attend meetings and provide input about what they think are important issues in the area.
The Youth Council’s next meeting in November will look a lot like Novembers across the United States — students interested in a seat on the council will tell their peers why they should be elected to the council and then the entire body will have the opportunity to vote.
Senior Walker Hollmann is one of the students who is hoping to get a seat on the Youth Council. He’s already involved in the school’s student government association, but he’s interested in local issues that go beyond the boundaries of DeLand High School.
“I want to project a voice to a bigger spectrum than just DHS,” he said.
He’s interested in homelessness and affordable housing as pressing issues affecting DeLand.
Another student interested in a seat is senior Terrance Ward. He’s interested in beautification in the area. One thing he’s been involved in as a student at DeLand High is starting a garden on campus in a partnership with the Garden Club of DeLand.
But it’s not just students with college applications on their mind who are running for a seat on the Youth Council. Josiah Estevez, who has moved around a bit as he’s grown up, is only in ninth grade, but he wants to learn more about community building.
“I’ve been in DeLand three years now,” he said. “It’s a smaller community, and I think that’s really cool.”
Since this will be the Youth Council’s first year, city officials are looking forward to building the program alongside the students.
“We already have a voice; we don’t want this to just be an extension of us,” Cloudman said.
“Government can be slow,” Graham added. “If you’re persistent, things can happen.
