Truman High School students write about what they would do as mayor

Truman High School students write about what they would do as mayor

Six Truman High School students wound up as finalists in an essay contest that had them stepping into Mayor Bloomberg’s shoes to fix some of the city’s problems.

Three of them with winning suggestions walked away with cash prizes.

“For me, this was about putting this on my transcript and what I would do as the mayor,” said Bradley Miranda, the $250 grand prize winner.

The contest focused on what young people would do if they were to run for mayor.

Miranda’s essay solved the problem of youth volunteership by offering cash incentives.

Second and third place winners went to seniors Khadijah Martin and Yvette Aguilera.

The contest was sponsored by Community Board 10 in honor of April’s Global Youth Day, a worldwide event celebrating youth leadership.

“This is the kind of youth we want to see,” said Bob Bieder, chairman of CB10’s Youth Committee, which came up with the concept.

“We thought it would be a good idea to get them involved in the political process and see what it entails,” said Bieder.

But submitting the essays wasn’t enough for the panel.

Each student was asked to provide a brief verbal synopsis to the three-judge panel to get a sense of their debating skills, said Bieder.

“I was so nervous for them but they handled themselves so beautifully,” said Justyna Kret, Truman’s AP English teacher who introduced the contest to her students back in February.

Runner-up Ashley Sanchez welcomed the debate with the panel.

“They weren’t staring at me, they were listening,” said Sanchez, whose essay covered gender inequalities between men and women.

Other runner-ups were Marsha-Lee Pinnock and Arlene Rogers.

Community board member Pat Caruso had faxed the essay contest to every high school in the board area, but Truman High School was the only school to respond.

Reach reporter David Cruz at 718-742-3383 or email at dcruz@cnglocal.com.