The City of Hollywood recognized eight Nativity Catholic School eighth-grade students at the Jan. 5 City Commission meeting for their participation in the Teen Council Interview Exercise.
In December, 72 students in Lynne Moore’s Grammar and Composition classes began a business writing unit by creating their resumes. They then wrote cover letters to Mayor Peter Bober and applied for a position on the Hollywood Teen Council, a group they thought was fictitious. However, a similar group exists. The City implemented the Youth Council Network to enlist feedback from the youth of the community on issues they see as important and want the City to address. And while they were not actually applying to the position, Hollywood City Manager Cameron Benson still visited Nativity School to interview eight students with particularly well-crafted resumes and cover letters and to hear about issues they wanted Hollywood to look into.
“This assignment was part of a life skills writing assignment designed to teach the students about the importance of writing and interviewing skills,” Moore said. “The unit ran the gamut of the interview experience, while students constructed resumes they can build on for high school and beyond. The students really enjoyed this, and now so many students want to be a part of the Youth Council.”
Eight students – Kristoff Beauzil, Siena Benson, Nicholas Crawford, Jenna Herrera, Molly Matis, Gabriella Salemi, Marco Turturro and Julian Wood – dressed up in business attire and performed one-on-one mock-interviews with City Manager Benson in front of their entire class. Moore said that after City Manager Benson interviewed each student, he offered constructive criticism about his or her performance, and the rest of the class did as well. They evaluated each student’s performance on a scale of 1 to 5, basing the score on eye contact, responses, voice and enthusiasm.
“These students put a lot of hard work into this assignment,” City Manager Benson said. “I have to say, some of the resumes and cover letters I received were better than some of the ones I receive from professionals.”
He added that after visiting Nativity, he wanted to include younger students in the Youth Council. High school students currently participate in the program, but after hearing the things these students said during the interviews, City Manager Benson thinks reaching out to middle school students will greatly benefit the City, too.
“We want to have an open process for everyone to give us the information on what they want done in the City,” he said. “I think we need to hear from younger people. This will be their community in the future, and they’re the future leaders of the City. They need to know what’s going on in the city government and actively participate in it.”
After the interview, students wrote letters thanking City Manager Benson for his time – just like they would after an actual interview – and Mayor Bober and City Manager Benson presented the eight students interviewed with certificates at the City Commission meeting last month, commending them for their work on resume writing and interviewing skills.
“What was really nice was that all of the students could see the interviews going on,” Moore said. “Everyone learned a lot. I have about 30 students interviewing for jobs (in the near future) so this assignment was extremely important.”
For more information about the Youth Council Network, call Leander Hamilton at 954-921-3471 or call Gail Reinfeld at 954-921-3218.
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