Students at Memorial Park Elementary School have recently studied community workers, which has highlighted jobs who help in the community, including plumbers, electricians and journalists.
City workers from street workers to police officers have also been studied. Jennifer Williams Smith, Jasper council member for District 4, said during Tuesday’s council meeting, that she and several other city workers attended the school’s recent Community Worker Fair.
“We had a municipality table,” she said. “We have away pamphlets that explained city government and services on a level that children could understand.
“One of the things I did was that I showed city seal and explained about it,” she added. “I also gave them a coloring sheet with the seal on it and questions that went along with it. I Invited them to color and answer questions, and that we would read one or two and answer their questions at upcoming council meetings.
Smith showed off the artwork of 8-year-old Blake, who said his favorite thing about living in Jasper is “it’s a safe place.” He lives in District 4 and asked Smith is she is the only female on the city council. Smith was happy to say, “I was for a long time, but now I’m joined by Jenny Short in District 1.
Short said, “Maybe these children will one day be our council members” before sharing a coloring sheet from a child in her district.
Short said her sheet came from Jayde, another 8-year-old, who said her favorite thing about living in Jasper are all the fun parks.
Jayde’s question to her council member was if the city had any new ice cream shops.
“She is a person after my own heart,” Short said. “The good news is that we now have a Baskin Robbins and Freddy’s with frozen custard will be opening soon. An economic vitality study just completed analysis for businesses downtown, so perhaps another ice cream shop might be on there.”
Short invited Jayde to come to a future council meeting, and she would happily take her out for some ice cream.
