By Igor Studenkov | Bugle Staff
The Niles Public Library will give one lucky elementary school student the chance to be library board president for a day.
While the winner of the President for a Day contest won’t actually get to run a library board meeting, the honor will come with several perks.
The winning student will be officially recognized at the Nov. 16 Niles Library Board meeting and receive a ceremonial Key to the Library. She or he will be able to put together their own display of library materials and choose what family movie will be shown on the library’s big screen. The winner will also be able to reserve seats at any Second Sunday Special event they wish to attend.
Sasha Vasilic, the library’s public relations and marketing supervisor, told the Bugle that the contest was just one of the things the library was doing to boost community involvement and encourage more people to obtain library cards.
The contest is open to all students in grades K-8 who have a Niles Public Library card. If they don’t have a library card, students can still enter the contest if they attend a school in a district that’s at least partially within the library district. Vasilic said that boundary includes all schools in East Maine District 63.
Students who want to enter would need to fill out an application form, which they can pick up at the KidSpace desk or download at www.nileslibrary.org/kids. They will also need to write a 5-10 sentence essay on why they would want to be a library president. The applications and the essays will be evaluated by a “small committee.”
Vasilic said each essay will be judged by the standards of their grade level.
The contest began accepting entries Sept. 1, and students will be able to apply through Oct. 23. The winner will be announced on Election Day, Nov. 8.
And, Vasilic said the contest may become an annual event.
“We’ll see if it becomes successful,” he said.