I definitely felt lucky this St. Patrick’s Day being surrounded by some of our county’s elected officials! It was a celebration all around at last month’s General Membership Meeting of the Broward League of Cities, when everyone got together on St. Patrick’s Day at the beautiful Signature Grand.

The meeting got started with a very informative class on the in’s and out’s of parliamentary procedure. Being a student leader myself, I surprisingly found myself relating too many of the procedures they were discussing. In school just like in our very own government, we have to go through a stream of motions and discussions in order to put something into action. I think students from around the county would have found this workshop quite interesting with respect to the process of passing bills. It isn’t a one-time deal, but in actuality it is very time consuming and is a group effort. It was fun to see elected officials asking specific questions to see if they could find quicker paths in parliamentary procedure. It’s funny to think that teens aren’t the only ones who like to get things done quickly.

After the workshop the other Student Ambassadors and I moved into the main room and were greeted by a plethora of companie vying for our county’s business. There were a wide variety of businesses that night, from trash disposal companies to towing companies-which everyone tried to make friends with for obvious reasons! It was very interesting to hear about these different companies and what they can bring, not only to our county but to our individual cities as well.

For me the most interesting company was an urban planning corporation. I talked to the booth attendant for quite a while on the work they do all around the world. The way their company perfectly plans cities or shopping centers was very interesting to me, especially since they had such a wide variety of styles they worked with. After seeing the portfolio of work the gentleman presented me with, I immediately thought of how this company could be utilized in my very own city to attract new citizens.

After receiving tons of pamphlets and enough pens to last me throughout high school, we headed into the dining room. After leading the Broward League of Cities members in the pledge Alex Weiner, my fellow Ambassador, and I got a chance to meet a new group of people at our dinner table. One of our fellow diners worked for the Miami Dolphins and I was sure to joke with him about upcoming seasons and how the Dolphins will do.

Finally, it wouldn’t be St. Patrick’s Day without corn beef and cabbage, and let me just say it was some of the best I have ever had. Once again this month’s meeting was both eye-opening and informative, and I look forward to many more!

By: Kimberly Willoughby