Wednesday’s lunch was a memorable one for Mark Twain Elementary School third grader Kaitlyn Whaley. It wasn’t because she was treated to pizza or had her meal at a specially-prepared table in the lunch room. It was because of who she had as her lunch guest - Hannibal Mayor Roy Hark.
Kaitlyn earned the right to have lunch with the mayor by submitting the highest bid during a silent auction at the school carnival.
Kaitlyn was looking forward to the special lunch, according to her teacher, Andrea White.
“She’s very excited,” she said. “Actually she’s been anticipating this for a long time.”
White is not surprised that Kaitlyn would want to share a meal with the mayor.
“She’s a leader in the classroom so it’s really appropriate that she’s with the mayor. That shows her leadership,” she said.
Why did Kaitlyn want to meet the mayor?
“I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “I just wanted to meet him and have a couple of conversations with him to ask him stuff about city hall and ask him what it feels like to be the mayor.”
Did Kaitlyn get all her questions answered?
“Yes, except for one. I didn’t have enough time to ask that,” she said. “I wanted to ask how long do you get to be mayor? I’m still wondering.”
For the record, the mayor’s term is three years.
A highlight of the luncheon for Kaitlyn was when Hark opened a slender black box and presented her the key to the city.
“I just kept on staring at it,” said Kaitlyn of the box. “I was wondering if it was his that he didn’t want to get dirty or maybe he wanted to give me something. I was just puzzled.”
Hark said his lunch partner was a joy.
“She’s a very pleasant young lady. She’s very sweet,” he said. “She’s just a very open young lady and I just enjoyed very much talking with her.”
Why did Hark feel it necessary to take the time out of his day to come to school for lunch?
“I think it’s very important to the young people to be able to relate to the city officials - policemen, firemen or the mayor or council, anyone like that,” he said. “I think we’re role models for them and we need to set an example for these young people. I enjoy being around them. They keep me young.”
Hark frequently paused during lunch to return the waves of other students and distribute “high fives.”
“It’s important to them and it’s important to me because they’re the future of our city and our country,” he said. “I think we need to take more time and talk to our young people and share our time with them. We all need to do that.”
