‘Trustee for a day’: Students learn about government at Buffalo Grove Civics Forum
Getting elected is only one way to become a Buffalo Grove village board member.
Another way is to take part in the annual Buffalo Grove Civics Forum.
Each year, a handful of students from Buffalo Grove and Stevenson high schools get a hands-on lesson in local government, taking on the roles of village trustees and village staff for an actual village board meeting at the village hall.
But this is no mere exercise. They ultimately vote to make an actual policy decision, while the real village board members watch from the audience.
The group of students gathered on Sept. 23. They included “Village President” Shipra Jha, “Trustees” Milt King, Emily Carranza, Amy Andujar Cruz, Mariia Zahrbelna, Nanoko Seki and Gavin Glickauf, and “Village Clerk” Anastasiya Koval.
“Village Manager” Brian Montesinos, “Human Resources Director” Michael Waz, “Community Development Director” Nathan Tessier, “Fire Chief” Alina Hussain, “Finance Director” Yifan Wang, “Public Works Director” Maggie Kuang and “Police Chief” Lewis King made up the village staff.
Their guiding light every year is Buffalo Grove Village Clerk Jan Sirabian, who said one of the reasons behind the event is to remind them of the importance of voting in a municipal election.
“People ask me what I like about my job. Taking minutes is not number one on the list. This is number one on the list. I love doing this. I love working with these kids. I love seeing what they do, what they learn,” Sirabian said.
Prior to the meeting, the students toured the village campus and then worked with their counterparts to develop their presentations.
Past civics forums have resulted in such village purchases as the video board in the lobby of the village hall. This year’s proposals from staff included a police department community relations ice cream trailer, signage for the finance and community development departments, temperature monitors for servers in the IT department, a drone for the community development department and a heat press for the public works department that would help with the village’s rebranding.
As the students debated, they fell into their roles as if they came to them naturally.
“Would you agree that five to $6,000 might be a lot of money just to hand out ice cream?” Trustee Glickauf opined about the ice cream trailer. He was told, however, that the police department would pick up all but $2,000 in costs.
The winning proposal came from the fire department — realistic training simulators at a cost of $2,000. Citing emergency call statistics, Fire Chief Hussain explained how the kit would teach how to clean a wound or attend to an injury from a fall or car accident.
The students were grateful for the opportunity. Hussain, a Buffalo Grove High School student who attended last year, said, “Honestly, this provides an incredible immersive experience to local government.”
Jha, another returning participant from Stevenson High School, thanked the village board and Sirabian, and said she was motivated to become more involved in her community, training to serve as an election judge.
“President Jha, you were fantastic tonight,” Village President Eric Smith said. “She was even prophetic, because before the meeting, she asked, ‘What happens if there's a 3-3 tie?’ And sure enough, she had to break a tie tonight.”
She broke the tie by voting against the heat press.