Students from the Whitehall-Coplay School District participated in student government day May 11.

The students arrived at the municipal building at 8 a.m. and, after refreshments, attended the mayor's staff meeting.

After the meeting, the students separated and worked with the mayor, deputy mayor and bureau chiefs.

Student David Gonzalez took on the role of mayor with Mayor Edward D. Hozza Jr.; Jake Meyers worked as deputy mayor with Jack Meyers; Kajanna Hylton and Jude Luckenbill worked as tax collectors with Diane Hunsicker; Bianca Gonzalez worked as bureau chief of planning, zoning and development with Lee Rackus; Danica Lavery worked as bureau chief of parks and recreation with Gregory Mooney; Sarah Fadel worked as bureau chief of public works with John Rackus;; Tiffany Tran worked as police chief with Linda Kulp; and Anthony Dex worked as fire chief with Robert Benner.

Students Anthony Viola, Angelica Vincent, Giovani Hodge, Crystal Yacoub, Victor Arias, Chrissy Reinhard and Allison Beltz worked as the township's commissioners.

After a lunch break, the students learned about the protocol of public meetings and held a mock board of commissioners public meeting.

During the mock meeting, the students discussed issues relating to authorizing the Lehigh Valley Dairy property as a LERTA site, granting the mayor authority to execute a grant application with the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for Clear Channel Park in the township and authorizing the mayor to apply to PennDOT for a crosswalk from the intersection on the west side of MacArthur and Mechanicsville roads to Wawa on MacArthur Road.

Township Commissioner Phillips Armstrong, event organizer, and district Assistant Superintendent Lorie Hackett were present at the event. Both Armstrong and Hackett acted as concerned residents and presented questions to the student commissioners.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Armstrong spoke to the students.

"I can't tell you how proud I am," he said. "What an excellent job you guys did. You really are the reason I want to keep doing this."

Armstrong thanked all the department heads and mayor for participating in the event.

"I think this day is worth having. I hope we can continue to do it, and I hope you learned about local government," Armstrong said. "We have a good-sized town and we have some responsibilities. I would encourage you to come to meetings and see what everyone is doing. I hope this will make you better-educated voters. We'd love to have you get involved with the local government."