MOOSEHEART, IL, November 29, 2006

In choosing Chris Fitzgerald as this year's student Mayor of Mooseheart Child City & School, student voters of the Child City chose a candidate who knows the campus, its policies and its programs inside-out.

After all, the current senior is one of those students who has literally grown up at Mooseheart. Now 17, Fitzgerald was admitted to Mooseheart as a 14-month-old toddler on May 1, 1990 and this has been his primary address ever since. Ironically, he almost wasn't allowed to run, as he is a senior at Mooseheart High School who will graduate this coming May 26.

"Originally it was supposed to be sophomores and junior running,"
Fitzgerald said. "I wrote a letter to Mr. (Gary) Urwiler (Superintendent and Principal of Mooseheart School). I stated reasons why he should include a senior. He wrote me back that, yes, seniors would be allowed to run."

So Fitzgerald ran. He had one competitor, sophomore Gabe Kendor. In the end, Fitzgerald won by one solitary vote in balloting by the entire Mooseheart student body. Voting concluded Nov. 14 and the result was announced later that day.

"It was a good decision to allow me to run," Fitzgerald said. "Everyone was encouraging me. It was a positive experience."

Mooseheart had student mayors from the 1950s through the 1970s but had gone years without such a student governmental role until the 2005-06 school year, when Sergio Mazon was narrowly elected over current senior Katie Morones . Fitzgerald is the second in the resumed position.

"It gives the kids a chance to be involved," said Urwiler, who initiated the move to bring back the student-mayor position. "I'm always trying to think of ways for students to want to give back to the school when they leave. The more experiences you can give them, the more chance you have for that to happen."

One of Fitzgerald's ideas is to have a suggestion box available to students, to allow reasonable requests to be brought to the attention of the administration.

"There are limits," Fitzgerald said. "If you say you want to get rid of the school (disciplinary) point card, then that's not going to happen, because that goes deeper than just Mooseheart."

The goal of this, and other, ideas, is to get more Mooseheart students active and involved in the working of their school.

"We're hitting a more diverse population of our kids," Urwiler said.
"It's open to anybody. It's not as if we're picking the most popular kids or that we're hand-picking in any way."

Fitzgerald said the success of the student mayor's agenda can help in other ways as well.

"The school does a wonderful job," Fitzgerald said. "But if students got into fewer disagreements or less trouble or had fewer trips to the dean's office - that would increase the overall positive outlook."

When Fitzgerald talks of what the school can be, he speaks from personal experience.
Just barely walking at 14 months old when he first arrived at the Child City, sponsored by Batavia, IL Moose Lodge 682, Fitzgerald has literally grown up here over the past 16 years.

"Mooseheart means the world to me," Fitzgerald said. "I don't remember much about my very young years. But I have been given food, clothing, a home and a complete experience. I have Family Teachers (Mooseheart's in-home caregivers or surrogate parents) who are loving people who want the best for me in all aspects."

Fitzgerald knows his position this year will go through more evolution , as the list of what can and what cannot be attempted is further learned.

"(Mazon) had to work out a lot of the bugs," Fitzgerald said. "But he did his job and he was a very good mayor. It's just hard to start something again. If you drop it for 20 years and pick it up again, it's not going to work out 100 percent."

The student mayor's role has two sides - one is to provide a public student representative presence at events such as fraternal "state days"
and other events on the Mooseheart campus. The other portion of the job is to improve the relationship between the student body and the administration at Mooseheart.

"We're looking at ways to involve the role of student-mayor more and more," Urwiler said. "It helps to get (Fitzgerald) and get the opinion of the student body. And if it's something we can look into, we can make changes and make things better for the lives of the kids here."

Fitzgerald has an inner council made of the top two students from each class at the school.

"We'll have discussions about how to make the school better," Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald's term ends with his May graduation. With a thought toward a future career in nursing, Fitzgerald said he would like to attend Olivet Nazarene University. He has also already been accepted at the College of DuPage.

"Olivet Nazarene has a smaller environment, which is what I'm used to here," Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald already does nursing volunteer work at Delnor Community Hospital in Geneva in a program run through the Health Occupations program at Mooseheart. This work, combined with schoolwork and a role on the Red Ramblers wrestling team leaves Fitzgerald plenty busy before he even starts his mayoral duties.

"I have to strike a balance for all these things and try to find some time for myself too," Fitzgerald said. "It's hard but I knew it was going to be this way. I went into this knowing what it was going to be like."

And Fitzgerald has put some thought into what he'd like his legacy to be when he steps away from the student mayor role at Mooseheart.

"I hope he or she carries on with the work of the position," Fitzgerald said. "I have great faith in the students. They made a choice; I'm glad they made the choice in me."