Becky Beissel

Well, it only took me 45 years, but I finally received a compliment on my outfit at Ellsworth High School. As someone who made it through four years of high school without earning many fashion accolades, I have to say it was a pretty unexpected highlight of my recent classroom visits!

Over the past few weeks, I've had the opportunity to visit six classes at Ellsworth High School to talk about local government, community development, and some of the projects happening around our village. And while the fashion compliment was certainly appreciated, it was the conversations with students that really stuck with me.

The students were engaged, thoughtful, and full of questions and observations about their community. While I was technically there to share my perspective, I found myself gaining a few new ones along the way.

For starters, one student commented that the improvements in East End make it look like something out of a Hallmark movie. I'll take that as a compliment! Another shared that he's been riding his bicycle through East End more frequently and wondered if we could add bike racks. Interestingly, bike racks were something I had questioned during the planning process, but I wasn't sure how much demand there would be. Sometimes it takes hearing directly from the people using these spaces to recognize what might be missing.

We also talked about the master planning efforts underway for East End Park and Summit Park. The students had plenty of opinions about what they'd like to see, including better amenities overall, and lighting at the Summit Park tennis courts. That's not something I had given much thought to, but it was clearly important to them. And when we talked about some of the challenges at Summit Park, I encouraged them to see those challenges as opportunities. After all, recognizing a place's potential is often the first step toward making it better.

One of my favorite conversations centered on differing opinions. I asked the students to think about their own families and friendships. Do they agree with their parents, siblings, or even their closest friends 100 percent of the time? Of course not. So why would we expect an entire community to agree on every decision?

Disagreement is a natural part of life, and it's certainly a natural part of local government. The challenge isn't eliminating differing opinions; it's learning how to navigate them respectfully, recognizing that people can care deeply about the same community while having very different ideas about what's best for it.

That's something I hope these students carry with them, whether they eventually serve in local government, volunteer in their communities, or simply become engaged citizens.

Throughout our conversations, I was struck by how much these young people notice. They see the improvements happening around town. They're curious about vacant buildings, housing development, and future plans for our parks. They have ideas about what could make Ellsworth even better.

And perhaps most importantly, they're willing to share them.

I left those classrooms reminded that we don't always have to look far for fresh ideas or new perspectives. Sometimes they're sitting right in front of us, in a high school classroom, just waiting to be asked.

Thank you to the students and teachers at Ellsworth High School for welcoming me into your classrooms. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversations, and I'm looking forward to seeing how your ideas and perspectives help shape Ellsworth's future.