THE pioneer of a program helping children build their social skills has been elected Kingston’s junior mayor. The new Kingston junior council was appointed late last month. Isabella Koukoumanos, a grade six student from Our Lady of the Assumption, was elected the junior mayor for 2024/2025.
Koukoumanos and her team members presented a speech about the Kingston Pen Pals Program to win the position. She said she helped create the program to “help children who have a difficult time making friends and support and assist them to improve their socialising skills with others.”
The new junior mayor will accompany Kingston mayor Jenna Davey-Burns at council events for the rest of the year. Davey-Burns said “it’s amazing to see our local students so engaged and excited to learn more about how government works, how their voice and vote matters, and how they can make a positive contribution to their local area.” “We’re proud to give our local young people an opportunity to grow and develop their leadership skills to help create the leaders of tomorrow,” she said.
The junior mayor program has run for more than 60 years. It is run in partnership with Chelsea Rotary. The other junior council appointees were Brooklyn Vanderheiden from Patterson Lakes Primary School, Ibraheem Mohamed from Fitra Community School, Esmee Kerkhof from Dingley Primary School, Lucian Hendricks from St John Vianney Primary School, Hudson Harris from St Patrick’s Primary School, Azra Karadagli from Le Page Primary School, Eva Gladman from Chelsea Heights Primary School, Jaden Hack from Mordialloc Beach Primary School, Angelina Nastas from Edithvale Primary School, Joshua David from Aspendale Gardens Primary School, and Indiana Lewis and Lauchlan McHarry from Yarrabah School.
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 12th June 2024