RPA sixth-grader wins Oregon Mayors Assn. contest

The Redmond Proficiency Academy announced Monday that Riley Latta, a sixth-grade student at RPA, won first place in Oregon’s “If I Were Mayor, I Would…” contest sponsored by the Oregon Mayors Association (OMA).

“As soon as I read Riley’s essay, I knew it was a winner,” said Redmond Mayor George Endicott. “The essay took a completely novel approach to address the theme, ‘If I Were Mayor….’ contest. Rather than the standard way of listing things to accomplish, Riley described characteristics that a mayor should have, then gave examples of how these might apply to city issues. I have been doing this for years, and I’ve never seen this approach.”

Each year, Oregon students compete using different media to describe what they would do if they were the mayor of their city. Students in grades six through eight submit written essays of 500 to 1,000 words in length to their local mayor. Latta’s essay won the local competition in Redmond in May, and his essay was forwarded to the state level to compete in the contest for the grand prize.

As the first-place winner, Latta, and his family attended the OMA’s Summer Conference, where he was awarded the winning prize, an Apple IPad Air2, and accessories, compliments of the OMA sponsor, Facebook, presented at the luncheon in July in Florence.

“I was honored to represent Redmond and RPA as the state winner of the “If I Were Mayor” contest,” said Latta.