DECEMBER 11, 2015, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A9
Getting a taste of elected life
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
For Siri Scales, it started
with planning assemblies and
fundraising events in eighth
grade.
As a junior at McNary High
School, she’s the youth council-
or on the Keizer City Council.
And for the future?
“One day I would like to be
a councilor or maybe mayor,”
the 16-year-old said.
Scales is currently elections
offi cial at MHS, meaning she
runs nominations and elections
for homecoming and prom
as well as Associated Student
Body (ASB) elections for next
year. She also keeps track of
class points for class competi-
tions.
Heck, she just might run for
an offi ce her senior year if she
can bring her current project
to fruition in time.
“I want to bring online
voting to McNary,” she said.
“We’re trying to make it hap-
pen. It would the fi rst time for
an online vote here. We have
pondered the idea for the last
year. Cascade High School is
really heavily involved with
KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy
Siri Scales, a junior at McNary High School, is the latest in a growing line of youth councilors
serving alongside the Keizer City Council.
online voting and McNary is
pushing that more. It’s super
easy and you get immediate re-
sults. It’s really cool.”
Besides, if the system is suc-
cessfully implemented, Scales
just may throw her hat into the
ring for a position.
“I may be able to run,” she
said. “If it’s online, there’s no
way I could mess with the
votes.”
The youth councilor posi-
tion was mentioned to Scales
last spring by the activities di-
rector at MHS.
“At that point, I was look-
ing at being a committee liai-
son,” Scales said. “I like leader-
ship, I’d been in it since eighth
grade and thought this would
be a cool next step.”
It didn’t hurt being able to
get some insights from friend
Ryan Edsall, last year’s youth
councilor.
“He told me it was really in-
teresting,” Scales said. “He liked
it a lot. We both like the leader-
ship positions and politics.”
Scales has liked her experi-
ence to date.
“I really like that I can have
an opinion,” she said. “I’m
non-voting, but I still get to
have an opinion on things. I’ve
learned things are a lot more
complicated than I thought. It
takes a lot more than just put-
ting a stop sign up somewhere,
something that seems so sim-
ple. I had that want to get more
involved and this opportunity
has really pushed that.”
Scales currently has two
possible plans for after MHS:
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
KEIZER!
HAVE A SAFE AND MEMORABLE
H O L I D AY S E A S O N !
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3975 River Road North
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Bus: 503-393-6252
This year, lets remember what’s important…
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going to American University
in Washington, D.C. to study
political science or go some-
where back east to study an-
thropology.
“They’re similar in that
they’re about people,” Scales
said. “I’m probably leaning a
little bit towards political sci-
ence, but I want to know more
about anthropology.”
Scales was initially drawn
into leadership because her dad,
Tony, is president of his local
union. That led her to taking a
leadership class in eighth grade
at Whiteaker Middle School.
“I planned assemblies and
did some fundraising activities,”
she said. “I did a lot of learning
about how to be a leader.”
As a freshman at McNary,
Scales was on the elections
committee. She was then her
sophomore class representative,
but decided she liked the elec-
tions activities more.
When not at school, Scales
works at two shoe stores, Jour-
neys in Lancaster Mall and G.H.
Bass at the Woodburn Premium
Outlets.
Tony is impressed with how
well his daughter is doing.
“I’m real proud of her,” the
dad said. “I think it’s great what
she’s doing. She’s one I don’t
have to worry about. She just
does what she’s supposed to do.
She gets the schoolwork done
and maintains a 3.85 GPA. She’s
doing things that are broader
than just the school.”
Patrick Lamb
at City Hall
Dec. 13
The special holiday events
continue after the parade Sat-
urday, Dec. 12.
On the evening of Sunday,
Dec. 13, with a Patrick Lamb
holiday concert at Keizer
Community Center.
Longtime community vol-
unteer Clint Holland and
KRA LLC, the organization
that puts on the Summer
Concert Series at the Keizer
Rotary Amphitheater each
summer at Keizer Rapids Park,
are putting on the event.
Lamb has performed pre-
viously in the Summer Con-
cert Series and has a history of
drawing in big crowds at his
Keizer shows.
“Patrick Lamb does a fabu-
lous Christmas program,” Hol-
land said.
Tickets for the program will
be $30, including dinner. Tick-
ets are available at Uptown
Music, located at 3827 River
Road N, or by calling the mu-
sic store at 503-393-4437.
Museum features kitchen display
Visit the Keizer Heritage
Center Museum in December to
invoke kitchen memories.
The “Christmas in the Kitch-
en” display started Nov. 20 and
runs through the end of the year.
The Keizer Heritage Center is
located at 980 Chemawa Road
NE, next to the Keizer Civic
Center.
The display is the personal
collection of Keizer’s Yvonne
Knoll and contains many of her
favorite items. Items date back to
her fi rst collection purchase in
1968.
puzzle answers