Mayor, Jr.

Not long after Hillsdale, MI resident Michael Sessions turned 18 last year, he voted for the first time . . . for himself. When he realized no one in his 8,200-person town was going to run against the incumbent, he decided to step up to the plate.

"Sometimes people see my age before they see my job."

For campaign money, he used $700 he'd saved over the summer working at a state fair concession stand. Then in November, he won by a mere two votes, making him one of a handful of recently elected juvenile mayors. In Roland, IA, 18-year-old Mayor Sam Juhl still has his paper route and reportedly thumbed the Idiot's Guide to Robert's Rules in order to learn how to run meetings. Chris Seeley of Linesville, PA, announced he'd run for mayor more than 6 months before he even became legal and then went on to win a few weeks after his 18th birthday. Inspired by these young politicians, ABC recently announced they're creating a Doogie Howser, M.D.-reminiscent TV show about a teenage mayor.

Sessions, however, hopes the focus on his youth doesn't overshadow his work. Since taking office, he's taken steps that would get him noticed in the community no matter what his age. He started an ad campaign to inform people about where tax money is going and then insisted on having the heads of the library, fire department, and police attend the city council meetings - something they hadn't previously done on a regular basis. To boost the local economy, he recently traveled to Perth Amboy, NJ (which recently named Hillsdale its "sister city"), to study what that city has done to improve economic growth.

Of course, occasionally, extreme youth is an obstacle. "Sometimes I feel like I'm being talked down to. Sometimes people see my age before they see my job," Sessions says. "But I just listen to what they have to say and then try to figure out how to resolve the situation. It's pretty simple."

He plans to go to a local college next year after he finishes high school and, after that, who knows? Governor? Senator? President?

"Maybe," he says. "I'm taking it one step at a time."

Posted on February 27, 2006