Fort Rolland councilor won Councilor-for-a-Day contest in high school
By Kevin Woodhouse
www.thesuburban.com
When Kymberley Simonyik won the chance to be a Lachine councilor for a day after winning an essay contest in high school, she did not know that years later, she would be representing the citizens as councilor for the Fort Rolland district.
Simonyik, along with several of her peers at College Ste. Anne, were asked to write an essay for the city of Lachine about involvement in local politics. The 1984 councilor for a day contest was targeted to female high schoolers.
“Seeing that photo was a real blast from the past,” Simonyik told The Suburban. “While I was pretty strong minded at the time, I didn’t think about joining politics in high school but it seems to have been a bit of a harbinger of what was to come.”
And while Simonyik had experience the president for the Dixie Pool board for the last six year, she ran for the council seat after being approached by Mayor Claude Dauphin, asking her to run for office. “It was a great honour to be asked to run and it is a privilege to be part of Mr. Dauphin’s team,” Simonyik said during her the last municipal election campaign.
Now that she has the post, she is looking forward to bringing forth some projects that were initiated prior to the election. “I want to thank all of those who voted for me and I hope to do a good job over the next four years,” the Fort Rolland councilor said.
While Simonyik now plans to move forward, looking back at her experience in 1984 made her realize “that it is important to give back and be involved in your community.”
