Diane Gomes is a senior at North Bergen High School and the president of the Student Council. Although Gomes might understand all the intricacies of running the student council, when it comes to the real governmental agencies in her hometown, she’s sort of oblivious.
“I was completely clueless,” Gomes said. “I never even gave it a thought.”
Gomes is not alone. Many high school students have no idea that North Bergen runs the commission form of government, where the elected officials also head municipal departments.
That’s why Mayor Nicholas Sacco believes holding the annual Law Day, where the students of the high school take over the actually operations of both the town and the schools for one day, serves a very useful purpose.
“This gives our high school seniors the opportunity to learn how their governing body operates,” Sacco said. “It’s a good learning experience for them, because many of them really don’t know before they participate in ‘Law Day.’ We give the students the chance to see how things operate up close and personal.”
For one day on May 1, Gomes became Sacco. She took on the responsibility of being the mayor of the township, going from department to department with Sacco leading the way.
“I was very impressed,” Gomes said. “I couldn’t believe how many people run the town. I walked around with the Mayor and got to experience a little bit of everything. Where others just went to their one department, I got to go everywhere. I really learned a lot about the town.”
Maria Sariles, a language teacher at the high school and the advisor for the student council, was happy that the students got the chance to take in everything the town has to offer.
“It gives them the chance to explore all the different positions in the town, perhaps giving them another option on a career,” Sariles said. “It also gives them a better understanding of the government, and that’s the main reason why we do it. A lot of them don’t have any other way of learning about our government. It just gives them a better idea of how the town works.”
More than 125 students participated in the day-long event, with students taking over many different roles throughout the town and the schools.
Daniela Viera was the township’s municipal judge for the day and later presided over a mock trial.
“It was a lot of fun,” Viera said. “I learned a few things about how legislation works. I never realized just how much work was involved. There’s a lot of reading necessary. Being a judge is a very hard job. But it was more fun than anything, very exhilarating.”
At the end of the day, Gomes actually chaired a Board of Commissioners meeting, which became much like the real ones that Sacco oversees twice monthly.
“We gave them the opportunity to have a commissioners’ meeting, but theirs had a lot of debate,” Sacco said.
Of course, the recent commissioners’ meetings in North Bergen have not featured much debate, rather, just verbal attacks from a select group of citizens who regularly blast Sacco during the public portion of the meetings.
“He told me that there were so many people saying bad things about him and that he just has to listen to them and take it all in,” Gomes said. “We had a debate about tennis and our commissioners were anti-tennis, so we got into that. I tried to answer the public.”
“She did a fantastic job,” Sacco said.
Sacco said that he hoped many of the students would get a different perspective during the exercises and perhaps want to pursue a career of public service.
“Some have enjoyed it enough to take it on as a career,” Sacco said.
While Viera and Gomes enjoyed the day, it didn’t dissuade them from pursing other careers. Viera will head to William Paterson University in the fall, hoping to become a math teacher in the future. Gomes will go to the University of Sciences in Philadelphia to study to become a pharmacist.
“Although it gave me a better understanding, it also made me want to stay away from politics even more,” Gomes said. “They have a lot of work running the town. I have other plans.”