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Mayor for a Day Competition 2022-2023

On December 10, 2020, Todd Gloria was sworn in as the 37th Mayor of the City of San Diego – America’s eighth largest city. He is the first person-of-color and the first LGBTQ person to ever be elected the city’s Mayor.

A third-generation San Diegan of Filipino, Dutch, Puerto Rican, and Native American descent, Mayor Gloria’s lifelong career in public service was inspired by a lesson his parents – a hotel maid and a gardener – taught him at a young age: if you care about something, then you should leave it better than you found it. That lesson continues to motivate Mayor Gloria to improve San Diego every single day.

Mayor Gloria grew up in the Clairemont neighborhood and attended Madison High School. He was interested in politics from childhood. At age 10, he was runner-up in a "mayor for a day" contest. Thirty-two years later, he was sworn in as San Diego’s 37th Mayor. After a successful competition last year, Mayor Gloria is excited to host his second annual Mayor for a Day contest!

The “Mayor for a Day” contest aims to foster and encourage leadership in young people living in San Diego. City of San Diego K-12 students are invited to write an essay or submit a video about what San Diego would be like if they were Mayor for a day. The selected winner will be given the opportunity to shadow the Mayor for a day and will be included in the State of the City address in January of 2023.

Sign-up Sheet

Applicant (Student)

First Name

Last Name

School Name

Grade Level

Age

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Parent/Guardian

First Name

Last Name

Relationship to Applicant (Student)

Parent/Guardian Signature

First Name

Last Name

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Photo consent

By checking this box you are consenting for use of photos and videos from the shadow day for external communication purposes, including but not limited to social media posts

Submit a brief essay (up to 500 words) or short video (no more than 3 minutes) on how you would make the City of San Diego a better place if you were the Mayor.

Last day to join and submit essay(s) or video: December 5th, 2022 at 11:59 p.m.

For any questions about your essay or the submission process, please email Community Representative, Emily Piatanesi at epiatanesi@sandiego.gov. Thank you for your participation, and best of luck!

Essay (up to 500 words):

Upload Video (maximum 250MB):

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