Mayor meets mayor

Leisure centre mayor Juli Pröpper exchanged ideas with her "counterpart" Michael Gerdhenrich.

30 August 2023 by Sandra Berges
Mayor Michael Gerdhenrich standing at his desk with Juli Pröpper
  • Michael Gerdhenrich and Juli Pröpper in the mayor's office

The 10-year-old was elected to the newly created position for one year by other participating children as part of the "Learn and experience democracy" summer holiday project.

The fact that she takes this very seriously became very clear in the conversation with the head of administration. Since then, she has been involved in the work of the leisure centre team, acting as a mouthpiece for the other children and also as a mediator, she reported. Together with the leisure centre team, she is already making plans for next year's holiday play days. Michael Gerdhenrich promised the young Neubeckum native that he would fulfil representative tasks together with her.

The fifth-grader also explained in the interview why she had put herself forward for the election and how it was organised. Each group was asked to make a proposal. "Nobody from my group wanted to stand, so I just put myself forward," said Juli Pröpper. Her success proved her right. As one of 7 candidates, she received the most votes from the children and won the election.