Two new sheriffs and six district commanders were sworn in on Wednesday morning at the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
Ashley Dunham, the county’s first female sheriff, and Michael Green, reportedly the first seventh-grader to hold the office, went straight into a budget meeting.
Then reality set in for the students who wrote winning essays on “Why I want to be sheriff for a day.”
The two “sheriffs” got to talk money with the real sheriff, Nick Navarro, and the youthful commanders got rides with their adult counterparts for a day on patrol.
“It’s a tough job,” said Dunham, 14, trying out the big chair behind Navarro’s desk after the ceremony. “There’s a lot of pressures and decisions you have to make.”
Dunham, an eighth-grader at Olsen Middle School, said an interest in law enforcement led her to submit her 250-word essay on her desire to be sheriff for a day. Students from seven other middle schools also participated.
Each student was required to have a 3.0 grade point average and good attendance and conduct records.
The other winners were: Kali-Nicole Hodge and Greg Werner from Parkway Middle School, Andrea Nicole Davis from Perry Middle School, Terrance Peterman from New River Middle School, Joel Friend from Olsen Middle School and Anide Metelus from Everglades Middle School.
Each of the winners got a plaque and a sheriff’s pin along with T-shirts and a Pig Bowl hat, souvenirs of local law enforcement’s charity football classic.
Afterward, Navarro got acquainted with his new commanders and the students who would be sheriff.
“Are you interested in the job?” the sheriff asked Green, who attends Parkway Middle School. “It doesn’t pay very much.”
After the laughter died down, the sheriff continued chatting with Green and learned that he is 12.
“That’s when I began to think about becoming sheriff myself,” Navarro said.
