Logan Kleiman ’18 Crawfordsville Mayor’s Office – Working at the Mayor’s office has been one of the best experiences of my professional life. I grew up in a bigger city and had always been interested in government. My grandma often told me when I was little that I’d be President. We’ll see if this comes to fruition, but if not this has been as close as I’ve come to this idea in my life.
Mayor Barton and all of the fantastic people at town hall have showed me how there are even simple things you can do that can really impact the community, and they have taken me in as one of their own. In my experience, I have been granted the opportunity to go to every meeting with the Mayor and see exactly what his job entails. I’ve learned how each local agency is efficiently operated and some of the day to day efforts of each department. I’ve been able to interact with local businesses and see what exactly they do in Crawfordsville, how they work in the community, and have even been able to share my millennial perspective with these groups.
Another key piece that I have been privileged to watch develop is all the Stellar projects happening in the community. For those of you who do not know what Stellar is, it’s a large grant that allows for smaller communities to undergo various developmental projects to help improve the community. The city is really capitalizing on these as the Fusion 54 building, Ben Hur Building, restoration of the Whitlock neighborhood, and various parks and trails are undergoing renovations and will soon be completed. These projects will only propel Crawfordsville further and the city will become a go to destination in Indiana.
Between the meetings, I have still managed to stay busy in the office. The city granted me the ability to run their social media accounts on all platforms. This included starting a YouTube channel and Instagram account to really showcase what is going on in Crawfordsville. This city needed to be highlighted as not only is development happening at an exponential rate, but there are gems in Crawfordsville that I did not even know about like the fantastic golf course and airport. Gathering content for these outlets and the other accounts has never been a struggle due to the city’s efforts.
I really want to thank the Lilly Endowment for this opportunity and for allowing me to be engaged in my community in a way that I really have not considered the past three years in my time at Wabash. This experience has really allowed me to see my future political science degree in practice and understand business better as a whole. The city of Crawfordsville was awarded a Stellar Grant for a reason and even within five years the people will see just how much the city has changed and will continue to evolve as time passes.
