Storm Lake launches essay contest to showcase student civic pride
Mayor Meg McKeon is inviting Storm Lake students to define the city in 500 words, with the winner riding in the July 4 parade as Mayor for a Day.
Storm Lake is asking its teenagers to do more than write an essay. Mayor Meg McKeon has turned civic pride into a public test of identity, asking students at Storm Lake High School and St. Mary’s High School to explain what makes them proud to call Storm Lake home.
The city posted the Why I’m Storm Lake Proud contest on April 20, opening it to students in grades 9 through 12. Entries must be original work and no longer than 500 words, and the deadline is May 22. Students may email submissions to communications@stormlake.org or drop them off at Storm Lake City Hall.
The prize is designed to make the assignment feel like a civic role rather than a classroom exercise. The winning student will be named Mayor for a Day and will ride with McKeon in the Star Spangled Spectacular Parade on July 4. Selected essays may also be featured on the city’s social media pages, giving the work a wider audience beyond the classroom.
The contest reaches across two school communities that reflect the city’s changing size and makeup. Storm Lake had 11,269 residents in the 2020 census, while Buena Vista County’s population was 20,823. Storm Lake High School reported 923 students in fall 2025 data, and St. Mary’s said its enrollment grew 7% in the 2024-25 school year, adding 26 students.
The essay prompt also builds on a civic-pride effort that has long been part of Storm Lake’s public life. Storm Lake Proud began years ago under former Mayor Mike Porsch as a beautification and volunteer campaign, then expanded in recent years into monthlong and weeklong cleanup efforts. Porsch has described it as a way to build a community-wide volunteer mindset and celebrate good deeds.
By placing students from both schools into the same contest and attaching the prize to one of the city’s biggest celebrations, McKeon is inviting a younger generation to speak for Storm Lake in public. The Star Spangled Spectacular, set for July 3 and 4, is billed by the city as a two-day festival with concerts, a parade, a patriotic ceremony, Artists’ Alley, street performers, a classic car cruise and food vendors. The essays may end up showing whether Storm Lake’s next generation sees the city mostly through its traditions, its schools, or its future.
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