Friendswood second grader Eric Hanson received a birthday gift in July that would make history in his family. As part of the gift, he was sworn in at City Hall August 1 as Mayor for a Day.
His family is very involved in the city. His parents, Harris and Kaci, are active in the Friendswood Education Foundation and his grandmother, Sally Branson, is on Friendswood City Council. His grandfather, Jon Branson was a former Deputy City Manager in Friendswood and his great grandfather, Gary Harris, is on the Galveston Consolidated Drainage District Board. But, Eric is the first to be Mayor.
The opportunity was provided to him as a birthday gift from his grandparents, Sally and Jon Branson. They purchased the auction item at the Friendswood ISD Education Foundation gala in February.
“I was surprised to get this at my birthday party,” Eric said. “I found out my parents already knew about it but it was a surprise to me.”
He arrived at City Hall and was sworn in by Deputy City Secretary Renee Kross. Mayor Mike Foreman gave him a tour of Council Chambers and he was presented with a city medallion and a sweater with a special patch that signified he was Mayor for a Day.
After an executive staff meeting with the City Manager and other staff, Mayor Foreman and Mayor Hanson worked on filming a Mayor’s Minute to be aired on the City’s Facebook page as well as posted on the City website.
The two mayors toured the Fire Marshal’s office, Office of Emergency Management, the Police Department and the public library. The day ended with a special luncheon with Mayor Foreman. But Eric’s day continued with more activities in the city. He said he had football practice and hoped to still have time to fish after that.
He is an offensive lineman on the Broncos Football team after a successful season of playing baseball. Both sports are equally his favorite as well as fishing and hunting.
This summer the family spent time at a water park and rode horses while visiting family members who live in Pecos which is his mother’s childhood home. School will begin later this month but he and his family will still have time to fit in one more river trip for summer fun.
Eric will enter the second grade at Cline Elementary this year and looks forward to being in the new Cline Elementary in the future for third grade. His favorite subject is math. At the present time, his career choice for the future is to have a military career in the Army.
He is the oldest of three. He has a brother, Gage who is five and a sister, Harper, who is three years old.
As mayor if he could add something new to Friendswood, he knew what he would do.
“I would add a zoo,” he said.
