Moving Hagerman Forward Essay Contest Winner

Congratulations to Erin Simmons for winning the "My Ideas for Moving Hagerman Forward" essay contest that ran in May 2010. Her essay was chosen by the directors from among 36 outstanding essays. It was a difficult choice since so many other entries had great ideas. Erin's essay stood out with original ideas. One idea that HagermanForward will add to its goals is to provide more community-wide activities. Make plans to join us at the first event, the Hagerman Summer Market on Saturday, July 17 at the community center. And let us know what you would like to see at upcoming markets. Join our Facebook page to give us ideas.

My Ideas to Move Hagerman Forward

Erin Simmons

10th Grade

Hagerman is a town that can become a great place where people want to live; it just needs to move forward. The truth is, Hagerman needs a jump start. Sure, there are some people that are involved within the community, but the cold, hard truth is that most of Hagerman’s community isn’t involved. We need to make some changes to Hagerman that will encourage the uninvolved members to get involved. I have thought about this town’s dilemma and I have come up with some ideas that I think will give Hagerman exactly what it needs, a jump start.

I think the best way to turn Hagerman into an active community would be to have more community –wide events. Since Old Timers’ Day has so much time between each one, there are times with nothing going on in Hagerman. Events that I think that community members will enjoy are concerts, charity events, and dances. Concerts would be fun for community members and could even help by showcasing local musicians. Charity events are also great. First, they help support a cause such as cancer research or feeding the homeless, and they also get people involved. And who doesn’t love dancing? There could be different genres of music at each dance so everyone’s favorite dancing music would be played.

Another way to get Hagerman more active is to build and open more community amenities. A community pool would be awesome. Why? During the summer it gets very hot, not many people have pools here, and few want to drive all the way to the Lake Van pool or the Artesia pool to swim. It would also give the younger generation of Hagerman something to do during the summer instead of getting into trouble out of sheer boredom or lounging around being lazy. The younger generation of Hagerman needs more places to go and things to do in town. Opening the Community Center for afterschool activities would be effective. Having a real park would be another good thing to make. Making a real park with lots of grass, plants, benches, and a playground would benefit the community in many ways. It would help people in the community be more active, have a place to hold events, and to gather.

Hagerman would be improved if it had more businesses. More businesses would also help by creating more jobs. One idea for a business would be a recycling center. If the town of Hagerman were to build a recycling center, it would have multiple benefits. One is that it would urge people to recycle; and who doesn’t want to get money for things they don’t use and save the environment at the same time? Another benefit is that the town would generate income by selling the recyclable product back to companies that manufactures recycled goods. Hagerman should also urge companies and entrepreneurs to build and make businesses here because we are in a great area close to two other small towns, but far away enough from the larger cities that aren’t convenient to travel to on a daily basis. Businesses that would be great for Hagerman are a grocery store, a movie theater, restaurants, and clothing stores.

Hagerman as a community has a lot of potential; it just has to be unlocked. And the key to that is in our hands, we just need to get involved. If we want to move Hagerman forward, we need to make some changes, starting with community involvement. Once the community is involved, and amenities are added, our community, as well as surrounding communities will consider Hagerman a great place to be. Making Hagerman an active community would help our town, county, and maybe even our state to be a cooler and better place to live. That is how I think we can move Hagerman forward.