It was a takeover of sorts by local students in the City of Manteca.

They were involved in Wednesday’s annual Youth in Government Day..

Included were students from Manteca High, East Union High, Sierra High, and Calla High – they sat in the very seats that’s usually occupied by elected leaders in the Council Chambers.

“There was so much to learn,” said Emily Kotta, who served as mayor for the day while being shadowed at the mock Manteca City Council meeting by none other than the actual mayor, Gary Singh.

He provided the East Union High sophomore with information including his role at the meeting, which is not just to preside but also to maintain order and facilitate discussion between colleagues and staff.

For Kingsley Herrera and Fatima Cornejo, Youth in Government Day gave them the behind-the-scenes look of what it takes to run a city.

Herrera, who is an EU senior, was in the role of City Clerk while EU junior Cornejo served as Director of Human Resources.

Cassandra Candini-Tilton was nearby to provide support for Herrera during the meeting consisting of the actual special session agenda for later in the day.

The discussion items consisted of providing direction to staff on the development on programs to increase customer traffic and economic activity in downtown, and direction on creating a commemorative flag policy.

The fun part of the mock special meeting was having some of the actual elected leaders stepping up to provide public comments.

Singh used up all of his allotted two minutes at the dais, directing his words to Kotta, who was sitting in his chair. He jokingly complained about the ongoing road construction that’s left many motorists around town in frustration.

“Fix the streets, but do it without the construction,” said Singh, who was impressed with this year’s Youth in Government Day group consisting of 71 students.

Actual council members Mike Morowit and Regina Lackey also got in on the fun, taking jabs at those sitting in their district representative seats while voicing their “complaints” on the potholes around town.

For that, Aaron Solorio, who is senior at Sierra High, addressed several of those concerns as City Manager – the real City Manager Toni Lungren was close by to help out.

Earlier in the day, she led in the meet and greet rally in the City Hall facility.

As for the students, they toured the Manteca Homeless Emergency Center at 555 Industrial Park Drive and visited some of the downtown businesses during the afternoon.

The highlight for many of them? Try the big teal Adirondack chair on the corner of Manteca Avenue and Center Street near the library.