The city of Selma held its annual youth job lottery drawing Tuesday night at the Carl C. Morgan Convention Center.

The lottery is one of the traditions of the end of the school year. It gives youth inside the city limits between ages 15 to 22 a chance to work over the summer and gain valuable experience. Names are randomly drawn and selected for different positions, such as in the mayor’s office, the city council’s office, the police department, the planning and development office and others in the city.

This program is a great way to give youth something to do over the summer while they are out of high school or college on break.

This year 110 youth were selected for the program, which has been a yearly tradition for nearly two decades.

The program is a great way to introduce youth to career possibilities and give them an insight on how city government works. It not only gives them a summer job, but it also gives many of them their first ever work experience.

Who knows, maybe one day the youth that worked in the mayor or council’s office will be the future mayor or council member.

We hope the 110 youth selected for these positions make the best of the opportunity. It is a great chance to learn from those who have a big impact on the day-to-day operations of the city.

City leaders deserve a pat on the back for such an innovative program that has been around for this long. We hope to see it continue in the future.