Summer job program holds lottery

Published 10:27 pm Thursday, May 12, 2011

Hundreds of prospective workers crowded the Carl C. Morgan Convention Center Wednesday in search of summer jobs.

The overflow crowd waited eagerly to see if their name would be called for one of the city of Selma’s summer jobs.

The drawing saw 97 jobs handed out to the hundreds of candidates, which Selma Mayor George Evans said he would like to expand.

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“Unfortunately we still have not gotten the money to hire everyone,” he said. “Our goal would be for everyone to be hired and hopefully we can some day.”

Evans said they had tossed around the idea of splitting the jobs into one week increments, however, many of the students said they prefer the current six-week format.

One of the recipients, DeseRay Strong, said she can’t wait to get started.

“I’m excited,” she said. “I didn’t think my name would get called so quick.”

Another worker, Elijah Thomas, said he felt the jobs were a great opportunity for young people.