Page 10 - Florida Sentinel 4-26-19

Local
Journey From Middleton’s IB Academy Leads Young Woman To West Point, Now To Mayor Of City In Oklahoma
BY GWEN HAYES Sentinel Editor
When Katherine Kylila Bullard was a student in the In- ternational Baccalaureate (IB) Program at George S. Middleton High School, her thoughts were not on becoming the mayor of a city. But that’s exactly what hap- pened when she was elected in November 2017.
The former mayor of Geronimo, Oklahoma resigned the post the previous August for personal reasons.
By now, she is Mrs. Katherine Rice.
Mrs. Rice was one of 3 candidates who put their hats in the ring to vie for the office of the town whose population is a little more than 1,200.
It took 2 days for the deci- sion to declare Mrs. Rice as the Mayor of Geronimo, OK. She won the election with 46% of the vote. Since the City Ordinance does not say that a majority vote is needed to become mayor, legal officials clamored over books those 2 days to make sure they were correct in declaring the top vote-getter as the win- ner.
At age 25, she became the youngest and first Black woman elected as mayor of Geronimo. Because of deployment, her hus- band was not able to attend the swearing-in ceremony, but sent a message of congratulations: ‘Look out world, Kylila has cap- tivated Oklahoma, and there is no slowing her down!!!’
That storied part of her ca- reer would have ended on May 31, 2019 when she completed the term of the former mayor. But, on Tuesday, April 2, 2019,
MAYOR KATHERINE RICE ...Presiding over a board meeting
Mrs. Rice was re-elected with 69.28% of the vote to serve a full, 4-year term as mayor. There was one other candidate.
She said, “I’m honored to have the opportunity to serve as Mayor of an awesome commu- nity that is named after a great
Mayor Rice was named “Woman of the Year” at the Women Of Color Expo in Law- ton, OK, 2019.
warrior and leader. Geronimo, Oklahoma is a unique place where native people, Comanche, Apache, active and retired mili- tary, Black, Hispanic, white and people from all walks that form the melting pot of America, come to live. We are resilient, a
model of small town and local growth, neighborly compassion, and love. Being Mayor is hard work but very fulfilling” she stated.
The young wife of Captain Gregory Rice and mother of a 7-month-old daughter, Alina Kylila Rice, began her high school educational journey in the IB Program at Hillsborough High School, but transferred to Middleton after her mother joined the staff there. She grad- uated with honors in 2010.
Furthering her education beyond high school was not an option. She chose a different route. She chose the military – West Point Military Academy (Army), and then enrolled in Harvard Extension University.
At West Point, she met her husband, a West Point graduate, and they moved to his next as- signment, Geronimo.
Mayor Rice has received numerous awards, one of them being “Woman of the Year” at the Women of Color Expo in 2018. She was also a nominee for 30-under-30 for Forbes magazine.
Not only is the wife, mother and mayor, but she is CEO of her own company, Future of Fun, LLC, a technology entertain- ment company, and founder of Poetic Change, an arts organiza- tion. She is also a writer and per- former of spoken word poetry.
Locally, Mayor Rice is the daughter of Bay area res- idents, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur (Katherine) Bullard.
PAGE 10-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, APRIL 26. 2019