Sisterhood is powerful.

A quartet of island youths proved that point in mid-July, winning Vashon’s annual cash-driven contest to become the island’s unofficial mayors after a competitive race against a tough field of other candidates: a pillar of the community, an adorable rescue dog, and a sheep.

The unofficial mayor contest — sponsored annually by the Vashon Chamber of Commerce for the past 19 years — isn’t about keeping money out of politics. In fact, buying the election is the whole point of the race, with contenders (or in the case of four-legged candidates, their human campaign managers) raising funds for local nonprofits, with $1 equaling one vote.

This year, the slate of candidates included Barbara Steen, a 91-year-old islander with decades of community service under her belt, who ran on behalf of the Vashon Heritage Museum. Fleur, a Schnauzer puppy, ran on behalf of Vashon Island Pet Protectors, and a Jacob sheep named Sid was on the ballot representing Vashon Youth & Family Services.

But why choose one mayor when you can have four?

The winners, Maarten Ribalet-Coesel, Raena Joyce, Lucca Hansen and Selene Dalinis, raked in almost $9,500 — roughly half of the entire take of all the candidates combined — to expand the programs of Vashon Sisterhood, an island organization dedicated to supporting the healthy social and emotional development of girls and female-identifying students at Vashon schools.

And just like that, the girls made history, as Vashon’s first elementary and middle school-aged mayors.

The singularity of their accomplishment was confirmed by Melissa Schafer, vice president of the Vashon Chamber’s executive board, who said that although the mayor’s race has many times included community activists, animals and even fictional characters including fairies and Santas, this year marked the first time a group of young people had been elected to the unofficial office.

A socially distanced ceremony is now being planned by the Chamber, where the incumbent unofficial mayor, Eirene, the Goddess of Peace (as personified by islander Lynann Politte, who ran on behalf of Vashon’s DOVE Project) will pass the torch to the new mayors in September.

Vashon Sisterhood, an all-volunteer organization, was started two years ago in response to concerns about island adolescent substance abuse and mental health and inspired by the model created for boys by Vashon’s Journeymen.

“The organization is not intended to be therapy or therapeutic — there are loads of wonderful organizations on the island for that,” said Marjorie Butcher, a Chautauqua Elementary School teacher who is a board member for the group. “This is just a place that you know is there for you, and a group of people that you know is there for you.”

Currently, the group serves 80 students at Chautauqua Elementary, Harbor School, McMurray Middle School and Vashon High School with its mission to honor the feminine, empower youth, build connections and create space for listening, sharing mentorship and support.

And while details are still being worked out about how the school-based program will function in the fall, with online-only learning taking place, Butcher said she was hopeful that there would be a way to bring small groups together in person for some Sisterhood programs.

Vashon’s new mayors are all active members of the group and describe it as being a positive and stabilizing part of their own lives.

In their first official presser as mayors — on a Zoom call with The Beachcomber last week — Ribalet-Coesel, Joyce, Hansen and Dalinis were joined by Butcher to talk about the values of the organization they represent, what islanders might expect from their mayorship and their successful campaign.

The latter subject was covered quickly — all were excited but not particularly surprised that they had won, as they had kept track of donations throughout the race, and knew they were in the lead — but the discussion expanded as Vashon’s new mayors spoke about Sisterhood, detailing the organization’s impact on their lives.

Hansen, a rising fifth-grader at Chautauqua, described the variety of laid-back activities that took place in the group.

“My favorite thing about it is that sometimes we have fun games, other times we do arts and crafts and other times we just sit in a circle and talk about feelings,” she said.

Joyce, who is a rising eighth-grader at McMurray, said the group had helped her and others in the tough transition to middle school — being part of the youngest grade in a new school, with more demanding schoolwork.

“I didn’t have a lot of friends at the time that I could trust, so it was good for me to be able to find people who I could trust — because if you can’t trust anybody, you kind of hold everything in and it gets to be a lot,” she said.

Dalinis, also a rising eighth-grader, and a self-described introvert, said that Sisterhood’s programs provided a calm, safe space where she could participate as much or as little as she liked, without expending a lot of social energy.

For Ribalet-Coesel, a rising 6th grader who is transgender, Sisterhood’s welcoming of female-identifying students has provided an important sense of belonging.

“I wanted to be in a group where I can be like the other girls,” she said, simply. “I wanted to be with the people I wanted to be.”

When asked what adults could learn from the members of Sisterhood, the group offered examples of how they might lead by example.

“I was thinking of all the racist things happening in the US,” Ribalet-Coesel said. “Maybe one of the things we can teach the people of Vashon is to be more accepting of people that are different from you — accepting the fact that they are different.”

Joyce spoke about the values of empathic listening that she had practiced at Sisterhood, and how listening had made her a less judgemental person.

“That’s one of our main things — people just speak from the heart, and people have to listen,” she said. “Nobody can [say], ‘Oh, I feel the same way.’ You just listen and hear what they’re saying. Sometimes you can ask for help, but most of the time you just listen. I think a lot of people need to understand that sometimes people just need a spot where they can be free to be who they are.”

When asked what they would be doing as mayors, in terms of appearances, proclamations and other mayor-ly duties, Ribalet-Coesel laughed and quickly spoke up.

“We’re kids,” she said. “So we’re not really doing all the stuff that real mayors would do — we’re unofficial,” she said. “We’ll do fun stuff, but it’s not like now we’re going to make a law on Vashon that states ‘blah, blah, blah.’ We’re not doing any serious stuff, at least I’m not.”

But wait, their interviewer said. If they could make a law, what would it be?

“Empathy,” said Hansen, without missing a beat.

Ribalet-Coesell also added quickly that she’d like to make a rule covering “no littering or destroying public places.”

“I wonder if the unofficial mayors would have the jurisdiction to create a holiday,” Butcher said, prompting a discussion by the new mayors about what kind of new holidays might be needed on Vashon.

As suggestions for Art Day, Book Day, a bigger Earth Day, and Harry Potter Day rolled out from the group, Dalinis had another thought, prompted by one of her favorite quotes: “Sitting silently beside a friend may be the best gift we can give.”

What about quote day? And with that, the mayors began to excitedly talk among themselves, as a plan took place to create a giant bowl full of their favorite positive quotes, so they and others could pull a new one out every day. The quotes could also be posted on Sisterhood’s Facebook page, Butcher suggested.

Think of it as the “wise words from the mayors” initiative, coming soon.