Mayor Phil Tsunoda talks about visiting local Aliso Viejo schools in his April Mayor’s Message, which follows:
At the annual “Meet the Mayor” event last month, held at the City’s beautiful Aliso Viejo Conference Center, nearly 200 fellow residents, representatives of our business community, and other interested stakeholders took part in what I hope was a fun and festive event.
The goal was to have all of the participants not only meet the Mayor, but also mingle and interact with each other as well.
During the program, I introduced members of the Aliso Niguel High School Associated Student Body (ASB). I told the crowd how impressed I am with these very mature, precocious and community service-oriented students.
Their enthusiasm and commitment to volunteerism has inspired me and renewed my own sense of civic pride.
Because of their influence, I announced that this year I am taking the “Meet the Mayor” event “on the road” to the classrooms of Aliso Viejo schools. As one of the ASB students said to me, “you know, not just adults should meet the Mayor, but every student should have the opportunity to meet the Mayor.” Absolutely right!
Therefore, instead of a one-night only event, I have initiated a year-long “Meet the Mayor tour” with all of Aliso Viejo’s schoolchildren. I am very thankful for the cooperation and enthusiasm of our schools’ principals and teachers, who have totally embraced this idea.
So far, we’ve held several “Meet the Mayor” events at local Aliso schools, and they have been awesome! I begin each session with a very short but interesting presentation on the how the City of Aliso Viejo works. My goal is to leave students with an understanding of all the City services available to them and how City Hall can personally help them – whether it be catching a bad guy, putting out a fire, cleaning and maintaining our streets, making sure our traffic signals work well and that all of our buildings are safe or providing outstanding recreational opportunities.
I cannot tell you the impact it has had on me, the principals, the teachers and most importantly, the students themselves. I must admit, the experience was more impressive than I imagined. The students have asked some very thought-provoking, insightful, and often entertaining and amusing questions! Sometimes it takes our youth to put things in the proper perspective…
At the end of the day, I believe that engaging these young residents about our community is a positive and rewarding experience. They are bursting with so much energy, enthusiasm and pride. It really is one of the many reasons why we should all be “Aliso Proud.”
