On Tuesday, May 5 members of the Colton City Council presented a proclamation establishing “Youth Leadership Day,” and recognized eleven Colton High School students who successfully completed the city’s Youth Leadership Program.
The Youth Leadership program, sponsored by the City of Colton, has just completed its second year. Running concurrently with the regular school year, the program begins in September and ends in June. The major core of the program are the workshops that are held in the Council Chambers at 9:00 am on the first Saturday of each month. Approximately 10-12 students attend these workshops, which include discussion on basic leadership skills, a guest speaker, Colton history worksheet, a leadership opportunity check sheet, Questions & Answers, closing statements and announcements, and refreshments. Each workshop lasts one hour.
During each workshop session, students learn about leadership opportunities available to them in which they can participate. They include neighborhood community meetings, trash pick-up, museum work, library work, office work, senior citizen centers, convalescent home visits, police explorers, fire explorers, and city events.
Guest speakers who volunteer their time to teach the students are either elected officials or members of the city staff. They include Mayor, Council Member, City Manager, Police Chief, Fire Chief, Senior Planner, Water Conservation Specialist, among others.
Founder and Director of the program, Dr.G (Dr. Luis S Gonzalez), explains, that “the basic philosophy of the program is that young people will be adults in the near future. The more they know about our city and are comfortable talking about municipal operations and community life, the better they are prepared to be knowledgeable and productive adult citizens in our community.”
The City Council presentation also included remarks by Colton Mayor, Richard De La Rosa.