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photo courtesy of Public Information Officer Bevin Handel

Students learn basic functions of the city in City Manager Tony Ramos’ office.

On Feb. 25, fifteen CHS seniors participated in Student Government Day along with the city council members and staff at Claremont City Hall. During the event, AP Government students were given the opportunity to follow the city staff members and assist them in various tasks to better understand the city government and be exposed to possible career opportunities in politics.

“It was really interesting to see how the government in the city works like a big, $40 million non-profit organization,” participating CHS senior Natalie Gonzalez said.

Although a smaller-scale version of Student Government Day had been held in years past, Mayor of Claremont Opanyi K. Nasiali hoped to expand the program to include more students when it returned this year. CHS social science and psychology teacher Natalie Sieg selected students for the program from her AP Government classes based on participation and demonstrated interest in politics. The event was intended to get more teens aware of and interested in how the Claremont government functions.

“It is really important to emphasize the meaning of city government and to have students involved with operations at city hall,” Nasiali said.

City staff members from various departments were followed by one to four students for the rest of the day. Mentors from the staff included those from the City Manager’s office, the Community & Human Services Department, and the Community Development department, among other sectors of the city government. They were exposed to daily events within city hall and around Claremont, witnessing how different departments are run and how the staff handled everyday tasks. Some were even able to experience a shooting range simulation when following the chief of police. Many other students attended and participated in meetings for their assigned departments. For example, some of them assisted the public information officer with ideas for redesigning the city website, while others helped the city manager review building plans for upcoming commercial and residential construction in Claremont.

“I had been unaware of how much detail went into city governmental programs,” participating senior Sandra Sandoval said.

After students shadowed the city staff, they gave a presentation on what they had observed for the rest of the participating seniors as well as a few city council members. Subsequently, awards were given to students in the program at the official city council meeting that night.

“Student Government Day is an amazing opportunity for CHS 12th grade students that have taken AP Government to experience, and I hope that they truly found this event meaningful,” Principal Dr. Brett O’Connor said.