The City of Pasadena is a thriving and admirable city with many opportunities to offer the great citizens of Pasadena, as well as citizens from all over. Through the strong sense of community from our Recreation Programs, to the beauty and dynamic new ideas from the Tournament of Roses, our city is legendary. “Celebrating Success” was the theme of Mayor Bogaard’s state of the city address, and through his strong words of encouragement I understood quickly that our city is a great place to live. Although Pasadena is not a perfect city, we are efficiently working our way to achieving it.

When walking into CALTECH (California Institute of Technology), we were greeted initially by a special full-scale model display of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s (JPL) Mars Curiosity Rover. With attendees there to answer all of our curios questions, we were given the opportunity to appreciate the many amazing innovations that come from Pasadena, and how they help to develop our technology nationally, and even globally. The Beckman Auditorium was beautiful. The ceiling was covered in a gold lighting and it really ties into the presentation given by JPL. Mayor Bogaard took his time to meet every one of the students represented there, and really showed that he took great effort to getting to know the students individually, and that our presence there was greatly appreciated. When the program began the Vice Mayor of Pasadena served as the master of ceremonies, and warmly recognized the many representatives in attendance. It was really great to put a face on many of the names we have heard so much about through being involved in our student government. As the night progressed on we were presented with a report of the recent successes of JPL; Deputy Director Lt. Gen. (retired) Eugene L. Tattini, he presented JPL’s Mars Science Laboratory Team and the now-famous Curiosity Rover that is making new discoveries Mars as we speak.

Soon after the presentation the Mayor took the podium to make his speech. Mayor Bogaard addressed many of the issues that are extremely relevant the adults in the room, but also presented ideas that would help the younger generation of citizens. By having strong plans on recreation and non- profit programs to help control the recent crime issues troubling our streets today, the Mayor really showed that he understood the need to keep kids out of the street, and get them to do something with meaning. Also the mayor discussed the projects that our city will be involved with, as well as what we have already accomplished so far such as creating jobs, building new establishments, and making Pasadena a better city to live in.

Attending the “Celebrating Success” event was an educational experience for me, and I am much honored to have attended such a meeting. Pasadena is a great city and I am proud to represent Pasadena High School, and the serve as the ASB President.