Government students from Manteca High, Sierra High, East Union High and Calla High learned first-hand what it took to run a city.

Officials of the City of Manteca provided just that at Youth in Government Day, taking a break from their otherwise hectic schedules last Thursday to spend quality time with possible leaders of the future.

“Maybe one day you will be in our seats, doing what we do,” said interim City Manager Toni Lundgren to those 17 students seated in the Council Chambers that morning.

Each were paired up with a city staff member or an elected official – for starters, Mayor Ben Cantu (Sierra High’s Alexander Castaneda), Vice Mayor Charlie Halford (East Union’s Maria Zapian), Councilman Gary Singh (Kirsten-Charmaine Cardozo of Sierra), Councilman David Breitenbucher (Calla High’s German Estrella), and Councilman Jose Nuno (Manteca High’s Francisco Venerio) took students under their wings.

Students had to learn their roles in order to have a better understanding of the mock special session for later that morning. They were also provided with a tour of the proposed homeless navigation center and affordable housing project on South Main Street on the 8-acre site.

Alyssa Carvajal, who shadowed Ludngren, was thrilled to see the recent $16 million donation to the city for this project from state Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman.

Students also expressed their ideas.

Tyler Watkins of Manteca High – he shadowed City Clerk Cassandra Candini-Tilton – mentioned he would like to see a more vibrant downtown to attract young people.

Watkins mentioned bringing in a business such as Crumbl Cookies, as an example.

Rounding out the list of students and their roles for that day were:

·         Calla High – Alex Nieto, Public Works; Destiney Rojas, Chief of Police.

·         East Union High – Nihar Jain, City Attorney; Lauren Alegre, Fire Department; Izik Quezeda, Information Technology & Innovation.

·         Manteca High – Salvador Suarez, Chief of Fire; Sydney Snyder, Department of Development.

·         Sierra High – Keyleen Linares Pineda, Human Resource; Gabriel Monasterio, Finance; Taylor Small, Engineering.