Students introduced to city government

COSTA MESA — Adrian Czernecki thought he might want to become a firefighter, but after Wednesday he was sure.

What made up the 18-year-old Costa Mesa High School senior’s mind was a visit to the fire station as part of the city’s youth-in-government shadowing day. He got to ask the firefighters what classes he should take, and he toured the station and saw the equipment up close.

“It’s not the same like they show in movies — it’s better when you see it,” he said.

Czernecki was one of 32 students from Costa Mesa and Estancia high schools who spent Wednesday at City Hall and elsewhere in the city learning about the people who turn tax dollars into skate parks, street sweeping and other public services and amenities.

For some students, watching the adults put together a youth-in-government program was a civics lesson in itself.

City Councilwoman Katrina Foley suggested it in 2005 as a recreation program, and city staffers put it together. It launched in late 2006, but this January Mayor Allan Mansoor and other council members canceled the program.

They said that they should have had more input on the program’s content and that it hadn’t been properly approved by the council.

Some of the 17 students who signed up for the initial program urged council members to work out their differences so they could reinstate it. That’s what ultimately happened in March.

Wednesday’s shadowing event was one of the fruits of that agreement, and to Estancia High School junior Meagan Kunert, it was sweet.

“I learned a lot. I was really excited to hear about all the jobs in the city,” she said. “This is the whole point in doing the youth-in-government program.”

Kunert, 16, said she’s interested in administrative services, where risk-management workers handle employment and benefits issues. She plans to major in psychology when she goes to college, and that’s what some of the risk-management workers studied, she said.

Foley and Councilwoman Wendy Leece will plan for next year’s program this summer.

Foley said she’d like to offer a walking tour of public art in the theater district around the Orange County Performing Arts Center and a session on how the city can help the environment.

Leece said she wants to hear feedback on this year’s limited program and learn what kids would like to see.

As to why it was so difficult for the council to get to this point, Foley said simply, “That’s politics.”

HOW TO APPLY

WHAT: Applications for the 2007-08 youth-in-government program

WHO: High school sophomores, juniors and seniors from Costa Mesa may apply

WHEN: Deadline is Sept. 15

WHERE: Applications are at Costa Mesa and Estancia high schools, City Hall and www.ci.costa-mesa.ca.us