Pride Paper

I am very proud of having earned the opportunity to work alongside with City
Clerks office over the past summer as part of the High School Ambassador program. I
was able to learn about the structure of my citys government and got to see first hand
how the City of Merced really functioned alongside students from the other high schools
in Merced. I got to assist in City Council meetings and was able to have the opportunity
to witness how government interacts with the People of this city. I was personally in
charge of using the social media pages belonging to City of Merced and I was to
frequently update the events occurring in a City Council meeting alongside another
student.
To earn the privilege of being named a High School Ambassador, one must first
fill out an application form which asks you to meet certain criteria. Criteria such as; a
minimum GPA, a recommendation of a teacher, as well as writing a short essay as to
why you think you should be chosen. Then the Assistant City Clerk reviews your
application and then notifies you on whether or not you have been chosen to participate
in the program.
Although many people would see this program as more of a chore especially
when you take into consideration that some meetings were short with a time span of
about two hours where as other meetings ran extremely late, almost approaching
midnight once. However, I see this program as the opportunity it is meant to be. I was
able to see our community leaders come together in order to discuss the major issues
of our city. Issue such as infrastructure, crime, budgeting for the next fiscal year, as well
as many other issues. I also had the amazing experience to see local people, our

friends and neighbors, have the opportunity to speak up to the City Council and mayor
about any issues that they thought necessary to bring up or simply and opinions they
had on issues being discussed. Overall, the High School Ambassador Program was an
amazing experience that I am deeply grateful and proud to have been a part of.