Students from Fullerton, Sunny Hills, and La Vista/La Sierra had the opportunity to visit Fullerton City Hall and tour the different departments of the local government on March 25. Students learned how the government in Fullerton works, as well as the different career paths they can pursue in the future.
Accompanying them was FUHS AP Government teacher Katy Wren. “I think it’s so important for students to understand how government works, especially local government,” Wren said, “because that is the one that’s going to affect most people on a day-to-day basis.”
Senior Yvette Martinez attended the field trip and said it allowed her to fully appreciate all the work the local government does daily. “When you actually sit down and learn the process of government, you understand that what government really is, isn’t just a group of people, a group of men, who are just taking over, telling us what to do.”
Students were split into groups then toured City Hall, taking a closer look at places like the police station. Each tour showed different kinds of programs students could go into, either as a career or as a community volunteer. Students also had an opportunity to meet Fullerton mayor Fred Jung.
“[The mayor] said that if a politician enjoys their job, they probably shouldn’t be a politician,” said senior Nolen Sudduth. “He said that the city government is made up of the people who you don’t really think about, people working for the city and sewage and water and everything else. He said that he’s basically just there to take credit or blame for stuff.”
One thing that really stood out to Sudduth was the passion city workers had for their jobs: “So even the guys working in the sewage crew, they enjoyed doing what they did, even though people don’t really think about that stuff or give them much credit for it.”
Senior Mariacarmen Ayala also found the dedication of the city workers interesting. “I kind of found it interesting that people work to make sure the water pipes are all working. They make sure the street lamps are on, making sure that everything’s working. They regularly check the pipes with little robots, and I found that kind of cool.”
Wren was happy that students were able to see all the job opportunities that the city provides and the importance of all the jobs.
“They’ve got engineers. They’ve got firemen. They’ve got city planners and people that do budgets. There are people that are good with numbers, and the public works people who are so hands-on and good at building things,” Wren said. “There are a lot of options with a lot of different skill sets.”
