BY TIANA GOEGEBUER

Eastvale – At the City of Eastvale’s March 12 City Council meeting, CNUSD (Corona Norco Unified School District) Board Member, William (Bill) Newberry, was present to discuss the idea of instating a volunteer student liaison to the Eastvale City Council. The concept behind involving a student liaison in the Council meetings would be to engage local youth in the governmental process, as well as assisting elected officials who are seeking solutions to community problems.

According to Newberry, the concept involves one student per semester that would be selected by Eleanor Roosevelt High School staff. This student representative would join the City Council members at meetings, but would not be a voting member of the council.  The liaison would be responsible for conducting the flag salute at each meeting, coordinating and presenting special student certificates, working with the Eastvale schools to obtain an update to provide during the City Council meetings, and writing a brief report that will include bullet points from each school site.

This liaison is selected from either incoming or current seniors at Eleanor Roosevelt High School. Each student will serve for approximately three months, with one student covering the July-August Council meetings while school is not in session.

When presented with the idea, the Eastvale City Council expressed a few concerns, such as who would be in charge of selecting the student liaison and how long a single student would remain in the position.  Aside from that, the Council seemed pleased with the idea not only to further the knowledge of a select few students, but to encourage more of the local youth to be an active part of their community.

The first school liaison selected was Julia Vasquez, a senior. She attended her very first City Council meeting on April 9.