May 21, 2008

To Whom It May Concern:

On Friday, May 16, 2008, the City of Ventura was lucky enough to have Dr. Victor Rios participate in our inaugural High School Leadership Summit, presented and planned by Teen Voice, a teen group made up of twenty-five emerging leaders in our community.

Dr. Rios greeted the seventy high school students assembled at our City Hall with a heartfelt and pertinent keynote address which gripped the students and erased any fears they might have had that this day-long event might be one in which they were talked down to or patronized.

He also spent the rest of the morning with the students. After leading them in an exercise in which they determined what issues mattered most to them, and crafted a message to make their viewpoints heard, he visited with each student during the lunch hour to hear about their individual questions and opinions.

Dr. Rios is a powerful and magnetic speaker who truly knows how to communicate with and influence young people. He spoke to the students with honesty and respect -- and in turn, they listened with open ears and hearts. When he told the students that they had the power to become our "21st Century leaders," you could practically hear them sit up in their seats and prepare to carry themselves with more pride when they walked out of the room.

I fully expect one or more of these students to come visit us in ten or fifteen years, and share with us how their interaction with Dr. Rios changed their lives. I am thankful that our young leaders had the good fortune to encounter this powerful and dynamic voice at this point in their lives.

Sincerely,

Christy Weir
Mayor