Career Day at Mistral Elementary

Class of '24 at Gabriela Mistral Elementary's Career Day

Back in 2023, with the encouragement of then-director Brian Kosinski, LMV class member Jay Chodagam envisioned and organized a career day at the Gabriela Mistral Elementary School. The following year LMV '24 participants Arn Andrews, Rakhee Kaushik, and Julio Perla were so enamored by the project they wanted to keep the concept going into a 2nd year. 

The philosophy of the career fair is to introduce the students to the art of the possible by presenting a spectrum of life stories and journeys across multiple professions brought to life by many different people.

The LMV '24 team first met with Principal Claudia Olaciregui to understand lessons learned from the prior year as well as her hopes for the coming year's fair. Principal Olaciregui shared that the fair would be for the 4th and 5th grade classes representing 102 students. In addition, many of these students come from financially-challenged households where, ultimately, college may not be an option. Given this, a primary goal of the career day was to ensure a good mix of journeys/stories, genders, ages, and other demographics.

 The career fair included a municipal finance professional, a California Air National Guard representative, a NASA electrical engineer, an Alta Housing representative, an El Camino Hospital nurse, an MVPD police officer, MVFD firefighters, an Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID) student, and a Santa Clara County Library representative.

Mistral Career Day Brochure

Presenters briefly introduced themselves and their career and shared how they got to where they are today. Afterwards each profession hosted an individual table where they shared more about their profession. Presenters incorporated fun into their breakout tables with games or activities related to their career. Students were provided “Profession Passports” and were encouraged to receive at least 5 separate career stamps on their passports.

I’m pleased to announce that LMV 2025 participants have taken up the mantle and will be hosting LMV's 3rd consecutive career fair, this time at Graham Middle School.

By Arn Andrews, LMV ‘24
Assistant City Manager, City of Mtn View

Urban Land Institute: Urban Plan Workshop

Our class project culminated earlier this month in the first ULI UrbanPlan workshop ever in Mountain View. A diverse group of city employees, planners, concerned neighbors, and representatives of vulnerable populations came together to co-create a visionary plan for a (realistic but imagined) blighted neighborhood, and to learn about each other.

The ULI Urban Plan workshop teaches in an interactive way (using maps, legos, financial spreadsheets and role-playing) the challenges of meeting and exceeding environmental, equity, and planning requirements by the city, and balancing the wishes of neighborhood groups, while generating sufficient returns for investors and staying within the city budget. It grapples with intricate matters related to absorption rates, historic buildings, homeless shelter placements, mixed-income housing, retail, and job creation.

One attendee said "I learned that community-oriented goals, like preserving historic buildings, offering affordable housing, and incorporating green spaces, are attainable with the collective will of stakeholders."

Equally as important as learning about urban development was the opportunity for participants to get to know fellow community members. Through conversations about the fictional neighborhood, they came to cherish points of alignment and to understand and respect other points of view. These humans connections will prove valuable as the community grapples with our current and future real development issues.

The day wrapped up with each team pitching their vision and plan to a city council.

See more at ULI Urban Plan for Communities

Ines, Jay, Danielle & Rajiv with thanks to Brian Kosinski for the inspiration & help

Thanks also to Sares Regis Group and Andersen Windows for their corporate sponsorship of the event, and to Leadership Sunnyvale for partnering with LMV and providing additional funding and food, and last but not least to the City of Mountain View for providing the venue and event coordination.