On March 12, 2024, 14 selected San Dimas High School students participated in the annual Students in Government Day. The AP Government and Politics teacher, Mr. Milbrandt, leads this event. Every year, he sets up this exciting event for students to shadow and increase their knowledge of how the government works and how San Dimas City’s council has a huge role in making San Dimas a better community. As students shadow elected city officials, they are enlightened by watching how a city meeting works. From meeting their assigned city official to passing motions or hearing the voting process, these students have first-hand experience with how local government plays a huge role. 

Senior Eva Yassine is interested in law and politics and knew this would be a great opportunity to enrich her knowledge. Yassine shadowed San Dimas city mayor Emmet Badar. She learned about the mayor’s duties during meetings and how he interacted with each problem. Her favorite part was seeing “a motion being passed, and two of the council members had agreed to pass it until the mayor decided he did not want to pass it; then, the two council members had to take back their vote for the vote to not reach a majority vote. So they had revoked their votes, and it was really cool how his council members supported his decision and backed him up, ” she explains. She was excited to participate in this event from the beginning, “I have a great passion for getting involved in politics after law school, and I think that getting exposure as a seventeen-year-old is really important, and this event showed me where I would want to take my future career in politics.” Yassine learned that this event was important as it gives students who want to further their education in government an inside look at the government and city governments. She thinks high school students must understand and know what happens during these council meetings because it shows how their city is run. 

City Council Member John Ebiner has been on the council since the ’90s. This is his last month before officially stepping down and handing the role to Rachel Braktos. Ebiner thinks that this is a significant event for students to participate in, “this is essentially a gateway to how local government runs, and as some of the students pointed out, most may not have seen the local government in action before, and a lot of the most important things that affect everybody in the community is the local government,” he explains. Ebiner has prioritized youth events all his years and loves that this event is offered to high school seniors. He loves that this event has allowed city officials to see the students’ involvement and how inspiring and impressive each student is, whether it is hearing about their goals in life and motivation or their participation and opinions. Ebiner advises every student who wants a future career in law or politics to listen in council meetings online or in person or get involved with the community through specific commissions or any volunteer opportunity through the city. Students can watch the meetings on Ebiners website at John Ebiner | San Dimas | City Council.