This morning, sun filled the sky as corps members took the stage to the sounds of a cheering crowd. We gathered at City Hall to honor the 210 young leaders who are dedicating the next 10 months of their lives to serve as tutors, mentors, and role models to the students of Los Angeles. Throughout the year, they will each give over 1,700 hours of service to positively impact the schools and communities of Los Angeles. This year marks the 5th anniversary of City Year Los Angeles and our Opening Day ceremony at City Hall. Opening Day has become a tradition and is where members of our beloved community and city show their support for corps members with an official send off into their year of service.
City Year Los Angeles was definitely “fired up” and full of spirit! The corps demonstrated the unity and energy they bring to schools every day with a powerful “PT” (physical training) performance. The crowd was able to join in on the fun and perform front-side back-side fronts with the corps to get in the spirit. After that, everyone was feeling limber and ready to hear more from our amazing speakers.
This year we were ecstatic to of had such a great group of speakers. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa opened up the ceremony with saying “I’ve been here every year. Every time I come, I can tell you that I walk away more inspired, more hopeful and optimistic about America’s future.” He then lead our corps members for the 5th year in the City
Year pledge. Dr. John Deasy, Superintendent of LAUSD Schools moved the audience with a touching speech about the power of our service. “The more than 700,000 youth in LA are surrounded by an opportunity; and that is you,” said Deasy, “Every single possible interaction you have with the youth makes an enormous difference and I could not be more proud of you and more thankful.”
All in all the morning perfectly captured the idealism and enthusiasm of our new corps and the community that is here to support them. We are extremely excited to see the impact they will make in the lives of the students they serve. We are humbled by the sacrifices you will make this year to better others and are honored to have you here with us in Los Angeles.
Take a look at our flickr gallery from the event here.
