On August 2nd Mayor Mitch Ing welcomed exchange students to Monterey Park from Japan, Korea, Mexico and China.

He said that the City Council meets on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. The Council elections are held every four years and each Councilmember has a chance to serve as mayor for nine and 1/2 months. This is his third time serving as mayor. Serving on the Council is a part-time job so the Councilmembers also have other jobs too.

The Council practices transparency. You can address the Councilmembers for five minutes. You can thank them or tell them what they should do better for the city.

Monterey Park is home to 64,000 people. We are located in the San Gabriel Valley.

Monterey Park is celebrating its 100th Birthday this year.

Pedro Chan organized this exchange with the assistance of the other sister cities. Every two years our students visit other countries and their students visit Monterey Park.

David Ikeda introduced Shiori Makimura and Megumi Owasi from Japan to Mayor Ing and the audience.

Each young lady spoke about her hometown to educate the students about their country.

Song Park introduced Kwak Se Young and Dong Hyeok Yoon from Korea to Mayor Ing and the audience.

Each young man spoke about his hometown to educate the students about their country.

Gloria Enrique and Deloris Rillo introduced Paulina Valencia Gonzalez and Neiffe Cadena Valencia from Mexico to Mayor Ing and the audience.

Each young lady spoke about her hometown to educate the students about their country.

Pedro Chan introduced the exchange students from China that included Xiaofan Yang, the Group Leader with Xinyue Chen, his translator. They spoke about their cities in China and their happiness to visit Monterey Park.

The students included: Ke Yang, Ruo Nan Shen, Yuan Xu, Yue Ma, Yizhou Long, Haoxiang Yang, Qianyu Zhou, Panyaxin Luo and Yuxuan Pan.

The students posed for pictures with sponsors (Pedro Chan, Jeremy, Eva and Jason Gomez, Song Park, Fanny Chan, Victoria Chavez, Shirley Wong, Kathy Wills, Brian Lee and David Ikeda) and Mayor Mitch Ing.

Mayor Ing said America is a great country. Enjoy your visit!

The students were scheduled to visit many of the famous sights in Southern California.  For many students this was their first glimpse of America.