Training leaders for a better Pasadena

The group of 25 that gathered in late January included several of Pasadena’s movers and shakers: a fire captain, a public television executive, a school principal, the vice president of a bank, a geochemist. The latter is Julianna Fessenden, a first-year postdoc in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences.

As the only Caltech-connected student at this year’s Leadership Pasadena class, she would probably be the first to admit that she’s not one of the more influential people in the city. She’s more at ease on research trips to Alaska and Siberia, tracking carbon as it moves through sensitive environments.

But Fessenden shared a crucial quality with her classmates: a drive to get involved.

Leadership Pasadena is a voluntary six-month program that fosters leadership skills and community building in the city. Every year it attracts leaders from the business, government, and nonprofit sectors who identify existing problems, seek opportunities for further change, and forge networks between themselves and other civic-minded people that will endure beyond the class.

Fessenden saw Leadership Pasadena as a way to improve Pasadena’s parks and green areas, which would in turn contribute to the quality of life in the city. Her goal included finding ways to teach citizens about the central importance of maintaining a clean and healthy environment.

“I wanted to teach kids the importance of their environment and to encourage them to go outside—for example, to the mountains and parks—but also to take care of their environment, something as simple as picking up their own trash,” she said.

Education, geriatric health care, and the quality of life of the working poor were other themes that her classmates determined were areas with problems for which they would seek solutions.

“We teamed up with Odyssey Charter School to teach the students about recycling and pollution’s effects on the environment,” she said. “We took them to Lower Arroyo Park to clear the area of trash.” An artist in her group suggested that something be done with all the litter, so the students used the garbage to create art.

Leadership Pasadena is a completely volunteer activity, and everything that Fessenden and the children needed on their field trip, such as transportation to the park and materials to create the art, was donated or volunteered by the city or the school. Her participation in the program was encouraged by Caltech’s Government and Community Relations Office, which financed part of the substantial fee.

One of the ways that Fessenden hopes to put her training into action is through the creation of a community garden. She has found allies in Athena Castro, the director of the Caltech Y, and grad student Jennifer Johnson, who has found a site at the Caltech Children’s Center where she works. Fessenden said the idea could bear much fruit, in the literal and figurative sense.

“Through environmentally conscious projects, such as community gardens, we can bring students and community members closer to nature and increase their appreciation and their investment in the environment, “she said.
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