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Muir’s MPYD Explores Leadership with Sanchez, Wells and Pickens

Published on Monday, September 22, 2014 | 2:34 pm
 
Pasadena Police Chief Phillip Sanchez discusses leadership with MPYD students at Muir High School.
Gang intervention expert Ricky Pickens urged MPYD students to resist the temptations of the streets by making independent decisions and living “above mediocrity.”

“Leadership” was the focus as Pasadena Police Chief Phillip Sanchez, Pasadena Fire Chief Calvin Wells and gang intervention expert Ricky Pickens spoke to male students at John Muir High School during three special sessions of “Lunch With the Future,” an on-campus motivational speaker series that is a key program of Mentoring & Partnership for Youth Development (MPYD).

“Lunch With the Future provides an opportunity for young men to dialogue with community-conscious achievers from all walks of life. Chief Wells, Mr. Pickens and Chief Sanchez are well known for their commitment to young people and MPYD is grateful to each of these men for taking time to share their wisdom during our weeklong series on leadership,” stated Cameron Turner, who coordinates MPYD’s Lunch With the Future calendar.

Pasadena Fire Chief Calvin Wells (right) and John Muir High School Principal Timothy Sippel (left) greet MPYD students Carlos Vasquez and Jordan Howard after the chief’s presentation on leadership.

Sharing anecdotes from his 36-year fire service career as well and his long history as a youth baseball coach, Pasadena Fire Chief Wells described several characteristics of effective leadership including accountability, integrity, communication, and regarding leadership as service to others.

“For me it’s been about a calling. That is my sense of duty,” Wells said of his role as fire chief. “We run about sixteen thousand calls a day and I have to make sure that every time we answer that call, that the person answering that call does it in such a way that is caring, competent and compassionate to everybody they touch.”

Ricky Pickens (center) is joined by longtime MPYD mentor Philip Holland (right) and MPYD staff member Cameron Turner (left).

Police Chief Sanchez asked students to describe the kind of leader they would follow. MPYD members responded by citing characteristics such as integrity, honesty, trustworthiness and the ability to listen to your team. Referencing the domestic violence case involving former Baltimore Ravens star Ray Rice, Sanchez said that men demonstrate leadership by responding calmly to emotionally heated situations and by respecting women. “I wonder how you treat women. If you’re respectful to them or if you comment under your breath about what they wear or how they conduct themselves. Men tend to do those kinds of things. (But if you do that) you’re eroding, you’re wearing away your own character,” Sanchez told the MPYD students.

Pasadena Fire Chief Calvin Wells (Center), John Muir High School Principal Timothy Sippel (Right) and Executive Director Greg Middleton (Left)

Ricky Pickens, Director of Prevention and Intervention Services at the Flintridge Center, shared insights from his more than 20 years of working closely with street gangs in and around Pasadena. Explaining how he avoided criminal life despite having several gang affiliated family members, Pickens urged the MPYD youth, “Be your own self. That means doing the right thing when nobody else is looking. Be above mediocrity. Be above the image of the average African-American and Latino high school student. When they say you can’t get A’s and B’s in classes, you can do it!”

MPYD presents speakers from a broad range of career fields and life experiences through its Lunch With the Future series. The events take place on the Muir campus every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday during the school lunch period.

Upcoming Lunch With the Future speakers include former PCC and UNLV football coach Harvey Hyde, Pasadena Deputy Police Chief Darryl Qualls, Pasadena City Councilmembers John J. Kennedy and Victor M. Gordo, aerospace engineer Luis Dominguez, entrepreneur Lonzie Johnson, filmmaker Flavio Morales and many more. On October 21, MPYD will host a special Lunch With the Future Roundtable with PUSD Superintendent Dr. Brian McDonald, PUSD Board President Scott Phelps and PUSD Board Member Tyron Hampton.

For further information on MPYD or to become a volunteer or donor please contact Executive Director Greg Middleton at (626) 396-5600 ext 82510.

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