Alverno High School junior Patty Park is one of 40 students statewide chosen to participate in the statewide Asian Pacific Youth Leadership Conference (APYLC). In April, the selected high school students will spend three days in Sacramento watching California state government in action.

As well as working on speaking skills and seeing how the legislature works, APYLC participants will hold a mock legislative session in the California Senate.

Park says she hopes to learn more about how our state runs from the conference. "When I return I would like to take a more active role in the Asian Pacific community," she says. "And APYLP will give me the experience and knowledge I need to serve the community in the future."

She is also looking forward to using her Sacramento experience in Alverno's student union. Park has been consistently involved in leadership at Alverno, and is currently the school's Secretary of History and Commerce, responsible for keeping students up-to-date on after-school job opportunities and keeping photographic records of student government activities for the school year.

Last summer she attended Stanford's Junior Statesmen Summer Program with students from across the U.S. and American Samoa.