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Downey recognizes City of STEM with Helen Putnam award and honors local volunteers and students
Summary
The council honored the City of STEM festival with a Helen Putnam Award and presented mayor's outstanding citizen awards, student recognitions, retirement honors, and public works commendations; several recipients spoke briefly and staff highlighted volunteer contributions.
Downey city officials used part of Tuesday's meeting to honor local volunteers, students and programs.
Nicholas Cabeza, regional public affairs manager at the League of California Cities, presented the Helen Putnam award to the City of Downey for its City of STEM festival, which staff said engaged hundreds of organizations and reached large regional audiences. Cabeza and presenters noted the program's reach and congratulated Ben Dicco and the Columbia Memorial Center for their leadership.
The council also presented posthumous and living mayor's outstanding citizen awards to longtime educator Mary Louise Bergstrom Robison (presented to her daughter Margaret "Maggie" Robeson Almeida), community volunteer Dania Janzak, and volunteer Hector Schmidt for neighborhood cleanup work.
Students from Sussman Middle School (John Julian Figueroa, Manuel Alfredo Mendez, Vincent Carlos Moreno) were recognized for organizing a community resource fair as part of the IB program; student and principal remarks highlighted youth leadership and community engagement.
Chris Withrow was honored on the eve of retirement after 14 years with the utilities division, and Public Works staff were recognized for retrieving a resident's lost wedding ring from a sewer line on November 6; crew members thanked colleagues and family during brief remarks.
These recognitions occupied the first portion of the meeting and drew applause and photographs from the dais and audience.
