The city of Goleta offers congratulations to the 34 participants who graduated recently from the LEAD Goleta Bilingual Community Academy, the largest class to graduate in the program’s five-year history and the third bilingual class with Spanish interpretation and translated materials.

Former LEAD Goleta graduates, family and friends of the current class, city staff and the entire Goleta City Council gathered at the Goleta Community Center to applaud the group as each received a Certificate of Completion and a city of Goleta pin.

An ice cream social and sparkling apple cider toast followed the ceremony.
 
“This truly is one of my favorite evenings to see you and thank you,” said Mayor Paula Perotte. “I really hope that you will take this information back to your family and friends and invite them to be part of this academy so they can also learn, have a good time, and know that we are accessible and here for you.”

LEAD, short for Learn, Empower, Advocate and Discuss, is an award-winning bilingual six-week class that gives participants an up-close look at local government, particularly how the city of Goleta operates.

This year, due to the Feb. 13 rainstorm, the class ended up being five weeks long with a combined final class that took place prior to the graduation.

“The enthusiastic and attentive group from all walks of life received a lot of information during the course of the academy but all expressed on the final day that they were glad they took the initiative and signed up for the eye-opening experience,” the city said.

“My sincere thanks to the organizers and presenters at the 2025 Goleta LEAD Academy,” said participant Terrie Bovaird. “I truly appreciated the opportunity to learn through this valuable and educational program. I will use what I learned and the reference materials provided for many years to come.”

“LEAD Goleta is a great program to introduce you to civic leadership in Goleta the Goodland,” said participant David Rachford. “It was an opportunity to learn about city programs, issues and challenges, and celebrate the successes with the amazing team that makes things happen.

“I now feel more connected to our community, and I’ve lived here for 26 years.”

“We will never forget this dynamic class,” said Goleta community relations manager Kelly Hoover. “They were hungry for information, asked great questions throughout and no matter the complexity of the subject matter, they were on the edge of their seats, engaged the entire time.

“It is impressive that each of them made sacrifices in their personal lives to attend this class week after week. It says a lot about each and every one of them as people. We hope they will stay connected with the City and each other as a result of this bonding experience,” Hoover said.

“Hats off to my community relations colleagues Jaime Shaw and Marcos Martinez who went over and beyond to make this an exceptional learning experience for everyone involved,” Hoover said.

“We also want to express our heartfelt appreciation to our Spanish interpreters Viviana Marsano, Hugo Santos, and Regina Santos,” she said.

Anyone interested in signing up for a future LEAD Goleta class should email jshaw@cityofgoleta.org to be notified when applications are available.