Mayor's Youth Advisory Council

About MYAC

The induction ceremony for the Mayor's Youth Advisory Council Full Member Class of 2009-2010 was held on Tuesday, September 29, 2009, at City Hall. The students had a short orientation and a "Meet and Greet" with fellow members, parents, City staff, and City Council members before the ceremony. There are 38 full members this year, 30 e-members, and 37 alumni members that make up the organization. Meetings occur monthly on Saturday mornings and include a City Tour, Meet the Chiefs meeting, and a Mock Council meeting. Throughout the year, students will learn more about their local government and city, and meet the people who keep Sugar Land the community of choice to live, work, play, and shop.

(From Left to Right: Historian Sam Asthana; President Darren Chiu, Mayor James Thompson, Communications Officer Regina Pepper, and Service Officer Neerja Aggarwal.)

For additional information on the City of Sugar Land's Mayor's Youth Advisory Council, please call 281-275-2710 or e-mail myac@sugarlandtx.gov.

MYAC City Tour (November 14, 2009): Essay by Sam Asthana, MYAC Historian

The Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council is a panel of high school students selected to represent Sugar Land’s teenagers to the City Council and public. About forty in number, MYAC members come from many different schools, extracurricular activities, races, and backgrounds to meet one Saturday a month until May. The goal of MYAC (the vernacular, pronounced as my-ack) is to utilize the vibrancy, passion, and energy of teenagers who want to make Sugar Land a better place.  Annually, each MYAC chapter performs a service project with the aim to improve our City. This year’s project is based around the motto “Go Green!” Our goal is to maintain a clean, more ecologically friendly Sugar Land. How? When? What? That, my friends, is for the time being a secret.

Recently, the MYAC students went on a tour of the City, and our first stop was the Wastewater Recycling Plant. The multi-step process was extremely complex, but the end results were astonishing: clean natural water, and the slightly less delectable “cake”—pure, compacted waste. Definitely not something you’d see at a birthday party.

Our next stop was the Sugar Land Airport. Apparently, Bud Adams, owner of the Tennessee Titans, has his own private jet in a hangar there… Who knew?  On an interesting side note, if you want to have the most comfortable break quarters of all time, become a pilot and land at the Sugar Land Airport.

Next, we went to see the real “behind the scenes” jobs at the Public Works Traffic Management Center and the City’s Animal Shelter.   Seeing all of the dogs and cats in the shelter was a rather heart-rending experience, but there was a certain gratification in seeing that a few people were committing endless time and effort to making sure that these animals were completely safe.

Traffic control, on the other hand, could only be described in one word : AWESOME. The ability to control the traffic flow of the entire city of Sugar Land is not something to be taken lightly.

In the new fire department, we learned something not many people know about: the friendly ghost, Soapy, which haunts the department. Apparently, Soapy was an extremely dedicated officer in the way-back-when times who worked his tail off in the force. When Soapy passed on, his spirit remained with the Fire Station, and still makes odd, harmless noises to this day.

So what is MYAC to me? MYAC serves as an opportunity to prove the worth of adolescents to the public. By making our city a better place, MYAC members can make sure that the community understands that teenagers are not all delinquents, but that we are a resource to be utilized -- a group of individuals who are full of energy and are dedicated to making the world a better place. MYAC President Darren Chiu sums it up best in these words, “I am certain that together we will make this a most energetic, productive, and successful year.”

MYAC Code of Conduct

A Community-Wide Initiative to Reinforce Positive Behaviors and Attitudes Among All Sugar Land Teen Residents and Visitors

I pledge to join the City of Sugar Land in being a role model community where we all respectfully and harmoniously live, work, shop and play, and to encourage personal responsibility and a commitment to ensuring Sugar Land remains a Community of Respect, embracing and celebrating our diversity.

Therefore, I promise to:

•  Be a caring citizen, always looking out for and supporting others.
•  Respect and listen to those in authority.
•  Be considerate of the environment and the property of others.
•  Be respectful in my behavior and attitude by not being disorderly, disruptive or using inappropriate language.
•  Choose not to engage in behaviors or acts harmful or offensive to others or myself.
•  Always be brave, steadfast and stand up for and speak up for what is right.