Still in college, Jeremy Yamaguchi, 22 years old, is the youngest person in history to be elected mayor of the city of Placentia and possibly in all of California, the OC Register reports.
As the city's website explains, the elected mayor has already served on the Placentia City Council for one four-year term. He was elected to the city council in November 2008, at the ripe age of 19.
"I'm very proud and very honored to take on the responsibility of representing the citizens of Placentia" Yamaguchi told KCAL 9. "I've been involved with communities since I could walk, and I just want to give back in any way I can."
According to the Register, Yamaguchi's goals for his first year as mayor include establishing office hours, visiting every school in the city and reviving the city's youth council. The mayor said his mother, who works with service organizations to plan local events, and his father, a sergeant with the Placentia Police Department, both had an influence on his decision to become involved in the community.
It also appears from Yamaguchi's tweets that he is involved in environmental efforts. He has tweeted from the Filipino Chamber of Commerce of Orange County Green Business Expo and from the Orange County Bicycle Summit. On Jun. 7, he tweeted, "I saved almost 500 pgs of paper by reading my Agenda on my iPad & we are voting tonight to use a conservation grant for LED's in city hall."
Yamaguchi's bio on the mayor's website states that he holds a historic record of three thousand community service hours. He has been very active with the Boy Scouts of America and also involved with Placentia's Neighborhood Watch, Heritage Parade & Festival, Cultural Arts Commission, Chamber of Commerce, Police Department and scholarship pageants.
The young mayor is a senior at Cal State Fullerton, majoring in political science with a minor in music, and currently sits on the California Republican Party Central Committee. According to the city website, he plans to go on to get a masters degree in public administration and a juris doctorate in order to practice law.