Hopeful, inspired, optimistic and connected. Those were some of the words shared at the closing ceremony of Supper for a Sustainable Future, where the conversation about climate change wasn't one of a bleak future but instead one of hope. 

The purpose of the event was to inspire high school students from across Hayward interested in pursuing environmental careers and an opportunity to foster connections with environmental professionals in the area. Scientists, beekeepers, professors, naturalists and animal rehabilitators were some of the professionals that gave students an insight into the potential careers they could work in. 

More than just an event 

The event, which took place inside Hayward City Hall’s rotunda, was the first event of its kind for local high school students. The event was hosted by the Climate Empowerment Learning Initiative (CELI) in collaboration with their partners, Hayward Unified School District and Cal State East Bay. The program's mission is to engage students in climate crisis learning and find solutions through a culturally relevant lens, in an effort to create “the next generation of justice-centered, science-grounded climate solutionaries.” 

According to Jesse Gunn, a science teacher at Tennyson High School and one of the Network Implementation Team Leads for CELI, the program has sparked a deep interest in his students. 

This is in part because climate issues aren’t just a classroom lesson for his students, but instead a harsh reality. Climate issues have already directly impacted the youth in his classroom, which is primarily made up of Latine and new immigrant students. 

“I had students who were migrants for a time specifically because of climate-related issues,” said Gunn. “People who were involved in typhoons in the Philippines, who came to America because their home was destroyed.” 

Because of their personal experience with climate change, he often finds that his students are not only engaged in the classroom work, but want to learn more about how they can create solutions. 

“There's a different sort of attitude. Like a collective attitude that says, ‘We’re going to fix this together.’” 

New connections 

Gabriella A., an 11th grade student who attended the event said she was initially intimidated by the idea of speaking to the professionals. “I was a bit nervous because it would be a little too scary. But, it was actually really fun,” she said. 

Gabriella is a member of her high school’s Green Team, an afterschool club that works towards reducing on campus waste to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. She and her club members played a role in planning activities and promoting the Supper for a Sustainable Future event to fellow classmates. Over dinner she got to share about the club's efforts to make her school greener with the Cal State East Bay professor seated at her table. 

“When I was their age, it was difficult to understand what a career in science entailed,” said Nipun Gunawardena. “I hope I can make that process easier for them.” 

Gunawardena, a staff scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was drawn to attend the event because he wants to help the next generation of future scientists and was interested to hear how the younger generations view sustainability challenges. 

Gunawardena was surprised to learn how much the students he spoke with knew about sustainability. “Many of the topics they brought up were things I was unaware of when I was their age,” he said. 

For nearly three hours on February 12, students got to learn about sustainable career pathways and form valuable connections with professionals from across the Bay Area. To continue the theme of sustainability and conscious choices, the dinner was all vegetarian and catered from Ghurka Kitchen only a few hundred feet away. The nearly 60 attendees ate their dinner from reusable plates, cups, and utensils that were returned at the end of the evening to be used again and again. 

How CELI works 

Currently, the CELI program has been adopted across four out of five Hayward middle schools, with some participation at Tennyson High School. The program was launched at the middle schools due to the smaller class sizes. Instructors at the schools coordinate their lessons across different subjects, so students learning about climate change in science class are also applying the lessons across other subjects like English, math and physical education. 

The Supper for a Sustainable Future dinner was an effort to engage local high school students who are interested in pursuing environmental careers but are not directly involved with the CELI program. Nancy Wright, the Co-Director of CELI hopes that in the future the program will be expanded to more schools. 

For Wright, it has been a dream to host a ‘dinner with a scientist’ event for Hayward students. “I advocated very strongly that there needs to be some sort of dinner event for students who get a chance to interact with people in their community who look like them’” said Wright, who is also a science teacher at Lorin Eden Elementary School. “To know that they have a future in STEM or in green careers.” So this year, after securing the necessary funding, she made it a priority to bring the event to life. 

Future Steps 

Wright says that part of this year's CELI funding will go towards holding more events geared towards high school students and afterschool environmental clubs. However, funding from the program's main partner, Amazon, ends after this year. While Wright is working behind the scenes writing grants, she is uncertain where funding for the following years will come from. 

For now, Wrights' efforts to host more events have already made an impact on students.

Lilyanna O., an 11th grade high school student, said attending Supper for a Sustainable Future reinforced her dreams of leaving a positive impact on the world and finding solutions for climate change. 

“I feel like my future should be something definitely related to the Earth and just saving it and doing the best I can to change it,” she said at the end of the event.

Officers Denied Immunity In Shooting Case

According to the Closed Session agenda from the February 17th City Council meeting, the City of Hayward may lose another lawsuit due to Police Officer conduct. According to court documents, the issue appears to have arisen in 2021 when officers stopped Mr. Caleb Smith at a traffic stop. From what can be gleaned from Court documents, the officers blocked Mr. Smith's car with their own to prevent him from leaving.

When Mr. Smith attempted to drive away, officers appear to have shot at Mr. Smith, despite posing no danger to themselves or others. According to the judgement filed in December of 2025, "[T]he Officers were each either out of the Volvo’s path or in a position to step away; the Volvo, pinned between the SUVs, moved slowly; and Smith did not accelerate until after the Officers fired."

The justices then said, "The Officers could have remained in safe positions or moved to safety rather than deploy deadly force. Accordingly, a reasonable jury could conclude that the Officers violated the Fourth Amendment." They cited a March 16, 2021 district court ruling that "clearly established" that officers were not allowed to use deadly force against a slow-moving vehicle when they could easily step out of the way.

The document explains that the officers could have remained in safe positions, but one allegedly moved toward the vehicle to fire while the other remained safe in his vehicle. "Any acceleration made by Smith toward the officers was slow and thus did not pose risk of serious harm," according to the justices. They then dismissed the arguments for qualified immunity, which would nullify the lawsuit.

The dissenting justice supported the idea that the officers were justified in firing at Smith, arguing that Smith posed serious harm to the officers as he attempted to escape. They argued that the officers merely need "probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a threat of serious physical harm, either to the officer or to others."

The justice also took issue with the idea of officers being in a position to move to safety, saying in a footnote, "Further, officers are not expected to be Spiderman—able to leap out of the way of a moving car—as the majority apparently believes."

City Attorney Michael Lawson has mentioned during multiple meetings that the cost of insurance for Police Officers has increased in recent years, possibly due to increased awareness of officer-involved violence. This case merely allows the lawsuit to continue, so it may be some time before the issue is fully resolved.