Last Friday, Omar and two students from LA River High School took on the ACTive Transportation Conference aboard the lovely Queen Mary to discuss their participation in our Rio Vistas program. 

Senior Mark Aquiapau and Ricardo Fierro (Class of 2014) from LA River High School were apart of the winning design team during the LA River Corp's Rio Vista program last year. The Rio Vista project, worked with LA River High School students and industry professionals to help create shovel ready designs that would change dead end streets into something sustainable for the community. 

Omar asked the students several questions including what the biggest challenges of the project were.

"The river was extremely fenced off and there were residents that did not speak english, so it was hard to communicate," Ricardo answered.

Later in the discussion Omar asked what they liked about working on the project and what the river meant to them now. "Well, other than winning, Mark replied, "I would say getting to work with a landscape architect was the best part."

"I was on the winning team too," Ricardo chimed in, "but I used to see trash and shopping carts everywhere. It was an ugly unwelcoming environment. It has changed into an environment that helps nature. It was a really good experience overall."

Ricardo is currently a student at LATTC and Mark has signed a letter of intent to Cal State Long Beach. A special thanks  LA River High School and to all the students who participated in the Rio Vistas program.

To learn more about our Rio Vistas Program head over to our website.