On behalf of the citizens of the City of Albuquerque, Mayor Chávez humbly accepted a World Leadership Award this past month in London. Albuquerque was awarded this honor for its tremendous effort toward water conservation.

The following is the actual presentation that the World Leadership Conference was shown, and shows in much detail why Albuquerque deserves the honor.

Congratulations, Albuquerque!

At 10:30 a.m. sharp on Wednesday Mayor Chávez looked around his class and said everyday the taxpayers of Albuquerque expect me to be on time and therefore I expect nothing less from you. With this, the Mayor began an 8 week Sophomore Seminar at the University of New Mexico today, titled "Leading a City with Mayor Marty."

Mayor Chávez has been in some shape or form a participating member of New Mexican public life for over 30 years. In each class the Mayor will discuss sections of his life including the years before he ran for his office, his first years in office, and the present day.

During the Mayor's first class he talked about his years growing up in Albuquerque, his days at the University of New Mexico, and the decisions that he made toward becoming a public servant. Of UNM the Mayor reminisced about the days in which he organized against dress codes, curfews and the war in Vietnam, and organized campaigns for student Senators.

After graduating from UNM the Mayor attended law school at Georgetown where his father had also attended. It was during one of the summers in law school that Mayor Chávez had the unprecedented honor to organize with the United Farm Workers and Cesar Chavez.

After law school Chávez worked in Washington D.C. as an elevator operator in the Senate building. He noted that this was "his favorite job,” because he had the opportunity meet so many of the most influential people in the world. He would eventually work his way into a couple Senators office to do policy work. This is also where he met a guy named Bill Richardson.

The Mayor is exuberant about teaching and honored to be given such a chance to give back to the community.

The class meets every Wednesday from 10:30 to 12:00.