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LWV League of Women Voters of California
Santa Clara County, CA November 5, 2002 Election
Smart Voter Full Biography for Jeff Ota

Candidate for
Board Member; East Side Union High School District

[photo]
This information is provided by the candidate

Dear Voter,


Thank you for taking the time to read this webpage. I would like to take this opportunity to share my background and hopefully, give you an understanding of who I am and what I stand for. I am a fourth-generation East San Josean. My great-grandparents and grandparents were farmers in North San Jose in the early 1900s, and I am fortunate that my parents chose to raise a family here in San Jose. I am a product of the public education system. I graduated from Berryessa schools and from James Lick High School joining my mother, uncles, and numerous cousins as a proud Comet. My high quality education at James Lick launched me into Stanford University where I earned my undergraduate and graduate degrees in Engineering and am currently pursuing a doctorate. I worked as a research engineer at the NASA Ames Research Center and realized a childhood dream of working on a Mars mission. My work to bring the 3-D imaging technique used in the Mars Pathfinder mission to underwater research was the focus of a hour-long documentary on the Discovery Channel. Following in my parents' footsteps (teaching and engineering), I have chosen to pursue a career in academia as a University Professor in Engineering. I currently work as a Co-Director of an Engineering Research Lab and an Adjunct Instructor at Santa Clara University where I also received the School of Engineering's Outstanding Service Award in 1999. In my spare time, I volunteer in our community in many other capacities and enjoy going snowboarding, surfing, mountain biking, golfing, and playing basketball.


For the past five years, I have had the great fortune and honor to serve as your governing school board member. I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve our community in this capacity and bring my familiy's values and experience to the board. I have worked hard to make sure that you have a school system where each of our students has the best possible chance for personal success, and I hope that you will give me an opportunity to serve one final term and give back to the district that helped me achieve my goals and dreams. I believe in public education, and I want to make sure that our public education system works for all of our students in East Side. I believe that I have the vision, education, and technological understanding to help lead our district. I am fortunate to have a great coalition of parents, students, educators, and community leaders, who have put their trust in me and my vision for the district. I respectfully ask for your faith, your support, your trust, and your vote on November 5th.

Thank you for your time and consideration. --Jeff

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: November 2, 2002 14:48
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