The El Monte Union High School District is teaming up with Rio Hondo College to provide free college courses to South El Monte High School students, paving the way for the teens to get a jumpstart on earning 25-40 college credits. The program, which is being designed, is expected to launch in fall 2018. A parent orientation meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 17 at South El Monte High School, 1001 Durfee Ave., South El Monte.
Bassett High to Host Expo to Empower Women, Expand Personal Skills
Nearly 450 female students attended Bassett High School’s first Girls Expo on March 9, learning lessons in leadership. Experienced women in multiple industries, including law, medicine, computer science and art, led discussions on financial planning, college preparation, healthy relationships, job success and other topics. The school’s Girls Build L.A. staged the event in collaboration with Latinas Unidas.
Roosevelt Elementary School’s Music Immersion Experience students will hold a Lunar New Year celebration at 8:30 a.m. Friday, Feb. 23. Choir, violin and dance students will perform Chinese folk songs and the ribbon dance, while other students present reports about Chinese culture. Students also will enjoy a musical performance by a Chinese ensemble from the California Institute of the Arts. The school is at 401 S. Walnut Grove Ave., San Gabriel.
San Gabriel’s Roosevelt Elementary to Host Junior Speech Tournament
Roosevelt Elementary will host the Southern California Junior Forensic League’s second elementary school tournament of the year from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17. Roosevelt’s third- through fifth-grade students will compete against other Southern California elementary schools in categories like storytelling, duo interpretation, poetry and informative speech. Roosevelt Elementary is at 401 S. Walnut Grove Ave., San Gabriel.
More than 20 students in transitional kindergarten through sixth grade shared their favorite poems in English and Spanish, memorizing stanzas and including gestures and props, during Margaret Heath Elementary School’s annual Poetry Festival. The event, held Feb. 15, has been a Heath tradition for more than 25 years and instills in students an appreciation and passion for poetry and spoken word. Students recited short poems on topics ranging from seeing teachers outside school to thinking from a cat’s perspective. The event included one student who read an original composition.
Students from Baldwin Park and Sierra Vista high schools have submitted 30 entries for the Baldwin Park Unified School District’s seventh annual Youth Film Festival. Entries will be narrowed to a dozen short films and experimental projects, which will be screened from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16 at the Performing Arts Center, 4640 N. Maine Ave., Baldwin Park. Prizes will go to the top three short films, to a fan favorite film and to the top experimental project.
Five-time NBA champion Michael Cooper, who played on the Los Angeles Lakers alongside Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the 1980s, shared secrets of his success with about 100 Lynwood Unified students at Cesar Chavez Middle School on Feb. 6. Cooper put students to the test during shooting drills and imparted his five Ds of success: determination, dedication, desire, discipline and decision-making.
Jon Bernthal, star of “Marvel’s The Punisher,” shared his life story with about 75 drama students from Firebaugh High and Lynwood Middle schools on Feb. 6. Bernthal, who also had pivotal roles in “Baby Driver” and “The Walking Dead,” struggled to find direction as a high school student before discovering acting. He urged Lynwood Unified students to pursue their passions.
Longtime Bassett High cross country coach Hector Armas is credited with bringing 12 cross country athletes to compete at CIF Southern Section Championship Finals, the first time in the school’s history in which the entire boys’ varsity cross country team has competed in the state finals. Armas started as a counselor at Bassett High in 1985 and expanded his role as a coach in 1994, helping the girls cross country team win league titles three years in a row and the boys team win four consecutive league titles and ranking 10th in the state. Over the last two years, Armas has coached two runners at the CIF State Championships.
Dr. Lucy Jones, a noted seismologist for 33 years with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), will speak at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 21 at Rio Hondo College’s Wray Theater on how earthquakes, floods and other disasters have both benefited and beset civilizations throughout recorded history. Jones, who developed the Great ShakeOut, an earthquake drill that has engaged 55 million participants, also will discuss what disasters reveal about mankind’s potential for humanitarian efforts. The theater is at 3600 Workman Mill Road, Whittier.
