Rio Hondo College will host its third annual breakfast for about 100 counselors from 25 area high schools at 8 a.m. Friday, Jan. 22, in the Rio Café at the Rio Hondo College campus, 3600 Workman Mill Road, Whittier. This year’s event includes discussion of academic programs, including the Common Assessment initiative aimed at California’s community colleges and how high school transcripts will play a role among other measures in placing students in English and math classes. The event will also provide a tour of Rio Hondo College’s Automotive Technology Department, which began offering a four-year Bachelor of Science degree this year as part of a historic state pilot program, and of Career Technical Education facilities. A program fair will run during the morning so counselors may learn about Rio Hondo College’s student services programs.
Paper planes will loop-the-loop, soar for long distances and perform acrobatics when Rio Hondo College automotive experts hold four aerodynamics workshops from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Friday, Dec. 11 at Scott Avenue Elementary School, 11701 Scott Ave., Whittier. Professor John Frala and the automotive team will guide 120 fourth-graders and 90 fifth-graders in assembling four color-coded planes to show how design differences determine flight patterns. The team chose paper airplanes as a fun way to introduce science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) concepts – areas of increasing demand for careers and focus at colleges.
Follow-up Story: The Associated Students of Rio Hondo College (ASRHC) provided more than 1,400 cans of food to the Whittier Interfaith Food Center when the student government’s annual food drive concluded Nov. 25. The collections more than doubled 2014’s 599 cans, which in turn had doubled the roughly 300 cans collected in 2013. Photos are available.
Follow-up Story: : Rio Hondo College’s Board of Trustees named first-term Board Member Mary Ann Pacheco as its president during the group’s annual reorganization meeting on Dec. 9. Norma Edith Garcia was named vice president and outgoing President Madeline Shapiro was named clerk. Board members Vicky Santana and Gary Mendez, both re-elected in November, also took their oaths of office.
Associated Students of Rio Hondo College is seeking donations of 150 toys for area children through Thursday, Dec. 10. Donors may drop off unwrapped toys at a bin at the Rio Hondo College Student Union, 3600 Workman Mill Road, Whittier. Gifts for boys and girls ages 9 and older are especially needed. Clothing, hygiene items for teens and gift cards will also be accepted. The student government is offering a $150 prize to the student group that donates the most gifts. The gifts will go to the Whittier Interfaith Food Center.
Rio Hondo College will host a free evening of star, planet and galaxy gazing for guests at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4 at the Gordon D. Crowell Astrophysical Observatory, which houses one of the largest telescopes open to the public on a regular basis. Visitors should meet in the Rio Hondo College Child Development Center parking lot 15 to 20 minutes before the start time. Viewing nights are contingent on clear weather. The Crowell Observatory opened in 1972. It houses a 16-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. Rio Hondo College is at 3600 Workman Mill Road, Whittier
Rio Hondo Launches 2nd Annual Backpack Drive to Benefit Foster Youths
Rio Hondo College’s new Guardian Scholars Program is conducting the College’s second annual Case of Hope suitcase/backpack drive through Monday, Nov. 30 to gather at least 100 new or gently used bags for foster youths, who often must abandon possessions when they shift homes or leave the system. Bins are in the Foster/Kinship Care Education Office and Student Union at the College’s Whittier campus, 3600 Workman Mill Road, and at the El Monte Educational Center, 3017 Tyler Ave., El Monte. The drive culminates in a lunch at 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 5 at the Rio Café. For information, contact Guardians Scholars Interim Counselor/Coordinator Marisela Saenz at (562) 463-7472 or msaenz@riohondo.edu.
Rio Hondo College’s Computer Science Club will hold coding camps at 11 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17 for 77 fifth-graders at Whittier City School District’s Mill School and Technology Academy, 4030 Workman Mill Road, Whittier. The camps are part of a series being conducted by the 30-member club, led by computer science professor Shin Liu. A recent camp at East Whittier City School District’s Scott Avenue Elementary engaged 210 fourth- and fifth-graders in creating a winter wonderland based on the movie, “Frozen.”
Rio Hondo College will host 360 students from nine area high schools for its annual Intramural Forensic Tournament at 3 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6 at California High School, 9800 Mills Ave., Whittier. The event, organized by the Rio Hondo College Forensics Speech and Debate Team, shifted focus to an all-high school contest and changed venue due to its rising popularity. More than 100 additional contestants will compete in this year's contest, compared with 2014-15. The event includes competitions for speech and debate. More than 50 volunteers from the College will judge the event.
Los Angeles County Supervisor and former U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis will discuss how the regional workforce needs to evolve on Friday, Nov. 13 during an education program dedicated to connecting adults with careers in the trades. The Workforce Development Conference will run from noon to 3:30 p.m. at Rio Hondo College, 2600 Workman Mill Road, Whittier. It will be followed by a regional Trades Night from 5 to 7:30 p.m.
Both events will be hosted by the Rio Hondo Region Adult Education Consortium. The conference will bring together educators, counselors and administrators from adult schools and high school career/tech programs with workforce development service providers, large employers and labor to discuss ways to develop pathways for adults into trade apprenticeships and internships.
