Follow-up Story: More than 150 Rio Hondo College leaders, staff students and veterans on May 20 celebrated the completion of the Rio Hondo Veterans Memorial with an inspirational ceremony and flag-raising. The memorial was championed by the campus Veterans Club and designed by a task force of students and staff members over two years. It features a monument topped with a plaque recognizing the contributions of the military celebrating Rio Hondo’s relationship with the veterans in its student body. Three flagpoles bear the U.S., state and college flags.
Follow-up Story: Rio Hondo College students within the nursing, public safety, arts and communications & languages divisions applied the skills they have learned in class to a staged accident on campus at 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. Friday, May 8 in the Administration of Justice Annex. The Collaborative Crisis Scenario tested students’ knowledge in reacting to emergency situations. Performing and visual arts students acted as the accident victims while the other students responded to the crisis simulation according to their field of study. More than 100 students were involved, including those studying to be nurses, emergency medical technicians, police officers and journalists.
Rio Hondo College’s Pathway to Law School program will host a trio of Los Angeles County Superior Court judges at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 29 for a special one-hour panel discussion on criminal and civil courts as well as career trajectories of judges and attorneys. The event is open to the public. Rio Hondo College is one of 24 California community colleges to launch a Pathway to Law School Initiative in fall 2014. The initiative assists underrepresented, first-generation students who are interested in pursuing careers in the legal field.
Nearly 300 High School Students to Attend Rio Hondo CHOICES Conference
Rio Hondo College will welcome nearly 300 high school students from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friday, April 24 for its CHOICES 2015 Youth Conference, an event designed to empower students in grades nine through 11. CHOICES workshops educate students about making decisions that help them gain better control of their lives and their futures. The event is coordinated by a partnership of groups, including SPIRITT Family Services and the Hispanic Outreach Taskforce.
Rio Hondo College women’s volleyball setter Megan Ward and outside hitter Andrea Velasco will sign letters of intent at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, April 16 to formalize their commitment to attend four-year programs at Wilmington University in New Castle, Delaware and Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, New York, respectively. The signings will take place at the Rio Hondo College P.E. Complex, 3600 Workman Mill Road, Whittier. The two sophomores will be surrounded by teammates and coaches from the Rio Hondo College women’s volleyball program, their parents and other Rio Hondo College officials.
Follow-up Story: Rio Hondo College Foundation’s A Taste of Rio wine and food tasting event raised $56,000 for student scholarships and services, $21,000 more than the amount raised in 2014. The event, held May 1, attracted about 300 community members, and College and elected officials.
Follow-up Story: Hundreds of students and community members crowded Rio Hondo College’s annual Writes of Spring festival on April 29 and 30 for talks from influential Southern California authors and artists, including nationally syndicated cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz, and to celebrate student writing, art and films. Alcaraz creates the La Cucaracha comic strip, which explores Latino political issues.
The El Monte Promise Foundation, a community group that includes Rio Hondo College, local K-12 school districts and community partners, announced on March 12 that it has received $670,000 as incentive donations to encourage local school children to make monthly contributions to 529 college savings plans. The funds will provide incentive gifts each month families donate to the funds. The gifts were announced at a press event in El Monte featuring more than 500 first-graders from area schools.
Rio Hondo Senior Preview Days Draw Largest Crowd in College’s History
Follow-up Story: Rio Hondo College hosted 1,159 area high school seniors Feb. 25 and 26 during its largest-ever Senior Preview Days, a program highlighting College programs, student life and academic options. Students were bused in from 27 high schools in Whittier, Pico Rivera, El Monte, La Puente, Montebello, Bell Gardens, Baldwin Park, Downey, San Gabriel and Los Angeles. Roughly 3,800 graduating high school seniors from across the region choose Rio Hondo College each year to start their higher education journeys. In past years, Senior Preview Day focused on schools within the College’s immediate service area, drawing about 750 students annually for a one-day event.
Rio Hondo College to Break Ground on Veterans Memorial
A ceremonial groundbreaking will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24 to kick off construction of the Rio Hondo College Veterans Memorial. The memorial will feature a concrete monolith roughly six feet long and three feet tall, capped by a brass plaque and adorned along one side with five plaques representing the five branches of U.S. military service. The memorial includes three flags and a reflection bench. The monument was designed by a task force of staff, faculty and students, and will be placed on the campus’ mid-quad area where it will be highly visible to the College community. Rio Hondo College is at 3600 Workman Mill Road, Whittier.
