Two seniors from Whittier Union’s California High School have scored the school’s first-ever invitation to the National Speech and Debate Tournament after winning first place at the East Los Angeles District Speech and Debate Association Tournament. Sporting matching gray suits and bow ties, seniors Jared Cohen and John Ramirez received the top score of the March tournament for their interpretation of Mel Brooks’ comedy “The Producers” – adapting the feature-length film into a 10-minute performance filled with snappy dialogue, singing and dancing. The duo travels to Dallas in June to compete with fellow high school student champions representing 110 district tournaments held throughout the nation in the largest competition of its kind in the world.
Marilynn Littlefield, who has headed Pioneer High School’s award- and championship-winning Dance/Drill Team for 50 years, will be honored for her dedicated service during a reunion and tribute jubilee from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Saturday, May 2. The festive event, to be held in the school gym, will reunite Littlefield with as many as 3,000 Dance/Drill Team students she has coached over five decades. Littlefield was inducted into the Drill Team Director Hall of Fame and named “Outstanding Drill Director” by Miss Dance Drill Team USA in 1986. Under her leadership, the team was featured in two Super Bowl halftimes and more than 100 members performed in the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Littlefield retired from teaching in 2006, but continues to work six days a week as director of the Dance/Drill Team.
When Jesse Sanchez began attending Frontier High School, he hadn’t stepped foot in a classroom in more than a year and was nearly two years behind in his coursework. In July 2013, the teenage father, who had relocated to Whittier to live closer to his son, enrolled as a junior at Frontier with just 30 credits under his belt. With the support of Frontier teachers and staff, Sanchez flourished, becoming an active member on the Associated Student Body, serving on the Superintendent’s Advisory Council and earning more than enough credits to graduate three months ahead of schedule. He was recently recognized by the Whittier Union High School District Board of Trustees for his perseverance and dedication.
Pioneer High School will hold its 52nd annual Titanette Revue song and dance celebration, themed “Wonderful World of Animation,” to raise funds for the school’s performing arts programs. Pioneer students have worked all year to put together original choreographed routines performed to music around a central theme. The shows are at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 17 and at 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 18. A special media preview will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 15. Pioneer High School is at 10800 Benavon St., Whittier.
Follow-up Story: Whittier Union’s Santa Fe High School recently hosted the two-day “Every 15 Minutes” program, which uses a trio of techniques to bring home the dangers of drinking and driving: a graphic staging of a deadly drunk-driving crash, students randomly pulled from classes to represent lives lost to drunk driving and a mock funeral service. The crash scene was staged April 1 with a mock funeral/assembly held April 2. The drunk-driving scenario involved firefighters, police and a coroner, as well as students pre-selected from the school – including one who was arrested for driving under the influence and booked into jail. Photos are available
Frontier High School has been recognized by the California Department of Education as a Model Continuation High School for providing an academically rigorous program that helped close the achievement gap among student groups taking the California High School Exit Exam and which gives at-risk students the environment they need to flourish. This is the sixth time Frontier has been honored with the designation. The school will be recognized at the 2015 California Continuation Education Association State Conference, set for May 1-3 in Burlingame.
Pioneer High School senior Aneliza Ruiz has received a $1,000 scholarship and been named keynote speaker for the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) Conference and Awards Banquet after a victory March 4 in the ACSA Region 15 Student Oratory Contest. Aneliza, who has been on the Pioneer Speech and Debate Team for three years, credits her love of the arts, culture and theater, a knack for memorization and ability to think on her feet for consistent victories in speech and debate competitions. Aneliza is one of six students selected for scholarships after the March 4 contest, which featured 26 master speakers. She will deliver her winning speech as the keynote address at ACSA’s banquet on Wednesday, April 29.
Follow-up Story: About 300 California High School students packed the school’s gymnasium on March 11 to hear Holocaust survivor Peter Daniels share the story of his horrific ordeal through a Skype session organized by the Museum of Tolerance and by world civilization teacher Tim Woolston. Students were able to ask Daniels questions about his experiences and about how he kept hope in the concentration camps.
Music industry veteran and former Motown Records Vice President Iris Gordy, famed Motown session drummer Ollie Brown and renowned alto saxophonist Alvin McKinney will attend La Serna High School’s “Motown Experience” fundraiser to benefit the school’s Touchdown Club and families of police officers who have died in the line of duty. The dancing and lip-syncing extravaganza will feature numerous hits from the Motown songbook as interpreted by La Serna High students. The event will take place at 7 p.m. Friday, March 20 and 6:30 p.m. Saturday, March 21 in the school gymnasium, 15301 Youngwood Drive, Whittier.
Whittier Union High School District teachers, students and administrators will showcase classes and programs with eighth-graders and their parents at a series of Future Frosh Night events held Thursday, March 12. The events will be at: California High School, 9800 S. Mills Ave., 6 p.m., in the main gym; La Serna High School, 15301 Youngwood Drive, 6 p.m., in the Locke gym; Pioneer High School, 10800 Benavon St., 6 p.m., in the main gym; Santa Fe High School, 10400 S. Orr & Day Road, Santa Fe Springs, 6 p.m., in the Mendez gym; and Whittier High School, 12417 E. Philadelphia St., 5:45 p.m., in the gym. For information, call 562-698-8121.
