Page 7 - Mid Valley Times 8:1:19 E-edition

Column
Juanita's
grateful
for the
feedback
There were a few really nice people who emailed me asking why I didn’t write a column anymore. Since we made the consolidation change at Mid Valley Publishing,
a decision was made by all of us that the editors would take charge of the op-ed part of the paper.
Angel's transformation impresses in Hyde
However,
since there
have been a
decided to sit down in front of my computer and share my thoughts as well.
First of all, I am beyond grateful for those who have reached out asking about my column. Danny, I’m glad you have stayed away from soda and happy I was able to inspire you to change some of those “not so healthy” habits and transform them into healthier and more beneficial ones. To Wayne, all the way up north in the San Francisco area, thank you for taking the time to call me and discuss stories with me. I hope the weather there is treating you well, much better than the heat wave we’ve had here I’m sure. Kent, thank you for the feedback on stories. I appreciate your attention to detail. And everyone else who I may have missed, thank you for taking the time to read my opinion pieces. It means a lot to me.
(I purposefully left out people’s last names for their privacy.)
I was sitting here at my desk last week when I heard scanner traffic reporting a structure fire in Orange Cove.
“There’s a structure, fully involved,” said one of the firefighters over the radio. The house, on Center Street, was a small single-family home. When I arrived, firefighters were busy dousing the home with water, or at least what was left of the home. A large yellow hose was stretched across Center Street. The scene was still active.
I parked about a block away. I exited my vehicle and began walking up the street in the blistering heat to find a man standing on the sidewalk across from the smoldering structure.
He paced back and forth. He bit his nails and had a look of pure angst in his eyes.
“Is this your home?” I asked.
“No,” he said. “This was my family’s home. We grew up in this house. I can’t believe it’s gone. So many memories here.”
I later learned the man’s late mother grew up in the home. It had been abandoned for several years. Squatters had taken up residence there, and the man believed they were responsible for the fire.
As I wrote my story,
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Juanita Adame
By Juanita Adame
Mid Valley Times
Undaunted by heat advisories in effect throughout the central San Joaquin Valley, people made the drive to Reedley last weekend to fill both the first and second floors of the Historic Opera House for the final showings of “Jekyll and Hyde,” the musical.
The nearly two-week stretch of the production began on July 12 and wrapped up with a matinee performance on the afternoon of July 28.
Lead characters, played by Reedley locals Michael Angel and Mark Luzania along with Fresno natives Rebecca Potts and Cady Mejias, continued to captivate audiences through the final showing.
“It’s fabulous. We’ve seen it three times now since it opened,” Michelle Welty said. “We have been very, very impressed.”
Welty attended with family and said although they are regulars of Roger Rocka’s Dinner Theater in Fresno, this was their first time visiting the opera
in the 1880s era novella by Robert Louis Stevenson.
“This is my first time back in the theatre,” Angel said in an interview on July 10. “I was gone for seven years. I enlisted in the Marine Cops in 2013. This is my first show being back, so I am very excited to be a part of this.”
Mckayla Welty, who was also in the audience, said she couldn’t believe the number of talented performers on stage.
“I absolutely love it being a theatre person myself,” she said. “I cannot gush enough about how well put on this is and how well prepared everyone is. And the talent here is
just incredible. Michael is awesome.”
Frances Mejias said she was proud to see her daughter, Cady Mejias, on stage doing what she loved.
“Theatre has always been her (Cady’s) dream,” Mejias said. “She works really hard at this, I am so proud of her. She’s done a lot of theatre in Fresno and Selma, but this is her first time in Reedley. She loves this show. She did this show seven years ago for the Children’s Musical Theatre. Then she played Lady Beaconsfield.”
Mark Luzania said the theatre has recently undergone leadership
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few requests, I
By Mike Nemeth
Mid Valley Times
Jaylin Torres, 7, walked up to Ariana Ruiz, delivering his latest creation, a picture of a cupcake with a fiery red wrapper and frosting that included a unique mix of pink, purple, yellow and brown.
“I love the way you did the color,” Ruiz said.
Jaylin beamed and returned to the table at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Fresno County facility at 540 N. Augusta St. in Fresno. He worked on his piece in the library with a pair of 8-year-old girls, Angelina and Jessica, both aspiring artists.
Ruiz of Sanger, who will be a senior at University High on the Fresno State campus this year, works at the nonprofit Boys & Girls Clubs. She and fellow intern Taylor Cordoba, an incoming senior at Clovis North High School, are part of Bank of America’s Student Leaders program. The bank pays for their summer internship “to increase their financial management skills, from building a budget to creating a sales plan,” according to a press release.
“We recognize that building workforce skills early can help prepare a young person for long- term success,” said Mark Riley, Fresno/Visalia market president for the bank, in prepared remarks. “Investing in youth and young adults is part of our broader commitment to connect people to the training and jobs needed for success, ultimately strengthening our community.”
Kathryn Weakland, Boys & Girls Clubs vice president of development, said the two are the first from the Bank of America
Mike Nemeth / Mid Valley Times
Ariana Ruiz, left, offers soccer tips to a member of the Boys & Girls Club while Taylor Cordoba, right, does the same with basketball.
Juanita Adame / Mid Valley Times
Michael Angel electrified the Reedley crowds with his tranformation into Hyde, above. Cady Mejias performs at the opera house, right.
house in Reedley.
Welty said she enjoyed
Angel’s ability to transform from Jekyll and Hyde because he did it so
flawlessly and effortlessly. Angel, who graduated from Reedley High School, played the dual roles of Jekyll and Hyde introduced
Interns make lasting connections
Student Leaders program to work with her nonprofit. Weakland’s organization is one of the largest youth service agencies in Fresno County. It has 18 club locations and last year helped more than 5,800 students receive mentoring and educational support.
“They’re phenomenal,” Weakland said recently of her interns. “We’re so lucky to have them on board.”
Like summer interns across the United States, Ruiz and Cordoba help their organization wherever they can, filling in one day at one position and then doing something completely different the next day — or even the next hour.
Weakland said the pair do a percentage of their work in the office but have carved significant niches
for themselves within the Boys & Girls Clubs where they work. Ruiz, already an accomplished musician, created a music program by bringing in her personal instruments, a clarinet, bassoon and percussion.
Ruiz said her students enjoyed the experience. “All week, I’ve been asked, ‘When do you bring them back?’” she said.
Cordoba started what she calls her Diploma to Degrees Program, inspiring youth to pursue their education beyond high school. She said she added resources and curriculum that she’s been given or collected. She said two to three kids she started with has grown to seven to 10.
“It’s not that the kids aren’t smart or driven,” she said. But they may not
know of the possibilities that await them or of how to properly engineer a way to achieve them, she added.
One of Cordoba’s program participants, a seventh- grader, told her something she felt deserved repeating. The girl said, “I want to be an orthopedic surgeon.” Cordoba had a conversation with the girl and shared with her and the rest her online resources and prep books for the SAT and ACT pre-college tests.
Cordoba also devised and organized an event related to her program, calling it The Discovery of a Better Future Fair, planned for Aug. 16 at the West Boys & Girls Club at 930 Tulare St. Ruiz created her promotional flier. The event boasts a backpack raffle, academic resources, job
fair, military fitness classes with recruiters, health and wellness fair, art booth, games and dinner.
Cordoba said she used her resources and capitalized on getting help from those she’s met.
Ruiz and Cordoba have met quite a few people in their brief stint. But the highlight of their experience, the pair said, is the trip they took with about 280 others in the Bank of America internship program to Washington, D.C. on weeklong trip in early July. The bank called it a leadership summit and billed the experience as an opportunity to “build advocacy and inclusive leadership skills and develop a peer network.”
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