Page 2 - Reedley Exponent 5-31-18 E-edition

The Reedley Exponent A2 Thursday, May 31, 2018
Students’ work blooms at Kings Canyon HS community garden
Produce from garden
goes to help families
in need in KSUSD
By Jon Earnest
jon@midvalleypublishing.com
Kings Canyon High School ju- nior Shyanna Cooper said working in the campus’ community garden is a highlight to her school day.
“It helps me to clear my mind. It’s like a stress reliever,” said the 17-year-old Reedley resident.
It’s the second full year of the continuation school’s community garden, which was created through the Community Life Garden of Reedley, Dinuba and Orange Cove. The Kings Canyon Unified School District’s grant writing committee helped secure $2,000 through the Whole Kids Foundation, which as- sists the garden — located at the north end of campus — with finan- cial aid and support.
“We do some maintenance in the winter, but it’s in the spring when we try to get things going,” said Randy Bessey, director of Kings Canyon High School. “We’ll have tomatoes and peppers this year. Onions and ci- lantro, too. All those we will harvest before this school year is over.”
Cooper is joined by fellow juniors Jose Pulido of Reedley and Isaac Castillo of Orange Cove as part of the resource student program gardening crew for the spring growing season. Caring for the garden is integrated
Primary election set
for June 5
Staff Report
Registered voters in Reedley are reminded that the 2018 California Primary election is Tuesday, June 5. Be sure to vote at your local precinct or by mail.
The polls will open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. on election day. Contact the Fresno County Elections office for precinct loca- tions.
Races to be voted on in the June primary include California governor and the 22nd Congressional District race. the top two vote fin- ishers in the primary will advance to the November general election, regardless of party.
Elections for Reedley City Council and Kings Can- yon Unified School District trustee positions will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 6.
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FRED HALL ............................................................................. Publisher JON EARNEST..............................................................................Editor CHRIS AGUIRRE .............................................................. Sports Editor FELICIA COUSART MATLOSZ..................................Panorama Editor DEBRA LEAK........................................................................Marketing JANIE LUCIO.....................................................................Advertising DUBY TREVINO..............................................................Graphic Artist CLINTON ANTONIO......................................................Graphic Artist TOM MONTIJO..............................................................Graphic Artist KATE ISAAK................................................................ Classified Sales STACY HAWKINS .............................................................Accounting ROSEMARY OCHOA........................................................Accounting
The Reedley Exponent (USPS 458-860) is published weekly on Thursdays for $20 a year, $24.50 other areas and $26.50 out-of-state by Mid-Valley Publishing Inc., 1130 G St., Reedley, CA 93654. Periodicals postage paid at Sanger, CA 93657. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Reedley Exponent, 1130 G St., Reedley, CA 93654
The Reedley Exponent is one of Fresno County’s oldest newspapers. It was established in March, 1891, in the Knauer residence on the corner of what now is F and 11th streets. In about 1893, it moved to the building where it is still located. The newspaper’s office is at 1130 G St, Reedley, CA 93654, Phone (559) 638-2244.
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Jon Earnest / The Exponent
Kings Canyon High School juniors Shyanna Cooper, left, and Isaac Castillo recently cleared weeds around tomato plants in the school’s community garden.
Jon Earnest / The Exponent
Jose Pulido, a junior at Kings Canyon High School, weeded an area in the community garden at the campus. At left is the greenhouse built by students and volunteers, who also have built worm farms and benches around the garden.
into the students’ curriculum and students earn elective credits.
Pulido said fruit and vegetables have been taking root, and he is in charge of climbing and picking kum- quats in a small grove of trees.
“We pick up some fruit, and the next day I water the trees,” he said. “You get outside and get to work in the area.”
Castillo joined his classmates on the garden crew in March when he heard about the program during school announcements.
“I thought it might be interesting to try. Being outside is good,” he said. Cooper, Pulido and Castillo stay
busy pulling and raking weeds from the triangular plot inside a garden box. Student crews also have built worm farms, benches and a green- house.
“We first were going to put vegetables [in the greenhouse], but haven’t had an idea of what exactly we want,” Cooper said. “We’re think- ing colorful plants.”
Bernadette Sanchez, a social worker for KCUSD, said the school donates the food to local charities, such as Open Gate Ministries in Dinuba. Food also has been given to the Greater Orange Cove Cham- ber of Commerce and to needy lo-
cal families.
“They appreciate the help with
any kind of donations,” Sanchez said. “It gives [the students] a sense of purpose in knowing that their hard work is going to local families in their school district.”
Bessey said students also work with young children in a separate small garden, just west of the main garden.
“They bring the little ones out. It’s always kind of fun to watch them water and dig,” he said.
Bessey also acknowledged the
Community Life Garden for their help in starting the school’s gar- den. “They brought out some mas- ter teachers and kind of walked us through things. Especially with the trees,” he said.
Bessey said that while the school’s garden is coming along, there’s still work to do.
“Our goal is to have a summer program because that’s when the ma- jority of our harvest comes in,” he said. “We want to be able to provide more opportunities to donate fruit and vegetables to families.”
OROZCO Continued from page A1
taught us how to do certain things that really helped me with memorization,” she said. “The memorization skills I learned really helped me for human anatomy.”
Pizano said that Orozco al- ready had the ability to handle the workload in his class.
“It’s a very structured, very demanding class,” he said. “It’s time-consuming, especially if they want to do above and beyond things. She handled it with ease.”
Pizano called Orozco an “awesome” student, who is hard-working and determined to succeed.
“I don’t even want to use the word ‘overachiever,’ because she’s not,” he said. “She’s a top achiever.”
Orozco said if she had to pick a class that was a favor- ite and that she excelled in, it’s probably human anatomy.
“That was just something that really clicked with me. I was able to memorize it quick- ly,” she said. “Probably human anatomy and English, those are two subjects I’ve always done really well in. They al- ways sparked my interest and
Jon Earnest / The Exponent
Funeral Services
kind of steered me to what I want to do.”
Orozco said before Stan- ford offered a scholarship she seriously thought about attending UCLA on a Regents Scholarship. She also had been accepted to Duke University.
Orozco’s family moved to Reedley from Illinois when she was in sixth grade, and she attended Grant Middle School before Reedley High.
“Once I got the letter from Stanford, it was ‘I’m going to
Stanford,’” she said. Education always has been
ingrained in Orozco. She said her parents, Maria and Martin Orozco, wouldn’t allow her to get a grade lower than an A. Orozco said classmate older Gina Cedeno, the 2017 top valedictorian for RHS, was her biggest motivator.
“She really is the person that inspired me to even apply because I didn’t really believe in myself that I could go that far,” she said. “But I saw she
went to Princeton and Cornell. If she can do it, maybe I can, too.”
Other inspiring people have been the late Mother Te- resa — “I’ve always looked up to her and all that she’s done” — and her calculus teacher, Donald Friesen.
“He’s always been really supportive of me and he’s al- ways motivated me. His class is extremely hard,” she said.
Friesen said that in addi- tion to Orozco’s own high mo-
RATES Continued from page A1
drought rate structure is to not have to go through Prop 218 notice that old cost the city a substantial amount of money,” Robertson said of the state regulation.
Council Member Ray So- leno asked Robertson if the city will continue its code en- forcement for water runoff by residents. Robertson said strict enforcement will re- main in place.
The resolution approving the sewer rate increase means that the monthly charge for a
tivation, her work as a leader in Students for Peace has been a great achievement.
“Lorena’s such a com- passionate person,” he said. “I don’t know that I’ve ever meant anybody that felt per- sonally affected by other peo- ple’s oppression or hurt.”
When Orozco first started at RHS, she was reserved. Joining the tennis team helped her develop and open up.
See OROZCO on page A8
typical residential customer will rise from $50.54 per month to $51.80. The resolu- tion said that operation costs for sewage have increased 26.8 percent when it comes to disposal of biosolids. It also highlighted the 10 percent cost increase for polymer, a necessary compound for the city’s Waste Water Treatment Plant.
Also, the council approved on a 4-0 vote an engineer’s report establishing the 2018- 19 fiscal year annual assess- ments for landscaping and lighting of District 1 (consist- ing of 21 zones) in the city.
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Pictured are valedictorians and salutatorians for Reedley High: In the front row (from left) are Anne K. Ayers, Lorena Orozco, Marco Leyva Zarate, Greg Quintanilla, Samuel Escareno, Elidet Martinez, Brianna Celeste Rodriguez and Maria Luna Gonzalez. In the middle row (from left) are Neli Licea-Hernandez, Rosa Corcoles, Maria Luna Gonzalez, Jasmine Mejia, Claire Kaprielian-Santos, Samantha Molina, Brianna Yanez, Janet Rodriguez, Julissa Sanchez, Paige Linss, Vanessa Barragan, Kiara Henry and Brissa Reyes. In the top row (from left) are Cynthia Delgado, Robert Pimentel, Michael Ito, Jacob Anthony Peters, Jonathan O. Valdez, Daniel Badilla, Robert Reitz. Not pictured are valedictorians Ignacio Herrejon and Victor Garcia.
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