Page 9 - Reedley Exponent 2-22-18 E-edition

The Reedley Exponent BPanorama
RHS FCCLA chapter members earn honors at regional event See B8
Section | Thursday, February 22, 2018 www.reedleyexponent.com Reedley (Fresno County) CA 93654 Music driven
The View From Here
Throughout an academic year, the Kings Canyon Unified School District trustees hold their public meetings at dif- ferent campuses in the district. On Feb. 13, it was Alta El- ementary’s turn.
Felicia Cousart Matlosz
By Felicia Cousart Matlosz
felicia@midvalleypublishing.com
When Michael McGraw joined the Reedley High School music program as a band director this academic year, it was a full trans- plantation into the world of the Big Green Marching Machine.
But, for Jason Awbrey, also a new director this year, it was a re- turn to his musical roots. Born and raised in Reedley, he had been in the band as a teenager.
Together, Awbrey and McGraw are the newest leaders on the Pirate musical team, joining Lisa Dewhirst. She is a Reedley High graduate and former band member who returned in 2016-17 to be a band director after a previous stint from 2004 to 2007.
“We have some very, very talented kids. I think
our role as educators
is to motivate them to
work harder, to practice. Our biggest challenge is getting them to really take advantage of the talent they have."
– Lisa Dewhirst, one of the RHS band directors
The trio work alongside veter- an band directors Sam Gipson and Daniel Paulsen. In addition, Corey Dobbins is the Pirate band percus- sion tech, and Bill Davis is the color guard and winter guard tech.
Many RHS marching band fans look forward to the first half of the academic year when the student mu- sicians don their green uniforms and perform in halftime shows, parades and at other events. As always, the signature kick step is part of the tra- dition.
But the music doesn’t end when the busy marching band season is over – now, the students are involved
Vickie Nishida has been prin- cipal for 12 years at Alta, which celebrated its centennial in 2016. The campus, with grades kinder- garten through fifth, has 360 stu- dents. It’s located in the country- side northeast of Reedley.
Alta fifth-graders performed two songs for those who attended the meeting. The audience includ- ed proud parents and family mem- bers, who used their smartphones to capture the moment.
Later, Nishida talked about the support that the school re- ceives throughout the year. It’s an example of the kind of support that other KCUSD campuses also are given by community organi- zations, businesses and other en- tities.
Alta’s supporters include Save the Children, the international, non-governmental organization that focuses on the future and well-being of children in the Unit- ed States and worldwide.
This academic year, the Reed- ley Sunrise Kiwanis Club, with the Reedley Community Services Department, again teamed up for Touching Families that helps four families during the Christmas holiday season. An Alta family was one of those families.
The Knights of Columbus and Thiele Technologies each in 2017- 18 donated coats and jackets for Alta students.
And, the POM Wonderful company and the Wonderful Giv- ing program donated $500 to the school.
And, the school is one of five KCUSD elementary schools that is part of the Fresh Fruit and Veg- etables grant program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agri- culture and administered by the state of California.
In addition, Nishida said af- ter the meeting that facility im- provements have continued at the campus, including new shade structures and blacktop and a new electronic marquee sign.
Nishida said that “this partic- ular year has just been unbeliev- able as far as community support and gifts for our kids.”
Asked why, she said that she believes people who have connec- tions and ties to the school and fond memories have been gener- ous: “It’s just been amazing, I have to say.”
In this week’s Exponent, I have a story about the Feb. 15
See COLUMN page B2
Felicia Cousart Matlosz / The Exponent
The newest band directors at Reedley High School are (from left) Michael McGraw and Jason Awbrey, who started in 2017-18, and Lisa Dewhirst, who returned in 2016. She previously was a RHS band director from 2004 to 2007. The trio work alongside veteran band directors Sam Gipson and Daniel Paulsen as well as Corey Dobbins, the band percussion tech, and Bill Davis, the color guard and winter guard tech.
RHS' newest band directors bring their talents to the program
lives since they were youngsters. Dewhirst, 43, is the daughter of Jim Blied, who for years was a teacher, coach and administrator in the Kings Canyon Unified School District. She started in music in the fifth grade, “and I was horrible,” she said. Her mother, the late Sue Blied, said Lisa needed to learn a “C instru- ment” because she played the piano and wanted her daughter to accom-
pany her.
See RHS MUSIC page B8
Transition continues to online registration
Staff Report
The city’s Community Services Department continues to acquaint the public with its new online regis- tration for classes and activities.
In the past, people had to drop in at the Reedley Community Center, 100 N. East Ave., to register for a class or program and then pay the fee. Staff members couldn’t take registration over the phone or credit card information.
Now, community services rep- resentatives hope the online sys- tem will be more convenient for the many people who participate in everything from sports leagues to year-round water activities to youth classes, such as tumbling and cheer.
And, if you don’t have a smart- phone, tablet or home computer, you can still come to the office at the Reedley Community Center. A staff member will assist you in setting up an account on one of the office’s ki- osks for registration.
Whether it’s at a kiosk or your own device, the process to set up an account should take only about five minutes.
At this point, there are two pro- grams that aren’t part of online reg- istration: the Junior Giants youth baseball program and the annual Rabobank Fiesta Walk/Run.
Sarah Reid, superintendent and interim director of the Reedley Com-
See ONLINE page B7
The staff at the Reedley Community Center can help you
with online registration and setting up an account through
one of their laptops at the center, 100 N. East Ave.
Felicia Cousart Matlosz / The Exponent
Friends of Library
used book sale
set for March 10
Staff Report
Looking for a good book to read?
The Friends of the Reedley Library will have a used book sale on Saturday, March 10.
The sale will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the parking lot of the library, 1027 E St.
The used book sale features books received as donations to the Friends of the Reedley Library, which also has a bookcase in the library to display books for sale. The books include fiction and nonfiction in hardcovers, trade paper- backs, smaller mass-market paper- books, and children’s books.
Meanwhile, the Friends organi- zation welcomes more donations for future sales. Donated books can be brought to the library. For more infor- mation, call the library at (559) 638- 2818.
in different ensembles. They’re re- hearsing and competing in festivals and preparing for year-end concerts.
Awbrey said it almost feels busi- er the second half of the year.
Dewhirst put it this way: “You’ve just taken this huge marching ma- chine and broken it down to these little ensembles, which means actu- ally we are busier because there are more groups to focus on.”
For example, Dewhirst is direct- ing the RHS triad band. She also is assisting Davis with the 20-mem-
ber winter guard, which earlier this month won first place in its division in the South Valley Winter Arts As- sociation competition in Hanford. It was the RHS winter guard’s first contest of the season.
McGraw and Awbrey are co-di- recting the intermediate band. Aw- brey also is assisting Dobbins with the winter percussion line. (Paulsen oversees the symphonic band, and Gipson oversees the concert band.)
For Dewhirst, Awbrey and Mc- Graw, music has been part of their
St. La Salle fourth-graders study missions
Each year at St. La Salle Catholic School, the fourth- graders’ lessons include studying about the 21 Spanish missions of California. Catholic priests of the Franciscan order established the missions from 1769 to 1833.
Some of the fourth-grade students visited the mis- sions that became their models for class projects. The students used materials that included cardboard, foam, popsicle sticks, and items like photographs or small decorative bells and animal figures from hobby stores. The models were on display during the recent Catholic Schools Week. The fourth-grade teacher is Cassandra Bondoc.
TOP: St. La Salle fourth-grader Daniella Lopez is seen with her model of Mission San Francisco Solano. The mission, in Sonoma, was the last of the 21 missions to be built. Daniella said she had visited the mission with her family.
See more photos on B8.
Photos by Felicia Cousart Matlosz / The Exponent