Page 9 - Reedley Exponent 3-1-18 E-edition

The Reedley Exponent BPanorama
Section | Thursday, March 1, 2018 www.reedleyexponent.com
RHS FCCLA and campus clubs help Leukemia-Lymphoma effort See B10
Reedley (Fresno County) CA 93654
Battle of the Books
Navelencia wins championship for KCUSD middle school grades
The View From Here
Anytime I have an oppor- tunity to focus on books, it’s an opportunity that I grab.
In this sec-
tion of Pan-
orama, I have a
story about the
Third Annual
Battle of the
Books for sixth-
to eighth-graders in the Kings Canyon Unified School District. It’s a spirited event for young- sters who have read – apart from their regular studies – books from a list of 24. Teams have to answer questions based on details from the books.
I wanted to give you examples from the list, to show the types of books that can engage young people and help spark a love for reading that lasts a lifetime.
Here are just a few of the books on the list:
• “Walk Two Moons” (1994)
Photo / The Exponent
This is the back of a T-shirt for teams from T.L. Reed School at the annual Battle of the Books on Feb. 23. A num- ber of schools now design fun T-shirts for the event.
by Sharon Creech. The book won the 1995 Newbery Medal, which is awarded each year by the As- sociation for Library Service to Children (a division of the Ameri- can Library Association) “to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American litera- ture for children.” The book cov- ers a lot of themes and includes a relationship between a daughter and a mother.
• “A Single Shard” (2002) by Linda Sue Park. This also is a Newbery Medal winner and is a story set in 12th century Korea.
• “A Ring of Endless Light” (1980) by Madeleine L’Engle. This was a Newbery Honor book, cen- tered on the story of a young girl struggling to understand life as her grandfather is dying.
Those who assisted at the Battle of the Books included mem- bers of the Reedley High School Book Club. They will compete at the high school “battle” on April 9 at Fresno Pacific University.
The RHS teams since 2014 have done well against other high schools in the event that draws from the Fresno area. They’ve placed as high as second and third.
A look at this year’s list of 27
See COLUMN page B2
By Felicia Cousart Matlosz
felicia@midvalleypublishing.com
By the time the Battle of the Books championship round was held on Feb. 23, Navelencia Middle School was guaranteed the top tro- phy – two of its teams were in the finals.
And, when it was over, the Na- velencia Valencias won the third an- nual event for middle school grades over the Navelencia Patriots by answering just one more question correctly.
Third place went to the Dunlap School BobCats, who won the cham- pionship last year. The BobCats on Feb. 23 competed against The Stranger Ones of T.L. Reed School for the third-place trophy.
“Our goal is to develop lifelong readers.”
– Dawn Linhoff, Reedley High School librarian
Paula Preheim, coordinator of libraries for the Kings Canyon Uni- fied School District, said this was the first year that every KCUSD campus with sixth through eighth grades participated in the event. The 2018 edition had 13 teams, for a total of 79 students.
Meanwhile, the Navelencia stu- dents, who had three teams at the Battle of the Books, were thrilled.
“We were all super pumped this morning,” Jessica Craig, Navelencia librarian, said immediately after the event held at Reedley High School. The third team was name Navelen- cia Navel.
“Before we came, I told them
The Navelencia Middle School Valencias team won the 2018 Battle of the Books Champi- onship on Feb. 23 for middle grades in the Kings Canyon Unified School District.
They are (from left in the top row) Christian Ferman (alternate), Christopher Avila, Jazmine Ramos, Cielo Reynaga and Emily Medina. In the front
are (from left) Alexa Valdez, team captain Cole Smither, and Jessica Craig, Navelen- cia librarian and coach.
Felicia Cousart Matlosz / The Exponent
on the winning Valencias team, said she enjoys reading but that this ac- tivity has spurred her to be even “more motivated to read.”
What’s more, she plans to join the Reedley High Book Club when she’s a freshman this next academic year. That group competes in a Battle of
See BOOKS page B10
Felicia Cousart Matlosz
there was no reason we can’t win first, second and third. I told them we were technically going against each other, but we’re still a team. We’ll still go for each other, and we’re still happy for each other no matter what happens.”
“Right now, they’re super excit- ed,” Craig said, beaming a big smile. She also said she wanted to ex- press her appreciation to Navelencia
Principal Jennifer McConnon Lueva- no, the school’s teachers and staff as well as to Preheim and KCUSD for their support for Battle of the Books.
Before the championship match, Patriots team member Jennifer Gar- cia said that she felt “we’ve been do- ing really good. I’ve grown closer to my teammates, and I really like that.”
Emily Medina, an eighth-grader
RHS hosts CMEA festival March 6-7
Photo Contributed
These are the members of the Reedley High School Concert Band that will perform at the annual California Music Educators Association Large Group Festival hosted March 6 and 7 by the RHS music program. The event is free and open to the community in the RHS Performing Arts Theatre.
Staff Report
The sounds of young musicians will fill the Reedley High School Performing Arts Theatre on March 6 and 7 when the campus’ Pirate mu- sic program hosts the annual CMEA Large Group Festival.
This event is held during the time of year when students in large marching bands, such as RHS’ Big Green Marching Machine, perform in smaller ensembles. CMEA stands for California Music Educators As- sociation.
The two days of performances are free. The community is invited
to attend.
The Tuesday, March 6, schedule
will be 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Wednes- day, March 7, schedule will be 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
In addition to musicians from sixth to 12th grades in the Kings Canyon Unified School District, oth- er bands will be coming from school districts including Clovis Unified, Sanger Unified, Fresno Unified, Cen- tral Unified and Selma Unified.
The groups will include sym- phonic bands, concert bands and wind ensembles.
The students will play before
four professional music judges, who will evaluate the performances and award ratings.
Here is the schedule for KCUSD bands:
Tuesday, March 6:
• 8:30 a.m. – Reedley High School Triad Band
• 8:55 a.m. – T.L. Reed School In- termediate Band
• 9:45 a.m. – Dunlap School Con- cert Band
• 10:10 a.m. – Riverview School Seventh Grade Band
• 10:35 a.m. – Grant Middle School Concert Band
• 12:45 p.m. – Riverview School 7/8 Band
• 1:35 p.m. – Grant Middle School Advanced Band
• 3 p.m. – Navelencia Middle School Band
Wednesday, March 7:
• 8 a.m. – Reedley High School Concert Band
• 8:30 a.m. – Reedley High School Symphonic Band
• 9 a.m. – Silas Bartsch School Band
• 9:30 a.m. – T.L. Reed School Ad- vanced Band
Highlights from Reedley College board report for February
Contributed
Here are highlights from the Reedley College board report for February:
ACCREDITATION UPDATE
We are writing a special edition of MOR in Motion, focused on our ac- creditation guests who will be here March 5-8.
The proposed content of the issue includes an overview; schedule; team members and their bios; dates and times for an open forum; and more.
Accreditation ensures that Reed- ley Collge meets standards and effi-
ciently uses the resources it receives.
Reedley Middle College
High School
• The Reedley Middle College
High School coordinator and stu- dents have been conducting outreach presentations at all local Kings Can- yon Unified School District cam- puses that have eighth grades. Once done, more than 750 students will have received information about RMCHS.
• Parent Nights for the 2018-19 year were held at Reedley College on Feb. 8 and in Orange Cove on Feb. 6.
• RMCHS 11th-grade students
visited Cal-State Pomona on Jan. 12, and RMCHS 10th-graders visited Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo on Feb. 16.
• The FFA Natural Resources team participated in the annual Mid- Winter FFA Field Day at Reedley College on Jan. 27.
• The ReACT (Regional Advo- cates Countering Tobacco) made a
presentation to the KCUSD govern- ing board on Jan. 23. They described the research and work that led to an amendment to the city of Reedley or- dinance concerning smoking in pub- lic areas. Language now also will in- clude no e-cigarettes or vaping pens.
• The Skills USA team attended the regional competition Feb. 2-3 in Paso Robles. The team showcased their entrepreneurship projects that include wallets and soaps.
• RMCHS was a partner and par- ticipant in the Second Annual Youth Summit on Feb. 3 at Reedley College, held in conjunction with the Padres Como Compañeros Conference.
The conference hosted nearly 300 youngsters and was supported by many community partners, includ- ing Adventist Health, United Health Centers, the California Health Col- laborative Lock It Up Project, Reed- ley Police Department, Community Youth Ministries, and the Boys and Girls Club.
KUDOS
Reedley College ranked No. 2 in the state – Reedley College officials and staff were elated to learn that schools.com awarded the college a
See RC REPORT page B2