Page 7 - Mid Valley Times 3-4-21 E-edition

Thursday, March 4, 2021
Reedley's 'Junior Chamber' members learn about city By Juanita Adame
The View From Here
I have learned that in my career field, multi- tasking is an essen- tial skill. It’s also something
Juanita Adame
Mid Valley Times
The city of Reedley’s coun- cil chamber was filled with a variety of students from Reedley High School, Reedley Middle College High School and even UC Santa Cruz on the afternoon of Feb. 24. "These are our Junior Cham- ber members,” said Erik Va- lencia, the executive direc- tor for the Greater Reedley Chamber of Commerce. “We have 36 students representing 6 different schools participat- ing in the program.”
Valencia said the goal of the meeting was to provide the students with an under- standing of how the city of Reedley operates.
The speaker for the meet- ing was Nicole Zieba, city manager for Reedley.
“I do appreciate you com- ing to city hall, and the reason I asked Erik if we could attend in person is because when you sit in this chamber, there is a presence about it that you would not get if we did this over Zoom,” Zieba said. “It
LEFT: Nicole Zieba, Reedley's city manager presented how the city operates to Junior Chamber students on the after- noon of Feb. 24 at the Reedley City Council chambers.
BOTTOM: More than 20 stu- dents from various schools in Reedley and outside of Reed- ley attended the presentation and asked questions in regards to how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the city.
Juanita Adame / Mid Valley Times
I, along with many report- ers have learned to master. So on the afternoon of
Feb. 24, as I fidgeted with my camera gear, I also happened to be picking up on part of Nicole Zieba’s presentation to the Junior Council members in Reed- ley. Zieba is Reedley’s city manager.
In between checking the sound on one of the mic’s on my camera, Nicole said something so poignant, that I quickly recorded it on my phone and sent the clip to my daughter.
“I was born in East L.A,” Zieba said. “On the wrong side of the tracks. My dad worked in a carpet facto- ry and my mom stayed at home, I knew that I didn’t want to live the way I had been living.”
Zieba talked about want- ing better for herself and education was the way to go. My daughter is in her last semester at Fresno City College, she earned Deans List during her first semes- ter and then COVID-19 hit. She has been taking online classes since then, but is determined to continue her education.
I always find ways to keep her inspired. Her ma- jor is Sociology and she has been accepted to several schools throughout Califor- nia, still deciding on which one to attend. As her mom, I prefer her close to home, but I also have to allow her to find her own path.
“Back then we had what’s known as govern- ment cheese,” Zieba said. “I didn’t want to eat gov- ernment cheese and I didn’t want to wear hand me downs from my cousins, I wanted to get out of that cycle and I knew that edu- cation was the way to do it.”
This part of her presen- tation stood out to me be- cause I decided to go back to school after I had my daughter. Times were not easy for us. I was a single mom, I worked part time and attended school.
I told my daughter back then that I wanted to better myself, and I wanted to bet- ter us. She was only about 6-7 years old at the time but she understood and told me she wanted to also “stay in school.”
It was interesting to see the students listening to Zieba’s presentation. They, just like my daughter, are intent on advancing their educations and careers.
would be hard to understand the magnitude and the for- mality of what we do as a city, when we try to serve you as residents, you wouldn’t get that magnitude unless you’re sitting in here.”
Zieba talked to students about how local tax dollars are split throughout the state of California, and also answered questions from students in re- gards to COVID-19 pandemic and how the city handled it.
Sanger Firefighters help with vaccine clinics
Photo Courtesy / Sanger Firefighters Association
Sanger Firefighter / EMT, Hieu Pham assisted with a COVID-19 vac- cine clinic at Sanger High's West campus on Fowler Avenue. The event took place on March 1 and was hosted by United Health Cen- ters of the San Joaquin Valley.
Faculty and staff welcome back Reedley High Pirates
Danny Jimenez / Photo Contributed
Gloria Valencia, Learning Director at Reedley High School showed her Pirate pride while she welcomed back students on the morn- ing of March 2, after nearly one year of distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dinuba, Reedley, and Sanger students all named to Deans List
at Biola University
Contributed
Students from Sanger, Dinuba, and Reedley have all been named to the Deans List at Biola University.
Jami Cuevas and Sara Friesen, both from Dinuba, as well as Annlyn Haworth from Reedley and Jaque- line Navarro from Sanger earned the honor for the fall 2020 semester at the college.
"This honor signifies hard work, engagement, and investment in scholar-
ship," said Tamara Ander- son, Associate Provost of Academic Effectiveness and Administration. "These attributes are the building blocks of continued success not only in the classroom but in the workplace and in the student's personal lives. We celebrate these students and their achievements, and look forward to their future accomplishments."
According to informa- tion from the university, Biola is a nationally ranked Christian college in South- ern California.
Photo of the week
Contributed
A photo of this smiling birthday boy named Jayvin, who turned 5 years old on Feb. 15, was sent in by his mother Ruby Guerrero. Have a photo you'd like featured? Email juanita@midvalley- publishing.com.