Page 11 - Sanger Herald 5-17-18 E-edition

Lifestyles
SANGER HERALD • 3B • THURSDAY, MAY 17, 2018
First class at Sanger High completes Wonderful ag program
Sanger
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
When Ernesto Lara graduates, he’s going to work.
No fancy senior trip. No brand new Mercedes with a big bow on the roof. Probably not even a week of sitting around the house getting up after noon.
“The plan is to go to work for Pom (the Wonderful Co.) for a year, then go back and get my welding certificate,” Lara said.
Lara was among 51 students to complete the Wonderful Ag Prep Program at Sanger High. The group is the first to have gone all the way through the program. The students participated in
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Sanger High recognized the first class of graduates to complete ag prep program.
and technical education pathways, which operate through grants and industry partnerships. The connection to Reedley College is one of duel enrollment in which Reedley instructors and professors worked with Sanger students to achieve their college requirements while attending high school.
The achievement for those two dozen with college degrees shaves off a couple years’ worth of credits from a four-year degree.
“They’re going to do awesome things,” said Kirstin Coronado, an assistant principal at the high school. And to the assembled group of
students she added, “You are the first four-year pathway completers.”
Matt Canaday, a curriculum support provider overseeing the program, said it will continue. “We are ecstatic things are working out as planned.”
Chacon said the Wonderful Co. invested about $2 million into the operation and the school matched that.
Three seniors on Erica Pennington’s softball team will receive the two- year degree — Ashley Mata, Vanessa Leon and Stephanie Herring.
Mata said she plans to be an obstetrician,
See Pathway, Page 2B
the school’s ag pathway for either Plant Science or Ag Mech.
“The first graduating class,” said Dan Chacon, Sanger High principal in the school’s multipurpose room May 8. And he said it wasn’t
easy as 24 of them will receive associates degrees from Reedley College, which participated in the educational partnership. “We pushed them, and they pushed themselves. I’m just amazed they finished their
56 units.”
The 24 will receive a
two-year degree presented at the Reedley College graduation ceremony May 18 at the college.
The program is one of the high school’s career
Tom Flores tours Sanger schools
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Tom Flores walked into what was the auto shop back in his days in the classroom.
The massive room at the former Sanger High still had the rollup doors in the back and the high ceilings, but the students skewed a little younger — middle instead of high-school aged — and the tool bench traded box wrenches for sanding blocks and other implements in a class focused on engineering.
Anjeanette Zapata, a seventh-grader, explained, with a smile on her face knowing this man had history and his name on the stadium behind her school, what exactly she and her fellow students were doing. And that involved making a complex, multi- piece wooden box in Mike Watkins’ class.
And that’s what Flores got a lot of — friendly smiles, shy smiles and outright grins. Most of those adorned the faces of the adults too starstruck to ask for a signature or posed photo with the man who wore one of his four Super Bowl rings.
But Flores didn’t mind. He engaged every student, shared a word selflessly with every fan and generally indulged the residents of his home town.
Mairany Quiroz, a seventh-grader in Yanelly Torres’ art class, was impressed. “Umm,”
What To Do When You Feel You Are Sinking — Part 2
We have been looking at storms we all face in life. So far, we have covered No. 1: Have COURAGE because Jesus is with you! No. 2: Take a Risk in Faith. “If you want to walk on water you’ve got to get out of the boat.”
This week we discuss No. 3: Stay Focused on Jesus. This is what you need to do if you’re sinking.
Don’t get your eyes on anything else. Keep your eyes on the Lord. Because the moment you get your eyes off the Lord, you’re going under. This is what happened to Peter. In verse 30 it says, “But when Peter
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Tom Flores shakes the hand of Sebastian Alvarez in principal Sam Polanco's office.
uniforms. Three students wore the Tigers orange and grinned as they spoke to the crowd over the microphone. Flores reminded them that he attended grade school just blocks away at Wilson Elementary, that once, years ago, he was just like them.
Sebastian Alvarez, 15, got to spend a couple minutes with Flores in Polanco’s office, one of about a half dozen to get signatures or photos. “What a great experience meeting Tom Flores,” he said. “Like a dream. Got my hat signed and a picture with him. Kind of amazing.”
And Alvarez wore a Raiders jersey.
Many wore Raiders gear.
Flores, 81, earned the distinction of being the first Latino quarterback in pro football when he got the starting job with the Raiders in 1960. He played six years for the Raiders, went on to coach the team and won Super Bowl victories in 1980 and 1983. Last year, he fell, fracturing his nose and vertebra. He also received 13 stitches above his eye.
He told Mike Hannigan and Pete Filippi, who accompanied him on the schools tour, he brought a cane along because of some lingering unsteadiness.
But that didn’t slow him down. Upon walking into Washington Academic Middle School, where he was greeted by principal Leo Castillo and the leadership class, who
Never listen to opinions in the boat when God tells you to get out of the boat. If God tells you to do it, it’s going to work. But just make sure, it is the Lord, who told you to do it. When I trust instead of think, I walk — on water — instead of sink. You need to stop thinking and start trusting. Just come to the Lord and ask him. Your primary need here is the Lord. If you want to change your life, it’s simple — change your focus. Stop focusing on how you are going to solve your problems and start spending time with the Lord. You need to listen to the Lord.
If you’re spending more time reading the newspaper, listening to talk radio, watching the stock
treated him like royalty, he spotted a rather tall employee. The young man looked like he had trouble fitting through the front doors of the old Sanger High.
“You oughta recruit that guy,” Flores said.
Members of the leadership class all had to know at least one fact about Flores to be allowed to meet him, the students’ instructor said.
And Evan Cortes, an eighth-grader, knew his stuff. “His most successful season was 1966 when he passed for 2,638 yards,” Cortes said. “For the Raiders.”
Flores completed 151 of 306 passes that year for 24 touchdowns.
The last stop was Sanger High. Principal Dan Chacon shook his hand and pointed out the gold commemorative Tom Flores football in the glass display case.
And Chuck Shidan, former Apache football coach, and Jorge Pena, current Apache football coach, welcomed Flores into their classrooms.
“Being in Sanger, everyone knows Tom Flores,” Shidan said. “Just look at the excitement in the room.”
It was hard to miss. And it was pretty contagious.
The reporter can be contacted by email at nemethfeatures@gmail.com or by phone at the Herald at (559) 875-2511.
reports and everything on television that’s going wrong, instead of spending time in the word of God, you’re sinking. You’re going to fill your mind with either truth — the word of God, which sets you free, or you’re going to fill your mind with all kinds of negative stuff.
You are going to look at the problem or you’re going to look at the solver. Stay focused on Jesus.
Next Week: Don’t Doubt — Put Your Faith in Jesus.
Pastor Sam Estes is city advance director and facilitates the Sanger Community Task Force that meets the first and third Tuesdays every month. He can be reached at pastorsam51@gmail.com.
she said, responding to a question of what it was like to meet the man. “It was really cool meeting someone who’s accomplished so much.”
Minutes after Flores left Watkins’ class, the entourage surrounding the former NFL quarterback, coach and general manager encountered custodian Daniel Gamez, himself a legend, at least on school grounds. Gamez appeared a bit more animated than usual. Downright excited.
The two shared words, mostly Gamez talked. And Flores continued on. He had another stop at the high school.
“He’s a legend,” Gamez said. “He comes to the
looked around at the high waves, he was terrified, and he began to sink, ‘Save me, Lord!’ he shouted.”
This verse is filled with truth. First, it says when Peter looked around. Every time you start looking at your circumstances, you’re going down. If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed.
If you look at Christ, you’ll be at rest. It’s all in where you put your focus. Peter looked around.
When you’re going through a storm, don’t look around and focus just on your problems. If somebody says, “How are you doing?” and you say, “So far so good, under the circumstances.”
What are you doing
community.”
And Gamez said he’s a
Rams fan. That little fact didn’t dim the celebrity for him, however.
At Jefferson Elementary earlier that morning, principal Sam Polanco met Flores on the sidewalk out front. The two shook hands, and Polanco led the football legend and future NFL hall of fame inductee into a welcoming committee comprised of what appeared to be the entire student body, arrayed out on the lawns of the inner courtyard facing the school office.
The children kept their conversations under wraps. In fact, they barely made a sound as Flores and his
wife, Barbara, took a seat at the front of the gathering.
“It was definitely a neat experience for our students and I,” said Polanco in an email after the event. “Students know the name Tom Flores from Tom Flores Stadium. Now, after this event, they can put a face to it.
“As they get older, they will have the memory of that event. When Tom Flores gets selected to the NFL Hall of Fame, they will be able to say, ‘I remember the day he came to our school.’”
Jefferson students thanked Flores and his wife for the money donated to the school through the Tom Flores Foundation for
PASTOR’S CORNER
under your circumstances? God never meant for you to be under your circumstances. He wants you to be on top of them. He wants you to be an overcomer.
Pastor Sam Estes
looking at? If you look at your problems, you’re sinking. What caused Peter to look around when he’s walking toward Jesus? That had to be so cool. He’s walking on water
Circumstances are like a mattress. You get on top, you rest easy. You get underneath, you’re going to suffocate. Peter looked around.
What changed? Nothing. Same waves, same storm, same darkness, same boat, same Jesus, same Peter. One moment he’s walking on water, and the next moment he’s going down.
What’s the only difference? What is Peter looking at. What are you
to the Lord. Now suddenly, he looks around. Someone suggested maybe someone in the boat called out. “Peter you can’t do that!” Like doubting Thomas!
There will always be people in the boat that tell you it can’t be done. They’re not going to get out of the boat. They’re going to sit back and criticize you for doing it. “You can’t do that Peter. Don’t you know, nobody can walk on water? It’s impossible!”