Page 9 - Reedley Exponent 3-15-18 E-edition

The Reedley Exponent BPanorama
Section | Thursday, March 15, 2018 www.reedleyexponent.com
St. La Salle earns awards at Academic Decathlon
See B8
Reedley (Fresno County) CA 93654
Jefferson
students
know it all
starts with
'Hello'
Staff Report
Recently at Jefferson Elemen- tary, the afterschool program fo- cused on a simple, friendly gesture that can go a long way – just say- ing “hello.”
In fact, the program was called “Start with Hello Week.”
“The big focus was that a sim- ple ‘hello’ could make a big differ- ence in someone’s life,” said Maira Lopez, afterschool program coor- dinator at Jefferson. Community Youth Ministries administers the afterschool program at the cam- pus for the Kings Canyon Unified School District.
“In conjunction with the school, we decided to have a week that focused on the importance of including others and being more aware of others’ feelings,” Lopez said.
The goal is to keep youngsters connected and involved and to build their self-esteem and confi- dence. All this also enhances their abilities to succeed in school.
Mary Ann Carousso, admin- istrator for student services for KCUSD, said the concept for “Start with Hello Week” grew out of the suicide prevention curricu- lum that the district put into place this academic year. A state law – Assembly Bill 2246 – went into effect in 2017-18. The state wants public school districts to have poli- cies for seventh to 12th grades to address prevention, intervention and post-help.
“Our district has definitely become part of the movement of concern for the social emotional health of our children,” said Ca- rousso, noting that the district has increased its professionals in this area from nine to 32. Each KCUSD campus is served by a profession- al.
The “hello” week, “is such a very simple concept, to think of being kind enough to those isolated folks around us, who just need to feel like they belong,” Carousso said. “In our fast-paced, highly technological world, we need re-
See HELLO WEEK page B8
Bidding one and all
The Rotary Club's annual Auction and Dinner is set for March 17
By Felicia Cousart Matlosz
felicia@midvalleypublishing.com
Each year, the Rotary Club of Reedley makes sure its major fundraiser – an auction and dinner – is a lighthearted affair with unique auction of- ferings that, at the same time, generates a strong sense of community to support worthy causes.
And, the atmosphere for this year's event is enhanced by the date – Saturday, March 17, the same as St. Patrick’s Day.
Doors open at 5 p.m. at the Reedley Commu- nity Center, 100 N. East Ave. The buffet dinner is at 5:30 p.m. The evening includes entertainment and live and silent auctions.
The longtime co-chair team of Robert Hue- bert, Jean Clemons, Chuck Bohn and Rod Harms have helped coordinate another roster of appeal- ing auction items. There are no animals this time (the event is known for the cute animals that have been featured in years past), but there are plenty of other items that will be hard to resist. They include:
• A Vera Wang white gold diamond ring (with a certificate of authenticity)
• A Sgt. Pepper’s style baseball jersey from the Fresno Grizzlies Triple-A baseball team
See ROTARY page B2
LEFT: Chuck Bohn, one of the co-chairs of the an- nual Reedley Rotary Club Auction and Dinner, is seen with
an auction item for
the March 17 event at the Reedley Community Center. It's
a custom- made bench crafted with a truck tail- gate.
Photo Contributed
LEFT: Robert Huebert, also a co- chair of the Rotary's annual Auc- tion and Dinner, shows another auction item – a Sgt. Pepper's stylebaseballjersey fromthe Fresno Grizzlies Triple-A base- ball team.
Felicia Cousart Matlosz / The Exponent
RIGHT: The March 17 auction also will include this Vera Wang white gold diamond ring.
Photo Contributed
Washington welcomes book donation
Photo Contributed
Roseanna Lopez, a bilingual instruc- tional aide at Jefferson Elementary School and an afterschool program staff member, shows her poster with its message for Jefferson students during "Start with Hello Week."
By Felicia Cousart Matlosz
felicia@midvalleypublishing.com
At Washington Elementary School on Feb. 20, the donation of more than 3,000 books delighted the students, who would get to take them home and read them as often as they want.
The books were contributed by Save the Children, and fourth- grade students in teacher Barbara Ramos’ class said they appreciated all the new books. For them, the titles included “Kubo: The Junior Novel,” “Star Wars: Lightsabers,” a “Minions” book, and “Secret Identity Crisis.”
As Aliaz Rodriguez said: “I was happy because I like to read.”
“By providing books
to children, families
and schools, we share
and encourage an appreciation for reading that will hopefully continue throughout their life.”
– Michel Schneider, California State Director for Save the Children
Save the Children is an inter- national and non-governmental organization that focuses on the future and well-being of children in the United States and around the world. Washington Elementary has had a partnership with the or- ganization for more than a decade.
In addition, a total of 10,986 books were donated to four other campuses in the Kings Canyon Unified School District: Alta and Jefferson elementary schools in Reedley and McCord and Sheri- dan elementary schools in Orange Cove.
Washington Elementary School recently accepted a donation of more than 3,000 books from the Save the Children organization.
ABOVE: These kindergarten students in teacher Madeline Rahal's class show off their new books, which they could take home. Rahal isatthetopatthefarright. Seenjusttotheleftofherinthephoto is Veronica Diaz, early childhood coordinator for Save the Children at Washington Elementary.
At the far left (from top to bottom) are Fernando Calix, with Wash- ington's afterschool program; Veronica Lopez, Washington's learn- ing director; and Joanna Lemus, the school's afterschool program site leader.
LEFT: Kindergarten students Lexxei Aguayo (left) and Annabella Mendez share a smile as they look at one of the new books.
Felicia Cousart Matlosz / The Exponent
The View From Here
Felicia Cousart Matlosz's column will
return.
See BOOKS page B5