Page 9 - Reedley Exponent 3-28-19 E-edition

The Reedley Exponent PB anorama The latest news and events in the senior community See B2 Section | Thursday, March 28, 2019 www.reedleyexponent.com KCUSD maintenance does it again Reedley (Fresno County) CA 93654 The View From Here Joseph Gonzalez is a huge inspi- ration to his team. Joseph is the Kings Canyon Unfi- ied School Dis- trict's mainte- nance director and last week I met with him and his team for a second time after they reached their sec- ond goal. That goal was two years of no work related injuries or ac- cidents. Congratulations every- one! This time around I was able to meet more of the maintenance team. I first interviewed Joseph back in September. 2018. At that time they were celebrating 500-plus days of zero work related acci- dents. I told Joseph at the time, "If you guys reach the next milestone, please give me a call." I remember him telling me at the time, there is no "if" We'll call you "when" (he emphasized the when) it happens. I was happy to hear from the team again. And again I went back to help them celebrate their occa- sion. This time around, Joseph and Frank Carillo, the custodial su- pervisor introduced me to sev- eral more of the guys. The first time around I'd only met Daniel Ramirez. This time however, I met a few more team members including a newbie, David Martinez. David has been with the de- partment a little over a year. He said he's happy to be part of the group and said some wonderful things about Joseph. At first, Da- vid was a little, or I should say a lot, shy. He said he wanted to just be in the background. Normally, when someone doesn't want to be interviewed, I will respect their wishes. David however had a change of heart. After Joseph and I talked for several more minutes, David came over to us and said, "he's a great leader." I turned to David and said, "change of heart? I can interview you now?" He agreed and smiled. David told me that one reason he looks up to Joseph so much is because Joseph is not just "talk." He said Joseph leads by exam- ple. One thing that he mentioned was that Joseph wakes up at 4 a.m. to go to the gym, he's always the first one at work and he really ad- mires that about him. I was able to also meet several of the other guys who told me they all work really well together and that they look forward to their next goal. After I talked to David for a bit, I went into Joseph's office where he showed me a list of traits that he said he inspire him. Traits he abides by and makes it a point to practice every day. "I feel these are important, to me as the leader of the mainte- nance department," said Joseph. The list was written on several individual index cards. They were taped vertically, almost like a to- tem pole position, (see photo on B8) on his wall with words written in a black sharpie marker. The bottom phrase was, "know your role," followed by; approach- able, acknowledgment, fair but firm, humility, and successful. Joseph said these are all im- portant to him when coming to work and just basically everyday in his life. "I didn't have to prove any- thing, he said. "You don't have to come in with that chest sticking out like you know all that." The others that he briefly elab- orated on included being approach- able, and humble when managing your group of employees. "Always make yourself avail- able, approachable never have your team guess what kind of mood you'll be in that day or what kind of leader you'll be that day," he said. Thank you Joseph and all the members of the maintenance team for your continued success, you are all an inspiration to the com- munity! Juanita Adame Photos by Juanita Adame / The Exponent ABOVE: The maintenance team has passed the two year mark with zero work related injuries or accidents. ABOVE: Joseph Gonzalez, the director of maintenance with Kings Canyon Unified School District, pointed at several photos in the hallway of the building and said his team inspired him to be better. By Juanita Adame Juanita@midvalleypublishing.com It was during the lunch hour on the afternoon of March 21 that Daniel Ramirez, a maintenance worker with Kings Canyon Uni- fied School District, said their newest milestone- reaching the two year mark with no work relat- ed injures or accidents- wouldn't have been possible had it not been for their team working so well to- gether- and their director, Joseph Gonzalez. "We all get along with each oth- er, we all have eachother's backs," said Ramirez. "We're all one big team. We all work together and watch one an- other out. We get along, if we don't have that, there would be tension and we don’t need that.” Just outside the lunchroom, See SAFETY page B8 ABOVE: Daniel Ramirez sat in the breakroom of the maintenance build- ing on March. 21. Photos by Juanita Adame / The Exponent ABOVE: David Martinez (front) said their director, Joseph Gonzalez, has been an inspiration to helping the team reach two year mark with no accidents. St. La Salle School goes to PAL track meet Uziel Chavez ABOVE: From left, Conner Cooney, Dylan Cooney, Uziel Chavez, Josiah Jimenez all posed for a photo at the annual PAL track meet on March 14 in Reedley. (More photos on B2) Photos Contributed / The Exponent Mia Echeverria Award winning authors to visit Reedley College ABOVE: From left, Manuel Munoz and Helena Maria Viramontes. Photo Contributed / The Exponent Contributed Two well known authors will be at Reedley College on Thursday, April 4 for a reading of their books, question and answer as well as a book signing. The event will begin at 7 p.m. inside the Forum Hall. Admission will be free, however donations are accepted, $5 for general admission and $2 for students. Helena Maria Viramontes is the author of "The Moths," and other sto- ries as well as two novels; "Under the feet of Jesus," as well as "Their dogs came with them." Viramontes received numer- ous awards and honors including the John Dos Passos Award for lit- erature and the United States Artist Fellowship. Her short stories and essays have been widely anthologized and her writings have been adopted for classroom and university study. She is known as a community organizer and former coordinator of the Los Angeles Latino Writers Association. She is also a frequent See AUTHORS page B2 "Helena Viramontes is the author of The Moths, she has traveled the country to lecture."