Page 7 - Mid Valley Times 9-3-20 E-edition

Thursday, September 3, 2020
The View From Here
Math has never been my strong
point.
I’m not
By Juanita Adame
Mid Valley Times
The line of cars decorated with balloons and Ameri- can flags extended through Geary Avenue, Cottle Avenue and Florence Avenues on the evening of Aug. 30, during the welcome home drive through parade for Hunter Hinojosa.
“It brings me a lot of joy and it’s really surprising to me,” said Hinojosa, who re- turned from his Navy tour on Aug. 28. “Because I thought I was just going to come home and stay with my family but next thing I knew I had peo- ple driving down the road having a big parade for me.”
Hinojosa is in the U.S. Na- vy and was stationed on the USS D. Eisenhower shortly before the pandemic crisis made its way to the United States.
“So when we pulled out we planned to stay that way so we did not touch land for no reason whatsoever,” Hino- josa said.
“We just stayed out, we remained at sea for 206 days and we actually got extended on that as well, we were sup- pose to come back in June but we got extended to August.”
He said the being out at sea for nearly 7 months was not easy at first and was a lot
sure why.
As a child,
reading Adame and writ-
ing came
easily and effortlessly to me. I could write an essay in minutes.
I could read a story out loud in front of the class with no problem.
When it came to Math however, the opposite was true. Since the pandemic began, we have done our part to update data from the Fresno County Health Department’s website.
In the beginning the figures of positive cases were small.
As the number of cas- es grew however, the data became more difficult to understand. Now we are having to deal with people who have re-tested. When it comes to the active number of cases, does this data reflect people who are testing positive of CO- VID-19 for the first time, or people who have tested positive for the virus once, and somehow contracted it again? So much more has come into the equation.
When a local news sta- tion posted a story stat- ing that Reedley is con- sidered a “hot spot” for COVID-19, I immediately clicked on the link. The ar- ticle claimed a 20 percent “positivity rate” attributed to that figure.
At the beginning of the pandemic, Reedley’s positive COVID-19 were at about four, then six, it would jump up a few notches every now and then, easy enough to keep track of.
As time went on and the number of cases began to rise, new factors came into play. The number of peo- ple tested began to change. Suddenly, asterisks began showing up next to data.
Labels like “data does not represent day over day changes,” warning readers that figures can have dis- crepancies.
I quickly realized try- ing to responsibly report on the COVID-19 chang- es and data would not be easy. I feel that reporters have the best intentions when writing on medi- cal issues. As a reporter however, I feel we need to carry a good amount of caution when writing sto- ries like these.
The data will become skewed, but the fear in- stilled because of the story will have a lasting impres- sion.
Juanita
A 'welcome home' celebration in Sanger
Photo by Juanita Adame / Mid Valley Times
Hunter Hinojosa walked up to a vehicle during his "welcome home" drive through parade in Sanger. Hinojosa had been out to sea for 7 months on a U.S. Navy ship.
to process.
“When we were given that
extension, it felt like a ham- mer on us for a second, but we learned to cope with it and just have the most fun out of it.”
Hinojosa, a 2018 graduate of Kings River High School joined the Navy a couple of years after high school. “It was the best decision I’ve made in my life,” he said. “It’s taught me a lot, I’ve seen a lot of cool stuff that before,
I wish I could have seen, and now I was actually seeing it in person.”
Hinojosa is a black belt in Karate and said several of his students also participated in the parade.
“Wow, this really does show that my family really does love me,” he said. “I re- ally do know they love me, but when they do stuff like this they put an exclamation point on it.”
Hunter Hinojosa proudly held his American and Navy flags during the parade on Aug. 30.
Ruiz Foods in Dinuba offering teacher mini grant
Contributed
A grant for teachers grades K-12 is now being of- fered by Ruiz Foods’ Ruiz 4 Kids program.
The mini grant is for edu- cators teaching in a public K-12 school, the school must be within a 35 mile radius of Dinuba.
“Our team members really enjoy this program and look forward to it every year,” said Ashly Alberti, Ruiz 4 Kids MG4T Program Chair.
“To participate, a team
member authorizes deduc- tions directly from their pay- roll check knowing that all the monies go directly to the educators in their community.
Ruiz team members enjoy seeing the kids participate in unique programs created by the teachers knowing the kids are benefitting from out- of-the-ordinary opportunities that are both fun and chal- lenging.”
According to Ruiz Foods, in 2019, Ruiz 4 Kids awarded $90,000 to teachers in Cali- fornia, Texas and South Caro-
lina. More than $48,000 was awarded to teachers in Cali- fornia. Since the first 2013 Ruiz 4 Kids program, Ruiz 4 Kids has distributed nearly $1M in California, Texas, and South Carolina.
“At this point in time no one is exactly sure if all schools will be holding classes on-site or if some will remain on-line.” said Tyler Beck, Ruiz 4 Kids President.
“Educators need to know our MG4T Program is sup- porting both on-site and on- line instruction and we en-
courage them to apply.” About Ruiz4KidsRuiz4Kidsisa non-profit organization found- ed in 1991 when employees of Ruiz Food Products, Inc. ap- proached Founder Fred Ruiz asking him to help them ex- plore ways to assist families with children in need.
The application is avail- able online at www.ruiz4kids. org.
The deadline to submit is Friday, September 18, 2020. Grants will be awarded up to $1,000.
Adjusting to the 'distance learning' norm
Photo of the week
ABOVE: Kaylee Ventura started her 2nd grade distance learning class with a thumbs up.
BELOW: Wendy Ventura started 5th grade and is looking forward to learning a lot from home. Both girls attend Washington Elemen- tary.
Photos Contributed
ABOVE: Reedley High sopho- more, Elver Ventura, gave a thumbs up from his home dur- ing a distance learning session.
Contributed
A photo of a sunflower growing in Reedley was sent in by Daisy Rivera.Haveaphotoyou'dlikefeatured? Emailjuanita@midval- leypublishing.com.