SORRENTO CELEBRATES SEASON WITH ANNUAL EVENT AT COMMUNITY CENTER ä Page 2G
THE ASCENSION
ADVOCATE
1G
THURSDAY DECEMBER 17, 2015 H DONALDSONVILLE • DUTCHTOWN • GEISMAR • GONZALES • PRAIRIEVILLE • ST. AMANT • SORRENTO THEADVOCATE.COM
Darlene Denstorff AROUND ASCENSION
DDENSTORFF@ THEADVOCATE.COM
Firefighters collect canned goods Santa and the Galvez-Lake firefighters will be caroling and collecting canned goods, new, unwrapped toys and monetary donations from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the following neighborhoods: THURSDAY: Henderson Bayou, Norwood Road, Norwood Lakes Subdivision and Stonehedge FRIDAY: Shadows of Ascension, Parker Estates, Rustling Oaks and Shirleyville Green and red reminder signs will be placed at the entrance of each subdivision or street on the morning of the scheduled route. In case of rain, Santa will be at Galvez-Lake Fire Department. For information, call Sherri LeBourgeois at (225) 715-0783 or Galvez-Lake Volunteer Fire Department at (225) 622-2490.
City remembers vets with ceremony
Gonzales holds first local Wreaths Across America Day BY VON DE LEIGH HATCHER Special to The Advocate
Area residents on Saturday paused in the midst of the holiday season to gather at the Ascension Veterans Memorial Park in Gonzales to remember deceased veterans for the first local Wreaths Across America Day ceremony.
The event was part of a nationwide movement held at the same time, on the same day to honor deceased veterans. Ascension Parish President Tommy Martinez and Gonzales Mayor Barney Arceneaux attended the ceremony, which displayed wreaths designed for the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Merchant Marines and POW/MIA. The Ascension Veterans Associations hosted the ceremony and distributed wreaths to place on the local grave sites of veterans in across Ascension
Parish. Tanya Whitney, committee chairwoman for the Ascension Veterans Memorial Park, said she first learned of Wreaths Across America while serving on active duty in Washington, D.C. “Wreaths Across America is a national nonprofit organization founded in 2007 to continue and expand the annual wreathlaying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery begun by Maine businessman Morrill Worcester in 1992,” Whitney said.
One hundred and thirty wreaths were placed on graves in Ascension Parish this year. “The VA statistics say we have about 7,000 local veterans in Ascension Parish. We have quite a few in active duty,” Whitney said. “We want you to understand that the freedoms we enjoy today come at a cost that one day you yourself might have to pay.” In addition to the wreath-laying ceremony, the Ascension Republican Women dedicated two new bricks for the park’s memorial garden in honor of Sgt. Justin Michael Kling and
Photo provided by MARK PELLEGRIN
Ascension Christian School third-grader Annalyce Michel created a diorama on her chosen ecosystem after first doing research on what is required to replicate it. The process used by Annalyce is one of the things that helped the school win a national STEM certification.
The official ribbon cutting for the Ascension Parish Governmental Complex will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at 615 E. Worthey Road in Gonzales.
Holiday garbage pickup
RPCC joins Amazon Smile
River Parishes Community College joined the Amazon Smile program, which allows online Amazon shoppers to designate a portion of their purchase price to go toward supporting the college, a news release said. Log onto smile.amazon. com, choose River Parishes Community College Foundation, then shop as usual. The AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5 percent of the purchase price from eligible purchases to the RPCC Foundation. Purchase price excludes shipping, handling, gift-wrapping fees, taxes and service charges or rebates.
Advocate staff photos by CHARLES CHAMPAGNE
Lake Elementary School band members walk Sunday during the annual Jambalaya Festival Association Christmas Parade. RIGHT: Buddy the Elf showed up on the Raising Canes float.
Wrapped up for holidays
Wrap your gifts away from prying eyes at Ascension Parish Library’s Dutchtown Branch from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday. There will be cocoa, company and Christmas cheer. äSee AROUND, page 2G
School receives AdvancED STEM certification
Ascension Christian first La. school to complete process BY DARLENE DENSTORFF
ddenstorff@theadvocate.com
FAR RIGHT: Miss Full Figure U.S.A. debutantes throw beads and gifts to the crowd.
Lego Club to meet
Ascension Parish Library’s Lego Club for children of all ages meets at 4 p.m. Friday at the Donaldsonville Branch. Legos are provided, including Duplo Blocks and Mega Bloks for younger children, but materials and creations must stay at the library. Call (225) 473-8052 for information.
äSee VETS, page 3G
CHRISTMAS COMES MARCHING IN
Ribbon cutting
Due to the upcoming Christmas and New Year’s holidays, the following garbage pickup dates are in place: THURSDAY: normal schedule. DEC. 25: no pickup. DEC. 26: will pick up as replacement for Dec. 25. DEC. 31: normal schedule. JAN. 1: no pickup. JAN. 2: will pick up as replacement for Friday.
Staff Sgt. Brady Joseph Jackson. Joyce LaCour of the Ascension Republican Women presented the bricks to the family members were present at the ceremony. Kling, who died on Nov. 26, 2014, was a lifelong resident of Gonzales and member of the United States Army, Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Unit, 2nd Infantry Division. Jackson, who died in 2014, was
LEFT: Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus wave at the crowd Sunday in Gonzales. FAR LEFT: Members of the Gonzales Mounted Posse sit tall in the saddle during the parade.
Ascension Christian Superintendent Mark Pellegrin had no idea his desire to graduate “problem solvers and advanced thinkers” would result in the school receiving a national certification for its efforts to promote science, technology, engineering and math. Pellegrin found out in early December that Ascension Christian, a prekindergarten through 12th-grade school in Gonzales with 465 students, has become the first school in Louisiana to receive a STEM certification from the nonprofit group AdvancED. The school was in the process of renewing its national accreditation through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools when it learned that SACS and its parent group AdvancED were offering a new STEM certification. “We looked at the standards and realized we were already doing the work and decided to go for it,” Pellegrin said. That started the ball rolling on a lengthy review process to meet AdvancED’s 11-standard review process. Pellegrin said the reviewers were looking for program that were interdisciplinary and taught students to research, design and implement a project to solve a problem. Pellegrin pointed to a group of students who recently created a robot that could deliver a cup of coffee to his office. “I’d been challenging the students to build a robot to bring me äSee STEM, page 6G