April 15, 2022
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Girls get fired up at daylong camp TAMARA STEINER The Pioneer
Tamara Steiner
Bay Area girls grades 9-12 learn to handle a fire hose at the NorCal First Alarm Girls Fire Camp held at the CCCFPD Training Center Mar. 26. During the camp sponsored by NorCal Women in the Fire Service, the participants received instruction in a variety of firefighting skills from female firefighters who hope to encourage young women to enter a field historically dominated by men.
More than two dozen teenage girls found out just what it is to “fight like a girl” when they attended a First Alarm Girls Fire Camp March 26 at the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District Training Center in Concord. The day long camp is sponsored by Nor Cal Women in Fire Service (NorCal WFS) to mentor and encourage girls interested in a career as an EMT or firefighter. Under the tutelage of veteran women firefighters, the participants worked through a series of exercises that included basic search and rescue skills, climbing the aerial ladder and ramming their way through a blocked door. They learned to use a fire extinguisher —“Pull the handle, grab the nozzle and swish, swish.” And found just how much teamwork it takes to pull a 50-foot fire hose. Carondelet High senior Rylee Chilson plans to become a firefighter and EMT. She is a star beach volley-
See Girls, page 2
Mt. Diablo grads now Teachers of the Year JAY BEDECARRÉ The Pioneer
Mt. Diablo High School teachers Katalina Gallo and Natasha Paul were selected last month as the two Mt. Diablo Unified School District Teachers of the Year for 2022-23. The two women’s connections to the oldest school in the district run deep as they both also graduated from Mt. Diablo. They will represent the district as nominees for the Contra Costa County Teacher of the Year competition, which will announce its winners in September. The pair were selected from five finalists that also included teachers Laima Haider of Pleasant Hill’s College Park High, Dr. Lizette Ortega Dolan of Pine Hollow Middle School in Concord and Maria Sajjad of Bancroft Elementary in Walnut Creek. The two MDUSD finalists were selected from more than 100 educators nominated throughout the district. Both Gallo and Paul said they were honored to be chosen to represent the district and their alma mater. Paul graduated in 1991 and Gallo in 2007. In fact, Gallo was Paul’s student in the Mt. Diablo Digital Safari Academy that she now leads, teaching multimedia to students in grades 10-12. Paul now teaches ninth grade English in the school’s Architecture, Construction, Manufacturing and Engineering (ACME) Academy, as well as English Lan-
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guage Development to students not yet fluent in English. Gallo has taken on leadership roles since she came to MDHS, including leading the WASC accreditation focus group on culture at the school looking at things like equity, community and parental involvement so students feel supported. She also plans “Academy Night,” the school’s open house which was held in March. Her approach to teaching is that she treats students as equals. “I’m not the center of the classroom,” she said. “We all are and it’s our interaction, which is what
makes the instruction and the learning happen.” Having discussions with her students about their ideas and issues that are important to them is a key part of her role, Gallo added. “Student voice is really important to me. I want students to feel that I listen to them and that what they say matters.” Building trust with her students is also important, she said. “A lot of times in classrooms it is about the mind, but with this population of kids, it’s important to make them feel safe. If the classroom doesn’t feel safe, learning can’t happen. The foun-
dation is trust. They know they can trust me. They tell me things. I want them to feel that they can talk to me about the things going on outside of the class because it does affect them, so how could I not want to know?” Gallo said the primary reason she hoped to be selected as Teacher of the Year was for her students. “I wanted them to see that amazing things happen at this school. I wanted to show them I went to the school, look at what I can accomplish and you can do
See Teachers, page 11
KATALINA GALLO
NATASHA PAUL
Save Mount Diablo opens 207-acre historic Mangini Ranch Education Preserve to public music in nature ensembles, meditation classes, grief counseling support groups, church In a first for Contra Costa groups, homeowners associations, and hiking, running and County, Save Mount Diablo mountain bike clubs. (SMD) opened the Mangini Interested groups can subRanch Educational Preserve mit a request online to reserve to the public on March 30. the property for a day up to Assemblymember Rebecca six months in advance. The Bauer-Kahan and SMD presigroup must be at least three dent Jim Felton cut the ribbon people and no larger than 100. to celebrate the event. The preserve is day-use only; The Mangini Ranch Eduno camping. cational Preserve is available The 207.8-acre preserve is for reservations free of charge between the Crystyl Ranch resito local schools and commudential development in Connity groups pursuing educacord and Lime Ridge Open tional purposes. Examples Space in Walnut Creek. The include environmental science area includes grassland, stream classes, nature photography canyons, blue oak woodland, courses, yoga classes, plein-air chaparral and oak savannas. artist gatherings, addiction It’s home to rare species recovery groups, acoustic TAMARA STEINER The Pioneer
Tamara Steiner
After the March 30 ribbon-cutting, guests were led by SMD staff on a two-mile hike of the Mangini Ranch Educational Preserve which included crossing a bridge rebuilt with the help of the Boy Scouts.
such as the northernmost stand of desert olive, rare Hospital Canyon larkspur and threatened Alameda whipsnake. Deer, coyote, burrowing owls, kestrels and lots of other wildlife live there, too. The preserve’s high ridgeline provides views of most of central Contra Costa County and to Marin, Sonoma and Solano counties. As you move away from the staging area and into the open space along Galindo Creek and up the ridgeline, the sounds of cars and radios give way to bird songs and gentle breezes rustling through trees. For more information or to make a reservation, visit savemountdiablo.org.
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