Vol. 54, No.03 Special Section Temple City, San Gabriel, & ROSEMEAD PAGE 5
Serving the San Gabriel Valley Since 1966 Local Events page 2, 3 “Off Beat Happenings” “Opinion Editorial” pg 4
Entertainment
page 14 - 15
Sports pages 9 - 10
January 20, 2016 Student Corner
page 3
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Nick’s Dream Comes True by : Coach Ray Castellanos South El Monte
My name is Coach Ray Castellanos. I have been a wrestling coach for the 26 years, from assistant to head coach. I have come across many wrestlers with special needs, both as a coach and wrestler, as well as I
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have my brother, Carlos, and my son, Ray Anthony. We wrestled every student athlete with the respect and the honor they deserved from the time the hand was shaken until the whistle blew at the end of the match, but this match was a little different. One day I was walking in the hallways of our campus at South El Monte High School and I overheard Nick telling his teacher how much fun it was to have attended a WWE professional wrestling event; he was very elaborate in his description. I approached Nick and asked him if he would like to be part of our wrestling team. And that’s where it all began. Nick’s caregiver stated that he would always talk about his wrestling team at South El Monte and would go on and on about being part of the team. Nick’s mother, Cynthia Valente,
met with me and asked if she could get a spirit pack for Nick and we issued him one. Nick would wear his South El Monte Wrestling gear with pride and began attending our home wrestling matches. Our team was excited to have him and Nick was welcomed as one of our wrestlers. Due to transportation issues, Nick could not travel to our away matches, but as soon as he saw me the next morning he would be first to ask, “How’d we do coach?” A year ago our Former Assistant Principal of Instruction Ms. Navarro, was being supportive in the idea of having Nick on the mat with us as long as he was medically cleared. Well something happened and things didn’t go as planned. Despite the obstacles, that didn’t stop Nick from pursuing his dream of one day being able to wrestle.
Nick would go as far as to my arms. I’m strong and work out his upper body. ready!” Being paralyzed from the Well, this year everywaist down didn’t stop him thing fell into place. Nick’s from advocating for himself. mother received medical He enjoyed showing off his clearance, and our adminisbiceps and saying, “Look trator was very supportive Coach Ray, feel Dreams Come True continued on page 4
sembly introduced the schoolwide behavior expectations to students and provided examples of how they are expected to behave in the classroom, on the playground, in the cafeteria and in the restrooms. The PBIS theme at Monte Vista is SOAR and each letter represents what we want is expected of the students. S stands for Show respect; O is for Own your actions; A is Always have a positive attitude and R is for Ready to learn.
“This is a great program that is very effective with our students,” said Shree Bhakta, Interim Dean of Instruction. “Our SOAR tickets are great incentives for good behavior and we can already see the difference in our students. They really want to be good and follow the rules.” Staff members pass out SOAR tickets when they see students executing good behavior and following PBIS
Courtesy Photo
Positive Behavioral and Intervention Program Soaring by Michele Earle El Monte
The Monte Vista Eagles are soaring to success with the implementation of the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) program. With the support of the South El Monte High School band and Mountain View High School choir and cheerleaders, the TK through 8th grade students took part in a special rally to officially launch the program. An evidence-based, datadriven framework, PBIS is proven to reduce disciplinary incidents, increase a school’s sense of safety, and support improved academic outcomes. MVSD is implementing PBIS at six of the District’s schools this year, and the other six schools for the 2016-17 school year. Monte Vista’s kick off as-
expectations. Each student received a bright yellow Monte Vista T-shirt with SOAR on the back and proudly wore them during the high spirited rally which featured skits, dances, music, a robotics demonstration and goodie bags. “We look forward to watching all of you Monte Vista Eagles soar to success!” said Glenda Giron, Interim Principal.