Vol. 53, No.14 Special Section Temple City, San Gabriel, & ROSEMEAD PAGE 5
Serving the San Gabriel Valley Since 1966
April 08, 2015
Local Events
Entertainment
Sports
Student Corner
page 2, 3 “Off Beat Happenings” Coming Soon
page 15
pages 10 - 11
page 3
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EMCSD School Makes a Winning Robot by Arlene Bury El Monte
The 8th grade team from El Monte City School District’s Gidley School won first place at the Los Angeles Regional SeaPerch Competition held on March 31, 2015 at USC. Sea Perch is an innovative underwater robotics program where students learn about robotics, engineering, sciences, and mathematics while building an under-
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water Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). Throughout the project, students learned engineering concepts, problem solving, teamwork, and technical applications. In addition to winning first place in the Ring Retrieval Competition, Gidley accumulated 38.5 points, for the Ring Retrieval, the Obstacle Course, Poster & Oral Presentation to take overall first place for the Elementary & Middle School Division. The team is sponsored by Ms. Pam Dominguez. She is their teacher, coach and motivator. The team consists of four 8th grade members: Marco Hernandez, Vivian Ha, Connie Chan, and Kelly Luo. Hernandez serves as the team captain as well as the electrical and mechanical engineer. Ha and Chan are the systems engineers. Luo is the materials engineer. Gidley student team members were selected from
a group of 8th students based on their academics, enthusiasm and ability to work as a team. The actual building of the ROV taught students the basic skills in ship and submarine design and encouraged students to explore naval architecture as well as marine and ocean engineering principles. Gidley Middle School was one of 30 teams chosen from the Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Orange County areas by the U.S. Navy to participate in the Naval SeaPerch Pro-
Winning Robot continued on page 4
Students Look to the Future During School’s Annual Career Day Event by Michele Earle El Monte
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“What you learn today will impact your life,” said Richard Padilla, City Attorney for the City of El Monte as he addressed students at Payne Elementary School’s Career Day. Padilla provided the keynote address for the annual event which offers preschool through sixth grade students’ insight into a variety of careers. Several professionals volunteered their time to speak to the students about their jobs and the education, skills and motivation it takes to attain them. “There are endless opportunities for your future if you work hard and dream big,” said Padilla. “Make sure you study hard, listen to your teachers and parents and set your sights on college.” Padilla shared the importance of reading and writing in his job as a lawyer. “It all comes back to what you’re learning and doing here in school. In my job as
a lawyer I have to read law books and write reports, so all the reading and writing your teachers make you do will benefit you greatly in your future.” Payne School has been hosting Career Day for about 15 years, and each year students look forward to hearing about different professions. “Our students really like this event and it helps them see there are so many career choices out there for them,” said Silvia Galindo, event coordinator. “We are grateful to all of our guests for volunteering to share their expertise with our students and encourage them to start setting goals now for their future educational and career paths.” Students in fourth through sixth grade attended three sessions, hearing about three different professions. The preschool through third graders enjoyed presentations out on the field by
Learning about the job of a school bus driver was a favorite for many students who enjoyed hearing from bus driver Ignacio Alvarado.
community workers including the firefighters from Station #168, emergency medical technicians from Medic 1 Ambulance service, members of the El Monte Public Works division and a school bus driver from Mountain View School District’s Transportation Department. They even got their heart rates up by exercising with Zumba instructors. The upper grade students learned about careers from Miguel
Galindo, Cinematographer; David Scott Bess, Professor of Photography at University of LaVerne; Claudia Autran, High School Counselor; Marisol Wright, Acupuncturist; Jesus Rojas, El Monte Police Department; Sean Vasquez, Financial Broker; and Dr. Julio Adame, Prosthetics/Orthotics. “The ambulance drivers were my favorite,” said 2nd grader, Giovanni. “I Career Day continued on page 4