Vol. 51, No.49
Serving the San Gabriel Valley Since 1966
November 27, 2013
Special Section
Local Events
Chamber
Sports
Weekend Escape
Temple City, San Gabriel, & ROSEMEAD PAGE 4
page 2, 3 Visit Car Culture at http://www.midvalleynews.com/
page 6,7
page 8,9
page 10
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Celebrating Thanksgiving by Jo Anne Disney National
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Thanksgiving is celebrated around the World in many different ways. It seems “the Egyptians were thankful to the gods of the Nile for providing water for their crops; the Greeks celebrated with a festival when there was a good harvest; the Romans honored the goddess of grain, Ceres and thanked her for food; the Mayans ate turkey and corn at their harvest festival; the English believed a spirit lived in their crops and celebrated a good harvest; the Chinese believed that the moon plowed the heavens and their ceremony “Chung Ch’ui” honors the good harvest,” just to name a few. But, historically, Thanksgiving Day celebrates the Pilgrims coming to North
America. The very first Thanksgiving celebration took place in 1621. However, there was no regular national Thanksgiving Day in the United States for many years. History books tell us that a woman by the name of Sarah Josepha Hale, the editor of “Godley’s Lady’s Book” worked for 30 years to promote the idea of a national Thanksgiving Day. Besides her columns, she wrote letters to various presidents asking for their support. Then, in 1863, President Lincoln issued a proclamation making the last Thursday of November in that year “a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent
Father.” For 75 years the tradition continued. Finally in 1939, President Roosevelt “proclaimed Thanksgiving Day to be celebrated one week earlier.” Why? It was suppose to help businesses by extending the shopping period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, Congress finally declared that after 1941 the fourth Thursday of November would be observed as Thanksgiving Day and would be a legal
holiday. Besides delicious homecooked food, Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday to be celebrated with family and friends. Although we look forward to the traditional turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, yams, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie, Thanksgiving Day is the perfect time to reflect and be grateful for all of the blessings in our lives. HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE!
El Monte City School District Honors Perfect Stars
or Current Resident
El Monte, CA Permit No. 64
U.S. Postage Paid
Presorted Standard
by Arlene Bury El Monte
The jam packed auditorium was filled with proud parents, families, teachers, and administrators as 92 students scoring a perfect score of 600 on the either the Language Arts or Math section of the 2013 California STAR test were honored at the El Monte City School District Board of Education meeting. Board members honored each student with a special certificate and Superintendent Dr. Maribel Garcia presented each student with a medal to commemorate their outstanding achievement. “My daughter always works hard in everything she does. We are very proud of her.” boasted proud mother of fifth grader Manaya Alonzo from Wilkerson School. All fourteen schools were represented at the event held at the Columbia School Au-
ditorium preceding the regular School Board meeting. Each principal called student names for their respective schools and students walked up to receive their awards. School board members Roberto Cruz, Cathi Eredia, Kien Lam, Mike Barrios, and Elizabeth Rivas personally congratulated each student and then posed with students for photos as anxious camera
wielding parents jockeyed for the best camera angle. Along with the colorful banner and glittery “Perfect” stars pasted along the walls of the auditorium, a positive festive mood was definitely in the air. “This is a great way to show the hard work that both the schools and the district have done in terms of boosting student achievement,”
said Teresa Pinedo, principal of Rio Vista School. Although test results are only one measure of student achievement, they have become increasingly important in assessing student learning. El Monte City School District celebrates these perfect scoring students and all of the teachers, staff and administrators who support all of the students of EMCSD.