Vol. 51, No.52
Serving the San Gabriel Valley Since 1966
December 18, 2013
Special Section
Local Events
Entertainment
Sports
Travel
Temple City, San Gabriel, & ROSEMEAD PAGE 5
page 2, 3 Visit Car Culture at http://www.midvalleynews.com/
page 11
page 7,8
page 3
Visit Us Online at www.midvalleynews.com for more Highlights of Local Schools and Events from the San Gabriel Valley Area. Coming Soon “ The Mid”
Jefferson Middle School Robotics Teams Win Championship Tournament by Mrs. Avakian San Gabriel
Jefferson Middle School’s Robotics teams “Catching Fire” and “10.0” competed at the Southern California Championship Tournament held at LegoLand on Sunday, December 8, 2013. After several months of programming and researching, both teams had scored high enough at the qualifying tournament to advance and compete at the championship level. At LegoLand, 56 teams from across California were gathered to share their
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innovative ideas in battling Nature’s Fury (this year’s First Lego League theme), robot design, programming, and teamwork. Our teams researched topics on wild fire detection and earthquake safety after visiting Angeles National Forest and Cal Tech, where they learned more about natural disasters from the experts in the fields. Teams also designed and programmed their robots to complete several tasks prescribed by FLL. “Catching Fire” and “10.0” were among the finalists who were called back after the first round of judging to answer more questions about their projects and robots. At
the end of the day, the JMS Robotics teams won Robot Performance Award, Programming Award, and 1st
place Champions Award in Southern California.
Team Coaches: Mrs. Avakian, Ms. Tom, Mr. Ayad
A Book Makes a Lasting Impression Meaningful books can definitely impact the lives of young people around the world and they certainly have in the city of San Gabriel. San Gabriel Mission High School has a school-wide summer reading program. The entire school community, including students, staff and faculty read and discuss a novel/memoir written by a strong female role model. As an all girls Catholic College Preparatory High School, SGMHS wants to motivate their young women. According to principal, Jamie Collins, “This has proved to be a very successful program and as faculty and staff, we even spend some time during our overnight retreat at the beginning of the school year sharing our thoughts on the novel.” This year the entire school read My Beloved World by Justice Sonia So-
tomayor. According to Mr. Collins, “Her story touched the entire school on a personal level and has reminded us of the potential each of our young women holds. As principal, I am proud to be a part of a community of educators that cares so much for the young women we have the privilege to teach on a daily basis. Incidentally, many of the struggles and obstacles that Justice Sotomayor faced as a young woman mirrors the struggles and obstacles our young women face
by Jo Anne Disney San Gabriel
today. This, I believe, is why letters were sent and to the her story is so powerfully surprise of the class, Justice inspiring.” Sotomayor responded. In After discussion about her letter, Justice Sotomayor the book with her Freshmen was very touched by the English class, Mary Mansell letters and as a thank you had her class write letters sent each of the students to Justice Sotomayor. The a signed photograph. She students were asked to write said, “Thank you for the about, “What was beloved gift of your letters. You are in their world and what Lasting Impression continued to page 4 were their dreams?” The