Nogales’ Nick Estevez named player of year

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The 2011 boys water polo season might have been one of the best ever. Nogales and Bonita won CIF-Southern Section division titles and Damien advanced to a division final as well.

All three teams had enough superstars to fill out the boys water polo first team, but Nogales’ Nick Estevez stood
above the rest.

Estevez’s record-breaking season and back-to-back CIF titles
with the Nobles earned him Player of the Year honors for the
second year in a row.

Estevez set a single-season CIF-SS scoring record with 233
goals, eclipsing the mark of 229 set by Hoover’s Hakop Kaplanyan in
2009.

The Nobles senior broke the record in the Division 7
championship game by scoring four goals in Nogales’ 8-6 victory over Don
Lugo.

In addition to his 233 goals, Estevez also had 57 steals and
was named Valle Vista League and Division 7 Most Valuable Player for the
second year in a row.

Read more in Fred Robledo’s story POLO.

Rowland High swims toward new pool

Just saw the plans for the new pool at Rowland High School. The $2.5 million pool looks really nice.

The old pool was closed in May when it began leaking 6,000 gallons a day and the water quality dropped below healthy standards.

Since then the water polo and swimming teams have been practicing at nearby Nogales High School. With the summer swim lessons, school officials figure more than 100,000 used the pool every year.

A community meeting will be held Monday night for input from local residents. Come out and see what you think of the new facility.

Telesis Academy of Science and Math taking applications

Rowland Unified is taking applications for its new Telesis Academy of Science & Math (K – 8) for the 2012 – 2013 school year through Jan. 31. All students are eligible to attend.

Parents must submit an application for each student. Applications are available at:
* Telesis Academy, 2800 E. Hollingworth Street, West Covina,
CA 91792
* Pupil Services Office, 1928 S. Nogales Street, Rowland
Heights, CA 91748
* Rowland Unified District Office, 1830 S. Nogales Street,
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
* Rowland Unified School District Website
www.RowlandSchools.org

For further questions, call the Pupil Services Office at  626-935-8201.

Diamond Bar players CHAMPS off the field

Ten burly, yet kind and giving Diamond Bar High
School football players will soon begin volunteering as tutors, mentors, and
buddies with Castle Rock Elementary students.

 

A new program called Creating Honorable Aspiring Mentors
with Purpose (C.H.A.M.P.) is the concept of Head Football Coach Ryan Maine who
also happens to be a Castle Rock alumnus from the Class of 1994. His football players will begin their new assignment on
Jan. 27.  

 They will visit the elementary school each week to mentor,
tutor, read, and “hang out” with select students.

 “I can’t wait
to see the smiles on our kids’ faces when they meet and develop friendships
with these caring guys,” said
Castle Rock Principal Carol Sullivan.

 Maine wants his players to be positive role models on and
off the football field. “I believe this will
really help develop their character,” he said.

A forgotten milestone

In Jay Chen’s 2011 Year-in-review, he mentioned various milestones from 2011 for the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District. These included a failed recall attempt against him, a HLPUSD board member, and his free college application seminars.

But what he did not mention may be more important:
The changing of the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years. School will start three weeks earlier and end three weeks earlier. The change was controversial and may be trend-setting.
Here’s a section from our story which ran in December:

The Hacienda La Puente Unified School District board voted 4-1 Thursday night to start the next school year on Aug. 7, three weeks earlier than usual. It is the first local school district to adopt an early start calendar for the entire PreK-12 population.

School will let out May 21, 2013, instead of in late June. A similar calendar was adopted for the 2013-14 school year. </em>

Some may call that decision of the San Gabriel Valley’s largest school district one that affects the most people — parents and children.It affect thousands of families in La Puente and Hacienda Heights. It could also lead to other districts doing the same thing.

Quite a milestone.

Students offered free practice test in Rowland Heights

Students can find out which test is best
suited for them at a free practice test sponsored by Kaplan on Tuesday,
Jan. 24, from 6 to 7 p.m. in the Rowland Heights Library.

Kaplan will also be holding feedback night where a representative will help interpret scores and give test taking advice.

The library is at 1850 Nogales St. For information, call 626-912-5348.

Cal Poly Pomona reopens after electrical repairs

Cal Poly Pomona reopened Tuesday after the
campus was shut down last week as employees performed maintenance on
high-voltage electrical equipment. The shutdown started Dec. 27 and the work was completed by
Thursday, officials said. Power was restored to the entire campus by
Friday.

Most university buildings were closed last week and students,
faculty members and staffers were asked to stay away from campus. The shutdown of the university was in the works for some time,
said Ron Fremont, the associate vice president for university
relations.

“It’s been quite a complicated process. It took several months of planning,” he said.

The need to carry out the work was discovered in June after
Southern California Edison made repairs to an electrical substation.