Mustang golfers sign college letters of intent

Walnut High senior Patricia Wong pledged to play golf and attend Pepperdine University

Walnut High senior Patricia Wong pledged to play golf and attend Pepperdine University

By Walnut Valley Unified

Two Walnut High School seniors, Serena Hou and Patricia Wong, signed letters of intent to play golf in college on November 12. “Congratulations to both of you – we’re proud and excited,” said Principal Jeff Jordan.

Their families, teammates, and coach were on hand for the lunchtime ceremony.

“I’m very excited,” said Hou, who will play at Southern Illinois University. “I’ve been working so hard all my life to reach this goal and my parents have been very supportive. And now we’re here!”

Wong will play at Pepperdine University next year. “My hand shook a little during the signing, but it’s a wonderful day,” the 17-year-old exclaimed.“I feel so blessed for this crazy opportunity!”

Pepperdine was also her first campus visit. “It went so well, I said ‘this is my last visit – I want to go here!’”

Wong said she couldn’t have achieved the dream without the support of her family.

The Mustang Girls Golf team with Coach Cecil Wood had a perfect 28-0 regular season. The team won the CIF Championship, CIF Southern Section championship, and competed in the state semifinals, explained Athletic Director Jerry Person.

New lights to save $459,000 a year in Hacienda La Puente Unified

Duy Ha installs new lights, ballast system, and motion sensors at La Puente High School .

Duy Ha installs new lights, ballast system, and motion sensors at La Puente High School .

By Richard Irwin, Staff Writer

Who knew changing old lights and turning them off when you leave the room could save $543,692 a year? It’s a lesson that the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District has learned over the past year.

It saw big savings when it hired Schneider Electric to redo the lighting at Orange Grove Middle School and Cedarlane Academy in Hacienda Heights.

Now, it’s spending $6.75 million to modernize the lighting at its biggest energy users, the four high schools. The district figures the changes will cut the district’s electric bill by 14 percent.

Fortunately, Hacienda La Puente Unified was one of the first school districts to apply for funding from Prop 39. In 2012, California voters approved the proposition to invest $2.5 billion in energy efficiency projects at schools and community colleges.

“Among the 1,000 plus school districts in California, we are one of the larger school districts, and one of only 47 districts with an approved Prop 39 plan,” said School Board President Gino Kwok.

The district’s Prop 39 project has been approved by the California Energy Commission for the entire five-year program. It will receive an estimated $4,435,680.

“In addition to simplifying the entire process, partnering with Schneider Electric allowed us to directly address our most pressing energy efficiency problems through an integrated approach,” said Associate Superintendent Annie Bui. “We now have a full five-year energy savings plan that will help maximize every Prop 39 dollar.”

Contractors have already redone the lighting at Willow Adult Campus in La Puente, as well as district’s offices. Now, workers are shifting to the four high schools.

“These six sites use approximately 47 percent of the district’s total energy cost annually,” said Maintenance Director Mark Hansberger.

Improvements include new classroom lighting as well as sensors that turn off the lights when no one is present. Work crews will also install LED lighting on the exterior and in the gymnasiums, plus new heating and cooling controls.

Read more in Rich Irwin’s story LIGHTS.

Mt SAC wins two-year college flying team trophy

The Mt. San Antonio College Flying Team won the Top Two-Year College Team Trophy for the 24th consecutive year at the National Intercollegiate Flying Association’s regional competition hosted recently by San Diego Christian College at Gillespie Airport in San Diego. 

“This year marks the 24th consecutive year our team has won the top community college trophy—a truly incredible run,” said Mt. SAC Flying Team Advisor and Aeronautics Professor Robert Rogus. 

The 2014 Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference (SAFECON) is a competition for university and community college flying teams. The regional airmeet featured flying teams from six colleges, including Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, San Jose State University, and the U.S. Air Force Academy with a total of 66 students competing. 

In addition to the Top Two-Year School Award, the Mt. SAC team won the Safety Trophy. Individually, Sebastian Plaister (San Dimas) won the instrument flight event and ranked sixth as the overall competitor at the airmeet. Jason Juarez (Ontario) took third in the message drop event. 

Overall, Mt. SAC placed fifth with 43 points. The top three regional teams receive invitations to the national competition. 

Over the years, the Mt. SAC Flying Team has consistently earned top honors as one of the best collegiate flying teams in the country. The team has won the Top Community College trophy at the regional competition every year since 1991. Mt. SAC has won the Top U. S.  Community College award at the national airmeet in 1984, 1985, 1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2014. 

Teen accused of school shooting threat Diamond Ranch High School

Deputies on Monday arrested a 17-year-old Diamond Bar boy for allegedly posting on Twitter a threat to shoot up Diamond Ranch High School. They also confiscated a 22-caliber rifle.

The alleged threat didn’t say when the shooting will occur, according to Lt. Edward Wells of the sheriff’s Walnut/Diamond Bar station. The station found out about the threat around midnight Sunday.

Well said the station got a call from someone who saw on Twitter a picture of a guy holding a rifle and saying he will shoot up the school. Deputies identified the person as a 17-year-old Diamond Bar resident who is a student at the school located at 100 Diamond Ranch Road in Pomona.

Deputies arrested the boy at his home around 1:45 a.m. and recovered a rifle, Wells said. The teen was booked on suspicion of making criminal threats. He is being held at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey. Deputies didn’t release his name because he is a minor.

The tweet with the alleged threat couldn’t be found on Twitter by Monday morning. School staff referred the paper to the superintendent’s office for comment.

Fernando Meza, administrative director for pupil and community services at Pomona Unified School District, said deputies contacted school officials Sunday night. He cannot verify yet if the suspect attended Diamond Ranch High School.

The district notified parents and school staff via email and text message that deputies conducted an investigation over comments made on social media, the person involved was taken into custody and it’s safe to be at school today, according to Meza. He said the high school has about 1,800 students.

Nogales High students learn about Holocaust

US History teacher Devon Darrow talks to students at Nogales High School.

US History teacher Devon Darrow talks to students at Nogales High School.

By Richard Irwin, Staff Writer

Nogales High students are especially thankful for friends, family and freedom this Thanksgiving. The Rowland Unified students have been studying the Holocaust this week.

Last week, 150 history students toured the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. Then, they gathered in the gym for a live Skype with a Holocaust survivor.

“I want my students to learn history from firsthand accounts and experiences. These people bring history alive, having actually lived through historic events,” explained teacher Devon Butcher.

Butcher is an enthusiastic instructor of world and U.S. history. At Cal State Fullerton, Butcher discussed how to teach students about the Holocaust after the last survivors had died.

“The fear we discussed was when this generation is gone and can’t tell their stories, how do we go forward as educators and teach this?” Butcher asked. “How can we teach this horrific event in history without firsthand accounts?”

So the Nogales teacher took his students to the Museum of Tolerance. The museum helps students understand the Holocaust as well as prejudice and discrimination in the world today.

“We watch people get bullied every day and don’t do a thing about it,” Butcher said.

Every visitor gets a different passport with the story of a child affected by the Holocaust. The passport is updated during the tour, revealing the child’s fate at the end.

“I thought it was a very sad situation, because no matter what the age the children were, they killed them,” said 15-year-old sophomore Paola Aldana.

Read more in Rich Irwin’s story HOLOCAUST.