Thanks for teachers and a warm weather warning
School Trustee Looks Back and says Thanks to the Many Teachers Who Helped Him Along the Way
Dear Editor,
Teacher Appreciation Day is today, May 9. I want to personally thank all of our teachers, who daily make a difference in the lives of our students. Having visited classes at Ascension Solorsano and South Valley Middle Schools in the past few months, I know how hard teachers are working to ensure that our students are learning and are achieving academic excellence. I know a teacher’s task is not always easy as they influence each child’s education and create long-lasting contributions in preparing each child for adulthood and the workforce.
I still can recall the many teachers that made a difference in my education, many of whom contributed to my current desire to better our schools. Mrs. Pam Moore, my first-grade teacher, and Ms. Nancy Kawamoto, my second-grade teacher, laid the foundation to appreciate school and inspired me to never lose my ability to speak Spanish fluently. My fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Juanita Baker, taught an important civic lesson that led my class to raise the funds to acquire a flag and a flagpole for our school, Jordan Elementary School. I still remember Mrs. Pat Midtgaard, my sixth-grade teacher, teaching the elements of a research paper which contributed to my report on New Zealand and many reports thereafter.
Then there were my middle school teachers that left a mark in my pursuit for a college education, Mr. Luis Godinez, Mrs. Alarcon and Ms. Michelle Nelson. During my years at Gilroy High School, Mrs. Janet Billets inspired me to learn about the French language and culture and develop an appetite for traveling abroad. Mrs. Joan Martens, my high school English teacher, shared with me her profound desire to read and to consider issues of equity and justice in the novels I read.
It was Mr. Eric Kuwada, Mrs. Susanne Pribyl, Mrs. Pat Gomez, Mr. Peter Gray and Mr. Jeff Gilbert, my high school teachers, that provided challenging learning experiences and helped me gain the analytical skills I would need to succeed in college and in life.
To these teachers that left an imprint in my educational foundation and inspired me to give back to my community and to the current teachers that are education and encouraging our children today, I say THANK YOU and keep up the good work!
Javier Aguirre, GHS Class of 1992, GUSD School Board Trustee
As the Weather Warms, a Plea to Parents: Be Careful and Be
Cognizant of Safety Around Water
Dear Editor,
As the weather is warming we all tend to spend more time outside and around water recreational areas, especially home swimming pools. Please make sure your family will be safe.
If you have a swimming pool, (does not matter the size, it could be a child’s wading pool) hot tub, or large bucket of water in your yard, please make sure you have alarms on doors to the outside, locks on your gates and best of all a fence around your pool. All sizes of people drown in pools, not just children, although they are the most likely. Take precautions, don’t let it happen at your home, you will never recover from it. When your family goes to someone else’s home, make sure there is adequate supervision. If your children will be at someone else’s home where there is a pool, make sure they have taken adequate safety measures to prevent someone from getting into there pool.
If you have a babysitter, make sure they know your rules, and will follow them.
I write this letter once a year at this time because of my grandson Jaevan. He survived a near-drowning in a swimming pool when he was 15 months old. He lives in a children’s sub-acute Care facility. He can’t talk, eat or walk, he has a trek and a G-tube for feedings. He will be 6 on May 12. His 2 1/2 year old brother was with him at the time of the accident and has never recovered.
Lynn Hennessee-Cordia, Gilroy
