Tag: marco sanchez

The Gilroy High wrestling program—one of the great prep sports dynasties in California—received a jolt of star power when Gilroy resident Daniel Cormier was...

A locally esteemed choral director whose teaching and mentoring continue to influence generations of Garlic Capital graduates is being recognized in his 31st and final year of working for the Gilroy Unified School District.

Not sure what to make of the Gilroy Political Action Committee, an arm of the Chamber, which erected those borderline insulting campaign signs that scream, “It’s the Gilroy Economy, Genius” that endorse a slate of four candidates. Am darn sure the candidates didn’t give that slogan the stamp of approval even though, in theory, they might concur. The PAC’s motto is of the same political vein, “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.” What’s so odd is that for decades the Chamber has been unfailingly unwilling to offend. “Preserve and protect” could have been the motto. Case in point: Though it’s Government Review Committee staunchly opposed the binding arbitration clause in the city charter for public safety employees, the chamber politely refused to do public opinion battle and weakly presented the case without a recommended course of action to the City Council after much flapping of wings. Perhaps what we have emerging is the Chamber’s alter ego that has been bottled up for years and now, like a college teenager who’s left an ultra-strict household, it’s time for a new motto: “GilPAC, let the wild child out.”

With the average college graduate buried beneath $25,000 in student loans in an economy darkened by rampant unemployment, pricey tuition rates elicit cynical farce from humor writers like Jarod Kintz, who scoffed, “I wouldn’t advise making a four-year commitment to eventually land an $8 an hour job.”

Parents who attempt to skirt the Gilroy Unified School District's residency requirements – which dictate what high school a student must attend – should keep in mind: Administrators are cracking down against dishonesty. 

When Gilroy High School's graduating senior Humberto Gaeta, 18, wants something, he makes it happen.

After being thoroughly scrutinized in March by a committee from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), Principal Marco Sanchez found out today that GHS will be given the second highest accreditation term a school can receive. GHS was awarded a six-year accreditation term through 2018, with one mid-term visit in 2015.

Wow! Toured the new Gilroy Library this week and it’s a knock-your-socks-off facility. Impressive on many levels. In scouting college campuses with the three daughters over time, the importance of a library as a college community indicator became clear. It’s a functional showpiece that has to integrate design aesthetics with purpose. There’s a feel that goes along with the functionality and the new Gilroy library’s got it. It’s airy, it’s pleasing, it has meeting rooms and rooms for tech classes and a children’s story room with a padded carpet and a pull-down projection screen. There are places to study or read with broad street views and an expansive area for teaching reading along with good space for the Friends of the Library to store and sell donated books. Mark your calendar for a grand opening celebration on Saturday, April 28 … this is truly a fine public use addition that will serve the community for many years to come. The grassroots committee that supported the bond effort to get it built, the Gilroy City Council, the city staff and Santa Clara County Librarians have really accomplished something.

After three days spent scrutinizing minutiae from programs, to teaching practices, to work ethic, to student attitude, representatives from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) rained compliments on Gilroy High School – a campus with “a collegiality that is not often seen at every high school.”

Let’s start with a couple of Super Positives … First, the Gilroy High wrestling machine. We ought to have a Decade of Dominance banner downtown noting the 10 straight Central Coast Section Division team championships – and get the team a spot on a flatbed for the upcoming Memorial Day Parade. Think about what an absolutely awesome accomplishment that is. Imagine 10 football or 10 basketball or 10 CCS soccer or field hockey titles in a row. Even though the competition has become fiercer, Gilroy High has remained steadfast at the top, this despite every team gunning to take them down (pun intended). Loved reading Sports Editor Josh Weaver’s stories about the state championships online over the weekend as the drama unfolded in Bakersfield. Two GHS state champions emerged, Willie Fox and Nikko Villareal. Both are great stories – Nikko in his last-chance match beating a “shoe-in” favorite, three-time state champion Alex Cisneros from Selma, in the waning seconds of the final period and Willie, frustrated for two years at the CCS and state levels, erasing both demons  and dashing off with the state title in dominating fashion. More important than the winning is the spirit Coach Greg Varela and the supporters of GHS wrestling have developed in the young men. They displayed that collective graciousness and class at a recent school board meeting when they showed up to rally around the cause of creating a respectable wrestling practice facility at GHS. They were focused, yet humble and so appreciative. They deservedly won the hearts and minds of the trustees, performing in life as they do on the mat. At the state meet, GHS Principal Marco Sanchez, a former Olympic wrestler, was overcome with emotion. He knows what it takes – the practice time, the pain, the mental toughness to be one-on-one under the spotlight, the discipline to get it done. From the Gilroy Hawks to the state title, it just continues to be a story of triumph about a program that is the stuff of legends. Now there’s a screenplay idea ...