Walnut School Board Lauds Star Students and Parents at Meeting

The Walnut Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees recently honored Super Star Students and Community Partners from Collegewood Elementary and Suzanne Middle School.

Collegewood Elementary School Principal Joan Perez introduced first grader Ethan Caampued last week as the school’s Super Star Student.

“He has made considerable progress this year in teacher Melani Garrett’s class. Ethan has been working hard on his classroom behavior and with additional support, he’s been doing a wonderful job, she said.

Ethan, along with his family, teacher, and the school’s guidance team have been working together to create a plan to help him grow socially in the classroom and on the playground.

Noon aide Eric Guzman also dedicates time teaching Ethan how to play team games like handball, tetherball, and soccer.

Ethan was also recently recognized as Collegewood’s Student of the Season, for his progress in citizenship and making good decisions. 

The Walnut principal described a day while Ethan was in her office with an intervention teacher helping set up new iPads. Ethan told the teacher if she gave him the password he could set up them all set up - and that would help him because one day he was going to work at the school district. 

“He’s our future Walnut Valley employee!” Perez said.

“Ethan is really thriving and we are truly proud of his efforts. He is working hard to be the best Ethan he can be,” she said.

Collegewood Elementary parent Anita Kim was honored as a Partner in Education.

“Anita has poured her heart and soul into making the Collegewood Elementary community a safe and nurturing environment.  She has worked diligently with the city of Walnut and Deputy Doug Daley to create a comprehensive school traffic andsafety program,” Perez said.

Kim has attended numerous Traffic Safety Committee meetings where she worked collaboratively to discern many of the traffic safety issues and create alternative solutions to many of the school’s ongoing problems.

She led a traffic safety campaign that included:

·      Coordinating a Traffic Rally where she and several Community Club members taught students how to safely walk to and from school, load into cars, and walk in crosswalks.

·      Going door-to-door collecting signatures to re-sign the entire surrounding community to enforce safety of loading and unloading students.

·      Coordinating a staff meeting where Deputy Daly came to speak to the staff about school safety.

·      Working with the City to assist in the process of implementing a new crossing guard.

Kim has also has been an active member of the Community Club. She has coordinated family/community outreach programs, managed the walk-a-thon fundraiser, organized Mother’s Workshop, and volunteer room moms.  She has also been a leader and recruiter for the Boy Scouts and has helped with their projects that have contributed to the school community - they recently built a shed for the school’s gardening tools.

“This is just a snip-it of what this woman does – she is amazing. We are extremely grateful for her passionate efforts to serve her community and put ‘KIDS FIRST,’” Perez said.

Suzanne Middle School Principal Les Ojeda introduced parents Kristen Swift-Ramirez and Janet Lau as recipients of the Community Partner in Education award.

“I’ve been at Suzanne for a few years now and every year I love it more and more. And thereason is that we have such an outstanding community that supports our school and students,” he said.

Kristen Swift-Ramirez is the current Community Club President and previously served as Treasurer - along with being a supportive parent and exemplary leader for our community, Ojeda said.

“Karen always has the best interest of students and is always willing to go the extra mile to make a good event - a great event.  She has excellent leadership skills and always gets the job done.  Karen is also very committed to her family and is an active partner in her children’s education.  We are lucky to have such a wonderful community leader at Suzanne and I am honored to work with her,” Ojeda said.

Janet Lau currently serves as the vice president of the Suzanne Middle School Community Club.

“Janet is an awesome person. She works diligently with Kristen to accomplish many of our outstanding activities.  They are known as our dynamic duo,” Ojeda said.

Janet’s specialty is food and fundraising. She recently helped coordinate a wonderful reception following a musical recital with the visiting sister school from Shanghai.  The event was held at Walnut High School with about 200 students and parents in attendance.  Janet catered the event and with Kristen, helped prepare, serve, and clean up afterwards. 

“Thank you both for all of the time you spent working at our school. Thank you for the dedication and commitment to Suzanne Middle School.  You have truly made a difference for thousands of students and teachers,” Ojeda said.

Sixth grader Gabriel Voss was honored as the Suzanne Super Star Student.

“Gabriel Voss is an exceptional young man. He was recently honored and selected to attend the 2013 Junior National Young Leaders StateConference as a representative of our school and community. Gabriel is a straight “A” student and more importantly he is a great role model for our Suzanne students,” said Principal Ojeda.

Gabriel’s talents extend beyond academics.  Gabriel was selected to play the lead role in this year’s spring production of Seussical the Musical. 

“He did an amazing job playing the role of Horton the Elephant.  And who knew he could sing? By the way, his brother, Anthony did an amazing job playing the role of JoJo. I look forward to watching them both perform during the next two years.  It is a true honor to be able to have such a great students at Suzanne.  Thank you for helping make Suzanne a great school.” Ojeda said.

--Walnut Valley Unified School District