A trip to the hospital usually doesn’t sound like a good summer vacation experience. Alejandra Gonzalez will get five weeks worth.
The Christopher High School student will get an introductory, crash course on what it takes to be a nurse or doctor this summer at the Stanford Medical Youth Science Program.
Starting Sunday, the 16-year-old will join 24 other sophomores and juniors from Northern and Central California at Stanford University.
Gonzalez will participate in lectures, labs, group projects, field trips and evening discussions. She will spend time with an assigned mentor, Suzanne Garfer, who is currently enrolled in Stanford’s medical program.
"She's one of those students who just works as hard as she needs to get the work done and then some,” said CHS teacher Cheryl Osborne, who along with colleague Julie Mangono wrote a letter of recommendation.
Gonzalez’s application included sending her Christopher High School transcript, writing eight essays and providing two letters of recommendation. Along with a mid-April phone interview, Gonzalez also had a series of face-to-face interviews with Stanford councilors and staff. She was selected from 800 other applicants from 410 schools.
“When you’re around all these people, you kind of get an idea of what kind of people they are and what you’re up against,” Gonzalez said.
According to its website, the Stanford Medical Youth Science Program works to increase knowledge about the sciences and health professions, while guiding minority and low-income students through the college admissions process.
The program started in 1998, and will cover Gonzalez’s fees which include tuition, books, class fees, room and board.
The mentors will be medical students, graduate students and health professionals.
The program also includes a hospital volunteer internship with visits to the morgue and operating rooms.
Two days out of the week, Gonzalez is required to spend time in either the Stanford Hospital and Clinics or the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System hospital. Once assigned, Gonzalez will be placed in a department.
“My top choice was anything in surgery. I could be a nurse for the surgery. I put that I want to experience it myself, maybe they’ll let me have a chance to cut something,” Gonzalez said. “My second choice would be to work in the pharmacy because medicine is really interesting too.”
Students attending the program will also receive preparation work for the SATs, essay and résumé guidance, presentation skills and PowerPoint training.
In order to pass and participate in the program’s graduation ceremony, Gonzalez and her peers have to complete and present a research project as part of the evaluation process.
Gonzalez can get 10 high school units, which Osborne said would probably fall under elective science credits.
"We haven't had to deal with anything like that before. We do take college credits and give the kids credit that is reflected on their transcript,” Osborne said.
Gonzalez has hopes of going to a University of California, San Diego or Davis and said this is the perfect opportunity for her to get into medicine.
“I am most excited to be part of the program, getting to know everybody and actually getting some hands-on experience,” she said.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Dinosaurs at Gilroy Gardens
Not only does Gilroy Gardens have moving dinosaurs but it has some of the less glamorous aspects of the extinct creates.
“The poop was gross, I didn’t want all those germs on me,” Jamie Klein, 5, said. “My brother held it and wanted to keep it.”
Tour guide Rylee Card, decked in a safari outfit, led the first tour and let the kids see how things can stay preserved over millions of years.
Dinosaur Bones Fossils, Skeletons and Stories began its first set of tours Sunday at Gilroy Gardens Theme Park at 3050 Hecker Pass Hwy. The 3,000 square-foot exhibit has animated and automatic dinosaur models, large models of bones and energetic tour guides. There are also two dig sites where the kids can dig through the sand to uncover bones and footprints.
The exhibit will be open through July 10 with tours beginning every 30 minutes.
During the tour, kids asked questions and showed they knew what they were talking about.
“I learned a lot about fossils. I liked seeing the dinosaurs that moved. I am actually a paleontologist,” Malcolm Vinson, 4, said.
Planning for the Dinosaur Bones exhibit started in February.
Dinosaurs Unearthed owns and installed the models. They are the only company that has a feathered juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur for the exhibit said Dana Everitt, executive assistant at RWS and Associates Entertainment. RWS and Associates Entertainment handles entertainment for theme parks and were the third party that organized the exhibit.
Everitt provided the scripts for the tour guides that would make the experience interesting to kids and parents alike.
“We are actually performers, we are hired on with the company that set this all up. We did had to study a little bit to prepare for the opening,” Card, 26, said.
Everitt wanted to gather all the fun facts about dinosaurs and leave out the boring stuff.
“We compiled the research and took out the facts that were age appropriate and to select the right facts. We also included some dinosaur jokes so it would be more interactive,” Everitt said.
Gilroy Gardens Theme Park is open daily, Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Ticket prices for ages 11 to 61 are $44.99. Children from ages three to ten and seniors ages 62 and above are $34.99.
“The poop was gross, I didn’t want all those germs on me,” Jamie Klein, 5, said. “My brother held it and wanted to keep it.”
Tour guide Rylee Card, decked in a safari outfit, led the first tour and let the kids see how things can stay preserved over millions of years.
Dinosaur Bones Fossils, Skeletons and Stories began its first set of tours Sunday at Gilroy Gardens Theme Park at 3050 Hecker Pass Hwy. The 3,000 square-foot exhibit has animated and automatic dinosaur models, large models of bones and energetic tour guides. There are also two dig sites where the kids can dig through the sand to uncover bones and footprints.
The exhibit will be open through July 10 with tours beginning every 30 minutes.
During the tour, kids asked questions and showed they knew what they were talking about.
“I learned a lot about fossils. I liked seeing the dinosaurs that moved. I am actually a paleontologist,” Malcolm Vinson, 4, said.
Planning for the Dinosaur Bones exhibit started in February.
Dinosaurs Unearthed owns and installed the models. They are the only company that has a feathered juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur for the exhibit said Dana Everitt, executive assistant at RWS and Associates Entertainment. RWS and Associates Entertainment handles entertainment for theme parks and were the third party that organized the exhibit.
Everitt provided the scripts for the tour guides that would make the experience interesting to kids and parents alike.
“We are actually performers, we are hired on with the company that set this all up. We did had to study a little bit to prepare for the opening,” Card, 26, said.
Everitt wanted to gather all the fun facts about dinosaurs and leave out the boring stuff.
“We compiled the research and took out the facts that were age appropriate and to select the right facts. We also included some dinosaur jokes so it would be more interactive,” Everitt said.
Gilroy Gardens Theme Park is open daily, Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Ticket prices for ages 11 to 61 are $44.99. Children from ages three to ten and seniors ages 62 and above are $34.99.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Gilroy Middle School Graduation 2011
The graduating class of eighth-graders this year meant a little something extra to its three Gilroy middle school principals.
For Salvatore Tomasello, Ascencion Solorsano Middle School principal, it was his final goodbye as he heads toward retirement.
For Greg Kapaku, soon to be former South Valley Middle School principal, it was a chance to reflect on seven years of mentoring students while looking forward to the new opportunity of serving as vice principal at Christopher High School.
Finally, for Brownell Middle School’s Greg Camacho-Light, it was a learning experience as he said farewell to a 2011 graduating class that marked his first full three years at the school as principal.
There were some common elements for the Wednesday – South Valley – and Thursday – Brownell and Solorsano – promotion ceremonies. Elated students got a preview of high school life when six Gilroy High School Chamber Choir members started the ceremony by singing the national anthem. They were also welcomed by GHS Principal Marco Sanchez and CHS Principal John Perales at the close of the celebrations.
On Wednesday, about 500 people gathered at the CHS gym as Kapaku handed out awards to outstanding students, speaking personally of each one during his last graduation ceremony as principal of the school.
"It's been such a great place, such a great experience, but I'm excited for the new change and the new challenges of high school," Kapaku said.
The Gilroy Gardens Pavilion hosted Brownell’s ceremony at 5 p.m. Thursday and was bittersweet for Camacho-Light.
“This is the class that I came in with three years ago,” Camacho-Light said. “In a sense, this is my graduation too. It’s always bittersweet to see this. One, we lived with these kids, and two, it’s good to see them move on.”
More than 300 friends and family supported the class. Large shiny balloons and candy leis awaited the students after the ceremony ended at about 7 p.m.
“This class was able to grow with us in terms of us developing a school that continues to grow in terms of academics,” Camacho-Light said.
Following Brownell's graduation, Ascencion Solorsano Middle School graduated at 7 p.m. at Gilroy High School’s Garcia-Elder Sports Complex.
Students who achieved a 4.0 throughout their six semesters were recognized before the graduating certificates were presented.
Friends and family used noisemakers – one even used a megaphone mimicking the sound of a police siren – to congratulate graduates.
Veteran principal Tomasello, who has been serving GUSD as a teacher and coach since 1978 and also as an athletic director beginning in 1984 for 16 years, offered advice to his departing students.
“I would encourage them to continue the same hard work, commitment, effort and dedication as they enter high school,” he said. “Promotion from middle school is just another step towards graduation from high school.”
Earlier, Tomasello stood at the podium to address the crowd with a final goodbye.
“As you move on to your next phase in your life, as you know, I am also moving onto mine in retirement,” Tomasello said. “I will forever share that experience of us leaving Solorsano together.”
For Salvatore Tomasello, Ascencion Solorsano Middle School principal, it was his final goodbye as he heads toward retirement.
For Greg Kapaku, soon to be former South Valley Middle School principal, it was a chance to reflect on seven years of mentoring students while looking forward to the new opportunity of serving as vice principal at Christopher High School.
Finally, for Brownell Middle School’s Greg Camacho-Light, it was a learning experience as he said farewell to a 2011 graduating class that marked his first full three years at the school as principal.
There were some common elements for the Wednesday – South Valley – and Thursday – Brownell and Solorsano – promotion ceremonies. Elated students got a preview of high school life when six Gilroy High School Chamber Choir members started the ceremony by singing the national anthem. They were also welcomed by GHS Principal Marco Sanchez and CHS Principal John Perales at the close of the celebrations.
On Wednesday, about 500 people gathered at the CHS gym as Kapaku handed out awards to outstanding students, speaking personally of each one during his last graduation ceremony as principal of the school.
"It's been such a great place, such a great experience, but I'm excited for the new change and the new challenges of high school," Kapaku said.
The Gilroy Gardens Pavilion hosted Brownell’s ceremony at 5 p.m. Thursday and was bittersweet for Camacho-Light.
“This is the class that I came in with three years ago,” Camacho-Light said. “In a sense, this is my graduation too. It’s always bittersweet to see this. One, we lived with these kids, and two, it’s good to see them move on.”
More than 300 friends and family supported the class. Large shiny balloons and candy leis awaited the students after the ceremony ended at about 7 p.m.
“This class was able to grow with us in terms of us developing a school that continues to grow in terms of academics,” Camacho-Light said.
Following Brownell's graduation, Ascencion Solorsano Middle School graduated at 7 p.m. at Gilroy High School’s Garcia-Elder Sports Complex.
Students who achieved a 4.0 throughout their six semesters were recognized before the graduating certificates were presented.
Friends and family used noisemakers – one even used a megaphone mimicking the sound of a police siren – to congratulate graduates.
Veteran principal Tomasello, who has been serving GUSD as a teacher and coach since 1978 and also as an athletic director beginning in 1984 for 16 years, offered advice to his departing students.
“I would encourage them to continue the same hard work, commitment, effort and dedication as they enter high school,” he said. “Promotion from middle school is just another step towards graduation from high school.”
Earlier, Tomasello stood at the podium to address the crowd with a final goodbye.
“As you move on to your next phase in your life, as you know, I am also moving onto mine in retirement,” Tomasello said. “I will forever share that experience of us leaving Solorsano together.”
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