Page 6 May 2, 2019 EL SEGUNDO HERALD
School Spotlight
Sports
Eagles Heading to the CIF Playoffs
WUSD
Story and Photos by Gregg McMullin
The El Segundo High School softball, baseball
and boys volleyball teams are all headed
to the CIF playoffs that started this week. The
softball team shares its Ocean League title
with Culver City, but will enter the playoffs
as the number one team based on a coin flip.
It is no surprise that all of these teams are
advancing since they’ve shown that they are
year-in and year-out among the teams to beat
in the Ocean League.
Softball Team Repeats
The Eagles will enter the CIF Southern Section
Division 4 playoffs with a 14-game win
streak. With their 13-0 win over Lawndale and
their 11-0 win over Santa Monica, the Eagles
wound up 9-1 in the Ocean League, tied with
On Senior Day, these seven seniors were honored: From left--Julia Chavez, Adri Hebert, Chloe Meza, Gaby Benjamin, Kaili Reitano,
Kaela Little and Audrey Butler pose after the game.
Culver City. The Eagles have outscored their
Ocean League opponents 115-9 and have seven
shutouts on the season.
Head coach Megan McCann credits the
team’s defensive play on great pitching by
Kaili Reitano, Audrey Butler and Marlee
Johnson combined with outstanding defense.
Butler tossed a five-hit shutout over Lawndale
and struck out 11 in the process. Butler led
the Eagles’ offense by going 3-5 with a home
run, triple, double and four RBIs. Sophia
Marrero had two doubles and an RBI, while
Julia Chavez went 2-3, walked twice and had
an RBI single.
The Eagles celebrated Senior Day by recognizing
their seven seniors. Chloe Meza, Adri
Hebert, Audrey Butler, Kaela Little, Gaby
Benjamin, Kaili Reitano and Julia Chavez were
honored while their parents escorted them to
the first base line. Benjamin, who was injured
prior to the season starting and had to sit out
the season, tossed out the ceremonial first pitch.
With Reitano in the circle and a defense that
has been stellar lately, Santa Monica had no
chance. Reitano threw her first career no-hitter,
struck out six, walked four and let her defense
play behind her. Sophomores Katie Croxall
and Shanai Owens both made spectacular
plays. Centerfielder Kaela Little’s fifth inning
great catch of a sinking line drive saved the
no-hitter to end the game.
El Segundo scored four first inning runs,
highlighted by Chavez’s two-run single scoring
Croxall and Hebert. In the second inning,
Butler doubled and scored on Chavez’s RBI
single. Marrero hit her first home run, a solo
blast in the third inning. In the fourth inning,
the Eagles scored five runs to put away the
Wiseburn Board Looks at CGI
Learning in Math at Burnett
By Duane Plank
Last Thursday evening the assembled members
of the Wiseburn School Board gathered
to view a special presentation helmed by Kim
Jones, the principal at Peter Burnett Elementary.
Captioned “Collaboration and Outreach to Support
Learning in Mathematics,” the 25-minute
presentation also highlighted the largesse of
the Wiseburn Education Foundation (WEF)
in supporting funding for Wiseburn Unified
School District programs.
Jones and her Burnett team of presenters,
including special education teacher Madison
Scar, fifth grade teacher Trisha Maano, and fifth
grader and student council president Isabella
Farrokh-Siar, talked about the utilization of
Cognitive Guided Instruction (CGI) in the field
of mathematics, and how its tenets dovetail
with districtwide goals and standards.
CGI, a recent phenomenon in the instructional
toolbox in education, aims to bolster a
student-centered approach to teaching math
-- building on what students already know
-- and expand their intuitive approaches to
problem-solving. CGI instruction is based-on
listening to students, answering their inquiries
and engaging with student thinking, with the
goal of uncovering and expanding student
understanding.
The presentation delineated the Burnett goals,
including building the capacity to support the
implementation of CGI practices schoolwide;
fostering data-driven formative instruction; and
Student Wins Middle School
Grand Prize in Water is Life
Student Art Contest
St. Anthony
A New Mural
at St. Anthony School
El Segundo’s St. Anthony School
recently celebrated the unveiling of a new mural.
Two of the three artists – eighth grader Alexa
Gomez and fifth grader Ramiah T. – are shown
in the photo with their work. Sixth grader Eva
S. also contributed to the mural. School staff
who lent an important hand included Principal
Ms. Jill Deranian and Administrator Mrs.
Naima Alfarissi. Also helping out was Stuft
Pizza owner Velma Delgado.
– Photo: St. Anthony School •
Da Vinci
On April 22, the West Basin Municipal Water
District (West Basin) Board of Directors presented
awards to the grand prize and honorable
mention winners of the annual Water is Life
Student Art Contest. The contest encourages
students to create and illustrate water-smart
conservation messages.
This year, more than 500 entries were received
with one grand prize winner recognized in the
elementary, middle and high school categories
throughout the West Basin service area. Among
the three grand prize winners was Da Vinci
Connect eighth grader Zita Allen, who took
home honors for the Middle School category.
The three grand prize winners received an
iPad, stylus, $25 app store gift card and a top
10 list of art apps for kids. In addition, 12
honorable mention awardees received an iPad
and a top 10 list of art apps for kids.
See Eagles, page 15
See WUSD, page 11
See Da Vinci, page 13