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Hawthorne Press Tribune
Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - June 21, 2018
Inside
This Issue
Calendar of Events.............3
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.......................7
Classifieds............................3
Entertainment......................2
Finance..................................7
Hawthorne Happenings....3
Lawndale..............................4
Legals.................................4,6
Pets........................................8
Seniors..................................7
Weekend
Forecast
Last week, Officer Lewis and K9 Mido made a guest appearance at a local radio station! They were able to promote the Hawthorne Police Department and the upcoming LACPCA K9 show in Redondo Beach
on-air! Go Country 105 allowed Mido to slobber all over their studio and show off his super suave radio voice. Photo Courtesy of Hawthorne PD. •
See Wiseburn, page 8
Friday
Mostly
Sunny
72˚/63˚
Saturday
Sunny
72˚/64˚
Sunday
Partly
Cloudy
72˚/62˚
The Weekly Newspaper of Hawthorne
Hawthorne K9 Is a Radio Star
Wiseburn School Board Lauds
Dana Students and Instructors
By Duane Plank
Last Wednesday evening’s meeting of the
Wiseburn School Board, helmed by Vice
President Roger Banuelos in the absence of
President JoAnne Kaneda, celebrated the exploits
of Dana Middle School (DMS) students
and instructors.
Three Dana students who will be entering
eighth grade this summer were feted for their
selection to attend the American Association
of University Women (AAUW)-sponsored
Tech Trek college campus visits that will take
place later this summer. The Tech Trek features
hands-on activities and opportunities on college
campuses for young women to explore their
passion for science and math and receive tutelage
and mentoring from experienced teachers
and professionals. Victoria Lowe and Sidney
Talbert will attend the University of Santa
Barbara Tech Trek, while Jayden Silvers is
the selection to attend the University of San
Diego offering.
The evening’s second presentation focused on
the success achieved by middle school students
in the recent Robert H. Herndon memorial
science competition, now in its 41st year. The
competition is sponsored by The Aerospace
Corporation and this was the seventh time
Wiseburn Unified School District has competed.
This year’s competition, which took place on
May 24, involved middle school students taking
part in challenges involving robotics and water
filtration. DMS Project Lead the Way (PLTW)
instructor Andy DeSeriere helped mentor the
team during the competition.
Said Wiseburn Superintendent Dr. Tom
Johnstone, “We are very thankful for the
PLTW program and for all the time that Andy
puts into it. All of you students represent us
so well.” The Dana team finished second out
of 22 schools in the experiment competition,
with two students finishing second and third
in the essay competition.
Initially 30 students were interested in participating
as part of the Wiseburn team. Ten
were selected to compete. Some of the students
attended the Wednesday night meeting to read
their essay competition “abstracts” and highlight
their Herndon projects to the Board. “We are
really proud of the time that the students have
put into this,” DeSeriere said, noting how the
students had benefited from collaborating with
local college professors and industry veterans.
The third presentation came from DMS
mathematics stalwarts Maria Garcia and Evelyn
Andrade. Incoming District Superintendent Dr.
Blake Silvers introduced the group, which was
making a presentation he termed “wrapping up
the year in mathematics at the middle school…
but more importantly, a culmination of a lot
of years of professional development in the
math department.” Silvers cited “an evolution
in math” at the middle school, and the everevolving
building of a collaborative environment
among the instructors in the department.
Garcia and Andrade will travel to Washington,
D.C. later this month to make a math
presentation and proposal because DMS has
been once again selected as a prestigious
“National School to Watch” by a consortium
of educational entities. The program applies
rigorous criteria to designate high-performing
middle grades schools.
While the presentation was math-based,
Garcia and Andrade stressed the need among
students to develop and nurture self-esteem as
well as the belief that if someone “believes”
in you, you can accomplish anything.
Garcia spoke of Wiseburn’s partnership
with the Math Leadership Corps Program
and Loyola Marymount University and how
“through that partnership, we were able to
grow tremendously as a department.” She also
noted, “We also saw that there were also some
needs of our students that were not being met
[in the partnership].”
Because the partnership grant with LMU
was ending, the members of the DMS math
department strategized ways that they could
refine their practices and meet the students’
needs to continue to elevate math test scores.
Sixth grade teacher Andrade spoke about the
challenge of math instruction at her grade level
and how the instructors were using new tools,
such as a pre-assessment matrix, to refine their
teaching methods and better reach students.
Garcia added that by reconfiguring the classroom
learning environment, utilizing whiteboards and
a 360-degree classroom, “amazing things [are]
going on.” Andrade added, “I can’t thank Dr.
Silvers enough for [allowing me] to redo my
entire classroom. “She pointed out how the new
classroom structure has allowed instructors to
be more flexible and creative in implementing
their teaching lessons.
Garcia and Andrade both said that the DMS
math department is looking forward to continuing
to strengthen and change the instruction
focus as they move towards lessons that will
be implemented in the 2018/19 school year.
Johnstone applauded the presentation, saying,
“I am blown away.” Board members chimed in,
lauding the “evolution of learning” and citing