Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 3, No. 50 - December 16, 2021
Inside
This Issue
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.......................7
Classifieds............................2
Entertainment......................2
Hawthorne............................3
Lawndale..............................4
Inglewood.............................5
Legals.............................3,6-8
Travel...................................2,4
Pets........................................8
Weekend
Forecast
Friday
Sunny
65˚/42˚
Saturday
Sunny
61˚/42˚
Sunday
Sunny
62˚/44˚
Lawndale Tribune
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Featuring the Weekly Newspapers of Hawthorne, Inglewood and Lawndale
Santa Flies into the South Bay
Santa surprised more than 2100 local students when he flew into #LAX for the virtual Santa Fly-In. The event began with Santa making a special call to LAX Air Traffic Control to let students know that
he would be arriving soon. Students heard from the Hawthorne Police Department, learned about therapy dogs from LAX’s PUPS program, enjoyed a special aviation-themed presentation from musician
Kiddle Karoo, and learned practical safety tips from the Los Angeles Fire Department. Santa finished the program with a reading of “’Twas the Night Before Christmas.” If you want to watch with your kids
check out the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFXJk6npRHk Photo courtesy LA International Airport.
Emily Lavelle: Restoring
Cars, Demolishing Buildings
By Duane Plank
El Segundo’s Emily Lavelle may not be
the only young woman in town who likes to
restore vintage cars and demolish and rebuild
structures, but I think that she might be at
the top of that probably brief list of local,
young lady DIYers.
The 20-year-old Lavelle, who rose through
the El Segundo Unified School District, went
from being a Richmond Street School Blue
Butterfly to graduating from El Segundo
High School in June 2020 as an Eagle.
During her years attending ESHS, Lavelle
landed on the prestigious honor roll during
three years of her schooling and amassed a
4.2 GPA her senior year while completing
the AVID program’s four-year Engineering
Pathway offerings.
Lavelle said she has always been a “hands-on
person,” learning from her family members
who were “builders.” She said that when she
went to high school, she was intrigued by
the engineering program. “They had a shop
there,” she said, “so I got to build radios,” and
veered into tackling electrical and aerospace
challenges. “That was the best part of high
school,” she said. “We got to build spaceships
(beam me up Scotty!), rovers, and we
built a lot of cars. For my senior project, we
were going to build an electric wheelchair,”
but that project had to be scuttled because
of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I have been in love with old cars since I was
in elementary school,” Lavelle said. “I would
take pictures of them and started creating an
album with many of the cars that I have seen
in town.” She is a devotee of the car show
on Main Street that annually takes place in
the summer and the Zimmerman Automobile
Driving Museum located in town east of PCH.
She said that a couple of years ago, she really
started noticing classic cars. Her boyfriend,
Shane, and Emily spied a 1967 Mustang parked
in town. “We went on a whim and bought it,”
Lavelle said. “That is where it started. We
both started learning the engine together, and
I branched off from there and started buying
my own cars. I help him with his (cars), he
helps me with mine.”
Lavelle has mined Craigslist to purchase
vintage cars to restore, including a manual
transmission-equipped Ford Bronco. “It is
everything I wanted,” Lavelle said, mentioning
that she is learning to tool-around in that
manual transmission vehicle and is hoping
to change out her Ford Falcon to a manual
transmission set-up.
Lavelle is currently enrolled at El Camino
College. So, Lavelle’s basic educational trajectory
does not seem all that unique for an El
State Long Beach or California Polytechnic
State University to receive my bachelor’s in
mechanical engineering.”
The Horvath who Lavelle name-checked
is ESHS engineering and physics instructor
Daniel Horvath. “I have known Emily for two
years,” he emailed, “when she took Aerospace
Engineering (junior year) and Engineering
Design and Development (senior year).”
“She was really inclined towards mechanical
engineering,” Horvath said, “always trying
to solve problems and figure out how things
work. She was also very determined and
never gave up.”
“I think it is more common for boys to
be mechanical engineering inclined,” Horvath
said, noting that it is “not completely
uncommon” for young ladies to catch the
engineering bug. “I have two girls this year
that are also following a similar path as Emily.
It varies from year to year, but it is getting
more popular among girls lately.” Concluded
Horvath: “Emily was a great student who
always knew what she wanted to accomplish
and what her goals were. She never hesitated
to ask for help if she needed it.”
Lavelle said that mechanical engineering “is
my dream career,” and that one day down the
road, she wants to utilize her mechanical skills
“to build my own home,” maybe in the Midwest,
where she figures that land is more plentiful,
and she could have space for her car restoration
projects. She dreams of someday “building my
own cabin,” with a substantial chunk of land
for her cars. She is constantly looking for more
cars to restore but is hamstrung by the lack of
space to park and store cars while living in a
city environment.
Lavelle is currently honing her mechanical
Segundo gal, right? Rise through the ranks of
the renowned school district, snag a diploma
from the high school, and then enroll at El
Camino College.
But what does make Lavelle’s journey
unique is that she already has her educational
future completely mapped out, focusing on her
goals at El Camino and beyond. We will let
her tell the story. “I am currently achieving
my certificate of completion for engineering
technology along with my associate’s degree
in Mechanical Engineering,” she said, “with
a background in Carpentry and Machine
Tool Technology,” she writes. “I will have
my certificate of completion in a year or so.
This is all thanks to El Segundo High School
and my teacher Mr. Horvath, for having a
four-year program in Engineering, (with)
dual enrollment with El Camino. Eventually,”
Lavelle continues, “I want to transfer to Cal See Emily Lavelle, page 5