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Lawndale 05_02_13

AND lAwNDAle News The Weekly Newspaper of Lawndale Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - May 2, 2013 Inside Burnett Elementary Celebrates Earth Day This Issue Calendar...............................3 Classifieds ...........................4 Food ......................................5 Hawthorne Happenings......3 Legals .............................. 2, 6 Newspaper Fun..................7 Seniors.................................6 For Earth Day the students at Peter Burnett came up with different ideas to help take care of our Earth. They decided to create a tree- the students would write an Earth Day tip on a paper leaf, and attach their leaf to the tree in their Brann Center/Multi Purpose Room. Some examples of the student’s tips on the leaves are: using reusable water bottles, picking up a piece of trash, or even turning off your water faucet while you are brushing your teeth. The school, teachers and administrators were so happy with the student participation on this project. Sports ...................................4 High School Senior Selected as Recipient of Bill Gates Millennium Scholars Program By Cristian Vasquez were available outside of school, he informed perception they have of what Inglewood When Kevin Akinfolarin registered at himself about them and then he pursued High School or the city of Inglewood itself Inglewood High School three years ago, he them,” Mary Reese Boykin, who taught for is like,” Boykin said. “For a person who has was a sophomore with very little idea of what 41 years and has known Akinfolarin since worked there and who has made it a personal Weekend Scholars Program, he makes preparations to were available. He wasn’t doing it just for the him succeed again and again and again. So Imission to work with these children in thisenvironment, Kevin and the other students like grade, said. “He Akinfolarin would thenth10build relationships around those programs thatlong-term goals he aimed to accomplish. Today,as the winner of the Bill Gates Millennium Forecast attend NYU Shanghai in the fall. people outside the academic environment. This that he did well. The public needs to knowam not surprised that coming from Inglewoodmoment. He communicated with other young“At the beginning of my sophomore year, when I moved to Inglewood High School and young man had a plan for his own success that there are many dedicated teachers and I didn’t know what AP classes were or what and he carved his way and took advantage of administrators at Inglewood High School who the SAT was, I didn’t really have a lot of goals one opportunity after another after another. He have high expectations of their students and Friday “They counselors really helped me a lot and something that I always admired about him.” Teachers and administration are guiding thepositioned himself to be successful and it isthey help those students reach those goals.set for myself academically,” Akinfolarin said. Sunny opened my eyes to things that I needed to do, The Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) These people work hard and publicly I don’tschool and children despite the challenges.Program selects 1,000 students each yearso I began enrolling in AP classes--and by 85˚/63˚ the beginning of my junior year, I took AP to receive a “good-through-graduation” think they have been given the credit they History, English Composition and Physics. scholarship to use at any college or university deserve for providing an environment where They were pretty hard, but they taught me of their choice. The GMS scholars are they students can thrive.” how to study and how to be more organized provided with personal and professional Akinfolarin, who prepares for his transition Saturday as a student.” along with academic support throughout their stranger to being away from home and hasto academic life at NYU Shanghai, is nodevelopment through leadership programsAkinfolarin, who will be majoring in Sunny Neuroscience, turned his academic career college careers. The scholarship pays for all spent time in South Korea as part of Project at Inglewood High School around as soon school expenses as an undergraduate student, Bridge--a program dedicated to raising cultural 70˚/59˚ as he arrived and joined a math and science through graduate school and up to doctorate. awareness between communities in both program at Cal State University Dominguez Since 1999, the GMS has made it possible nations. While having their son move away Hills, where he met an orthodontist who spoke for students in underserved communities to college is not an easy task, his parents to him about his journey through Africa and to achieve academic success through such have been and continue to be supportive as Sunday interested in medicine. In addition, due to a also demonstrate academic capabilities and has left at home.Akinfolarin makes the most of the time hethorough financing. However, students mustthe field of medicine. Akinfolarin then became Drizzle condition that the high school senior suffers have no less than a 3.3 GPA. They must also “Once I accepted NYU Shanghai and met from that causes him headaches and other be first-time college or university enrollees in a with future classmates, I fell involve with 65˚/59˚ illnesses when exposed to bright lights, he is United States-located or accredited institution. the school and told them how excited I was determined to pursue a neuroscience career. “While someone on the outside might about it,” Akinfolarin said. “They are all “What I always found interesting about him be surprised that someone from Inglewood for it now and we are planning how we are Akinfolarin is that he took the initiative for did well and how that seems exceptional going to spend our summer together before his education--if there were programs that and unexpected, it is only because of the I go to school.” •


Lawndale 05_02_13
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