Project Lifesaver to aid missing residents with cognitive disorders in Pleasant Hill

DAVID SCHOLZ Correspondent

Unique challenges accompany the aging process, and the Pleasant Hill Police Department is introducing Project Lifesaver to intercede quickly when problems arise.

The proactive program is designed to rapidly locate individuals with cognitive disorders, such as dementia or an autism spectrum disorder, and who are prone to the life-threatening behavior of wandering.

Working in conjunction with Pleasant Hill Park and Rec, police representatives have scheduled a presentation at 1 p.m. May 23 to explain the pro- gram and gauge interest in the initial target audience, according to Officer Nicholas Filippini, who heads up the Project Lifesaver team. The meeting will be in the Chateau Room of the Pleasant Hill Senior Center, 233 Gregory Lane.

Citizens enrolled in the program will wear a small transmitter on the wrist or ankle that emits an individualized frequency signal. For the program to be successful, the person wearing the device will have a caregiver who would contact the department to report that the individual has gone missing. Filippini said it might be a situation of a husband and wife, where one has Alzheimer’s, for example.

Teacher, from page 1 ing and advisesRobotics Project 212 andFemineer clubs at YVHS, which he created to give students opportunities to explore STEM after school.

Townsend teaches Leadership, Weights (which she started at the school) and the APEX Learning class, which allows Olympic students to complete courses at their own pace using an online program, with guidance and oversight from Townsend.

Alvarico has taught for 23 years, including 19 in MDUSD (eightyears at Oak Grove Middle School, 11 years at Ygnacio Valley) plus four years in the Philippines, from which he immigrated.

ALVARICO CHAMPIONS STEM

He teaches engineering courses for students in grades 9-12, including dual enrollment College and Career Access Pathway courses in partnership with Diablo Valley College that allow students to earn college credits while in high school. He also teaches a Fusion 360 Computer Aided Design course at DVC.

Alvarico works tirelessly with students during school – as well as before and after school and during breaks – to ensure they are challenging themselves and learning new skills that can help them pursue educational goals and careers that many of them never thought possible before taking his classes. He fosters a supportive community of curious, innovative critical thinkers who collaborate with each other and mentor each other in an academically rigorous, yet empathetic family environment. His work garnered him recognition last year as a “Teacher of the Game” by the San Francisco 49ers Foundation and Chevron, which funds some of his STEM programs. His dream is to make Ygnacio Valley High a magnet school for robotics.

Ygnacio Valley High Princi- pal Jonathan Pike and Vice Principal Mandy Loushin nominated Alvarico for Teacher of the Year. “He inspires his students to become more than just part of his engineering program,”

Trained officers will use the client’s individualized frequency code to locate the position of the individual. The department will take three transmitters to where the person was last seen, and the code will triangulate the location of the individual. The louder the beep that is emitted, the closer trained search and rescue teams are to the individual’s position, Filippini said.

Time is critical and the code must be entered within 30 minutes, or using the transmitters to pinpoint the individual’s whereabouts becomes very difficult.

Adults who are not senior citizens but have conditions that

See Lifesaver, page 7

Loushin said. “They are leaders, hard workers, problem solvers and students of good character. I am inspired by Mr. Alvarico’s hard work and dedication to his students, his engineering program and the community surrounding him.”

To help students to be successful in high school, college and in life, Alvarico said he is passionate about building their leadership skills as well as their engineering skills. “I’m just one person in a room in a sea of 27-30 students,” he said. “It’s impossible for me to help out every single one of them, so I develop leaders.”

Alvarico has also built strong partnerships with engineering industry professionals, who help mentor his students and provide funding for school programs. April Treece, founder and chief executive officer of the Bay Area LEEDS organization that works to strengthen the STEM career pipeline, said student success begins and ends with good teaching and that’s what she sees in Alvarico.

Students said Alvarico is a wonderful teacher who helps them to see their own potential. “He has helped me to fig- ure myself out and given me opportunities I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise,” said Manirat Kaur, a 15-year-old sophomore in Alvarico’s Engineering Essentials class, who is also in the Robotics club and is copresident of the Feminee Club. “He sees things in students that other people wouldn’t see and helps build on them. He finds that spark. He’s helped me gain confidence and he’s helped me to be a leader.”

TOWNSENDFINDSNEW HOME AT OLYMPIC

Townsend has taught for 14 years, including eight years at Riverview Middle School and two years in Oakley. This is her fourth year at Olympic High, which she says she loves. “I do like a challenge,” she said. “I wanted to have an opportunity to bring my experience and passion and drive here. I don’t feel like I’d teach in any other setting ever again.

“I just feel like there are so many options here that are endless and it’s a place where students who haven’t really felt like they belong in school or have been successful can experience something differentand that changes that for them

- and I love being a part of that experience for them. I feel like this is definitely where I belong.”

Her work garnered her the California Continuation Education Association’s Teacher of the Year Award last year, when then-Principal Lynsie Castellano called her “a culture game-changer for any school.”

Olympic’s current principal Courtney Lyon nominated Townsend for District Teacher of the Year. “She is just so passionate about alternative education,” Lyon said. “She really has a heart for the kids and wants them to feel like they are seen, they are valued and they can be successful in their academics, even if they have not previously experienced success. She’s really intent on building community here.

Townsend stressed the importance of being able to find those who are willing to support you and advocate for you after you graduate so that you have a network you can count on.

Students said Townsend is a caring teacher who is passionate about teaching and is honest with them about what they need to do to get on track them for phone and cyber implants for schooling, do not understand the resistance by the aging out Millennium Old Fogies. to graduate. “She keeps it real,” said Eva Carranza, 17. “And sometimes we need to hear that. She motivates me. She pushes you to do more than you thought you could actually do.”

Transportation.

Autonomous cars failed to make an impact in individual vehicle ownership but did reduce road rage incidents. The high-speed rail project finally completed the link between Lodi and Fresno, but no one noticed. Electric car conversion reached 70% despite the five-day mass blackout in ’39 that duplicated the Donner Party on Highway 5 north of Redding.

Roads. After the extensive road repairs of the ’20s and then in the mid-’30s, the evercyclical repair and wear down continues.

Climate change. The one-foot rise in sea level finally got noticed when flooding on golf hole 13 shifted from only on King Tides to every high tide, forcing a change in the whole course.

The base. After a sustained start in the early ’30s, the myth of One Concord was torn up when the residents there petitioned for a separate city to be called Claycord, just as they created a charter school district for themselves. The battle continues.

Immigration/refugees.

The mass influx of Taiwanese 11 years ago from the first and second Chinese Unity Invasions pushed the city to make Mandarin a school language requirement as well as Spanish and English. The influx more than offset the outflow of young families to Canada and other areas gaining from the rising world temperature and empty land.

Meanwhile, the July 4th parade still brings out the crowds and we still pledge “… indivisible with liberty and justice for all.” The hope remains strong that we will remember that our name is Concord not Discord.

Edi Birsan is a member of the Concord City Council. However, opinions expressed in this column are his alone and do not reflect those of the city. Send comments and questions to EdiBirsan@gmail.com.

PREVIOUS MDUSD

WINNERS NAMED COUNTY

TEACHERS OFTHE YEAR:

2022-23 Natasha Paul

2019-20 Shay Kornfeld

2018-19 Kelly Perkins (State Finalist) and Rosie Reid (State Teacher of the Year; National CA Rep)

2016-17 Shauna Hawes (State Finalist)

2003-04 Liane Cismowski

2001-02 Janet Gower (State Teacher of the Year)

1996-97 Judy Moon

1993-94 Kathy Prasch

1990-91 Janice Bergamini (State Finalist)

1988-89 Shannon Merrill

1987-88 Carol Sparks

1986-87 James Wiese

1985-86 James Sayre

1983-84 Victor Hansen

1981-82 William Thomas (State Finalist)

1979-80 Ann Rowe and Joseph Hipple

1978-79 Nancy Burton

Concord Chamber offers five $2000 scholarships to local students. Apply now

Thanks to strong fundraising and a corporate donation, the Chamber of Commerce is boosting this year’s scholarships through its Community Alliance for the Future (CAF).

“We are still collecting for the Crab Feed, and after reviewing our total collected for CAF, we are currently at almost $9,500,” reported Melissa Rea, the chamber’s president/CEO. “Between this and a $2,000 donation from Regency last year, I would like to move forward with providing up to five $2,000 scholarships instead of one $3,000 and two $2,000 scholarships.”

Rea said that the chamber historically raises $3,000-$3,500 for scholarships – but nearly tripled that amount this year.

“I believe raising the value for each scholarship will begin to gain traction for CAF, which is a goal I have set for the chamber in recent years,” she noted.

Seniors are eligible to apply if they attend Mt. Diablo, Concord High, Ygnacio Valley, Clayton Valley Charter, Northgate, Las Lomas, College Park, Carondelet and De La Salle. Applications are due 4 p.m. April 21. For more information, visit www.concordchamber.com.