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The Bakersfield Voice Sunday, June 12, 2011
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YOUR SCHOOLS
Graduation sparks avalanche of emotions
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une brings graduation, which brings an avalanche of emotions. Joy, glee, relief, sorrow, indecision, and loss are just a few. As an eighth-grade teacher, I get to experience graduation every year complete with the range of emotions! As is typical, we junior high teachers always know hundreds of high school graduates as well. On a recent evening, Ridgeview High School invited my junior high’s teachers to be a part of their graduation, encouraging our teachers to dress in full college grad regalia and accompany the graduates on the field. We accompanied the amazing teachers who took our places as our students went off to high school. Our junior high opened five years ago so the class of 2011 holds our first grads from our school. Several of us walked into the Wolf Pack gym and found ourselves hugged and exclaimed over for the duration of our time there. Students there were exuberant, joyful, and emotionally overwhelmed with the closing of a
chapter in their lives. I saw former students who performed at the top of their classes as well as a couple who I feared wouldn’t be able to complete the four-year journey. It did my heart good! Probably the most touching part for me was when Principal Steve Holmes announced to the students that the assembly of all the Education columnist graduates from Ridgeview High School was the essence of their goal for our kids: To see successful young people graduate from high school. It brought a tear to my eye … but then I laughed for joy! Peggy Dewane-Pope is a teacher in the Panama-Buena Vista Union School District.
PEGGY DEWANE-POPE
Members of Ridgeview High School graduating class of 2011, Corey Hobbs, Shannon Merete, Kenny Willoughby and Manpreet Sandhu are jubilant after their recent graduation. PHOTO PROVIDED
YOUR SCHOOLS
EXTRA! EXTRA!
Brandon Martin to oversee CSUB’s Small Business Development Center
You’re never too young to make a difference!
COURTESY OF CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD even months after adopting a formal program to assist small businesses in the region, California State University, Bakersfield has hired local business attorney and marketing professional Brandon Martin as the director of the CSUB Small Business Development Center serving Kern, Inyo and Mono counties. “I’m looking forward to getting the word out about the useful services and technologies our organization offers to local entrepreneurs as well as the opportunity to build the solutions-focused assistance we can provide in new areas,” Martin said. The CSUB SBDC operates under the UC Merced SBDC Regional Network in Central California and is part of a national network of centers established by the U.S. Small Business Administration to provide assistance to small businesses looking to start or expand their operations. The local center offers free and paid services in the form of one-on-one consulting with business professionals, workshops on topics such as human resources and marketing, and help with small business loan applications. CSUB became host of the SBDC in October 2010 and has already seen success under the leadership of Interim Director John Pryor, who has amassed a team of consultants, including faculty and MBA students from CSUB. “Thanks to the excellent efforts of my predecessor, John Pryor, our team of standout consultants, and the university's excel-
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PROVIDED PHOTO
Brandon Martin is the new director of the CSUB Small Business Development Center serving Kern, Inyo and Mono counties.
lent faculty, we are well-positioned to continue to be a positive, creative force in our community in the years to come,” Martin said. Most recently, Martin served as Communications Director of the 2010 Bakersfield Business Conference, which is organized by his father, prominent Bakersfield business attorney George Martin. Brandon Martin
also recently launched an Internet consulting business in 2009 called Mighty Megaphone, which he said has helped familiarize him with many of the modern and topical issues facing small businesses. During his 10-year professional career, Martin has advised small and large businesses in California, practicing law in the areas of real estate development and environmental law for firms in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and Bakersfield. He has also served as a lecturer in CSUB’s Environmental Resources Management program on the topic of environmental compliance. “CSUB’s School of Business and Public Administration is excited about what Brandon Martin brings to the table,” said Associate Dean Mark Evans. “He has the leadership and communication skills to establish great rapport with the SBDC’s consultants, business clients, community stakeholders, and our university. He is strategic, visionary, and comfortable with the new technologies driving business competitiveness.” Martin holds a bachelor of arts in communication studies from University of California at Los Angeles, and a law degree from University of California, Berkeley School of Law. While in law school, he helped small businesses in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties by serving pro-bono for the Small Business Counseling Center and the Samuelson Clinic for Law and Technology. For more information about the CSUB Small Business Development Center, visit www.csub.edu/sbdc or call 861-7951.
PHOTOS PROVIDED
Readyland preschool children collected $131 for the Bakersfield Pet Food Pantry, which distributes donated pet food to families who need help feeding their pets.
ReadyLand Preschoolers collect pennies for needy pets BY CINDY FRYE Community contributor
EXTRA! EXTRA!
Children’s summer reading program overflowing with stories, fun activities BY KATHERINE ROSS Community contributor
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he Beale Memorial Library will present the Children’s Summer Reading Program, 2011 — One World, Many Stories: Children’s Summer Reading Program at the Beale Memorial Library, 701 Truxtun Ave. The following is a list of the remaining programs in June: Thursday, June 16 4 p.m. — Omnipresent Puppet Theater Friday, June 17 10:30 a.m. — Families from Around the
World - Stories & Crafts Tuesday, June 21 2 p.m. — Stone Soup Story Theater Wednesday, June 22 3:30 p.m. — Art in the Afternoon Thursday, June 23 4 p.m. — Wild Child Adventures - Bubbles & Balloons Friday, June 24 10:30 a.m. — North American Animals Stories & Crafts Saturday, June 25 2 p.m. — Kids at the Table: Food & Fun
YOUR CELEBRATIONS
Happy birthday, Austin Saffell!
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ishing you a Happy Birthday! From Sally Saffell
Tuesday, June 28 2 p.m. — CSUB: F.A.C.T. Animals from Kern County
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he Bakersfield Pet Food Pantry would like to offer a sincere thank you to Ms. Yarian and her preschool class at Readyland Pre-School. They were busy this year — not only learning everything they need to know to start kindergarten — but also helping our community. Ms . Yarian’s class held a penny drive for the Bakersfield Pet Food Pantry — collecting $131 over the period of several months. They previously held another penny drive for a school that had caught fire; when that drive was over, they
wanted to continue collecting pennies and elected to help the Bakersfield Pet Food Pantry. We are ever so grateful to the children and Ms. Yarian. This just proves that you are never too young to make a difference. Donations made to the pet food pantry go towards helping people who had come upon difficult times, with pet food for their family pet. The food collected also gets delivered to local food banks and other agencies for distribution. For more information, contact the pantry at 619-2029 or visit our website at: bakersfieldpetfoodpantry.org.
Wednesday, June 29 3:30 p.m. — Digging For Dinosaurs
How you can help
Thursday, June 30 4 p.m. — Stories from the Eastern Hemisphere The summer reading program runs until July 30. For more information, call 868-0750
Do YOU have something to celebrate? Post your Happy Birthday greetings and other celebrations on our website at: www.bakersfieldvoice.com.
Bakersfield Pet Food Pantry is a non-profit, all volunteer organization in Bakersfield dedicated to assisting disabled/homebound seniors and low income community members by providing them with dog and cat food. The pantry is always in need of pet food and will accept any brand of dog or cat food, whether it’s bagged or canned. You can also help BPFP through volunteering or by giving monetary contributions through Paypal or by sending a check to Bakersfield Pet Food Pantry, P.O. Box 82153, Bakersfield, CA 93380.
Other ways you can help: 1. Donate cat and dog food, either canned or dry. Please call 619-2029 to schedule a pick-up. 2. Hold a pet food drive in your community, or at your school, church or business. 3. Become a volunteer “barrel buddy” and let us put a collection barrel for pet food in your business. We’ll stop in and collect the donation. 4. The pantry is also in need of volunteers to hep bag pet food. The next bagging dates are: Sunday, July 10 at 2 p.m. and August 7 at 2 p.m. at Self Serve Pet Spa on Calloway Dr.