PLACENTIA
NEWS-TIMES
AN EDITION OF
THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 20 1 3
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OCREGISTER.COM/PLACENTIA
The range (of job shadows) is crazy. This is an excellent opportunity for us to prepare our students to give a speech to people that they aren’t comfortable with.” SHARI ANDERSON E N G L I S H T E A C H E R A N D P R O J E C T C O O R D I N AT O R
PHOTOS: KEVIN LARA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
El Dorado High seniors Andrew Kim, Jerome Lachapelle, Nathan Casares and Shannon Galipault, from left, recently completed their senior projects. The assignment required them to shadow a professional or complete a project, and give a four- to six-minute presentation to a panel on what they learned.
SENIORS TRY OUT A CAREER
One stuffs a duck, another welds a front bumper and a third helps build a dune buggy – and then each gives a speech about the experience.
BY LOUIS CASIANO JR. ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
S
oon-to-be high school grads always have a lot on their minds. Prom, deciding what college to attend, finals. For El Dorado High School’s Class of 2013, there’s one extra, albeit important, last assignment to complete before summer:
For 15 years, seniors have had to choose between completing a project or shadowing an industry professional – and then giving a presentation of their experience in front of a panel of community members. Students who job shadow must do so for at least 15 hours. Each presentation must be four to six minutes and accompanied with a PowerPoint. Shari Anderson, an English teacher and the project’s coordinator, said the students get public-speaking experience and learn about potential career fields.
“The range (of job shadows) is crazy,” Anderson said. “This is an excellent opportunity for us to prepare our students to give a speech to people that they aren’t comfortable with.” Anderson’s daughter Ashley, now 20, spent her project working with a speech pathologist. She now attends San Francisco City College and plans to work with children with autism. This year, one student helped build a dune buggy, another welded a front bumper to his car. A girl did online advertising for a clothing store. A boy stuffed a duck at a taxidermy shop.
SEE Q&As WITH THE SENIORS ABOUT THEIR PROJECT EXPERIENCES ON PAGE 3.
PLACENTIA TO TEST NEW ECONOMIC STRATEGY BY LOUIS CASIANO JR. ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
The City Council has unanimously approved several economic initiatives aimed at increasing Placentia’s revenues and attracting more businesses: ● The business license amnesty program allows businesses operating without a license the opportunity to obtain one without having to pay any penalties. The city initiated a temporary run of the program in 2009. The new round would begin July 1 and last for three months.
● A retail-incentive program aims to reduce planning and building plancheck and permit fees by 25 percent to qualified retail companies. ● The start-up fees for businesses looking to operate in the city would drop to $98 from $211 for the business and zoning application, inspection and business license. ● A volunteer “green” program encourages businesses to focus on solid-waste reduction, water and energy conservation and pollution prevention. Using a check list, businesses
would self-audit their practices. According to a city report, the financial impact is estimated to range from $7,000 to $20,000 in initial revenue losses. However, the intent is to increase the amount of sales- and property-tax revenue as the businesses thrive. In his State of the City speech in February, Mayor Scott Nelson indicated that Placentia needed to find new economic incentives. Assistant City Administrator Ken Domer said the program would start
around the beginning of July, with parts of it lasting up to one year. After that, the program will be evaluated to determine if it should be continued. “Other cities are able to take it to a greater extent, just because they have greater revenue streams to fall back upon, so they can eliminate fees for a certain time or they can take all developments including residential and exempt the fees for a certain period time to stimulate (economic growth),” Domer said. “We, unfortunately, cannot do
that here, so we try to look for the biggest bang for the littlest amount of lost revenue.” Nelson said it’s time for the city to back up its claim of having a business-friendly environment. “We’ve always said that we’re business friendly around here, and I think it’s time to put our money where our mouth is,” he said.
SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
City Council comes up with a four-prong plan, including incentives, to help businesses and the environment.