June 3, 2019
VOL. MMXIX, NO. 4
RAM’S EAR R I O V I S TA H I G H S C H O O L
Brandi Gomes Awarded Teacher of the Year M by Henry Rossi, Assistant Editor
rs. Brandi Gomes grew up in Fremont, California, a large city located in the southeast San Francisco Bay Area. She attended Irvington High School, the home of the Vikings. During high school, Mrs. Gomes participated in journalism and was editor-and-chief of the school newspaper as well as the Irvington Viking’s Literary Magazine, which she started her senior year. Along with writing, she was also involved largely in art, and she was in the musical “Crazy for You” her senior year. For sports, Mrs. Gomes swam for her school swim team. Her freshman year she was on the badminton team, and she was on the cheerleading and song teams her junior year of high school. After she graduated high school, Mrs. Gomes attended UC Santa Barbara for her undergraduate studies. Here, she participated in many extracurricular activities just like she had in high school. She continued her love for writing by writing for the Nexus and Art and Entertainment magazine. She was on the editing team for the UC Santa Barbara Women’s Literary and Art Magazine, Herstory. During her freshman year at college, she was a DJ and had her own show, “Hella Bay Area.” On top of all of this, she was also a member of the Irish club and was a member of the organizing committee for the Take Back the Night Rally, which promoted awareness and support for women who were victims to rape and domestic violence. During
her senior year, she studied abroad at the University of Birmingham, England. After graduating from UC Santa Barbara, Mrs. Gomes attended Sonoma State University for her teaching credential. After, she received a Master of Arts degree in English Literature and Composition, just like her B.A., with a focus on post-colonial literature, women’s studies, and Irish Literature from Sacramento State University. Mrs. Gomes loves traveling, and she has traveled all around the world. She lived for a year in England when she was studying in Birmingham. She has traveled throughout the British Isles to Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. She’s been to Barcelona in Spain, Bordeaux and Bretagne in France, and Prague and Ostrava in the Czech Republic. She has also been to Holland, Thailand, and Tahiti. Mrs. Gomes lives now in Rio Vista with her husband and her three sons, ages 5, 8, and 10. Her dog, a yellow lab named Bodie, recently passed away in January of this year, but she also has an adopted stray cat named Tiger. In her free time, she loves to travel, go to music concerts, visit art museums, read, and cook. Her favorite book is hard to pick. She loves Ulysses and Dubliners by James Joyce, but Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison and The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy is a few of her favorites. Mrs. Gomes started teaching at Rio Vista High School back in 2007, nearly 12
Success All Around For Rio at Dixon May Fair
For the last five to eight months, Rio Vista High School students have been waking up early to feed their project animals, exercising and feeding them in the evening and working on showmanship in between. It is a daily commitment that takes a lot of time and dedication, but those who have participated in FFA and 4-H will also say that it is a rewarding experience. Close to 50 students raised everything from rabbits to steers, including pigs, goats, and sheep. This year, the fair banned any type of poultry due to a highly contagious flu. Steers are generally purchased in October, while goats, sheep, and pigs are purchased in January. They are nurtured and fed for months and this can create quite a bond between animal and human which inevitably ends in an auction. “It can be sad, especially at first. I tend to get over it quickly, but there are lots of people who don’t,” stated freshman Sam Esperson. The most remarkable and touching moment during the auction was junior Lane Eggers’ selfless act of donating all the proceeds from the sale of his steer to pediatric cardiac research in the name of Elliott Hagan, a friend and classmate who passed away last year in May. It was an emotional moment for Lane and everyone in the audience as the total contributions exceeded $20,000.
Photo provided by Madison Myer
by Henry Rossi, Assistant Editor
Lane Eggers shows his steer during market.
Rio Vista students, both veteran and novice, represented our school with skill and expertise. The following is a list of livestock placings by breed in both market and showmanship categories. Showmanship is a competition among the exhibitors to see who is the better showperson. It’s not about the quality of the animal, but the skills of the exhibitor. On the contrary, the market competition is solely about the quality of the animal for meat purposes.
Teacher of the Year Mrs. Gomes is in her twelfth year teaching at Rio Vista High.
years ago. Her favorite part about teaching is “watching students make goals and meeting those goals. Nothing makes me happier than to see students progress and rise up to challenges. I went into teaching to support students in reaching their goals and helping them make their dreams possible.” She says the most difficult part of
her job is watching students struggle and lose faith and confidence in themselves. Some advice that she would give to all of her students is, “Never lose sight of your goals and dreams, but understand that hard work, perseverance, and resiliency are key to meeting your goals. You can do anything with determination and motivation.”
Market Rabbits Meraiah Groves (FFA) 2nd in senior showmanship, 3rd in market class Malia McWilliams (FFA) 2nd in novice showmanship, 5th in market class Ashlee Weller (FFA) 7th in novice showmanship, 7th in market class Market Swine Kamren Robles (FFA) 2nd in senior showmanship, 7th in market class Destanie Rendon (FFA) 4th in market class Wyatt Hagan (FFA) 8th in showmanship Brennen Bellante (FFA) 6th in novice showmanship Joey McGahey (FFA) 5th in market class Christian Riedmiller (FFA) 4th in market class Jesus Rivas (FFA) 5th in showmanship Jacob Rivera (FFA) 9th in novice showmanship, 2nd in market class Joey Stevenson (FFA) 4th in market class Aidan Walker (FFA) 6th in market class Jared Beechler (4-H) 4th in market class Market Lambs Macie Oglesby (Independent) 1st in market class, FFA Reserve Champion Lily Griffin (4-H) 4th in senior showmanship, 1st in market class Sam Esperson (FFA) 5th in senior showmanship, 1st and 2nd in market class Jorie Forbes (FFA) 2nd in novice showmanship, 2nd in market class Amber Griswold (4-H) 1st in market class Jessica Mingay (FFA) 2nd in market class Madison Myer (4-H) 5th in senior showmanship, 6th in market class
Madison Davis (4-H) 6th in senior showmanship, 3rd in market class Caroline Upham (4-H) 4th in novice showmanship, 7th in market class Lacee Myer (4-H) 7th in market class Sydney Saldana (4-H) 12th in market class Chase Ludlow (FFA) market ready Mason Cobb (FFA) 5th in market class Bella Saldana (4-H) 8th in market class (Continued to Page 4)
Logan Dean Valdez
Class of 2022, RVHS Swimmer October 30, 2003 April 28, 2019 May He Rest in Peace He will be missed by all at RVHS Suicide Prevention Hotline 1-800-273-8255