ur principal of four years, Darryl Johnson, will leave our school to lead the personnel department at Panama-Buena Vista Union School District. That’s a huge loss! He’s the heart of Stonecreek Junior High School but runs a tight ship. He puts children’s safety first and requires stu- dents to, “Go HOME,” directly after school every day. He puts in countless hours — he’s generally the first to come and the last to leave. I used to carry on — grumbling, whin- ing, and fussing — at the end of each school year when changes occurred. That included teachers moving to different schools, people receiving promotions that forced them to move, and retirements. A change of heart about my losses took place a few years ago when I poured out my soul to Nancy O’Neil, then the coun- selor at Warren Junior High School. I wrote her a note complaining of changes that left me with the loss of a friend who decided to teach at another school. Nancy explained that when a friend leaves it’s like a part of you dies. But when that happens, consider what it was that they brought out in you. Then appreciate the things about yourself that your friend saw in you. “Whatever they love about you is the quality you show to your friend. Hon- or that quality in yourself ... you’ll be rich- er for this experience,” according to Nancy. Then, she said, let them go and do what they need to do. I took Nancy’s advice to heart and asked myself what it was that Darryl saw in me. He saw a capable, charismatic teacher who cares about our students. He saw someone who would take the ball and run with it. Then he gave me the ball, and I did just what he expected me to do. He helped make me a better teacher and a better friend. I don’t even want to imagine what school will be like without him, but I know I’m a better person having worked with him. So, Darryl will leave and see wonder- ful things in the next generation of teach- ers, helping them be better educators and people. I’ll miss him tremendously, but it’s a good move. Bon voyage, Darryl, and thanks for putting Stonecreek Junior High on the map! Peggy Dewane-Pope is an eighth grade teacher. 2 The Bakersfield Voice Sunday, May 22, 2011 Share stories, photos, blogs www. bakersfieldvoice .com ■ Submitting your stories for The Bakersfield Voice is simple and FREE! Just go to: bakersfieldvoice.com and create a profile. ■ Choose what you’d like to contribute (an article, letter, picture or community event listing) and post it yourself. ■ Still need help getting your contributions onto our website? E-mail Sandra Molen at smolen@bakersfield.com ■ Circulation: If you would like to receive our weekly pub- lication or cancel delivery, please e-mail: voicedeliv- ery@bakersfield.com or call 392-5777. Be sure to include your request, contact information and address. YOUR SCHOOLS YOUR SCHOOLS O School to miss Principal Darryl Johnson BY PAIGE FARADAY Community contributor ighth-grade students Srutipriya Malay, Po Tsui, and Shreya Banerjee, from Earl Warren Junior High, recently won the National History Day California competition on May 1 with their group documentary, entitled: “The Iranian Hostage Crisis.” The group will advance to the Nationals at the University of Maryland from June 12 — the first time in Wildcat history! This year’s NHD theme is Debate and Diplomacy: Success, Failures, and Con- sequences. Students from grades 6-12 research and analyze a topic, ranging anywhere from the Cuban Missile Crisis to the Brown v. Board of Education to Alice Paul, to explain to judges how it relates to this year’s theme and what impact it has on history and current society. They present their research in a paper, exhibit, performance, documen- tary, or website, as individuals or groups. Only the most dedicated and diligent students can advance. For these Wildcat state champions, this is no exception. They have labored since the beginning of the school year with weekly meetings to research, write a script, record voiceover, interview individuals, edit footage, and complete an annotated bibliography and process paper; a task that required icebreakers as incentive and multiple late-nighters. Even now, improvement on their docu- mentary continues to ensure the best winning chance at Nationals, as pressure escalates. However, parents of these students have another concern on their minds. The cost of the trip will not be easily managed, with prices of airplane tickets and hotel rooms skyrocketing. It is still unclear whether the Panama Buena Vista Union School District will fund this trip. However, no matter what the outcome, these students truly are cham- pions. Good luck! E PHOTO PROVIDED Earl Warren Junior High eighth grade students celebrate victory at the recent Nation History Day California competition and prepare for nationals on June 12. PROVIDED PHOTO Krauss family ready to serve the community in the annual Mormon Helping Hands Day at Greenacres Park. PROVIDED PHOTO More than 550 volunteers lent a “helping hand” as part of the annual Mormon Helping Hands Day at Greenacres Park. Local students make Wildcat history ... with History Day contest COURTESY OF FRESH & EASY NEIGHBORHOOD MARKET resh & Easy Neighborhood Mar- ket announced that 48 schools in Bakersfield earned more than $30,000 through its third-annual Shop for Schools program. Nearly 2,000 schools actively participated in Shop for Schools this school year, earn- ing more than $1.3 million that each school can use for whatever they need most. Kindergarten through eighth-grade schools located within a three-mile radius of any Fresh & Easy store can participate in the Shop for Schools pro- gram. For every $20 spent at a Fresh & Easy store from September 15 through December 31, 2010, participating schools received a $1 donation. In addi- tion to collecting receipts, registered schools could also participate in Shop- ping Nights, which provided an opportu- nity to raise even more money. From 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on each school’s designat- ed shopping night, five percent of the total sales at the local Fresh & Easy store were donated to the school. Neighborhood schools participated in the fundraiser through their local Bak- ersfield stores, with a total of 1,466 schools actively participating through- out California. The top fundraising school in California was Sunset View Elementary, which received a $5,000 bonus in addition to their fundraising efforts. “We are thrilled to be involved in our local school community and be a part of schools continued success through Shop for Schools,” said Khristy Roberts, Shop for Schools Regional Coordinator. “Schools in our neighborhood continue to struggle for funding right now and we are proud we can be part of the solution by giving back to local schools.” Shop for Schools was launched as a pilot program in spring 2009, raising more than $130,000 for schools in Cali- fornia, Nevada and Arizona. Fresh & Easy brought the program back in fall 2009 with raising another $670,000 for local schools. Fresh & Easy plans to bring the pro- gram back again in fall 2011 and for the first time ever, offer online registration in mid-May. Visit www.freshandeasy.com/shopforschools for more information. F Local schools earn more than $30,000 ’m not crazy about reading books more than once — even if I love them. Exceptions, however, must be made! A book that really wowed me is the fanta- sy, Name of the Wind, written by Patrick Rothfuss. My then 22-year-old son gave me his copy a couple years ago. It’s intimidating in size but once I picked it up, I was hooked. A whole different world emerges from the pages that’s somehow both ages old but advanced as well. Some people liken it to something that would appeal to Lord of the Rings fans but frankly, I think I enjoyed it more. The book appeals to boys in a big way but girls who have read it loved it. “It’s the myth of the Hero seen from back- stage,” Rothfuss says in his website — per- haps the cleverest author’s page I’ve seen. His biography is from a parent’s perspective and says things like, “Growing up, Pat didn’t apply himself and failed to live up to his full potential. Despite the fact that he seemed to have no interest doing something pro- ductive with himself, Pat’s parents contin- ued to love him. They also were encouraging, but in a very general way, as he seemed to have no actual talents to speak of.” Now that appeals to me both as a teacher and a mother. I’m pretty good at loving kids who don’t appear to be fired up about their direction and it’s so lovely to have someone who displays those traits land firmly on his feet! Like the bio, the book shows Rothfuss’ clever wit. Name of the Wind is about a young man who is trying to find his way in a fantasy world and leads the reader through adven- tures including a magic and love-filled childhood, devastation and loss, homeless- ness, a college career, and beyond. I picked up the second book in the trilogy, The Wise Man’s Fear, at Russo’s Books in the Market- place recently. A review tells me that the main character, “Kvothe, grows up a little in the second book. He learns more about magic. He learns how to fight, gets tangled up in some court politics, and starts to unravel some of the mysteries of romance and relationships, which is really just magic of a different kind, in a way.” Hmmm…I just may have to read Name of the Wind again. Peggy Dewane-Pope is a junior high teacher in the Panama-Buena Vista Union School District. I Bakersfield’s brainiest step up for Sixth annual ‘Brains of Bakersfield’ contest BY PAM WILLIAMS Community contributor ost 13-year-old girls would spend their Saturday texting, shopping, or watching a movie with friends. But on a recent weekend, Madilyn Krauss and her family joined forces with hundreds of other “helping hands” to beautify and reno- vate two local NOR parks: Greenacres and Standard Parks. On April 30, more than 550 volunteers from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints in Kern County participated in their annual Mormon Helping Hands (MHH) Day with the theme “Serving Our Communities.” Donning a signature yellow vest and pushing around a wheelbarrow of compost, Madilyn and four of her brothers spent the day sprucing up Greenacres Park. The day left her feeling “really exhausted,” but she said she was also “really proud” of her accomplishments. “This day of service was important in helping the community and teaching other people that we should take care of our envi- ronment,” Madilyn says. The volunteers’ efforts proved successful at both parks. In addition to general clean up, volunteers planted, staked, and fertil- ized 100 trees, as well as painted three bath- rooms (inside and out), two baseball diamond back stops, four dugouts, and trash holders. They also leveled and reseed- ed bare spots in the ground and trimmed bushes, shrubs, and trees. “There were many families and small children, as well as teenagers, who all pitched in and worked hard for several hours to accomplish these tasks,” says Mil- ton Woolsey, Multistake Public Affairs Director for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “As I stood back and looked at Greenacres Park at the end of the work day, I was very impressed with all that had been accomplished to beautify it and make it a more enjoyable recreation area for the community.” Not only did volunteers feel a sense of accomplishment, but NOR officials were thankful for the help. “I figure this project saved NOR personnel a minimum of a month and a half of labor. The volunteers were very friendly and eager to help,” says JD Grissom, Assistant Director of Parks and Recreation of NOR. “My opinion of human- ity has been elevated substantially.” Madilyn says volunteering was fun, but she also learned an important skill: she can now plant a tree by herself. Her mother, Hydee Krauss, says she wants her children to not only learn the value of hard work, but also live a compassionate life dedicated to serving others. That is why she signed up herself and five of her children, ages four to 13, to participate in MHH day. “If we want to teach our children to live Christ-like lives, then we need to teach them to serve. I want to instill in my chil- dren the desire to do good, to learn to help others, and that they can make a difference in their own community to make it a better place,” Hydee says. “Doing service together as a family helps to build unity and strengthens bonds between family mem- bers when they can learn to work together to accomplish something. “When we serve we are the ones that grow the most from our service because we feel good about ourselves.” This annual event is part of a statewide service effort involving thousands of Mor- mons throughout California and Hawaii. For more information on the Mormon Helping Hands project, please visit: www.mhhcalifornia.org or call Pam Williams at 805-6863. M Hundreds provide ‘Helping Hands’ to the community PHOTO PROVIDED Stonecreek Junior High School Principal Darryl Johnson takes on a new opportunity to lead school district's personnel department. YOUR BOOK REVIEWS PEGGY DEWANE-POPE Education columnist YOUR FAITH Have YOU read a good book lately that YOU’D like to recommend to our Voice readers? We love to hear your recommendations. Post your book reviews here: www.bakersfieldvoice.com TODAY!