Banning High’s Graffiti Receive Foreign Aid

CLEANUP MISSION: Banning High School in Wilmington got a much-needed face lift last week by 70 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Tijuana Stake, who came to town for a weekend of public service, entertainment and fellowship with Los Angeles-area Saints.

The volunteers, who were granted weekend visitor passes by the U.S. Consulate, spent several hours cleaning debris from the campus courtyard and repainting the graffiti-marred gym and locker rooms.

The cleanup project was the Tijuana Saints’ way of saying thanks to members of the Palos Verdes Stake’s Harbor Ward, who have traveled to Mexico once a year for the last decade to repair homes, renovate chapels, and help with landscaping and roofing work.

Officials from Banning High, which is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District, said they were delighted by the cleanup.

“It looks great,” Assistant Principal Bea Lamothe said. “It’s the best it has looked in years.”

INTERNATIONAL ASSEMBLY: Eucalyptus School in the Hawthorne School District last week hosted “Around the World,” an international cultural assembly designed to promote ethnic understanding and harmony.

The assembly, attended by students and parents, featured a pageant of more than 40 youngsters wearing traditional clothing from such countries as Mexico, Vietnam, Germany, Korea and the Philippines.

As part of the 45-minute program, students representing Spain demonstrated a bullfight, and those representing Egypt described how the pyramids were made. Music and dancing--including hula, flamenco and waltz--were also part of the program.

“It was to show children that we may look different, dress different and eat different foods, but underneath it all we are still the same and that we have the same needs such as kindness and love,” said bilingual resource teacher Claudio Enriquez, who helped bring the program to Eucalyptus school.

Ileana Tomeu Gulmesoff and her mother, Migdalia Tomeu, created “Around the World” five years ago as a way to celebrate cultural diversity.

SCHOOLBOY SCRIBE: Victor Elementary School fifth-grader Christopher Savino, whose poem “Imagine” won highest honors in the Torrance Parent Teacher Assn.’s districtwide Reflections Contest, placed third in the PTA’s 33rd District competition.

The Reflections Contest is run by the national PTA to recognize artistic excellence in literature, art, music and photography. Savino’s poem was one of hundreds of entries considered by judges for the 33rd District, which includes schools as far north as Pacific Palisades and as far south as Long Beach.

“It’s a very large district,” Victor PTA co-President Ellen Kircher said. “To win from your school is of course an honor, but to win at a council level or a district level means you’ve done very well.”

Imagine

by Christopher Savino

Imagine what a sight to see

if all the fishes in the sea

turned into floating chocolate bars

and drove around in little cars.

Imagine if the sky was white,

that there was no day or night,

that to the moon we could go

flying in a UFO

Imagine if you had no nose,

that your fingers were your toes,

that your ears were upside down

and your mouth could only frown.

Imagine if bears were pink

that frightened skunks did not stink,

that giraffes were not so big and tall

and ants were not so very small.

Imagine if it rained red dye,

that worms had wings and could fly,

that all insects were good to eat,

all except the ones with feet.

Imagine that school was fun,

that no homework need be done,

that recess time was all day,

and every student got an ‘A’.

Imagine what this world would be

if you and me were fully free,

to make changes as we see

Oh! What a mess it would be.

Just Imagine ...

Items for the weekly Class Notes column can be mailed to The Times South Bay office, 23133 Hawthorne Blvd., Suite 200, Torrance 90505, or faxed to (310) 373-5753 to the attention of staff reporter Kim Kowsky.