Dressed in a brown leather jacket
– a flash of gold in his hand, “The Ghost” arrived at Glen View
Elementary School last week. Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero, Gilroy’s
own North American Boxing Federation featherweight champion, heard
about a fire March 29 that destroyed one wing of his former
elementary school and decided
it was time to make an appearance.
Dressed in a brown leather jacket – a flash of gold in his hand, “The Ghost” arrived at Glen View Elementary School last week.
Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero, Gilroy’s own North American Boxing Federation featherweight champion, heard about a fire March 29 that destroyed one wing of his former elementary school and decided it was time to make an appearance.
Under a sky threatening to downpour, the entire student body lugged their chairs across the campus arranging them in a semi-circle on the black top play area, anxiously awaiting to hear a Ghost story.
“I was a student here,” Guerrero boomed. “This is what I worked hard for,” he said dangling his diamond and gold championship belt in front of the entire school. “And I had to work extra hard in school to get this, because my dad said I couldn’t box if I didn’t do well in school.”
Hundreds of pairs of eyes followed his every movement, entranced. When Guerrero walked across the pavement in one direction, necks craned and feet followed from the other.
The 22-year-old champion attended Glen View in the mid-1990s and struggled to balance both boxing and school – a feat he accomplished with familial support.
“If you work extra hard – you can do whatever you want,” he promised. “Put all your mind into it and exercise your brain.”
Guerrero’s visit was scheduled so that it would occur right before this week’s California Standardized Test and Reporting (STAR) exams as one final motivational force for students.
“He heard about our fire and wanted to make a contribution to our school,” said Principal Marilyn Ayala. Guerrero made some phone calls and soon a date was set for him to speak.
Teachers across the district have spent the week covering the walls of their classrooms and reminding students of the importance of these tests.
Testing requirements insist teachers eliminate any record of their instruction during the examination period.
Ayala compared the STAR tests to the world championships of testing.
“You might consider the (Measure of Academic Performance) tests and associate it with the playoffs,” she told students. “Next week is like the World Series. It’s the Superbowl.”
STAR tests are used for accountability purposes under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
The staff at Glen View has developed an incentive plan to encourage students come prepared for the exams and exhibit good test taking skills.
Each day of testing, students can earn points towards prizes like stickers and lollipops, by arriving on time and using scratch paper for making calculations to during math sections, among others.
“The best advice you can give students is to get plenty of sleep the night before, eat a good breakfast and come on time,” said fourth grade teacher Georgia Froumis.
After Guerrero’s speech, students returned to their classrooms for one last talk before the tests.
“The kids were so impressed (with Guerrero). They’re really relating to what he’s saying,” Froumis said regarding Guerrero’s story about his father.
“If you guys do well, then I’ll come back,” Guerrero assured students.
After the final bell, students ran from their classrooms crowding the front office trying to capture once last glimpse of The Ghost.
Ghost close to bout at SF’s Kezar Stadium
This summer, Gilroy’s own Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero could be making his professional debut in the Bay Area.
“It’s not set in stone,” said Guerrero’s publicist Mario Serrano. “We’re still working things out.”
Tentatively, the fight would take place at San Francisco’s Kezar Pavilion on July 16. An opponent has yet to be named.
Serrano will know more in the next three weeks, but said there is a “70 percent chance” the fight will happen.
A fight in San Francisco would also mean big publicity for The Ghost.
“There’s talk of possibly doing a live broadcast over the Internet, talk of doing it on demand on Comcast,” Serrano said. “If it happens, it will be headline news on Channel 2 … It’ll be very, very huge.”
Fight promoter Brendan Hallinan, co–owner of West Coast Media, thinks Guerrero is just the fighter to breathe new life into the sport of boxing in the Bay Area.
“We’re trying to get behind these young Bay Area up–and–comers,” Hallinan said. “He’s a hot commodity. We were lucky enough to meet with him. He’s a great guy and he was exciting and all he was hyped up to be.”
Hallinan said he will have a better idea of who Guerrero’s opponent could be next week.
“We’re working on it right now,” Hallinan said. “There’s a list (of fighters) we’ve narrowed it down to.”
Hallinan said West Coast Media is also interested in promoting Hollister’s Kelsey Jeffries, and possibly getting her on the July 16 card.
“We’re really interested in putting her on a card, maybe with Ghost,” Hallinan said.
