Several members of Morgan Hill Police Dept. Explorer Post 811
attended a statewide Explorer competition in Redding on April 2 and
came away with two first place awards.
Several members of Morgan Hill Police Dept. Explorer Post 811 attended a statewide Explorer competition in Redding on April 2 and came away with two first place awards.
Representing the department were Explorers Nick Campos, Ryan Halla, Jessica Votaw, Tamara Cupps, Korrie Macierz and Alfredo Carrasco. Tamara Cupps won a first place award for the woman’s physical agility test and a first place award was won by the team consisting of Nick Campos, Alfredo Carrasco and Tamara Cupps for the Force Options Training Simulator (F.O.T.S.) is a full sized video of criminal activity, requiring the Explorer to react in a “shoot” or “don’t shoot” situation using a real handgun equipped with a lazer instead of bullets.
Police Explorers are a national organization that is chartered by the Boys Scouts of America, made up of young men and women between the ages of 14 and 21 who have an interest in police work.
The Explorer Challenge is a stateside Explorer competition which tests the skills, knowledge and team work of each attending Explorer Post. The competition consists of similar training scenarios as would be given in the police academy, including car stops, building searches, first aid and physical agility tests. The competition is attended by hundreds of Explorers from dozens of police agencies throughout the state.
Bellarmine College Preparatory announced that its Speech and Debate Team has won the California State Championship for the second consecutive year. Four students won individual state titles: Robert Bergin of Morgan Hill for Humorous Interpretation; Jon Weed for National Extemporaneous, and David Sepetka and Alex D’Amour for Policy Debate.
Bellarmine performed especially well in National Extemporaneous, where, in addition to Jon Weed, three other Bellarmine students also finished in the top six in the state.
Bergin, the son of Rosy and Rich Bergin is a senior at Bellarmine. He intends to enroll at U.C. Berkeley in the fall and major in English or journalism.
St. Catherine Catholic School graduate and former San Francisco 49er football player Randy Kirk, was named a 2004 National Catholic Education Association Catholic School distinguished Graduate. Sponsored by the NCEA’s Dept. of Elementary Schools along with Morgan Hill’s St. Catherine School, Kirk received the award for outstanding personal and professional achievements. Throughout his life Kirk consistently has pursued the highest possible professional and personal standards. He is an example of how Catholic schools educate their students to take leadership roles in their community and beyond.
Kirk now lives in San Martin with his wife and four children. He has helped raise more than $200,000 for children’s charities. He also attended Bellarmine High School in San Jose, De Anza Community College and San Diego State University. He is not the principal owner of Spain Kirk Development, Inc. in San Martin.
Joshua Hunter, a senior business administration major from Morgan Hill helped raise over $7,000 for charity at the seventh annual “Mr. Bruin” pageant, Thursday, April 1, at George Fox University.
This year, the contestants collected funds to support the new Gerry Frank Center for Children’s Care at Providence St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Portland, Ore. All the pageant participants recently devoted a Saturday to volunteering at the hospital and spent the day learning about the new pediatric unit, building toys, and labeling books and videos.
The pageant, which takes its title from the university’s Bruin mascot, opened with the contestants showing off their dance moves in a choreographed group performance. It was followed by a talent contest in which the contestants dazzled the audience with song and dance, comedy routines, and death-defying juggling feats.
Following the talent show, the contestants’ mothers participated in a question and answer segment that proved both amusing and embarrassing for their sons.
Finally, once scores were tallied, senior Derek Dougherty was crowned “Mr. Bruin 2004” and was victoriously carried offstage by his fellow pageant participants.
Lockheed Martin awarded its Maritime Systems & Sensors (MS2) Premier Circle Honors designation to Morgan Hill resident Lew Madden.
Madden, who works at Lockheed Martin’s facility in Sunnyvale, was recognized for his exemplary leadership in pursuit of new business opportunities in Alaska. Madden is the company’s program manager for Alaskan Ship Programs.
The Premier Circle Honors program recognizes employees whose contributions to the business set an example of excellence. This year, 85 of MS2’s 11,000 employees were selected for the award.
“Lew’s accomplishments convey the effort to change and improve our business to best serve our customers,” said Fred Moosally, MS2 president. “He stands as a role model for MS2, and is recognized by all employees as deserving of this significant award.”
Headquartered in Bethesda, MD, Lockheed Martin employs about 130,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture and integration of advanced technology systems, products and services.
At a recent meeting at Lou’s Village in San Jose of the Santa Clara County Dental Society, a local component of the American Dental Association, longtime Morgan Hill resident Sue Perry was awarded as one of the top Dental auxiliary in Santa Clara County by this 1,000 member organization. Among the reasons cited were Sue’s dedication to patient education, promoting dental health, creating a friendly atmosphere at her office and her professionalism.
Jon Hatakeyama with whom Sue has worked for the past 25 years, invited Sue’s daughter, Cheryl Allen, DDS along, with the rest his staff as an office outing on the pretense that this was to listen to a noted speaker. The award came as a complete surprise to Sue, among the clapping 500 meeting attendees. In nominating her for this award, Hatakeyama stressed her inspirational ability, her leadership qualities and her youthful attitude as the “glue” of his office. Although Sue tends to her grandchildren, her regular regimen of exercise, golf and sense of humor will keep her going as long as Hatakeyama wants to continue his dentistry.
Alexander Joseph Wallash of Boy Scout Troop 730 was awarded the Eagle Scout award in a ceremony at the Morgan Hill Community and Cultural Center on Sunday, January 11.
To earn scouting’s highest award, Alex earned 25 merit badges, served as a leader in his troop and completed in a major community service project. Alex coordinated the building and installation of twelve western bluebird nest boxes in the Mendoza Ranch section of Coyote Lake-Harvey Bear Ranch County Park in Gilroy. The bluebird trail will provide important nesting habitat for western bluebirds and western kingbirds.
Alex, 18, son of Al and JoAnn Wallash, has been a member of Troop 730 for seven years. He is a senior at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, and a starting defender on the varsity lacrosse team. Alex plans to attend the University of Santa Barbara in the fall.
Kim Sugiyama has been named to the Dean’s List at San Jose State University, with a major in music. To be named to the Dean’s List students must earn a 3.65 or higher grade point average in at least two contiguous semesters of the three semesters prior to the Honors Convocation. Kim will be honored formally at the 42nd Annual Honors Convocation Friday, April 16. Kim is a 1998 graduate of Live Oak High School.
Cricket Rubino and Marisa Faust, both of Morgan Hill, will be honored as the Mt. Madonna YMCA’s 2003 Volunteers of the Year at the YMCA’s Annual Volunteer Recognition Dinner on May 11.
Cricket Rubino, member of the Mt. Madonna YMCA Board of Managers since 2002, has been involved with the YMCA for 20 years. Cricket volunteers as a community support fundraiser ensuring local children and families have access to YMCA services.
Marissa Faust, is the youngest recipient ever to receive the YMCA Teen Volunteer of the Year Award. A 4th grade student at Paradise Valley Elementary School, Marissa helps at the YMCA Paradise Valley Child Care Center as a Youth Leader-In-Training and helped organize the Mt. Madonna YMCA’s first annual holiday dinner event and talent show.
Details and tickets: Judy Burt at 351-6412.
Two teams of Paradise Valley Elementary students were recognized for their innovative engineering designs at the 17th annual Tech Challenge hosted by the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose.
The “Pike Punks,” a fifth-grade team led by parent adviser Kathleen Morgan, earned the “Best Entry Grand Prize,” while the sixth grade “Catch of the Day” team led by parent adviser Fred Schenkelberg won “Best Design Valued Under $50.”
The students created their own unique solution to this year’s challenge based on a real world problem – extracting (plastic) predatory, non-native pike fish from (a 60-gallon simulated) Lake Davis in Northern California.
Morgan’s team of five students, all in Carol Ferri’s class at Paradise Valley, said they were very happy – and very surprised – to learn they won the top prize in their division made up of fifth- and sixth-grade teams.
Amanda Morgan, Zachary Freiberg, Katie Machado, Taylor Pencer, Mitchell Schenkelberg, classmate Krista Cavanaugh and Kenny Lee, were part of Morgan’s and Schenkelberg’s teams.
“They used a golf ball retriever attached to a lazy Susan with a hinge,” Morgan said. “They had three minutes to get the plastic fish from about 10 feet of water. They created a basket … attached with fishing line and a fishing reel, with trap doors that opened up on the bottom.”
The Pike Punks were recognized for their innovative design with a most creative award. For that they received a $25 Tech store gift certificate.
The Pike Punks went home with a $150 savings bond, an HP 302 basic scientific calculator and a behind-the-scene tour of the HP Pavilion.
The Catch of the Day team’s prize earned a HP 302 basic scientific calculator.
