The past few weeks here at Fillmore High have certainly been busy ones- September 13th was our Renaissance Celebration, recognizing all students with a 3.0 GPA and above for their academic excellence. This event was held in the Sespe Auditorium and despite a modest turnout was more successful than many in years past, thanks to its planning committee from ASB, headed by Commissioner of Renaissance Johnny Wilber and the members of his committee: Anissa Magdaleno, Sammy Martinez, Esperanza Ocegueda, Ana Morino, Alejandra Amezcua and Nathan Zavala.
The list of recipients of the Renaissance award is included as follows: Class of 2012-Vanessa Aguliar, Bryanna Aguilar, Stephanie Aguilera, Sandra Alcocer, Oscar Alferez, Brooke Alvary, Rachelle Arreguin, Blanca Ayala, Jennifer Ayala, Eddie Baez, Jenny Bonilla, Taelor Burhoe, Steven Casarez, Kendal Davis, Taylor DeZavala, Tania Dominguez, Westley Fairall, Miguel Garcia, Alvaro Nathan Garnica, Alexander Gonzalez, Jonathon Gonzalez, Monica Gonzalez, Gonzalo Gutierrez, Stephanie Hernandez, Neira Hernandez, Nenetzin Herrera, Itzelle Iniguez, Jose Iniguez, Rogelio Lemus, Jaynessa Lopez, Vanessa Lopez, Viviana Magana, Kenya Medina, Gabriela Melendez, Jenna Mendez, Jordan Mendoza, Luis Montejano, Susana Morales, Ashley Morino, Ana-Christina Morino, Roberto Munoz, Taryn Munro, Nguyen Nguyen, Andrea Ocegueda, Yvonne Paes, Cindy Peralta, Victor Ponce, Jazmine Rodriguez, Adolfo Rodriguez, Nicole Rodriguez, Daniela Rosales, Jose Sanchez, Katherine Stewart, Juan Valdovinos, Vanessa Villa, Larissa Villanueva, Jenna Wilber, John D. Wilber, Nathan Zavala, Marc Zavala. Class of 2013- Brooke Aguirre, Mariana Alamillo, Jose Almaguer, Brenda Alvarez, Jesus Amezcua, Donna Arreguin, Monique Avila, Blaine Aviles, Brian Ayala, Alexis Barajas, Katie Boyton-Rogers, Marlene Carvajal, Krystal Casillas, Aureliano Ceballos, Yulianna Ceja, Vincent Chavez, Jose Contreras, Yanelle Diaz, Rene Escobedo, Collin Farrar, Karla Flores, Alexander Frias, Billy Gabriel, Victor Gallegos, Cassandra Galvez, Victor Garcia, Briana Garcia, Laura Garnica, Louis Gomez, Eduardo Gomez, Javier Guerrero, Selena Guerrero, Tyler Hackworth, Nicholas Hastings, Alissabeth Hernandez, Nerina Inda, Nadia Jimenez, Desiree Lagunas, Veronica Laureano Rosales, Salvador Lopez, Yazmine Luna, Noe Magana, Jaime Magdaleno, Jennifer Martin, Cynthia Martinez, Sammy Martinez, Jeremy Martinez, Rocio Medina, Daniel Meza, Shelbi Miller, Anthony Murray, Delila Ortiz, Mary-Louise Ortiz, Sarah Pace, Christian Pech, Jose Perez, Bryan Rosas, Sandra Ruiz, Courtney Salazar, Jazmine Sandoval, Lilyana Santa Rosa, Kennedy Smith, Jessica Suarez, Michael Topete, Marisol Torres, Beatriz Tovar Salcido, Destiny Toyooka, Amairani Valdivia, Hugo Valdovinos, Rogelio Vargas, Amanda Vassaur, Armando Vidal, Maira Villalobos, Angelica Zavala. Class of 2014-Gilberto Acevedo, Raquel Aguilar, Banely Arevalo Robles, Justin Beach, Wendy Bolanos, Anyssa Cabral, Erick Cadena, Martin Ceja, Frank Chavez, Karina Contreras, Lizeth Cornejo, Pedro Corona, Gustavo Alexis Cortez, Riley DeZavala, Marissa Dorantes, Citlali Erazo, Jorge Esparza, Nicolas Frias, Kayla Grove, Ricardo Gutierrez, Laura Guzman, Kiana Hope, Nicholas Johnson, Anthony Larin, Jose Madrigal-Flores, Kendra Magana, Emerio Manzano, Daniel Martinez, Jessica Mayhew, Caitlin McCall, Carson McLain, Jesus Mendoza, J. Donovan Mitchell, Jillian Moser, Melissa Nunes, Joseph Orozco, Ruben Orozco, David Peralta, Omar Ponce, Kiana Ramirez, Daniel Regalado, Juan Rodriguez, Luis Rodriguez, Vanessa Rodriguez, Paulina Rosales, Jazlyn Sanchez, Kayla Shepard, Jennifer Solorio, Nikole Spencer, Cheyanne Tarango, Cesar Vasquez, Daniela Valdovinos, Jaime Valdovinos, Jordyn Vassaur, Felicity Zavala.

After each award was handed out to the students present, senior at FHS Vanessa Villa presented a speech to Mrs. Juarez, who was chosen to be honored with the Renaissance Teacher’s award.

“Mrs. Juarez is being presented tonight with the Renaissance award. I was asked to give a small speech on her behalf. Ms. Juarez is one of the two Spanish teachers at Fillmore High School. She currently teaches classes ranging from Spanish level 1 to AP Spanish Literature. She is also MEChA Club advisor.

I had Ms. Juarez as a teacher for three consecutive years beginning with my freshmen year in Spanish Native Speaker 1. I recall her putting on Jorge Ramos, a news reporter, and then beginning a discussion in class concerning a current event. The experiences in Ms. Juarez’s class teach the students to be more accepting of others, the value of being bilingual, appreciate cultures, to work together, and the value of knowing one of the most popularly spoken languages of the world. I recall the enthusiasm she had for all the material we covered, including grammar packets. The Pluscuamperfecto has never escaped her editing wrath. Whenever a question arose as to how to say a word in Spanish, she always directed them to the dictionaries along the wall. The usage of Spanglish towards the end of the year was forbidden. The docking of participation points were used to motivate the class to try to keep it Castellano, especially during the final exam, also known as the ten-minute presentation. The time after an exam was considered sacred movie time. The Orphanage is still my favorite, even if the class was screaming every 20 minutes from the suspenseful music.

The approach of any Spanish-speaking countries holiday was always announced and then a snippet of that countries’ culture was included into the day’s lesson. I do not know exactly how line dancing is related to Cinco de Mayo but it works. I recall going into her classroom in the mornings and finding new students helping each other with homework and chatting in fluid Spanish or Spanglish. Whenever a question arose in regards to English or math homework, she always managed to pull an unsuspecting student in to help. That student was, at times, me.

The preparations for a MEChA Celebrated holiday were, to say the least, stressful times. In the end though, everything always worked out. The new officers did not have time to settle down. September 16, was Mexican Independence Day, November 2 was the day of the dead and then some time in December would be the enchilada dinner. Then the biggest celebration would be Cinco de Mayo, with the court of princesses, queen, and music. On each of these days, everybody would be encouraged to dress in the traditional colors or costumes. Ms. Juarez always wore her huaraches.

With this, I leave you now. Ms. Juarez is not only a magnificent teacher, but also an advisor to a great many students. She has helped, guided and inspired. She has repeatedly told us that we will go to college and has helped us achieve that goal. Without Ms. Juarez, I do not know how many students would not have gone on to the University to achieve their dreams.”

You may have noticed that Fillmore Highschool has been buzzing with Homecoming week activity since Monday. Our theme this year is ‘Fables in Flashland’ and our parade is on Friday at 2:50pm. All are welcome to come outside and support our football team, the cheerleaders, Homecoming Court and the Grand Marshal among others that will be present in the festivities. Details on the events of Homecoming will be in next week’s issue!