Published in the December 23, 2015 – January 5, 2016 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Robert Airoldi
Robert Airoldi
The threat of rain canceled Saturday Dec. 19’s Gold Light event that was created to bring plenty of Super Bowl-focused media attention to Morgan Hill. A hoped-for 1,000 members of the Morgan Hill community were expected to stand in the fields of the Outdoor Sports Center and hold their cellphones in the air in a position to spell out with gold-colored screens MORGAN HILL LOVES SB50. But no worries, we’ll get a second chance from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Jan. 9. The event also features live entertainment, games, a visit from Santa Claus, a photo booth and more. Admission and parking are free. Don’t forget your smart phone.
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Morgan Hill Life publisher Marty Cheek was spending his Saturday Dec. 10 morning working at our downtown office when he happened to look out the window at the rainy day streetscape and saw police cars escorting a line of about 100 people marching in the northbound lanes. Many of them carried umbrellas.
The journalist curiosity kicked in and he wondered why people might take a stroll on such a blustery day. So he stepped outside the office with his camera to snap a few shots. That’s when he noticed several men were carrying a statue of the Catholic saint Our Lady of Guadalupe protected from the elements under a pop-up tent canopy. He learned it was the feast day dedicated to Jesus’s mother Mary. The day is particularly special for Americans of Mexican heritage, as it honors the belief that Jesus’ mother Mary, who is Mexico’s patron saint, appeared to an Aztec Indian convert named Juan Diego in the location of what is now Mexico City in 1531.
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Swati Dagar, principal of Paradise Valley Elementary School
Calling all junior engineers. Paradise Valley Elementary School Principal Swati Dagar, along with teachers, staff, and a community-driven steering committee, went before the Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Trustees Dec. 15 to present a proposal to turn the elementary school into an engineering focus academy. The board approved the transition plan unanimously. With a target launch date of the 2016-2017 school year, the goal of the change is to create a fundamentally different, rigorous, and innovative approach to teaching and learning, with a focus on integrating science, math and the engineering design process.
Principal Dagar and the steering committee have worked tirelessly to gather input from parents and community members as they crafted their proposal. The change in the school is being driven by wanting to increase academic opportunities for students to engage in integrated curricular units of study — Next Generation Science Standards, Common Core Math and Reading, Common Core Technology Framework and Engineering Design process.
“As a principal, it is very exciting. We are preparing our kids for the future by promoting critical thinking and teaching them leadership and mentoring skills that they will carry with them through life,” Dagar said. “We want to challenge our students to explore and investigate content in depth, not merely learn it for an assessment score.”
Not only will PV Engineering Academy emphasize connections between math, science, reading, the engineering design process, and technology tools, she said. It will also provide students with design-focused learning by fostering a culture of inquiry and critical analysis.
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Evelyn Davis
Check out the three new deer in the median downtown. I’m not referring to real California native deer, although there have been sighting of these animals roaming the lanes of downtown Morgan Hill late at night. I’m taking about the life-sized bronze sculpture called “Dear Family” of a buck, doe and fawn standing in the middle of the traffic in the median in front of the Pop-up Park.
The three-piece sculpture was created by local, and world-class, artist Evelyn Davis and dedicated Dec. 18. Her aim with Dear Family is to remind viewers of the priceless environment that surrounds us because Morgan Hill is blessed with a bountiful supply of native wildlife. She hopes her work will honor that fact and remind people of what we have and what we alone can preserve.
“Right off, I would like to make people smile,” Davis told us. “Since the sculptures are made of bronze they will last a millennium. They will be making people smile well into the future.”
We love seeing the art pieces that are now starting to grace our downtown. Young people benefit from being exposed to art and nature in their ordinary lives. When a city provides art as part of its design, it adds to its fingerprint in a positive way. It leaves a memorable impact and draws people back.
And yes, we can’t wait to see the giant spider art work made of headlights that will decorate the new downtown garage. Its installation date is expected in January.
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To share the joy of the written word, the Morgan Hill community supported the Gift of Reading book drive organized by BookSmart. The drive brought in a total of 1,250 books for children, both donated and purchased with $2,741 in cash contributions. Books are being distributed to low-income families through local schools as Christmas gifts. Hundreds more books that were not quite “like new” will be given away at Cecelia’s Closet. BookSmart thanks the Friends of the Library, the Edward Boss Prado Foundation and all those who helped make Gift of Reading Morgan Hill such a success.
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On a personal note, we at Morgan Hill Life wish everyone in our community and the South Valley region happy holidays and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. Thank you so much for supporting our newspaper.
