by Shelley Bennett
If you’re ever worried about the state of our world, come down to the high school to ease your concerns.
For many of you, that might seem like a scary proposition, but for me it’s an everyday occurrence.
Last week was a shining example of how special my job is. On Wednesday I asked author Randy Cochran to visit my classes and talk about his writing process.
Randy is retired from the LAPD and is also the father of Susanville’s Chief of Police Ryan.
My classes sat in total silence listening to Randy spin his stories. He shared tales of gang violence, a kidnapping, and a hold up at a KFC that turned into a gunfight. They took it all in and then they started asking questions. They were thoughtful and considerate.
Randy asked them for help in editing his memoir and they readily agreed. We now have a collaborative project to proof, polish, and help Randy get published.
Later in the week I traveled with the FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) and their advisors Kerrissa Schall and Carrie Satica to their competition in Wheatland. A group of about 50 students competed in a variety of business employment events.
My job was to stand in the hallway where the public speakers were waiting to go before the judges. I was supposed to ease their nerves and give them confidence, but I wasn’t really needed. Their coach Jo Forsyth had already made sure they were more than ready.
I had the pleasure of watching Aryanna Saltsgver and Renee Delgado hype each other up before their competitions. Aryanna competed in Impromptu Speaking and explained that she would be given a topic and then have 10 minutes to prepare her speech.
I was impressed by how prepared she was. She was excited to show off her skills!
Renee had prepared a speech and was reciting bits and pieces as she paced up and down the hall, danced, and performed other feats of exercise. The energy was bouncing off of her! Both Aryanna and Renee placed second in their competitions and earned spots in the state competition.
Katelyn Kirack was waiting outside the Job Interview room with copies of her resume ready to go. She was the picture of “calm, cool, and collected.” I wish I could have been in the room because she absolutely killed it, placing first.
The weekend ended with a group of my drill team girls (and even more of their parents) serving at the NCCA’s second annual Crab Feed. For over two hours, these girls hustled raffle tickets, bused tables, and served over one thousand pounds of crab, salad, bread, and chowder.
Most of them have never worked at a restaurant, but they carried this off with grace and competence.
At the end of the night, my feet hurt, and my hands were greasy from the melted butter, but I thought about the amazing things I had seen from the students of Lassen High in the past week and was overwhelmed with pride.
And that’s not all of it! It’s just what I witnessed. There were also girls and boys basketball teams battling at Central Valley high school, soccer players celebrating their senior week, our FFA teams competing at the Arbuckle Field Day, and wrestlers fighting to be NAL champs. If only I could clone myself!
Remember when news was ‘newsy’? When you read about weddings, family events and engagement announcements in the newspaper? If you have something that might be newsworthy, please submit it to [email protected] and I’ll do my best to include it here in “The Good Stuff.”
