June 1, 2005

Cambrian Park Kiwanis Club honors turn-around students

The Cambrian Park Kiwanis Club held its annual ceremony to honor local students who have turned their lives around on Wednesday, May 18. The seven students, who each received $1,000 scholarships, attend Leigh and Branham high schools.

It was quite an afternoon. In addition to school counselors, Branham Principal Tom Utic and Leigh Principal Rick Costanza also attended.

Following lunch, board member Greg Zieman, who is also administrator of Pine Hill Second Start School, reminded all the attendees of the importance of the letter “C.” Too often, he said, people think of C as meaning mediocre, but “it also stands for things that are a lot more important.

“C talks about character,” he added. “It also means commitment, choices and controlling our own destiny. We shouldn’t necessarily think of C as the middle, but as a letter standing for important characteristics in our lives.”

Finally, it was time to honor the students. Liane Rice, Kiwanis Scholarship Committee chair, passed out the scholarships to Andrew Zeller and Dahir Adam of Leigh and to Lynette Campbell, Jeremy Reuter, Daniel Wolter and Andrew Zeller of Branham.

Let’s look first at the two Leigh students. Andrew Zeller, who wants to attend film school, brought his grade point from a 1.9 to a 2.6. It happened, he said, because he found something he really liked. “Through a teacher, I learned about the media and video production, about creativity and making stories to tell people news.” While he notes a basic elementary interest in the photographic aspects and computer graphics, he has a drive for film. He plans to attend the Brooks Institute in Ventura, Calif.

Dahir Adam brought his grade point from a 2.0 to a 3.4. He hopes to attend Alabama A&M and study engineering. He’s not yet sure what colleges he’s made it into. He applied to three, but he applied late. What he found helpful, he said, was in getting organized. His grades suffered because he had poor study habits and couldn’t get organized.

Lynnette Campbell, a student at Branham, brought her grade point up from a 1.17 to a 3.0. She said she was trying to do too much and just couldn’t do it. “I was trying to balance sports—softball, field hockey, swimming and dancing—with academics. Lynnette plans to study at DeAnza for two years before going off to California State University at Fullerton or San Diego State where she wants to major in kinesiology and minor in dance.

Aaron Lavell raised his grade point from 0.5 to 3.2 during his high school career, quite a feat in itself. At the same time, he was and continues to play football. He will also play football next fall when he attends West Valley. “I’m looking into studying business and athletic training, he said. Among his more recent accomplishments are some night classes at West Valley and an online course he took from Brigham Young University.

Jeremy Reuter says he just plain had a bad attitude. He brought his grade point from a .75 to a 2.0. He plans to attend Mission College before transferring to the Fire Fighting Academy in Los Angeles. Doing work on his junior career project, he discovered fire fighting. That discovery led to his goal to become a fire fighter. He and fellow student and scholarship recipient Daniel Wolter both became interested in fire fighting while working on the project, he added.

Wolter pulled his grade point from a 1.0 to a 3.8 and is shooting for a 4.0 this semester, “I think I have it,” he said.

He mentioned that several things about fire fighting intrigued him. “I want to be a fireman. I like the roughness and especially the brotherhood, it’s like you are all family,” he said, adding he knows a few firemen.