Two of Los Alamitos High School’s finest Griffins were recognized recently as Students of the Month by the Los Alamitos/Seal Beach Rotary club.
At the regular club meeting on March 21, teacher Bob Ostmann introduced Genesis Pena and Emma Cotter, who were recognized by the club and provided funds to assist with furthering their education.
Genesis was accompanied by her mother Madeline and father Jose. She is an accomplished cinematographer and also contributes stories to broaden her ability in film. She plans to attend CSULB next year to continue her pursuit of film.
Emma was accompanied by her mother Alicia. Emma is also moving toward a career in film, but more as a writer. She has completed a film/story about football Coach Ray Fenton and has collaborated with the highly regarded program called “Every 15 Minutes,” which is a startling and incredible demonstration of how drinking and driving do not mix. Emma plans to continue her education in college and pursue screenwriting.
Following the recognition of the two young ladies from LAHS, one of the club’s newest members, Derek Vosskuhler, provided a craft talk. Derek is a native Californian, born in San Diego, where he attended school.
Following graduation, he attended UCLA as an undergraduate and then on to Law School at University of San Diego.
His career has always been in family law, ranging from pre-nuptial agreement to child custody and virtually everything in between.
Derek’s calm demeanor assists when dealing with such difficult and often traumatic circumstances. Derek and Kelly have been married for 20 years and reside in Rossmoor with their children, who attend school in Los Alamitos Unified School District.
The guest speaker club’s meeting was Los Alamitos High School teacher and Football Coach Ray Fenton. Ray spoke about his love for the game, the players, and for making a difference in the lives of others.
He brought along two of his senior players, Hayden Smith and Drew Platt, who talked about the experiences they had playing football; the lessons they will carry with them in their futures; how the football team made it further in playoffs than they had in nearly a decade; and how much they appreciated Coach Fenton. Both students plan to attend college after graduation, and Drew Platt will play football at UCLA.
For further information about the Los Alamitos/Seal Beach Rotary Club, visit the club website at www.losalsealbeach.org.
This article appeared in the April 5, 2017 print edition of the News Enterprise.
