The All City Management Service recently named Armando Paraiso the Crossing Guard of the Year. Paraiso has been a kitchen volunteer mainstay since October 2013 at the Cypress Senior Center. ACMS supervises the activities of all crossing guards in the nation. Paraiso was selected from among the hundreds of crossing guards operating in the Orange County area. Paraiso works at the Ball-Graham intersection, near Walker Street.
The All City Management Service recently named Armando Paraiso the Crossing Guard of the Year. Paraiso has been a kitchen volunteer mainstay since October 2013 at the Cypress Senior Center. ACMS supervises the activities of all crossing guards in the nation. Paraiso was selected from among the hundreds of crossing guards operating in the Orange County area. Paraiso works at the Ball-Graham intersection, near Walker Street.
This distinction comes with a cash award and a plaque of recognition, plus a black cap that says “Crossing Guard of the Year.” Crossing guards usually wear apple-green caps.
Paraiso holds a mechanical engineering degree from Don Bosco Technical College in Manila. He first worked with Engineering Equipment, Inc., and was in their Integrated Engineers Development Program. He was trained to work in any department in the company. After that, he worked for Permaline Metals and became the Vice President of Manufacturing. Later he started his own company, Alexco, which made aluminum components.
Due to political and financial changes in the country, it was time for a change. Paraiso decided to move to California where his parents and his two sisters were living in February 1990. He was employed by CitiGroup for eleven years as a team leader in the auditing department.
Shepherding the children on his watch and helping save lives, along with his duties at the Cypress Senior Center, is just the kind of therapy he was looking for.
Paraiso is 63 and has four children.
This article appeared in the July 12, 2017 print edition of the News Enterprise.
