The Los Alamitos Youth Baseball Bronco team that won the Bronco World Series recently was officially recognized by the City of Los Alamitos this week at the monthly council meeting. Coach Tony Hooper introduced the team and said the World Series title is the first since 1983. The team went undefeated all throughout the tournament, which was played from Aug. 7-10. They started the tournament out strong with a blowout 11-0 win over a team from Brownsville, Texas, and they would end up outscoring their opponents 27-10 throughout the tourney. This isn’t the first time the team has been recognized by Los Alamitos. A few months ago the team was recognized for prevailing in a tourney in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Since mid-July, the Los Alamitos High School Cross Country team has been practicing together, forging bonds, and fidgeting at the metaphorical starting line. On Sept. 5, after briefly fidgeting at the literal starting line, the Griffins raced for the finishing times, individual medals, and team scores they had been working to earn all summer long. A week after their Sept. 5 meet at The Great Cow Run at Cerritos Regional Park, the team donned their “Los Al XC” running singlets for a second time at the Laguna Hills Invitational.
Of course, these were the first two high school three-mile races for Los Al’s group of freshman girls and boys, and they performed like excited but seasoned runners. The top five scorers for the freshman girls in both meets were Milani Rivers, Amber DeMarco, Victoria Hansen, Heather Dollins, and Madison Garcia. Milani Rivers led the female freshman crew in both races. She placed 11th out of the 231 runners in her race at the Great Cow Run while also running the third best Los Alamitos girls’ time of the day with 19:58. Rivers admitted to being a bit intimidated by the numerous hills on the Laguna Hills course, but she still placed 15th out of 141 runners in the freshman girls’ race, thus stringing together two amazing performances. The top five freshman boys for Los Al have been Klaus Quinonez, Joshua Williams, Harrison Smith, Nick Van Meter, and Lachlan Keller. Quinonez has been another revelation for the team, first placing 13th out of 285 in the freshman boys’ race and then 5th out of 189. His times have placed him in the top five Los Alamitos male runners on the team this year. After setting his personal best of 17:07 at the Great Cow Run, he allegedly ate an entire pizza before continuing to cheer on his teammates in the other races.
A significant percentage of returning runners for Los Al improved their times from last year. An excellent sophomore boys’ team highlighted by Dean Yacoubian, Ryan Watts, Michael Tuttle, Jacob Taylor, and Jared Berryman are meeting their goals and exceeding expectations. Meanwhile, sophomore Brandon Bandley has run the top time on the entire Los Alamitos team in both weeks. The sophomore girls have also excelled, earning plaques for their top-3 team finishes at both meets! Leading this class of runners has been Delaney Sanacore, Delaney Falsken, Bronsyn Ledgard, Sophia Craig, Lauren Kussler, Annie Bliss, and Victoria Hyde.
Upperclassman team captains Constantine Banez and Kyle Lira have been leading the boys’ varsity team to improvement as a group in order to jump ahead of league rivals and achieve a top-3 team finish in Sunset League in order to advance to CIF Prelims. Juniors Andrew Stumpf, Isaac Banez, and Luke Deal hope to contribute to the goal as they continue to establish themselves among the top-7 runners on the team. The girls’ varsity, led by team captains Nicole Bliss and Sarah Enyart as well as fellow juniors Malia Rivers and Aspynn Carr, is working hard to repeat as league champions. At the Great Cow Run, the Los Alamitos girls’ varsity team finished ahead of Sunset League rivals Edison, Fountain Valley, and Huntington Beach, but the numbers indicate a tiny degree of separation. League Finals promises to be a thrilling spectacle.
Community supporters and aspiring runners are more than welcome at the remaining races. Go Griffins.

The Musette Academy for Music and the Arts in Los Alamitos recently held its ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the official opening of the music school’s doors. Laura Dickey, Musette Academy owner, soft-opened the school a couple months ago, but the ceremony on Sept. 17 was a kick start to invite the local community to join.
“We’d like to help local students get musically and artfully connected,” said Dickey. Musette offers instruction in piano, guitar, strings, woodwinds, brass, music theory and music composition.
Also offered is tutoring in math, science, English, and general homework help. For more information call 562-546-2079 or visit their website at www.musetteacademy.com.
Dickey is a nationally certified teacher of music through the Music Teachers’ National Association.

Los Alamitos Unified School District recently announced Ms. Elvia Galicia as the new Director of Fiscal Services.
Prior to joining Los Alamitos Unified, Ms. Galicia was Assistant Director of Fiscal Services for Paramount Unified School District for the past 10 years.  She comes to Los Al with more than 17 years of experience in school district finance. Galicia received her Bachelor’s degree from Cal State Dominguez Hills in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting.
Galicia is passionate about her career in finance and is committed to making sure the District’s resources are used to provide students the opportunity to receive a quality education and to provide them with unlimited possibilities.
Galicia resides in the city of Artesia with her two daughters, one a senior in college and the other a senior in high school.  She loves to watch her girls play soccer and has been an active sideline cheerleader for both since they were five years old.
Galicia said, “I am excited and honored to be part of the Los Alamitos Unified family and look forward to an amazing future here in Los Al.”

Every year the American Legion Auxiliary Unit 716 of Los Alamitos sends high school students to Girls State.
Through a separate fundraiser by President Cindy Mayfield, this year the club was able to send a male student to Boys State.
Girls and Boys State teaches students the political process of government, running for office, city structure and campaigning.
At State, the students live in mock cities with hundreds of other students from all over California, all the while building lifelong relationships.
Kevin “Casey” Navarro from Long Beach Poly was the male student chosen for Boys State.  Navarro won $500 for the best essay response to the question, “what does ‘Liberty and Justice for All’ mean to me?” Navarro first won at the Unit level, then at the District 29 level, which is Orange County, and then at the Department level, which is the State of California.
Those who attended the Girls state were Clair Sierna from Rosary Academy, Leslie Aguirre ofWestern High, Abigail Chermila of Los Alamitos High and Baylee Shiltman of Pacifica High.
The students said it was a life changing experience.

On Friday, Sept. 18, online university Trident University International organized an event to support Operation Gratitude, which is a non-profit, volunteer organization focused on lifting the spirits and meeting the evolving needs of the military and first responder communities.
This is a cause close to the hearts of the entire Trident community, as students who are active duty, veteran, dependents, or in the National Guard make up 79 percent of the University’s currently enrolled population.
A group made up of Trident staff, faculty, alumni, students, and members of the general community created and collected a total of 1,063 letters.
In attendance was Assemblywoman Young Kim, California Assembly District 65, and a representative of California State Senator Bob Huff’s office. Both thanked the Trident community and acknowledged the importance of military and veteran outreach events such as these.
“Trident, with 22,000 military alumni, has had a long-time relationship with the U.S. Armed Forces, educating men and women of each branch of the services using its unique student-centered pedagogical model. In addition to providing items of need to military personnel, Operation Gratitude gives us a unique opportunity to convey to these men and women that the entire Trident community cares about them and the service they are performing for our great nation,” said Esmeralda Silva, Vice President of Outreach and Strategic Alliances.
Operation Gratitude sends over 150,000 care packages each year to deployed troops, veterans, new recruits, wounded soldiers, and their caregivers.
These packages, which are highly sought after by recipients, contain food, personal hygiene products, entertainment items, and homemade articles, all of which are meant to ease the emotional burden of being separated from loved ones.
Trident was founded in 1998 and is regionally accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) Senior College and University Commission.

The 3^rd Annual Cypress Women’s Conference was held on Thursday, Sept. 18 at the Cypress Community Center.  The event was well attended by state and local political leaders, members of our community, businesses, and students from Cypress College, Cypress High School, Oxford Academy, and Kennedy High School.

On Aug. 22, the Eagles Nest Clubhouse at the Navy Golf Course in Cypress California had the great honor of hosting Mr. Manuel Salazar’s 100th birthday gala.  His beautiful family, along with many friends from came to celebrate this special day. Salazar was elated to also receive a special birthday wish from President Barack Obama and his lovely wife, Michelle. Salazar was born on Aug. 21 in 1915 in Chihuahua, Mexico, to Gregorio and Adela Salazar. The couple also had five additional sons and one beautiful little girl.

While many kids dread the end of summer and the return to school, one Los Alamitos girl is excited to get back to school. For Ava Rich, starting middle school this year is more than just a new adventure, it marks a return to somewhat normalcy for her.

Ava has spent the better part of the past three years, battling Lymphoblastic Lymphoma. The treatments have drained much of once vibrant little girl’s strength, but has not diminished her spirits. She received her last dose of chemotherapy on July 23, 2015. She will need time to regain her physical strength, but is pushing forward to take back her active life.

“I always was in awe of her strength,” her mother Gina said.

Ava’s journey began with what doctor’s thought was a benign cyst on her head. But when her parents went to a dermatologist to have it removed, it soon became apparent that it was much more than originally thought. Her parents, Gina and Todd, soon got the earth-shattering news that changed their lives.

The next two-and-a-half years were spent mostly in hospitals, with Ava going through painful chemo, spinal taps and other invasive procedures. Yet, despite at times needing a wheelchair to get around, Ava continued to keep her spirits up. She did crafts and created gifts for her friends.

The Rich family learned quickly, what only a cancer family can truly understand, that it can be an isolating, lonely and obviously scary journey. They learned to take their lives one day at a time and Ava handled her situation with courage.

“She didn’t complain and always went along with her treatment plan,” Gina said. “I am so very proud of her.”

Ava also noticed that there were other kids going through similar treatments as she was and decided that she wanted to try and help them keep their spirits high in the face of the adversity that they shared. She wanted to deliver toys and gifts to patients to help them stay courageous and soon, The Ava Mae Foundation was born. It is a project that helps raise funds to help kids with cancer. She remembers all too well, how she had to be isolated and how that made her feel.

“Knowing how that felt she wants to be able to bring some happiness to kids even if they can’t leave their room.” Gina said.

Ava used to play soccer and do gymnastics, but those activities are still on hold for her. She hopes to return to those types of things, but for now keeps herself busy by doing DIY hobbies and posting videos on her You Tube channel. She enjoys playing with her brother, and her dogs, Hannah and Dakota, and she has trained them to do a few tricks.

She loves her friends and the beach. For Ava, getting back to the more active things she loves will take time. For now, just starting middle school at Mcauliffe is a happy new step in that direction.

“My heart is so full of admiration for my daughter, I feel like she is truly amazing,” Gina said.

A local business is trying to help one of its associates and has been getting help from the community. Jose Ramos has been a fixture at the Rossmoor Car Wash for more than 13 years and for many who frequent the establishment, Jose is the face of the car wash.

He is the Customer Care Manager, so those who patronize the car wash have become very familiar with him.

So when Jose was suddenly absent from work in early August, customers began asking about him. In fact, when Jose failed to show up to open the business one day, it was a shock to the car wash operators and his co-workers as well. In his 13-plus years of employment there, Jose had never missed work without notice.

His co-workers tried to reach him several times the day he failed to show, without success, and became concerned. They were able to reach one of his daughters, who went to his house and found him in distress from a severe stroke.

Jose was taken to Memorial Hospital in Long Beach and has been there since Aug. 6. He was only recently moved out of intensive care, but is still struggling to regain full functioning. Meanwhile, there has been a lot of concern from car wash regulars.

“Jose is one of our most beloved team members and one of the most recognizable.” Owner Brad Hooper said. ”He is well known for his infectious smile and loving demeanor, not to mention, his innate desire to serve our customers. The Rossmoor Car Wash & Detail family are devastated by this tragic news and want to do all we can to support his family during this very difficult time. We thank our customers who have already voiced concern and support for Jose and his family.”

The car wash and its employees have made a donation and set up a fund at the Farmer’s & Merchants Bank to help the family with medical bills that are piling up. They have opened a fund for any community members who might want to help Jose and his family.

Any customer or concerned community member wishing to help the family at this time can make a donation to: The Jose Ramos Benevolence Fund by delivering or mailing a donation to:

The Jose Ramos Benevolence Fund

c/o Rossmoor Car Wash & Detail

11031 Los Alamitos Blvd.

Rossmoor, CA  90720