Westside Story Newspaper – Online The News of The Empire – Sharing the Quest for Excellence
The Concerned Citizens for the Development of North Fontana thanks all the schools in Fontana Unified School District for your participation and to our judges.
Each school was given a name a African American inventor who was not well known to write a 250 word essay. To make it more challenging the essay could be written by, a class, a student or a campus club, but only one would represent the school, and the inventor was chosen by the North Fontana Black Awareness Parade Committee.
President Ellen Turner said ” I am proud that the schools embraced the challenge”.
With the use of modern technology all the judges were emailed the essays and they emailed there results back. Needless to say none of the judges knew each other was a judge. So we will now announce the winners as well as the judges.
First Place Almeria Middle School
Student Name: Kimberly Worth
Inventor Bessie Blount Griffin
Second Place: Dorothy Grant Elementary School
Student Name Eunice Sasu
Inventor: James E. West
Third Place: Primrose Elementary School
Student Name: Julie Artes
Inventor: Grandville T. Woods
Judges for the contest were:
Cynthia Smith is an educator, writer, entrepreneur, speaker, trainer and personal coach. Her desire is to help young people find their voice and passion through the arts.
Bruce Wilson, Father, Evangelist, Author of “Crime Thriller” THE CRIMINALS, Book I, A Time to Reap. Brought up in North Fontana, but no longer lives in Fontana, and has a passion for the lost and hurting.
Gloria Estine Benjamin Stewart is a native of New Orleans, LA. . She received a Bachelor of Science Degree in English and Speech Education from Southern University in Baton Rouge(1965), a Masters Degree in Guidance and Counseling from Loyola University (1972), and certified in Supervision (Masters Plus 30). Gloria retired from the Orleans Parish School System after 34 years of service.
Gloria is a member of New Orleans Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Kappi Delta Pi, Senior Friends of New Orleans (H2U), Louisiana Retired Teachers Association, AARP New Orleans Chapter#4550, United Teachers of New Orleans Retirees’ Chapter (UTNO), Treble Clefs (Delta Sigma Theta), National Education Association. National Council of Negro Women, Pontchartrain Park Community Center, Huntington Park Association, Walter L. Cohen Alumni Association, Southern University Alumni Association, Loyola University Alumni Association, and a volunteer at Woodland West Elementary School.
Laura Abernathy Mancha was appointed to the San Bernardino County Board of Education.
Mancha previously served as a trustee on the Fontana Unified School District Board of Education for 17 years.
Margaret Hill earned her early education in the state of Virginia. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Virginia. After moving to California in 1969, she earned her Master’s degree and her Administrative Credential at California State University, San Bernardino. She received an Honorary Doctorate degree in Social Justice from the University of Redlands in 2011.
Margaret was a teacher, vice principal and principal for the San Bernardino City Unified School District for thirty-two years, assistant superintendent for the San Bernardino County Schools Office of Education for six years, and has been an adjunct professor at the University of Redlands and California State University, San Bernardino. Margaret is the President of the San Bernardino City Schools Board of Trustees and is now serving her second four-year term. She has been a representative on the San Bernardino County School Board for four years and a delegate for the past two years.
