Western High School BITA Students
Begin Doc-In-The-Box Project

A Doc-In-The-Box—doctor’s office, nursing station, and health education center—will be created from a humble cargo container by Building Industry Academy students at Western High School this year to send to Nkandla, South Africa.  In this space every month, at least once a month, you will see its progress, from floor plans to finished project, from a dream to reality.  When they finish it, it will be shipped to Africa as part of the Africa Project, a non-profit headquartered in Irvine. 

Photos of the interior and exterior of a Doc-In-The-Box created by Rensselaer Corporation show what ROP Building Industry Technology students at Western High School want to accomplish.

The students are now collaborating in teams of two or three to develop material lists for several of the building’s functions, including plumbing, electrical, solar power, walls, doors/windows, floors, metal studs, roofing, paint, and refrigeration. One team was given the direction to contact a particular solar company, Sun Trek, asking them how many solar panels they will need to run a 20 amp circuit for an off-grid installation.  

Instructor Jerry Cates would like to see the Doc-In-The-Box project turn into a school-wide endeavor.  His vision is to include the art department in creating a mural on the outside of the container; the English Department in writing fund-raising letters for materials; the History Department in helping understand the people’s culture so the artwork and furnishings are sensitive to and appropriate for the area, and so on.  Cates is making a presentation October 1 to faculty members to see if they might be willing to incorporate the project into their curricula.

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Feds Support Summer Jobs

ROP Puts Youth to Work

Three hundred sixty-five young people found jobs this summer because of ROP and the Anaheim Workforce Investment Board (WIB).  North Orange County ROP won a grant from the WIB, a federally–funded local organization, to place area kids aged 16-24, in summer jobs.  Cheri Fawley, Administrative Services manager, and her team exceeded even their own expectations when they placed the students.

From left, Siotame Lasitani, student; Cheri Fawley, Administrative Services manager; Zenith Rahman, student; Michael Worley, Ed.D., superintendent; and Thomas "Hoagy" Holguin, trustee, pose for the camera.

The small but mighty team of six job placement specialists that includes Maria Atkinson, Emelia Cuevas, Cathy Davila, Huy Thinh, Gabriela Vargas, and Pam Zuniga scoured Anaheim and surrounding cities for employers willing to hire kids. They recruited more than 80 employers, matched students to those employers, and followed up with visits to make sure everything was going well.  The paperwork gurus—administrative assistant Pam Boswell, and office assistants Mirna Castaneda, Barbara Klimas, Melissa Lucatero, Denise Martin, and Cynthia Roybal, and program specialist Sunny Lee—made sure students completed their timesheets and paperwork, and were paid on time. 

Two of the working students thanked staff and the Board of Trustees at a recent ROP Board meeting for the opportunity provided to them. Siotame (Kenny) Lasitani, Loara High School senior who worked at St. Jude Medical Center and the Richman Park Neighborhood Clinic, said that, “The experience intensified my desire to become a doctor, and it made me aware that treating every patient with dignity is so important.”  

Zenith Rahman, 2009 Savanna High School ROP Medical Academy graduate who worked all summer at the ROP Education Center, also has medical aspirations.  She is enrolled in the UCLA Registered Nursing program and starts next month.  Zenith said, “It was wonderful working here this summer.  Not only did I immediately feel like part of the family here, I learned a lot about office procedures and I built my confidence to the point where I know I can succeed.”

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Lynne Porter Retirement Party
Nets 280 Books for Children's Charities

During her fifteen-year career at North Orange County ROP, Lynne Porter, assistant superintendent of Educational Services, gave generous birthday and holiday presents to her co-workers in the form of gifts to her favorite charities, most of them literacy, scholarship, or library funds.  Anyone who gave her a present knew Lynne’s preference was a gift to charity.  So it was only fitting to ask retirement party attendees for a present in the form of books, not for Lynne, but for children in need. 

A happy Lynne Porter (left) is pictured with Judy Gunderson, president, Altrusa International, Inc., of Anaheim, and the books donated to charity in Lynne's name.

People brought 280 books—everything from The Cat in the Hat to The Bobbsey Twins—and if they couldn’t come to the party, they mailed books or brought them by the Education Center. The books will go to two charities serviced by Altrusa International of Anaheim, Inc.; Project Dignity, and several area free clinics.  Children will be given the books to keep.   

When Altrusa President Judy Gunderson arrived to collect the books for distribution, she was amazed at the number and high quality of the books.  “They are all such good books,” she enthused. She couldn’t know that no one would even think to bring less than the best to honor Lynne Porter.

To see photos from Lynne’s retirement party, click here! 

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