Category Archives: This ‘n’ That

Ventura High School shines at Grand Nationals

The Ventura High Wind Honors Ensemble will be performing their last free public concert of the year on May 23.

The Ventura High School (VHS) Honors Wind Ensemble returned from the Dixie Classic Grand Nationals in Atlanta, GA as winners. The VSH group, made up of 52 students, was selected to perform in the prestigious grand finale of this two-day event that saw15 schools and 19 performing groups. Ventura High School is the only group from California to appear in the last 20 years. They performed at Grand Nationals four years ago and again this year.

The team had two weeks to prepare for the Grand Nationals. They performed March from Symphonic Metamorphosis by Paul Hindemith, Sunrise at Angel’s’ Gate by Philip Sparke, and Rocky Point Holiday by Ron Nelson. This festival splits up groups based on music ability before participating, and the event requires several years of superior ratings at national invitational festivals as prerequisites. Based on their performance at the national level, the Ventura High team placed into Division 6, the Professional/Collegiate Level and performed in front of hundreds of musicians in Atlanta’s Symphony Hall. Ventura High earned Superior ratings, which translates into Gold, and they scored above a 96%. In addition to the group’s success, Noah Laber received recognition as Outstanding Soloist.

“The clinicians and judges told me that no one else is doing what our students are doing, it is remarkable and uplifting to see this caliber of training and performance,’ stated Ventura High School Music Director Paul Hunt.

In addition to performing, the students received a private clinic with a musician from Emory University and were able to watch the Atlanta Symphony perform.

“We are incredibly proud of our student musicians, our music Director Mr. Paul Hunt, and the entire music team for this extraordinary accomplishment. They consistently bring out the very best of their superior rated musicianship and character by working tirelessly with each other note-by-note, measure-by-measure, day in and day out. They are a total exemplar of our programs and community,” stated Principal Carlos Cohen.

The Ventura High Wind Honors Ensemble will be performing their last free public concert of the year on Thursday, May 23 at the Ventura High School Auditorium at 7 pm. For more information on Ventura High School and their outstanding Music Program visit https://www.venturausd.org/ventura/home.aspx or contact Music Director Paul Hunt at [email protected].

Weapons of Mass Percussion

The Buena Drumline performs its championship-winning piece ‘The Web We Weave.’ Photo by Damien Masterson.

by Amy Brown

Summer Elliott joined Buena High School’s Winter Drumline in 2017 as a freshman, and today he is one of its four Captains, playing the marimba, and serving as Front Ensemble Captain. “Even at the beginning of my first season, I knew that one day I wanted to be a captain, and this year that dream came true,” says Elliott.

Other dreams were recently realized for the entire group, fresh back from their championship first place win in the San Bernardino Southern California Percussion Alliance (SCPA) Championship finals competition. The 34-member Drumline competed against 49 Southern California schools at what is the largest percussion competition in the western United States. And they had the chance to perform their exciting, award-winning piece “The Web We Weave” one last time on their home turf at the Buena High School gym on April 30th to a large and enthusiastic crowd.

The Drumline’s Percussion Director Paul Curci, a Buena alum from 2003, shares that the last time the group won first place in the SCPA competition, he was a sophomore back in 2001. According to Curci, this year the Drumline has the fewest seniors of any year, so this season was expected to be a ‘rebuilding’ period, and the whole team, and especially the underclassmen, really stepped up. “This is an incredibly talented group of young people, with real drive,” says Curci. “It says really good things about Buena’s future.” Buena’s Drumline has been competing in championships every year. “The SCPA is one of the most competitive areas for this in the world. That is not hyperbole—it’s an actual statement. To advance to finals, which is the upper echelon of the groups, is an honor in and of itself,” he says.

Creating a championship, precision Drumline takes a profound level of talent, combined with commitment and hard work. Their season begins in early January and continues through April. Each week there were eight hours of scheduled rehearsals, and in addition to these mandatory hours, members were expected to put in their own practice time, outside of rehearsal. “The students’ work ethic is one of clearest factors that stands out, the entire team shows up to put in the work to see their vision, they know what that process is,” says Curci. “They take advantage of every moment to see that vision through. They come with their game face on, so to speak.” Curci shares that while it is a somewhat clichéd phrase, that it truly does ‘take a village’ for a group like this to succeed at this level. The Buena Music Association support, parents’ participation in the grueling work and performance schedules, and the drive and commitment of the musicians themselves all blended together for the winning formula.

“While it may be a huge commitment and exhausting at times, the hours that we put in build musical skills, friendships, and memories that will last a lifetime,” says Elliott.

Students from the Ventura County’s Straight Up created and produced Public Service Announcements.

Straight Up in CAPS Media Studio.

Recently middle and high school students from the Ventura County’s Straight Up program collaborated in the CAPS Media Center studio to create and produce Public Service Announcements. The Straight Up program engages and educates students and their parents about smoking, alcohol and drug abuse through media. The students learned their way around the cameras, lights and green screen and came away with informative and entertaining Public Service Announcements.

The Ventura County 4-H Youth Development Program is also taking advantage of the resources at the CAPS Media Center. Beginning with a podcast program on KPPQ (the CAPS Media Radio station at 104.1 FM) the students are learning to become producers and hosts of their own podcast to be aired on KPPQ. During the 3-session training program the group is acquiring the technical aspects of recording, engineering as well as performance behind the microphone and interview skills. They are putting together a well-produced podcast to go on the air and support the Ventura County 4-H program.

Students in the CAPS Media/El Camino High School media internship program are completing another year of award winning journalism. The primary focus of the ECTV program is immigration. The ECTV crew has conducted personal interviews and recorded life histories with émigrés from Mexico, Uruguay, Germany, Belgium, Canada and Franco Spain. All of the stories air on CAPS Channel 6 and are archived on the CAPS Media website under www.capsmedia.org/videos/

CAPS Media is collaborating with Community Council organizations throughout Ventura to record and air the neighborhood meetings. CAPS covered the East Ventura Community Council meeting on April 18th which included presentations by Ventura City Council Members Erik Nasarenko and Jim Friedman. The event airs on CAPS Channel 6 and will be posted on the community council website. CAPS will return to the Eastside on May 16th for the next meeting and will also cover the Westside Community Council meeting on Wednesday, June 5th. If other community council groups want CAPS Media to record their meeting they should contact CAPS at [email protected] or call 805-658-0500.

Are you interested in documenting your family history? Come to the free Family Treasures workshop on Thursday, May 30, 4pm to learn how to create a personalized and professional Family Treasures video – using family member stories, interviews, photos and memorabilia. The workshop will be held at the CAPS Media Center, 65 Day Road in Ventura. Workshop space is limited; reserve your spot today by emailing us at [email protected] or calling 805.658.0500.

The CAPS Mission is to create an engaged and informed community through participation in electronic media. All of the resources and training at the CAPS Media Center are available to the entire Ventura community. To find out more go to capsmedia.org/events, sign up for the next orientation class on the first Thursday of the month and discover that for a low annual membership fee of $25 you can receive hands-on instruction in videography, video editing, radio production (additional fee required) and more. Then you will have access to CAPS Media’s state-of-the-art facilities including video cameras, editing systems, the fully equipped television and radio studios. Don’t miss out. All of the information is online at capsmedia.org, or you can call 805-658-0500 to get complete information.

Ventura Audubon Society events

May 11 8:30 a.m.
Arroyo Verde Park.
Leaders: Adele Fergusson 805-415-4304 and Linda Easter 818-519-2833

Enjoy birding the oak woodland, grassy areas, and chaparral in this long, broad canyon. We should see Towhees, Juncos, Acorn Woodpeckers, possibly California Quail and California Thrashers and possibly Hooded Oriole ,Bullocks Orioles, and the Western Tanager.

May 18 8:00 a.m.
Las Llajas Canyon, Simi Valley.
Leader: Cody Swanson 805-304-2505

This is a beautiful trail in Simi Valley full of coast live oak, sage scrub, cottonwood, willow, and many other native plants. Water is present year-round in this riparian canyon so many summer migrants like to nest along the canyon. Year-round species include: woodpeckers, western bluebirds, house wrens, oak titmouse, blue-gray gnatcatcher, California and spotted towhees, hummingbirds, and several raptors. Summer migrants include: phainopepla, ash-throated flycatcher, pacific-slope flycatcher, black-headed grosbeak, blue grosbeak, and lazuli buntings.

Ventura sixth-grade students learn bike safety

Cabrillo Middle School students Ethan Jekogian, Nathan Stepan and Kiran Maserang participated in a community bike ride

by Maryssa Rillo

According to a press release by Ventura Unified School District, the sixth-grade bicycle education program is teaching approximately 900 sixth-grade students from Anacapa, Balboa and Cabrillo middle school about road safety on and off the bike.

The sixth-grade bicycle education program is grant-funded and is ran by the City of Ventura, VUSD, Channel Islands Bike Club, BikeVentura, REI and CycleCalCoast.

As stated in the press release, the education program is about one to two weeks and is conducted during the students’ Physical Education Course. The program is held from April through June and is instructed by The Local League of American Bicyclist Certified Instructors from Bike Ventura and the PE teachers.

Roberta Schlegel is one of the PE instructors at Cabrillo Middle School and assists with teaching the students about road safety.

“The kids are having a blast,” said Schlegel. “They’ve had such a fun week.”

The Bicycle Education Grant was awarded in 2011, so this is the eighth year Ventura has been doing this.

“The city brought it in to do some bike education for the children focusing a lot on safety, teaching them the parts of the bike, showing them how to fix the bike if the chain were to fall off etc. Then, once they have their safety, they get a practice run on the blacktop where they set up cones and they’re expected to use their hand signals since that is one of the things they learned,” Schlegel said.

On Friday, May 3rd, students from Cabrillo Middle School went on their community bike ride. The ride was about a mile long and went from Cabrillo Middle School, down Thompson to Main Street and back.

Henry Hottinger is a sixth-grade student at Cabrillo Middle School who took the course and participated in the bike ride on May 3rd.

“It wasn’t difficult but there was a little bit of a challenge to it,” Hottinger said. “I just enjoyed being on the bike. It was really fun.”

Discounted REI bikes and helmets were purchased through grants from the Channel Islands Bike Club and the Ventura County Transportation Commission.

“300 members donated the $16,000 it took to buy all the bikes from REI. Derek Towers put in the grant request and the BikeVentura partnered with us and together we just made all this happen,” said Bill Faulkner who oversees grants for the Channel Islands Bike Club.

Jeff Hereford, City of Ventura Principal Transportation Engineer also helps with facilitating this program. He said this program is important so students can know how to properly ride their bike and feel safe on the roads.

“I think it’s important because its planting a seed for the kids, future bicycle riders that maybe can’t get in their car later on, and they can ride their bike instead,” Hereford said. “It also gets them enthusiastic about bike riding.”

Ashlyn Rifley and Noah Maass, two sixth-grade students from Cabrillo Middle School both said that signaling was the most important skill they learned. Another skill this program taught them was the ABC check. According to Rifley and Maass the ABC check means to check for air, breaks and other things such as baggy clothing to avoid any items getting caught in the chain.

“It is an important skill in life if you don’t have a car and other uses and it’s good for the environment,” Maass said.

According to Faulkner, this program is done in efforts to make the city Ventura more cycling friendly.

“Teaching the young people early on is part of strengthening that culture of cycling in Ventura,” Faulkner said.

Lilac Festival in Pine Mountain Club

The Villagers of PMC are already busy preparing for their Lilac Festival.

by Mark Bailey President, PMCCPOA

One of the best kept secrets in California, remains the quaint “Aspen like” village of Pine Mountain Club (PMC). Located in the Los Padres National Forest at a little over one mile above sea level and nestled between Mt. Pinos and San Emigdio Mountain, PMC is remarkably easy to get to. Just a comfortable and scenic 90-minute drive from Ventura, about 50 minutes north of Magic Mountain. Those in the know often refer to PMC as “the nearby faraway place”.

The Villagers of PMC are already busy preparing for their 37th annual Lilac Festival set for the weekend of May 18th and 19th. It has been estimated that around five thousand visitors join the approximately three thousand locals for a weekend of arts, music, food, fun and family play. About 100 artisan vendors will begin displaying their unique works of art, fashion, jewelry and other creations both days starting at 10am. This is followed at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, by the signing of our National Anthem, which kicks off our yearly parade through the village center.

Throughout the weekend there will be entertainment for all ages including helicopter rides, live music, pony rides, kiddie shows, a small petting zoo, golf, horseshoes, miniature train rides, great food, and a large children’s play area with state of the art slides, inflatable bouncy houses and wall climbing etc. Most village restaurants will be featuring live music on their outdoor patios.

Climatology wise, as with any place, the weather in PMC can vary. Typically, in late spring, we can expect blue sunny skies during the day with temperatures in the mid 70’s and crisp clear star filled nights with temperatures in the 40’s.

To get to PMC, take the 126 East to Interstate 5 north and exit at Frazier Park. Go west 18 miles following the signs to the Pine Mountain Club Village. For further information, including vendor applications, please go to our website at www.pmclilacfestival.com. We hope to see many of you at our mountain paradise.

Ventura College campus tour – a pirate’s life for me

by Maryssa Rillo

Ventura College offers a higher education that is accessible to all and paves the way for students to succeed in the future through many ways of support. On Monday, April 29th, I took the Pirate’s Life for Me Campus Tour and had the opportunity to learn what it was like to be a VC Pirate.

Anne Paul King, Executive Director of the Ventura College Foundation, began the tour by informing the attendees how the foundation helps its students.

According to King the foundation gives away 300 scholarships which is about $600,000 to students a year.

“We help provide access to education through our promise programs which is a public private partnership that provides tuition between financial aid and philanthropic gifts to now 1,200 students a year,” King said.

After learning a little about how the foundation provides aid to students, the rest of the attendees and I were taken to the Student Services Center.

During our walk to the Student Services Center, Gerardo Pantoja, Director of Major and Planned Giving, explained how the foundation’s Promise Program works.

“The promise provides that first-year tuition cost to first year students. You’ll see at different schools’ various types of programs, but ours is set up so that way If you’re a first-time student at any point of your career or your life, coming here to Ventura College, you are eligible for that funding,” Pantoja said.

According to Pantoja, 40% of VC students are the first in their family to attend community college and the Promise Program is designed to help those students.

“This program develops a comprehensive education plan because we know how important that is – having that road map for them to know where they have to go and what they are supposed to do,” Pantoja said.

Students can learn about these different programs and speak with someone about an education plan in the Student Services Center. Inside the Student Services Center is the student connect center, career center and the counselor’s office.

According to Pantoja the Career Center provides various types of aid to students, from job fairs to workshops for resume building and interviewing skills.

After visiting the Student Services Center, we walked to the Library and Learning Resource Center. There, we were able to see the computer lab and learn about the resources provided by the library.

The computer lab has many computers for students to work on when they need.

“You know with the 70% of the folks that are served by the foundation that come from families that live under the poverty line, this is vital to close equity gaps. Because, just about every student has a phone but that may be the limit of their technology and that might be the limit of their Wi-Fi,” King said. “This is very important to our students so that everybody has access to a computer.”

The library at VC also has programs to make sure that higher education is as easily accessible to all. According to King, books are more expensive than tuition at VC, so this is important.

The library has a lending library and a reserve collection. According to Pantoja the lending library allows students to check out up to three books a semester for no charge. The reserve collection has every book a student may need available to check out for either two hours or over-night.

Overall, Ventura College has many resources and programs available to students in order to make sure they succeed.

Ventura College offers campus tours the last Monday of each month from 12 p.m. – 1 p.m. with the exception of December and May. To schedule a campus tour contact Jaimee Hanna at [email protected] or at (805)-289-6161.

Ventura County Fair announces 2019 Grandstand Entertainment Lineup

The VC Fair has announced the 2019 Grandstand Entertainment Series, Fair visitors can see their favorite musical acts and rodeos free with paid admission to the fair.

Adding a concert on opening night, July 31, the 2019 VC Fair will now present 11 free concerts. This year’s list of Fair entertainers will satisfy Ventura County music lovers with every unique performance:

·     Wednesday, July 31 @7:30: Styx
·     Thursday, August 1 @7:30: Martina McBride
·     Friday, August 2 @7:30:  Melissa Etheridge
·     Saturday, August 3 @7:30: The Ohio Players with
special guests The Emotions and Evelyn “Champagne” King
·     Sunday, August 4 @3:00: Dia de la Familia Concert
·     Monday, August 5 @7:30: X Ambassadors
·     Tuesday, August 6 @1:00: Tommy James and the Shondells (matinee only)
·     Tuesday, August 6 @7:30: Brothers Osborne
·     Wednesday, August 7 @7:30: Daughtry
·     Thursday, August 8 @7:30: George Thorogood and the Destroyers
“Good to be Bad Tour – 45 Years of Rock”
·     Friday, August 9 @7:30 : Collective Soul
·     Saturday, August 10 and Sunday, August 11
will bring the fair to an end with Western style Rodeos, free with paid fair admission.

The 144th Ventura County Fair, “A Country Air with Ocean Air”, begins Wednesday, July 31 and runs through to Sunday August 11. For more information please call (805) 648 -3376 or visit www.venturacountyfair.org.