Photos from the Graduation Event
Here's the list of Highland Park High School mentors.
The Independent educator salutes these members of the Village that is working with Enrique Gonzalez.
Hey, HPHS Students, how about clicking on these links?
LUIS TORRES
Luís Torres is a veteran
broadcast journalist and writer. He retired after 30 years as a
reporter with KNX Newsradio, the CBS station in Los Angeles. He is
the recipient of many awards including the prestigious George Foster
Peabody Award, the duPont-Columbia Award, the Edward R. Morrow Award
and nine Golden Mike Awards. He was also awarded an Emmy for a
documentary on immigration. He developed the public television series
“Chicano! History of the Mexican Amerian Civil Rights Movement.”
He’s at work on a book about the 1968 East L.A. high school
walkouts.
He holds a bachelor of
arts degree in political science from the University of California at
Santa Barbara and a master’s degree from the Columbia University
Graduate School of Journalism in New York. He remains busy as a
freelance journalist and writes a regular blog for the website
Latinopia. He was raised in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of
northeast Los Angeles and currently resides in Pasadena.
LOUIE PEREZ
Louie Pérez is a
founding member of the internationally acclaimed rock band Los Lobos,
multi-Grammy Award winners. Together with David Hidalgo he is the
band’s principal songwriter. As a boy growing up in East L.A. he
picked up a guitar after being inspired by legendary guitarist Jimi
Hendrix. Los Lobos is about to celebrate its fortieth anniversary.
Pérez has several
creative interests apart from his work with Los Lobos. He is a visual
artist whose paintings have been featured in galleries both in the
United States and Mexico. In addition, he recently co-wrote the play
“Evangeline, the Queen of Make Believe” which was staged in Los
Angeles and is being prepared for a touring production. The musical
draws heavily on songs written by Pérez and Hidalgo.
JACQUELINE CRUZ
Jacqueline
Cruz was born and raised in East Los Angeles and joined Bienvenidos
in the year 2000. For the last eleven years she has dedicated herself
to working with adolescents and their families in the community.
Since coming to Bienvenidos Jackie has made an impact in the lives of
young women; through the CLARITY (Combining Literature Around Reality
In Today’s Youth) program. She has helped reduce unplanned teen
pregnancies and increased the quality of life amongst young women
today. Currently she is one of the prevention specialists for Project
SAFE (Salud Arte Familia y Educacion) a Substance Abuse and HIV
prevention program for teens and their families.
LUIS
RUAN
Luis
has worked for ten years in Orange County Probation Department as a
Deputy Probation Counselor inside Juvenile Correction facilities. In
1990, Luis Ruan founded and became Executive Director of the Beyond
Limits program. Beyond Limits is a 501 (c ) (3) non-profit wilderness
backpacking program that works with inner city youth in Southern
California. For over seven years, Luis has concentrated his efforts
on Native and Indigenous cultures to work and create programs for
youth involved in gangs or at high-risk of becoming involved in
gangs. He has trained communities, educators, law enforcement staff,
counselors and others to work with gang-involved youth in their
communities.
Luis
coordinated mentors in the community to be role models for the youth
and developed a curriculum for the high school site as well as a
leadership curriculum that is still being utilized today.
From
2001 to 2003, Luis worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District
conducting cultural music presentations for schools throughout Los
Angeles County .The workshops were designed to develop cultural
awareness and enhance self-esteem through music. Luis is also
responsible for teaching South American Andean flute programs to
students at Highland Parh High School. The students have performed at
numerous venues throughout the city. The purpose of the music program
is for youth to develop healthy life skills through the process of
artistic development.
LITTLE WILLIE G
Thee
Midniters were an East LA band Little Willie G was the lead singer.
"Willie G. was one of the most soulful Latin persons I ever
heard," said the singer Brenton Wood. "He could really
deliver a sermon, and he had a lot of feeling in his vocals."
Garcia took obscure soul ballads such as "The Town I Live
In" or "Giving Up On Love" and made them more
beautiful by his own special delivery. After many years away from the
band, Garcia returned in the 1990s.
Thee
Midniters have continued to play through the decades under the
leadership and management of bassist Jimmy Espinoza and saxophonist
Larry Rendon, the two original players remaining in the line-up from
the original 1960s group. Since 2006, they have been part of The
Latin Legends concert at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles and were
honored as a legendary garage rock band. Among the group's other
songs to either achieve national or regional success are "Whittier
Boulevard", "Love Special Delivery" and "That's
All".Today Willie is the founding minister of Little Wille G
Ministires in Whittier, California.
JOSE
YENQUE
Jose Yenque has over a decade of experience as a professional
actor and devoted humanitarian, which earned him an Honorary
Doctorate of Fine Arts from California State University San Marcos in
2011.
2012 Imagen Award nomination ‘Best Supporting Actor” for his
performance as DEA agent Enrique “Kike” Camara in 20th
Century Fox’s International release “Miss Bala,” produced by
Gael Garcia Bernal & Diego Luna. This film premiered at the 2011
Cannes Film Festival, was Mexico’s official selection for 2012
Oscar competition for “Best Foreign Film” and also nominated for
three 2012 Ariel awards.
His
humanitarian efforts and educational outreach include substantive and
ongoing service to the youth of the Casa Hogar orphanage in Tijuana,
Mexico, motivational talks at orphanages and youth development
centers throughout Latin America, and lectures/workshops on high
school/college campuses from coast to coast.
Part
of Arts for a Better Tomorrow’s acting/filmmaking workshops
is an on-going short film series created, written, produce, acted and
filmed by the orphanage youth along with professionals in the
entertainment industry.
MS
PAT ORTEGA
As
a youngster Pat Ortega often visited zoos and museums, where she
enjoyed drawing what she saw. One of her favorites was Hancock Park ,
with its bubbling tar and old observation pit. But it was at the
Natural History Museum that Pat had the opportunity to view dioramas
of modern wildlife and the bones of ancient beasts, as well as their
reconstructions through the art of Charles R. Knight and others. It
was Pat's discovery of the Knight book 'Life through the ages,"
which provided a template for her future work.
Already
an accomplished young artist, Pat developed a real sense for anatomy
and a knack for putting flesh on the bone. For many years Ms. Ortega
was known as the "Monster Girl," for her many Fantasy and
Science Fiction inspired illustrations. Pat's creations were so
unique and seemed to be alive, because her creatures were "born",
built up, from the bones up. As her techniques became more refined,
Pat worked her way back to Wildlife, Dinosaurs, and Prehistoric
Mammals.
Pat
Ortega's attention to detail and quiet nature have developed her into
an award winning illustrator, who's artworks grace the pages of more
than sixty books and publications. In recent years, Pat's reputation
has earned the opportunity to be a research associate at the George
C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries, where she has contributed her
designs to many of their projects.
Ortega
lives in Los Angeles , and can often be found drawing at the home.
RICHIE
GIESEL
Ritchie Geisel's
career has been devoted to leadership and senior fundraising
positions in the not-for-profit sector since he received his MBA from
Stanford University. He has served a total of 21 years as chief
executive officer of four nonprofit organizations, leading two of
them through processes of transformational change. Geisel came to
Bienvenidos in 2008 from the Virginia Peninsula SPCA, where he served
as interim executive director.
From 1998 to
2004 Geisel was president and CEO of AbilityFirst (formerly the
Crippled Children’s Society of Southern California), one of the
state’s oldest social service organizations. Headquartered in
Pasadena with 22 program sites in five counties, AbilityFirst
provides support services to more than 2,000 children and adults with
developmental disabilities. For 9 years prior to that, Geisel was
president and CEO of Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic in
Princeton, NJ, the nation’s education library for people with print
disabilities. He has also held executive fundraising positions at the
Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, Princeton University,
and the College of William & Mary.
A cum laude
graduate of Princeton University where he majored in history, Geisel
set six university track records and was a three-time winner of the
Rosengarten Award for cross country. He subsequently competed in the
Olympic trials marathon and in more recent years has achieved
All-American age group status in several distance events.
Geisel
has two children, five grandchildren and five cats. He and his wife,
Pamela, devote their volunteer time to animal welfare causes. Since
2004, Geisel has served as board president of a Los Angeles area
rescue organization, Heaven on Earth Society for Animals.
CESAR
CASTRO
Cesar
Castro, a master artist in ACTA Apprenticeship Program in 2011,
hailing from Veracruz, Mexico, has provided a wonderful energy to the
fandangos occurring within the Los Angeles area. Since his youth he
was a member of the ensemble Mono Blanco, a group that has been a
central force in the renaissance of the fandango practice in Southern
Veracruz since the 1970s. Learning to play the jarana
(an 8
string, 5 course rhythm guitar), guitarra
de son (a
four string melodic guitar), and the leona
(a bass
version of the guitarra de son), Castro developed an intimate
relationship with these traditional guitars that are carved out of a
solid block of cedar wood. A master musician, singer, and an
accomplished luthier of jarocho instruments, he brings an experience
of accomplishment, and a history that is informed by many elders with
whom he worked, studied, and shared time.
Since
his arrival to Los Angeles, Castro has interacted with various
musicians and ensembles such as Quetzal and Zack de la Rocha, and
forming his own groups, Zocalozüe and Cambalache. He expresses how
important it is to find community amongst musicians and non-musicians
in Los Angeles, stating, "I didn’t come here by myself and
create all this (the jarocho scene) that you see." Many things
and the efforts of many people were already in place, which helped
Castro establish himself to work and "to maintain and practice
my culture here and be able to teach to those interested."
Castro’s
goal for the apprenticeship was to solidify Flores’abilities so
they come naturally, "so that she internalizes the son
withconfidence." Flores shares that working with Cesar is a
learning experience that goes beyond learning musical technique. At a
lesson she "would hear a new story about Don Andres [Vega] or he
would use a metaphor that I never heard him use," things that
enhanced the music to better understand the culture.
Realizing
that the son jarocho of is now being practiced in places like
Chicago, San Jose, Seattle, and Los Angeles, Castro "understand[s]
it is a responsibility" to preserve the tradition. At the same
time, he is fully aware that the son will transform to other
expressions as it is integrated into the cultural fabric of the
United States. As a response, Castro has invested in representing the
son by creating the website Jarochelo.
Steve
McCrea