St. Francis Rides Strong into State Championship

The Golden Knights head to Los Olivos to finish off the season and compete against high school teams from the NorCal league at the State Championships on Sunday.

The following article was written by St. Francis High School Cycling Coach Lee Bird. The St. Francis High School mountain bike team competed in the fifth and final regular season event of the SoCal league series at Lake Arrowhead, CA earlier this month. The race was crucial for overall season awards and the “thin-air” of the mountains tested all of the riders. Once again, the Golden Knights rose to the challenge and finished strong in this race, and overall for the season. The Lake Arrowhead course turned out to be very dry and dusty, unlike the muddy course that the riders faced last year. Besides the altitude and dust, the riders faced a tough 1.2 mile long fire road climb at the end of each 6-mile lap. This climb tested the resolve and …

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Have An Embarrassing Prom Photo? Let's See It!

Send us your favorite prom photos and memories!

Ah, Prom. An evening of enchantment sprinkled with adolescent angst: Will she have the same dress as me? Will I wipe out in these heels? Is that really a zit coming in?  Good or bad, prom memories are something that hang with us forever. And they all start with Mom and Dad's camera and an awkward pose. Students at La Cañada High School will make their memories Saturday night at LA Live, dancing, I suspect, to at least some of the same songs that got us grooving back in 1989. What prom is complete without a little Rock Lobster?  If all my photos weren't in storage (we just moved) I'd have attached a most embarrassing shot of my myself with a poodle perm and strapless dress that proved a poor choice during certain arm flailing dance moves. …

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Cassandra Morris

9:23 am on Thursday, May 17, 2012

I love Kenny's picture! Did you guys, by any chance, have a hair metal band?   more ›

St. Francis Students Fight Against Cancer

The La Cañada students contributed to the $80,000 raised for the American Cancer Society.

A dedicated group of more than 20 St. Francis High School students participated recently in the 12th annual Foothills Relay For Life. For 24 continuous hours, members from the St. Francis team walked the track with hundreds of others to raise awareness and funds for the American Cancer Society. The event is organized each year on behalf of the American Cancer Society and encourages participants to “Celebrate, Remember, and Fight Back!” The May 12-13 activities raised more than $80,000 in support of the fight against cancer. The St. Francis community would like to thank those Golden Knights who gave of their time on behalf of this important cause!  The preceeding information was submitted by St. Francis High School spokesman Andy Burghdorf. 

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LC Prep Student, Friends Produce TV Show

A group of seven 12-year-old students have created a TV program in hopes of financing their way to a global problem-solving competition.

A group of local middle schoolers hope to travel to a global competition May 23 through a self-produced fundraising telethon.  The telethon features the DI Vincis team—La Cañada Prep’s Cameron Cheung and SPMS students Tiffany Chen, Exely Dillingham, Jeffrey Han, Elizabeth Kwon and Maximum Wilder-Smith—performing music, magic and comedy. It's currently airing on Time Warner Channel 19 and AT&T U-verse Channel 99 daily at 3 and 7 p.m. The team hopes to raise $14,000 to attend the Destination ImagiNation global finals in Knoxville Tennessee after having previously won first place in the statewide "Solar Stage" middle school category in March. Destination Imagination, Inc. is a non-profit organization that provides educational programs for …

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Patch Letter: Successful Schools Go Charter Too

Cindy Wilcox' letter to the editor ticks off reasons why she wholeheartedly supports charter schools.

This letter references an article in the Los Angeles Times, May 2, 2012, Charter Seekers at Top of Class: 24 High-performing San Fernando Valley Campuses Seek a Change of Status. Amazingly, it doesn't appear that these Los Angeles schools (existing schools applying to be charter schools) asked their teachers if they would be interested in changing their contract.  Would the teachers like to end "step and column" where they are insultingly paid as groups, rather than for individual effort and contributions to the school? Would they like to take the cap off the future salary schedule?  Most importantly, are they willing to get rid of lay-offs by seniority?  When poor-performing, tenured teachers send up students who are badly prepared, the …

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LCHS Students Rescue Bleeding Classmate

Bijan Rahimi and Grant Owen applied emergency procedures to a volleyball student who shredded a tendon and exposed bone after a "freak accident'' in the school gym.

This was not a drill. This was a fellow student with blood spurting from his artery - and he needed help.  So two La Cañada High School students in the sports medicine class did just that: Bijan Rahimi and Grant Owen ran to the aid of a volleyball player injured in a "freak accident'' during an April practice at the high school gym. The Bijan Rahimi and Grant Owen applied emergency procedures and ultimately stopped an awful situation from becoming worse. "We’re incredibly proud of them; the skills, the bravery, the cool collectedness is remarkable,'' La Cañada Unified School District Superintendent Wendy Sinnette said Tuesday during the regular school board meeting.  Teacher Melanie Harrick is a licensed physical therapist who along with …

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Country Club Sues Forest Service Over Station Fire Damages

Firefighting helicopters responding to the blaze drained golf course ponds, damaging irrigation pumps, using thousands of gallons of water billed to the club and scattering sand, tree branches and other debris, according to club President Randy Dreyfuss.