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LOS ANGELES – With Thanksgiving week traffic projected to approach pre-pandemic levels, Metrolink, southern California’s regional passenger rail service, will offer relief from the stress of gridlock at an affordable cost. This year, on both Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday, Metrolink will offer a $10 Holiday Pass that allows riders unlimited trips anywhere Metrolink travels for the entire day the pass is purchased. Metrolink will offer its usual Saturday schedule on those two days.

Over the busy holiday weekend, Metrolink will offer the $10 Weekend Day Pass for adults – and each paying adult can bring three kids ages 17 and under aboard for free.

“The primary reason our riders choose Metrolink instead of driving their cars is they prefer a relaxing ride over the stress of sitting in gridlock,” CEO Metrolink Darren Kettle said. “SoCal roads are at their most stressful in the days leading up to Thanksgiving and through the weekend. We want to make it easy and affordable for everyone to enjoy their holiday by getting them where they need to go – be it for holiday get-togethers, sight-seeing or shopping – without traffic and parking hassles.”

The Metrolink Experience allows riders to relax and enjoy their trip from the moment they board the double-decker trains, with expansive windows that offer views of southern California’s diverse scenery. Metrolink trains offer various seating options, including face-to-face seating and tables that are perfect for family and friend outings. Metrolink bike cars make it easy for casual and serious bike riders to explore southern California’s many trails, while there is designated space for surfboards and picnic gear onboard, too. Visit EXPLORE for ideas about places to go aboard Metrolink trains.

On Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday, Metrolink will operate on the Ventura County, Antelope Valley, San Bernardino, Orange County, 91/Perris Valley, and Inland Empire-Orange County lines. Metrolink trains will not operate on the Riverside Line on Thursday nor Friday.

The Rail 2 Rail program, which normally allows Metrolink Monthly Pass users to take Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains on the Ventura County, Inland Empire-Orange County and Orange County lines, will be suspended between Wednesday, Nov. 24 and Monday, Nov. 29. Regular Rail 2 Rail service will resume on Tuesday, Nov. 30.

Click here for full Metrolink schedules.

Master-at-Arms 2nd Class Matthew Jaco, from San Bernardino, Calif., musters personnel in the hangar bay aboard amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli (LHA 7), Nov. 17. Tripoli is an America-class amphibious assault ship homeported in San Diego.

YUCAIPA, CA—San Manuel Band of Indians’ Fire Chief Michael Smith continues to be fully committed to the success of Crafton Hills College (CHC).

Smith, a CHC alumnus, graduated from the College’s paramedic program in 1992. He went on to study at the University of Redlands, where he earned his bachelor’s in arts degree in biology before earning a master’s degree in leadership, with an emphasis in disaster preparedness and executive fire leadership, in 2016 from Grand Canyon University.

Smith currently serves as a director on the CHC Foundation Board, where he helps to raise funds for scholarships, emergency assistance and program enhancement support at the College. He credits his success to getting his start at CHC and said he hopes to help the College make dreams come true for countless future students.

“I really got my start in my career field at CHC,” Smith said. “As a graduate of the CHC paramedic program, I acquired not only the knowledge, skills and abilities to enter emergency services, but moreover the passion for doing so! My support now is driven by the desire to pull up the next generation so they can enjoy the same opportunity and rewards that I have.”

As a director for the College’s Foundation, Smith helps reduce financial worries for students. Last year, Smith helped the organization launch the “Because of You” campaign with the goal of raising $1 million for an endowment to provide long-term financial strength for the College.

The endowment fund is an investment that will provide a perpetual resource of unrestricted funds for the College to use as future needs arise. Ultimately, the goal is to create an endowment that would support the needs of all students on campus year after year.

Smith brings an extensive background in fire safety and prevention to the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. Prior to his position with the Tribal government, he took on numerous roles within the fire service, including serving as the executive officer and a colonel for the California National Guard’s California Cadet Corps. Smith is one of only a few dozen certified by the state as a fire chief and has been designated by the International Commission on Professional Credentialing as a Chief Fire Officer.

His dedication to service and helping those in need has taken him to all corners of the country. As a part of the Disaster Medical Assistance Team, Smith was a part of response efforts to the attacks in New York City on September 11, 2001, the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the disasters caused by Hurricane Maria to Puerto Rico in 2017.

For current and future CHC students, particularly those in the public safety programs, Smith has one piece of advice: “Make service a passion and commit to being a lifelong learner in your chosen profession.”

To support Crafton Hills College’s Because of You Campaign, visit www.craftonhills.edu/endowment. Your gift will provide direct support to students and additional funding for public safety programs, both n

YUCAIPA, CA— Crafton Hills College (CHC) is a 2021 Equity Champion for Excellence in Transfer for Latinx students, an award conferred by the Campaign for College Opportunity, for California institutions of higher education that lead the state in Latinx students earning Associate Degrees for Transfer (ADT).

This agency will recognize CHC for its achievement during a virtual ceremony on Tuesday, November 16, at 10 a.m. This non-profit organization is devoted to ensuring that the next generation of college-age students in California has the chance to go to college and succeed. ??The Campaign for College Opportunity selected colleges for the award by comparing the number of ADTs awarded to Latinx students to their total number of ADTs.

CHC graduates, including those who earn ADTs, are well-received by universities. They have some of the highest admission acceptance rates to the University of California system among all Inland Empire colleges, with an average acceptance rate of between 70 and 80 percent for Latinx students who apply to UC campuses.

CHC President Dr. Kevin Horan said that ensuring student success and working toward academic equity for all students is what the College has always striven to achieve.

“This recognition is critical because it signals to students, both current and future, that Crafton Hills College is here to support you and wants you to succeed,” Horan said. “We want to see our students thrive while they’re here and set them up to be able to transfer to a four-year college or university where they can continue to work toward their dreams.”

CHC bolstered Latinx student transfer in recent years by creating many new ADT degrees and fully supporting a variety of student services across campus, according to University Transfer Center Coordinator Mariana Macamay. She described a cross-departmental effort to stay updated on legislative changes, transfer policy, collaboration, and best practices.

“The transfer center is not solely responsible for this achievement. It started with (CHC Communications Professor) Rick Hogrefe, who was instrumental in championing the creation of so many ADTs and the faculty who supported it,” she said. “Many of our students utilize a variety of CHC’s student services, including counseling services, EOPS (Extended Opportunity Programs and Services).”

Additionally, CHC has reached out to students nearing completion and created ADTs for programs with high Latinx enrollment. Macamay said CHC’s approach is unique because the various student support departments work collaboratively.

Since its creation in 2001, CHC’s University Transfer Center has focused on its mission: to advance the education of all students, particularly Latinx and other disproportionately impacted students.

The California Student Aid Commission will be hosting a “Cash for College Workshop” webinar via Zoom on Tuesday, December 7, 5:00 – 6:30 pm. The webinar will focus on helping Black and African students complete the FAFSA and get the financial aid they need to help pay for college.

The event is open to students statewide, and we are hoping to attract participants from every region. We would appreciate your assistance in sharing the attached flyer with students and parents, churches, community leaders, and community-based organizations and encourage them to register right away.

It is also encouraged for any dignitaries, community leaders and influencers to register for the event. Your support and presence will speak volumes to students and parents who continue to question the value of a college education and whose enrollment numbers continue to decline during the pandemic.

Registration link: https://t.co/JRFACUU68T?amp=1.

BLOOMINGTON, CA—- San Bernardino County Fifth District Supervisor Joe Baca Jr., in partnership with San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, San Bernardino Code Enforcement and Special Districts invited residents out on Wednesday, November 17 to Kessler Park to see the new vehicles assigned to Bloomington.

By collaborating with the Sheriff’s Department and Code Enforcement, this event was aimed to increase the levels of protection and safety in Bloomington with dedicated personnel and specially marked vehicles.

SAN BERNARDINO, CA – Since students across the San Bernardino City Unified School District (SBCUSD) returned to in-person learning in August, it’s become evident that the extended COVID-related lockdowns and social distancing during the 2020–2021 school year had an impact on all aspects of youth development, including mental health.

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) reported that mental-health related emergency room visits among children increased in 2020 anywhere from 24 to 31 percent, depending on the specific age range. Published reports suggest that the pandemic has had a negative effect on children’s mental health.

SBCUSD is responding to these concerns with the Roadmap to Reopening and its four guiding principles. Among them is Mental & Physical Wellness, which has already manifested in a focus on social-emotional learning, offering youth mental health first aid training, and a robust school counseling program.

Social-emotional learning (SEL) helps guide students in developing self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, positive relationship, and responsible decision-making skills, which in turn help students cope with change and adversity, build and maintain positive relationships, and learn how to set and achieve goals. These core social skills can help students thrive personally, academically, and professionally throughout their lives.

“We’re teaching students how to be resilient, advocate for themselves and others, and be responsible community members,” said Colleen Williams. director of Student Wellness & Support Services. “When students know how to manage their emotions and be aware of others, we reduce instances of bullying and conflict, but we also help students who are in difficult situations learn to recognize how those situations impact them and when they need to reach out for help.”

Research shows that when schools incorporate SEL, students feel more connected to their peers and adults, do better academically, engage in fewer negative behaviors in the classroom, and have better ways to cope with anxiety and conflict.

While social-emotional learning is an important tool in helping students become more resilient so they are better able to handle life’s challenges, there will always be circumstances that can stress even the strongest person’s mental and emotional health.

The Making Hope Happen Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to supporting the District’s educational mission, is stepping in to make sure SBCUSD staff can recognize when that happens and lend a helping hand.

“Every 11 minutes someone dies by suicide, and 18 months of social distancing has been especially hard on our youth,” said Program Coordinator—Mental Health Gerzón Ceseña. “We want to make sure SBCUSD staff have the skills to recognize the signs of mental health and substance abuse issues and get our students the help they need as early as possible.”

The Foundation is offering free Youth Mental Health First Aid training to teachers, principals, and other school staff who work directly with students. Mental health first aid is similar to traditional first aid. People are taught how to evaluate if someone is in need of assistance and how to provide basic aid to keep them alive while waiting for a professional to arrive to do the real life-saving work.

“In collaboration with the Foundation, the Student Wellness & Support Services Department developed the training model for Youth Mental Health First Aid during the COVID-19 lockdowns,” said Foundation Director of Programs & Development Erin Brinker. “They were critical to making this available for teachers and staff, and when Student Wellness had to move on to other projects, the Foundation was proud to step in and offer both the financial support and staff time to keep the program running.”

In addition to making the training available for free to SBCUSD staff, the Foundation is helping schools to coordinate training sessions so that both individuals and entire groups of teachers can be trained, depending on the needs of the school community.

“We feel this is so important that we’re willing to cover the cost of a substitute teacher so our regular classroom teachers have the time to attend the training,” Brinker said. “We know it’s important that our teachers be present in the classroom for the best instruction, but we also know that it’s worth missing a few hours to get this vital training because it may mean all the difference for students suffering from mental health issues, now more than ever.”

Even before SBCUSD switched from distance learning back to in-person instruction, SBCUSD schools considered the importance of mental and emotional health to student learning and overall success in life. Sierra High School earning a RAMP designation was just one piece of evidence for that.

RAMP stands for Recognized ASCA Model Program. ASCA (American School Counselor Association) bestows the title on schools that align their counseling program and services with the ASCA National Model; deliver a data-informed, comprehensive school counseling program; and make a commitment to their school counseling program.

Only 22 schools in California and 130 across the nation received the designation at the 2021 ASCA Annual Conference, held both in person and virtually in July. Since RAMP’s inception, only about 1,100 schools have been honored. The RAMP designation is valid for five years, meaning Sierra High will retain the honor through 2026.

“These are services and supports that SBCUSD can offer students and families that other smaller school districts or charter schools may not be able to provide,” Superintendent Doc Ervin said. “Partly it’s due to the resources we have, but more so it’s because our staff, from the top down, truly care about the whole child.”

SAN BERNARDINO, CA— Prof. Anthony Castro does everything he can to make learning math as easy as pi.

Castro finds that a lot of students enter his classroom believing that math is difficult, and they are learning things they won’t ever need to use, saying and it “in large part due to the examples that textbooks we use,” he said.

Castro wants his students to discover “the joy of mathematics,” and does so by “teaching the content in a manner that engages them.”

“Want to know how to beat a car dealership? Want to know how to buy a house? Want to be a millionaire?” he said. “This can all be done through the math content we are required to teach in our courses.”

These real-world examples motivate Castro’s students to learn, and there’s no better reward than when he sees them overcome “the obstacle of math,” he said.

“Many students ‘feel’ they are not good at math,” he said. “Being ‘good’ at math is just a misconception, I tell them. We just have to find a way to attack the material that works for you.”

His lectures are anything but boring — Castro jokes that he is fueled by Mountain Dew, and he brings that energy and sense of humor into the classroom. By making the subject fun, it opens up a new perspective for his students, and they no longer see math as “a challenge that they struggle to beat.”

“I’ve had so many students tell me that they understand math because of the way I presented it to them,” he said. “I tell them, ‘I didn’t take your test. I didn’t study for you. I didn’t do your homework for you. This was all you. And now that you know how to take down a challenge, don’t ever let one stop you again from being successful.”

Castro is an SBVC alumnus and graduated from Middle College High School in 2008.

“When I first came to Valley College, I didn’t know of my abilities to succeed in college, or how far I wanted to push my education,” he said. “The faculty and staff here at the campus poured their passion for student success into me. This care changed my own personal perception and instilled a confidence in me that I had what it takes to succeed in college.”

Armed with his associate degree at 18, he was able to earn his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) at 20. His love of math and drive to help others led him to become a math professor, and he started working full-time at SBVC in the spring of 2016.

“This is an opportunity for me to have an impact on thousands of students’ lives by the time I retire,” Castro said. “I take this responsibility very seriously and I give my heart to show all my students their potential.”

He still remembers his SBVC professors that “brought out my potential and always believed in me,” he said.

“It’s is an honor to work side-by-side with these amazing professors now. At each stage of my journey, they were there for me, and they still support me as their colleague now,” Castro said. “This is the main reason I am a professor. I have the opportunity to do what my professors did for me.”

Castro was named one of SBVC’s Outstanding Professors for 2021, and this is a testament to “the love I have for this campus,” he said.

“I pour my heart into each lecture and student I teach because I know what it means to have someone in your corner,” he said. “And my students know they have someone that has their best interest at heart with me as their professor.”

When he is not teaching, Castro enjoys working out, cars and finding the best burritos. He is a self-described “workaholic,” and said he wants to “make a change in the math world on how we teach math.” He is currently developing a YouTube channel, Instagram account and college course on mathematical finance, with the goal of starting “the conversations that we should re-evaluate what math we should be teaching students.”

Castro is constantly striving for more, and wants his students to know there’s nothing they can’t do, as long as they are willing to put in the time.

“You want to know the secret to success?” he said. “When no one is watching, you are working. And you are working to be the best version of yourself. I can only teach you so much in the classroom. I can only pass on so much of my skills. But you don’t want my skills, you want to bring your touch into this world.”

He suggests studying ahead of what is being taught in class and watching YouTube videos to learn more about a subject. This can continue beyond the classroom, he said

“Study to learn more skills to reach the top of your profession,” Castro said. “Be humble, reach out to people above you in your career to learn how to make it to the top. Learn from the best and then make that career your own.”

Castro doesn’t see failure as a setback, because “it awakens a beast in me to reach a new level,” he said. Struggles he had during college to understand some material made Castro realize that it is okay to fail, and pushed him to “study like I never had before.”

After countless hours of hard work, he earned a 4.0 in his upper-division math classes and graduated with departmental honors.

“I could have taken that defeat and said no, I’m not good at math, this is the best I can do,” Castro said. “If you are my student reading this or not my student, don’t you ever think that this is the best you can do. The only limits you have are the ones you put on yourself. And if you need anything, my student or not, I’m here to support you.”

Castro invites all SBVC students looking for advice or encouragement to email him at acastro@valleycollege.edu. “We can bring out your beast mode as well!” he said.

SAN BERNARDINO, CA—.) To the people who know and work with him, Carl M. Dameron is a dynamic, hard-driving, award-winning advertising, and public relations expert with more than 30 years of success helping organizations and people throughout California meet their goals.

He is also a cancer survivor. In this edition of SoCal Voices, Carl shares the story of starting and growing his company, how he dealt with his cancer diagnosis and offers sage advice for anyone facing a challenge.

Watch here: https://www.socalvoices.com/episodes/carl-cameron

Website: dameroncommunications.com

Instagram: @carldameron

Twitter: @carldameron

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DameronCommunications

Dameron Communications services include: advertising for television, social media, radio, newspaper, magazine, and billboards, web sites, direct mail, mobile web applications, and email.  They also deliver award winning public relations press releases, press conferences, media relations, television programs, web sites, opinion editorials, promotions, event creation and management, government relations and community relations.

For more information on Dameron Communications call Carl M. Dameron @ (909) 534-9500.

SAN BERNARDINO, CA— An innovative program that prepares Special Education students for gainful employment after high school has been lauded as a state model of excellence.

The California School Boards Association (CSBA) announced it will present the prestigious Golden Bell Award to the District’s Beyond Pathways Program. The Beyond Pathways Program provides job-skills training to students with moderate to severe disabilities. Overseen by the Special Education Department, the program includes the Business and Technology Pathway at San Andreas High School, the Community Integrated Program (CIP)/Bridge to WORC Program at Anderson School, and the WORC Program at Middle College High School/San Bernardino Valley College and Cal State San Bernardino.

Students who participate in Beyond Pathways have opportunities to learn valuable life and work skills before reaching the age of 22. By the time students leave the program, they will have gained work experience, linked with community agencies, and have an extensive transition portfolio that will support them when connecting with post-vocational rehabilitation agencies such as Inland Regional Center and Department of Rehabilitation. For example, students in CIP will learn how to keep inventory, stock shelves, assemble and pack items, and other tasks they might be expected to do in a warehouse or retail company through Workability job placement and simulation activities in our PAES Laboratory. Students will also learn about self-advocacy, time management, and responsibility, which are vital skills needed as they transition into adulthood.

On-the-job training is essential to helping students with special needs lead productive lives, said Dr. Howana Lundy, director of the District’s Special Education Department.

“The success of our program is rooted in the belief that all students can benefit from career pathways and community partnerships, especially students with special needs,” Lundy said. “We have students working in numerous businesses right here in our community who have a new lease on life because of our Beyond Pathways program.”

Each year, CSBA recognizes outstanding educational programs and school governance practices that effectively address the needs of California students. SBCUSD has earned several Golden Bell Awards in recent years, including one for its efforts to cultivate future teachers from its student ranks through the Grow Your Own program. The employee onboarding program, overseen by the Employee Development Department, and the Demonstration Teacher Program, overseen by Human Resources, have also won Golden Bell acclaim.

The Golden Bell Award will be presented on December 2 at the California School Board’s annual conference in San Diego.