19 Students Win Scholarships, and Namesake Feels Honored

HAMPTON SCHOLARS: Nineteen scholarship winners bound for California State University from Los Angeles and Oakland were honored at a banquet Tuesday at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

The Claudia H. Hampton Scholarships were established this year with an endowment from California State University Trustee William D.

Campbell and his wife, Linda. The Board of Trustees added $100,000 from the 1992-93 California State University Lottery Revenue Fund. A fund-raising campaign is under way to reach a $4-million goal for future scholarships.

Named in honor of board member Claudia Hampton, the scholarship was established to help inner-city students attend college. Keilani Grandy, a graduate of St. Michael’s High in Los Angeles who will attend Cal State Long Beach this fall, served on the student council, worked as the yearbook editor, was a National Honor Society scholar and maintained a 3.7 grade-point average. Without the money, she said, “I would have gone to a community college.”

The $3,000 award is for the entire school year and is renewable each year, as long as the students maintain a good academic standing.

Hampton, a CSU board member since 1974, said she was overwhelmed and surprised when Chancellor Barry Munitz told her a scholarship would be given in her name. However, Hampton said her greatest excitement came while interviewing the finalists.

“One little girl, a high school student who worked 35 hours a week, maintained a 3.5 grade-point average, was so anxious and motivated to go to college, but didn’t have the means,” she said. “Can you imagine what a thrill it was to say to that kid, ‘OK, now you can go to college?’ ”

NEW SCHOOL: Hermosa Beach’s newest school, Hermosa View School, will open its doors Sept. 15 to kindergartners and first-graders. The school site, on Prospect Avenue, until June housed a school for Japanese students learning English. Before that, the old South Bay Union High School District used the space for its adult school.

The school district decided in January to open another school to ease the overcrowding at Hermosa Valley Elementary, the only elementary school in Hermosa Beach.

“We had almost 800 students in one school, “ said Gwen Gross, superintendent of the Hermosa Beach Elementary School District. Gross said the new school will enroll 200 students.

During the summer, Hermosa Beach parents have been working at the school, getting it into shape. Volunteers dug up ivy and painted, among other chores. The local Rotary Club cooked hot dogs to feed the weekend workers.

Fixing up the campus has become a community project, Gross said. “Everybody is very excited.”

*

EDISON SCHOLARS: Four South Bay high school graduates recently received scholarships from Southern California Edison. The awards, $500 each, were given to Erica Martindale of West High School, Tram-Anh Tran, of Gardena High, Jacqueline Tugade of Redondo High, and Mai Tuyet Tran of Hawthorne High. A mentor from Edison will be assigned to each of the students. The scholarships were awarded based on need and each students’ commitment to furthering their education.

PREREGISTRATION: The fall preregistration period for Los Angeles Unified schools begins Monday. The fall semester begins Sept. 7.

Students who are new to the district, have changed addresses during the summer or are starting kindergarten should also preregister. Parents should check with their local school starting Aug. 20 to receive the preregistration schedule.

Families who have recently moved into the attendance area of a year-round school should contact the school to find out the appropriate track for their child.

Information: (213) 625-5437.

‘TEEN VIEW’: The pages of “Teen View,” a student-produced newspaper published in Torrance, are filled with political commentary, poetry, an occasional movie review and more.

One student writes about his tagger friend, a kid who pointed a gun to his head in front of a television news camera “to prove he would do anything for his crew.”

Thirteen-year-old Jenni Gantner from Manhattan Beach Intermediate offers a profound study tip: “TURN THE TV OFF and go to a quiet place to study.”

On the last page, Eunha Cho of West High in Torrance reports that clogs are a must for any girl’s wardrobe. She particularly likes “the cloggy sound they make.”

The first issue was published last spring. Produced by junior high and high school students in Los Angeles and the South Bay, the newspaper is the brainchild of Nina Craft, a Torrance business consultant who graduated from South Torrance High in 1979.

Craft founded her own agency, the Nina M. Craft Empowerment Education Foundation, whose purpose is to “support youth by providing training and education in the areas of self-esteem, life skills and career development.”

She thought a youth newspaper would bring together students from varied ethnic and social backgrounds while accomplishing the organization’s goals.

Craft enlisted the help of Patricia Allison, a parent who offered to type the students’ stories into a computer. Rebecca Delbridge, Allison’s daughter and a recent graduate of Manhattan Beach Intermediate, contributed stories, and the staff grew through word of mouth.

Southern California Edison became a corporate sponsor and helped out by making 2,000 copies of the first issues. Art Tolentino, an adviser for the student newspaper at El Camino College, helped with the layout and graphics.

Craft and the student journalists distribute the paper at malls, video stores, “everywhere the kids hang out,” she said. Interest grew as more students saw the paper.

“First, (teen-agers) wanted to know if this was a class,” Craft said. “Then they were surprised that other kids had the same thoughts and ideas they had, especially those from other backgrounds. And it motivated them to want to write articles.”

Items for the weekly Class Notes column can be mailed to The Times South Bay office, 23133 Hawthorne Blvd., Suite 200, Torrance 90505, or faxed to (310) 373-5753 to the attention of staff reporter Carol Chastang.