Students Discover the Strength of the Disabled

SENSITIVITY TRAINING: Freshmen at North Torrance High School spent an hour Wednesday in wheelchairs trying to get around without bumping into walls. They also played volleyball wearing goggles to blur their vision and weights and knapsacks to impair their movements--all while seated in chairs.

The students were participating in a program designed to sensitize them to the obstacles that students with disabilities live with every day.

To learn more about the challenges of blind students, for instance, the students deciphered a sentence written in Braille using a Braille alphabet.

Judi Hying, chairwoman of the special education department, said the disability awareness program was started nine years ago to address the fear that youths have when they see someone different. About 72 students at North Torrance have physical disabilities.

Mira Costa, Redondo Union and Palos Verdes Peninsula high schools are planning similar programs.

Today disabled students, including a 14-year-old paralyzed in a drive-by shooting, will speak about their experiences.

After trying to maneuver their wheelchairs around traffic cones, the students said that life in a wheelchair--even two minutes of it--was difficult. Many of the students said they gained a new respect for the disabled.

“I thought they weren’t capable of doing anything,” said Renee Snavely, 14. “But now I see they’re stronger than we are.”

TEACHER OF THE YEAR: Vivian Spiglanin, a first-grade teacher at Beryl Heights Elementary School in Redondo Beach, is one of 12 teachers who will represent Los Angeles County in the 1994 California Teachers of the Year competition.

The finalists were picked by a panel of educators and administrators from the county Office of Education.

Spiglanin will compete next month with 45 other regional finalists for the state’s top teaching honor. A California Department of Education committee will choose five teachers as California’s teachers of the year, and one of those will represent the state in the national competition next spring.

LOANS VETOED: For the second time in two years, Gov. Pete Wilson has vetoed a student loan program designed to assist middle-income students and families.

The California Alternative Loan Program (Cal-Loans) bill was vetoed by Wilson in 1992. It was reintroduced this year by Sen. Patrick Johnston (D-Stockton).

Under the Cal Loans program, the state would have used $6 million from the California Student Loan Authority to finance as much as $200 million in low-cost loans at rates as low as 7%.

Participating colleges would have covered any loan defaults.

DOMINGUEZ BRAND SCHOLARS: Three Cal State Dominguez Hills students have won $1,000 scholarships from the Carson Cos., a Rancho Dominguez real estate firm.

Cathy Gordon, a junior, and seniors Martha Beltran and Norman Bass received the Dominguez Brand scholarships, which are given to students pursuing elementary school teaching credentials.

A part-time teacher’s assistant, Beltran has received three Dominguez Brand scholarships. Bass is active in a gang-intervention program at Hostler Junior High School in Lynwood. A top student, Gordon is working on her teaching credential.

The Carson Cos. are the owners of the Homestead Business Park and the Dominguez Technology Centre in Rancho Dominguez.

CENTINELA BENEFACTOR: One day not long ago a woman walked into the office of Hawthorne High School Principal John Carter and handed him a check for $25,000. She also gave one to Leuzinger High School Principal Sonja Davis.

“It was unbelievable,” Carter said.

The money, the woman explained, was to be used for college scholarships in memory of her husband, a community activist. One more thing: neither her name nor her husband’s is to be disclosed.

Scholarship committees at both schools will determine the criteria for winning the scholarships, Carter said. The awards will be presented to students in June.

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 writer Carol Chastang.