2013 August PASO Magazine
A monthly look at life in the remarkable community of Paso Robles.
A monthly look at life in the remarkable community of Paso Robles.
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<strong>PASO</strong> PEOPLE<br />
By Chuck Desmond<br />
Last month, in YOUR Paso<br />
Robles <strong>Magazine</strong>, we looked at the<br />
upcoming Quasquicentennial 2014<br />
wall calendar. In June, the Recipe<br />
book was spotlighted. For this issue,<br />
let’s take a peek at what Superintendent<br />
Kathleen McNamara<br />
has urged the Paso Robles School<br />
district to play in their part of Paso’s<br />
125th celebration year – 2014.<br />
Before we start, let’s have another<br />
short review. In March, we<br />
will celebrate 125 years of El Paso<br />
de Robles as an incorporated city.<br />
The Celebration Committee is<br />
headed by Julie Dahlen and the<br />
co-chairs are Dee Lacey and Frank<br />
Mecham. These names of course<br />
are familiar to you, and with their<br />
leadership, 2014 is becoming a year<br />
to remember.<br />
“REMEMBER” is an excellent<br />
word because that’s what it’s all<br />
about – remembering our history,<br />
preserving our history and passing<br />
it on to the generations who will<br />
come after us. Residents and businesses<br />
have banded together to do<br />
all they can to make a 12-month<br />
celebration party. About 50 dedicated<br />
individuals are spreading the<br />
word, working on events, designing<br />
memorabilia, planning the official<br />
March party, raising funds, digging<br />
into archives and publicizing everything<br />
that comes along.<br />
The logo you’ve seen for a few<br />
months in this column is now accompanied<br />
by a copy of the 11x17<br />
calendar’s first month’s page. Soon,<br />
the calendar with its historic photos<br />
will go to print with all the<br />
events that we know about being<br />
highlighted. With a skoosh of luck,<br />
you’ll be able to buy yours in September<br />
or October – just in time<br />
to hang it when 2014 actually begins.<br />
Next month, the front cover<br />
of the Recipe Book should join this<br />
column’s artwork. About 300 recipes<br />
have been received so far. We’ve<br />
Quasquicentennial Update<br />
been able to hold the recipe-submission-deadline<br />
longer because<br />
the printer has assured us he’ll have<br />
them in time for Christmas presents.<br />
So, if you still want to submit,<br />
do it now! Same for events to go on<br />
the calendar!<br />
Okay, on to the schools. Remember,<br />
we want to pass our history to<br />
our children. That makes this aspect<br />
of 2014 the most exciting part<br />
of the whole year. Of course it has to<br />
go through the schools and at this<br />
early stage, our educators are jumping<br />
in with all cylinders pumping.<br />
Teaching our history will assuredly<br />
strengthen Paso’s future! From K<br />
through 12 and in each location,<br />
the principals are committed.<br />
Blending Paso’s specific history<br />
with the required curriculum<br />
is proving not to be too difficult.<br />
It’s exciting! All the schools have<br />
the full cooperation and openness<br />
of both the Pioneer Museum and<br />
the Historical Society. These two<br />
entities are fabulous resources for<br />
our youths’ educations. The Charter<br />
School is even considering<br />
conducting some of their classes at<br />
Dr. Stefanie Mikulics<br />
WOMEN’S HEALTH AND BEAUTY<br />
“The Paso Schools Issue”<br />
these locations! Field<br />
trips with historical<br />
emphasis are becoming<br />
the norm. K<br />
and 1st grade will be<br />
looking at old time<br />
meal preparation and<br />
studying family life,<br />
transportation and<br />
what schoolhouses and classes were<br />
like in those days.<br />
Speaking, Essay Writing and<br />
Reading Skills come for the next<br />
grades. Books about the life and<br />
times of the area followed by verbalizing<br />
those understandings will<br />
be folded into the regular requirements.<br />
How has the community<br />
changed? Paso’s agricultural history<br />
from grains through livestock<br />
and vines and the impact of the<br />
train coming to Paso will occupy<br />
a great deal of these grade’s education.<br />
Parallel to that is government.<br />
How did and does Paso govern itself?<br />
Why does the city have pride<br />
in itself? Why did families choose<br />
to move here? Who are the famous<br />
people who lived here and what did<br />
they do? All these afford an entry<br />
into tourism plus the sights and<br />
sounds of our past to our present.<br />
Bundle the thoughts of this paragraph<br />
into “needed life skills” and<br />
you get essay writing. What a wonderful<br />
way to cement our past onto<br />
young minds!<br />
By Junior High, the arts are<br />
emerging. Drawing, painting and<br />
music are most dominant. In the<br />
minds’ eyes of the students, capturing<br />
the imagination of the<br />
train station, harvesting, the acorn<br />
building, horses and cattle, The<br />
Hotel or the first traffic signal, the<br />
schoolhouses themselves – all just<br />
screaming for open minds to think<br />
about. Music from early days and<br />
even Paderewski will join with the<br />
choruses of the children’s voices.<br />
The Bearcats have a ton they will<br />
participate in. Sports from day one<br />
of Paso’s history, the band‘s performances,<br />
a self-created drama, Paso’s<br />
economics lessons, music from the<br />
choir, a significant float in the parade,<br />
attending city council meetings<br />
and presentations from the<br />
Mayor and the Council as well as<br />
the Police and Fire Chiefs.<br />
It’s reported that the Culinary<br />
Academy will have a food focus<br />
that spans the generations!<br />
There will be school events for<br />
the parents and the community to<br />
see throughout the year. As each<br />
one becomes scheduled, right here<br />
in this magazine column, we’ll tell<br />
ya about them!<br />
Speaking of scheduling, here is<br />
a partial list of future column spotlights:<br />
The New Year’s Eve Party at<br />
the Inn, both fireworks celebrations,<br />
birthday party in March, Women’s<br />
Day, Toby to Barney 12.5 mile run,<br />
merchandise items and outlets, the<br />
New City Flag and flags for us,<br />
Pioneer Day Parade and weekend,<br />
and the list goes on. Whew, I’m going<br />
to be doing a lot of writing!<br />
Need info? Want to get involved?<br />
Here are the contacts:<br />
Chairperson: Julie Dahlen<br />
237-3993 Jdahlen@prcity.com<br />
Co Chair: Frank Mecham<br />
Fmecham@co.slo.ca.us<br />
Co Chair: Dee Lacey<br />
JDLacey1963@gmail.com<br />
Recipe Book: Robbie Anne<br />
PasoCookbook@yahoo.com<br />
Calendar: Melody Mullis<br />
MAMullis@IX.network.com<br />
Calendar: Nancy Tweedie<br />
1Tootsie@Charter.net<br />
Schools: Kathleen McNamara<br />
KMcNamara@pasoschools.org<br />
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28 Paso Robles <strong>Magazine</strong>, <strong>August</strong> <strong>2013</strong>