The Jan. 22, 2019 board meeting was filled with some good laughs. The TUHS Hall of Fame Committee Co-Chairs, Jan Ashley and Dr. Kathy Orrin, announced the 2019 Hall of Fame Inductees: Dr. Dick Barnes – Class of 1954
Paula (Rivers) Gordon, Ph.D. – Class of 1957, Michael McCormick – Class of 1965, Dr. Harvey Trop – Class of 1971. The hall of fame began in 2007; so far, 77 Taft high graduates have been honored. The 2019 Hall of Fame will be held on Saturday, April 27th at 6 pm in the Mullen Gymnasium. The 2019 Hall of Fame Inductees weren’t the only announcement, Dr. Orrin also revealed that the TUHS Hall of Fame Committee is now a foundation, as Dr. Orrin humorously said, “You may now give us money.”

Following after Jan Ashley and Dr. Kathy Orrin was Amanda Posey, TUHS Band Director, who recognized the following students for their selection as members of the 2018-19 Honor Orchestra and Band. On the bassoon is Nathaniel Morris,  on alto sax is Dennis Posey, on trumpet is Taylor Reed, Luis Moncada and Martin Penaloza. The tuba will be played by Richard Posey and the honor band percussionists are Allyson Houghton and Rebecca Cuevas. Each student spoke about how being a part of the honor band has done for them and what it has allowed them to do, such as challenging themselves and making greater strides in their field of music and types of musical instruments they play. Mrs. Poesy announced that “A Grand Night For Music” will be held on January 29th at 7 pm at the Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield. Amanda Posey also introduced to the Board of Trustees a special someone, Sara Garner.

Sara is in sixth grade and is twelve years old. Sara was in a car accident at the age of two, suffering a traumatic brain injury making her disabled. Sara is unable to communicate through speech, but Mrs. Posey stated that though Sara can’t speak that she understands another language–music. Mrs. Posey was interviewed the day after the meeting and was asked how she met Sara, “The jazz band goes over to Roosevelt at Christmas time and during finals in spring and we’d always play for Sara’s class and there’s a cafeteria full of kids but Sara was always so animated  when the music started. You could tell by the look on her face and the way it just lite her up–the music woke her up… when the music starts she puts her face out like she’s listening and you can just really see the music being absorb that she is engaged so even though english isn’t really something that Sara uses, it’s not her language, music is her language. You can just see above the other kids that she’s just glowing that she spoke the language that we were speaking. So I’ve seen her for several years, every Christmas, every spring we’d go over and see them and there’s actually several students in that class that when we start playing  you can tell that is the language they understand and that the vibrations are beautiful to them and that really enjoy it. I really believe that she’s an amazing musician; it’s just her body doesn’t let her her play but her ears are in there, she can hear, she knows what’s going on.”

Mallory Peters the nurse here at taft high gave a presentation on the Free Dental Clinic hosted by Ostrow School of Dentistry of the University of Southern California and sponsored by California Resources Corporation (CRC). The clinic will start this Friday. The treatment that will be provided by the dental clinic are exams with full mouth radiographs along with regular and deep cleanings with white fillings, baby root canals, stainless steel crowns, sealants and oral hygiene instruction. They do treatment of all dental infections such as abscess and cavities. Peters than talked about the impact benefits this has for our community, as Peters said during her presentation, “It eliminates family transportation problems which can be a big problem in our town. Decrease loss of days from school because its during the school day and school the week. Diminishes patient anxiety and provides early intervention of preventive and restorative care. Increase knowledge about oral health and overall improved health and well being.”   

Much more was discussed at the meeting. After approving the majority of the agenda the board went into closed session. So far a lot of new and exciting things are happening for the students of TUHS. The next board meeting is Feb. 19 at 6 pm. Board meetings are open to the public and held in the TUHS Board Room.