Get to know school board Trustee Area 2 candidate Dr. Jag Lathan

By Allen D. Payton

The list of candidates for two seats on the Antioch City Council and Antioch School Board for the November elections finalized on Friday. Three incumbents, Councilwomen Tamisha Torres-Walker in District 1 and Monica Wilson in District 4, and Trustee Mary Rocha in the new Area 5 will run for re-election with each facing challengers. Only one person filed to run in the new school board Trustee Area 2, Dr. Jaguanana “Jag” Lathan. As previously reported, current trustee and Antioch City Clerk Ellie Householder is not running for re-election to the school board and can’t as she moved into Area 1 sometime in the past two years.

Council District 1 

In City Council District 1 incumbent Tamisha Torres-Walker will again face former Antioch councilwoman and school board trustee Joy Motts, as well as former school board trustee Diane Gibson-Gray. Two other candidates didn’t file their nomination papers by the 5:00 p.m. deadline on Friday, August 12, including 2020 mayoral candidate Gabriel Makinano and Gregory Stornetta.

Stornetta responded to an inquiry writing, “I did pull papers, however, have decided not to file. I may pursue a run come next term, just felt that I needed more time to prepare, interact with the community, etc. if there is a possibility that I may win, I want to be sure that I’m fully prepared to take on the role.”

Council District 4 

After voting for a gerrymandered redistricting map that moved current District 3 Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock into District 4, incumbent Monica Wilson will face her council colleague, plus one of her 2020 opponents and one other challenger in an effort to be re-elected for a fourth term. Both former Antioch Police Crime Prevention Commission Chair and 2020 council candidate Sandra White and retired Richmond Police Lt. Shawn Pickett filed papers to run.

08/16/22 UPDATE: According to the City Clerk’s office former Antioch Police Crime Prevention Commissioner and real estate broker Michael Gadams filed papers on Friday to run in Council District 4 but did not qualify due to a lack of valid signatures of registered voters on his nomination papers. He needed a minimum of 20 but only had 18. That leaves four candidates in that race.

Area 5 Trustee Rocha Faces One Challenger

According to the County Elections Candidate List issued Friday night, incumbent Antioch School Board Trustee Mary Rocha will be running for re-election facing one challenger, Dominique King. According to her campaign website she is an Antioch Parks and Recreation Commissioner and a member of the Antioch Middle School Site Council.

New Trustee Area 2 Candidate Dr. Jag Lathan

UPDATE & CORRECTION: Because no other candidate filed to run for school board in the new Area 2 following the district’s redistricting process finalized earlier, this year, Dr. Jag Lathan will be the only candidate on the ballot. Because there is no current incumbent for the area, the filing period was extended for five more days until Wednesday, August 17 at 5:00 p.m. An earlier version of this report claimed she had automatically won the race. But other candidates could still file by the extension deadline and official write-in candidates can still file to run, later.

In a post on her campaign Facebook page on Wednesday, August 11 Lathan wrote, “It’s official! After working in public education for over 20 years I have decided to throw my hat in the ring and run for a seat on the Antioch Unified School Board. Kids educations and futures are important to me. I know firsthand when students experience an excellent TK-12 education their lives change for the better. I am super excited and hopeful you will take this ride with me! Donations and volunteers needed and appreciated. Elections November 8, 2022. See the link below for more information about my campaign. https://www.drjagforausd.com/”

Lathan’s campaign was about equity and impact, “ensuring all students have access, opportunities, and supports to thrive in school” and to “empower teachers, administrators, and support staff to make transformational changes.”

According to her LinkedIn profile Lathan worked last year for nine months for the Alameda County Office of Education as Acting Chief of Learning and Accountability (Chief Academic Officer) and for six years prior to that for the San Diego County Office of Education as Executive Director, Equity and Executive Leadership Coach. From Sept. 2018 through May 2019, she was a Leading for Equity Fellow of the National Equity Project.

According to her campaign website, Lathan currently works as the Chief Executive Officer of New Generation Equity and founder of Amara Leaders, a nonprofit organization.

According to the New Generation Equity website the company “partners with organizations and leaders to strengthen their diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging efforts with effective planning and implementation strategies. These actions bring people and organizations closer to the liberated systems they dare to dream.”

According to the Amara Leaders website, the organization is “dedicated to advancing the exceptional leadership of Black women across industries. Together, with our allies, we support Black women to lead at our greatest level of impact so that everyone benefits from the diversity of perspective and our daring leadership.”

More details will be provided about each candidate running in the city council and school board races over the next few weeks.

 

 

SAN DIEGO, Calif., Aug. 12, 2022 /Christian Newswire/ — Enrollment is now open for the 2022-23 school year at FaithPrep California, a new private online learning option for students in grades K-12.

FaithPrep California is a program of the Rock Academy in partnership with Faith Academics, a Tampa-based education company, and Stride, Inc., the leading provider of digital learning products and services across the country. The full-time program will offer California families a unique school experience that is online, faith-based, and life-focused.

The FaithPrep education model offers a world-class online learning platform that utilizes award-winning curriculum taught by licensed Christian teachers. Students are provided the tools, resources, and support needed for success in a virtual school environment. The program also integrates the Servant Learner™ program that focuses on Christian character development, social, emotional and leadership formation, and life preparation.

One of the distinctive features of FaithPrep California is the options for students to take online dual enrollment courses and earn college credits through the Faith Collegiate program as well as career readiness courses and earn industry certification through the Faith Pathways program.

Students will also be able to attend learning hubs or “Faith Centers” in certain locations around the state. These hubs will promote socialization with other students, offer faith-enrichment activities and provide general program support. The initial Faith Centers in California will be at several of the Rock Church campuses in San Diego. An Information Session will be held at 6:30 pm on August 17th at the main Rock Church campus at 2277 Rosecrans Street in San Diego.

Enrollment is open to all California residents in grades K-12. Tuition is $6,250 for grades K-5, $6,750 for grades 6-8, and $7,250 for grades 9-12. There is a $200 annual enrollment fee. Fees for Faith Centers and Faith Collegiate courses are additional. Families affiliated with the Rock Church get a discount on tuition. FaithPrep California opens August 15 and students begin classes on August 29th.

FaithPrep California is part of a global network of online Christian schools and programs that includes FaithPrep Academy, FaithPrep Academy of Indiana, FaithPrep Florida and FaithPrep Asia. More information about the program and the upcoming Information Session at the Rock Church can be found at www.faithprepcalifornia.com.

Faith Academics is a faith-based learning company that supports and helps operate a network of private online Christian schools and homeschool programs for students in grades K-12 across the globe. More information can be found at www.faithprep.com.

The senior honor student connected to the program as a delegate of The Congress of Future Medical Leaders

Daughter of Dr. Lance and Treasure Miller

By Allen D. Payton

Brentwood resident Presley Miller, a senior at Freedom High School in Oakley, California recently returned from a two-week summer honors program in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania with FutureDocs Abroad for high school and undergraduate students who aspire to a career in the medical field.

She was selected for the opportunity through her participation as a delegate to The Congress of Future Medical Leaders, a nationally recognized high school honors program of the National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists. Students must have a minimum 3.5 GPA to qualify. Miller’s GPA is 4.0. She attended the Congress which was held via Zoom in June 2021.

A separate group of students went to Vietnam during the same weeks. Miller chose Tanzania to apply for “because it was in Africa where I’ve never been.”

FutureDocs Abroad is an honors-only program, of the National Leadership Academies, that allows qualified high school students a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to gain real-life experience and access what only third and fourth-year medical students can in the United States. The purpose of this internship is to honor, inspire, motivate, and direct the top students in the country, to stay true to their dream and, after the program, to provide a path, plan, and resources to help them reach their goal.

It puts passionate and qualified students into an intense medical environment overseas, where every single day it allows them an opportunity to experience, now what they’ve only been able to imagine.

FutureDocs Abroad was founded on the belief that strong emotional intelligence is the cornerstone of student success and is committed to supporting students in their development. The National Leadership Academies also recognizes that prospective talent must be identified at the earliest possible age and help must be given to these students to acquire the necessary experience and skills to take them to the doorstep of vital careers as leaders and in the fields of medicine and the sciences.

“It was exciting to be able to personally experience international medicine and learn the culture of Tanzania, while creating lifelong friendships and memories!” said Miller. “It was an experience of a lifetime.”

During the program, she joined students from across the U.S. and spent time observing surgeries taking place in the operating room, with the surgeon explaining the procedure as it was being performed. Miller also spent time in the gross anatomy lab with a professor, learning about the anatomy and proper dissection of human cadavers and practicing dissection techniques on animal parts. In addition, she shadowed physicians in the emergency room, clinics, and wards in over a dozen areas of specialty, including pediatrics, oncology, surgery, orthopedics, OB/GYN, and more.

“I got to observe a C-section, cesarean, and watch a baby take his first breath,” Miller shared as her favorite part of the trip. That gave her the desire to focus on “neurosurgery and work in pediatrics.”

One of about 50 students on the trip, she was the only one from Freedom High and encourages other students to participate, as well.

“If you have the opportunity to be a part of The Congress and be able to sign up and be selected to go on this trip, other students should do it. I would do it again, personally,” Miller stated. “If other kids in our area are able to experience this it will be amazing.”

“It took about 30 hours of travel each way,” she shared. “We had to first fly to New York to meet up with the group and fly together from there.”

They landed in Dubai after a 12 or 13-hour flight, followed by a five-hour flight to Tanzania, Miller explained.

“But coming home it was longer due to layovers,” she added.

Asked how she learned about the program she explained, “I got a certificate in the mail from a doctor, Stephen Mitchell, the dean of Georgetown Medical School in May 2021.”

“I was like, ‘what is this?’” Miller said. “It was a selection for the Award of Excellence from the Congress of Future Medical Leaders and an invitation to attend it.”

There’s a fee to participate in the program. “But part of it was covered by a sponsor who paid for everyone,” she shared.

As part of the Congress, Miller did extra course work to earn one college credit. She has also been taking high school courses, more than required, for a degree in medicine.

“I took anatomy and physiology this last year and taking AP biology and chemistry, this year,” Miller shared.

Asked about her college plans, she said, “my goal is to go to UCLA, but I’m open to anything, anywhere for undergraduate school that would be a good connection to medical school, whatever God has planned for me.”

Miller is also a varsity cheerleader at Freedom High and the daughter of Antioch chiropractor, Dr. Lance and Treasure Miller.

Asked if she was inspired by her father being a chiropractor, Miller said, “Yes. Growing up around it and always being in that environment of the medical field.”

She works with her dad and mom in the office during the summer. Miller’s older sister Haley is starting chiropractic college in the fall.

“As a parent, we’re proud of our daughter’s dreams and inspired by her desire to enter the medical field in neurosurgery,” dad, Lance stated. “When she was younger, Presley wanted to find a cure for Alzheimer’s because my Aunt Pam died of it at an early age.”

“We were a little nervous about her going over there in another country for two weeks, but excited at the same time,” he shared. “Thank God for technology because we were able to speak with her every day on WhatsApp and Facetime.”

Presley’s mom, Treasure spoke about the trip and her interest in medicine from early childhood.

“I took her to New York, and we met with the program at JFK airport, then they took her from there to Tanzania. We had to participate in Zoom meetings before she went,” she shared. Presley said they got to New York City two days before and went shopping in Manhattan.

“I’m not sure how they got her information, but I’m sure it was during COVID when the students went online and she was showing her interests in college and they got her information,” Treasure explained.

“She’s always known since she was five that she wanted to be a neurosurgery,” her mom, continued. “I asked, ‘why neurosurgery?’”

“She said ‘you, know, Mom, everyone needs a brain and I’ll never be out of a job,’” Treasure stated.

“I’m extremely proud of her and I know God has a plan for her in her life and has definitely set her up for this,” Presley’s mom, said. “It was very hard for me to let her go to a third world country at 17-years-old. So, I had to really give it to God and pray about it and let her go and trust she would be fine.”

“She was 13 hours ahead,” Treasure stated. “So, when her day was ending my day was starting,” and vice versa,

“I’ve always known since she was very little that God gave her this gift to heal people, kind of like her dad, to heal people with his hands,” she continued. “But she’s going down a different road. They work together. You can’t live without your brain or your spine. She’s a different child, a very old soul, very mature for her age and always has been.”

“She does work hard at it. But she’s very dedicated,” Treasure added.

About The Congress of Future Medical Leaders

High-achieving and deserving high School students are selected to become Delegates of the Congress of Future Medical Leaders by parents, teachers, and other educational avenues. Student Delegates are screened through an application process that includes GPA verification. Academically superior high school students are honored for their dedication, talent, and leadership potential in medicine.

During the Congress, Delegates hear from the world’s leading medical pioneers, groundbreaking researchers, young prodigies who are carving the way for the future of medicine and medical technology, and from patients who have had their lives changed (or saved) by medicine.

The stage is graced by the greatest living minds from different areas of medicine, medical technology and engineering, research, and science—some that Delegates may not know exist! They share insights into who they are, what they do, their successes, failures, and practical advice for Delegates.

For more information, visit www.TheNationalLeadershipAcademies.com or call (888) 986-6563.

 

You can’t miss our “RR Learning Center Taco Fundraiser” on Saturday August 13, 2022, from 5-7 p.m. at the Antioch Senior Center, 415 W. 2nd Street.

RR Learning Center offers a safe, clean and encouraging environment for students in our community and free, one-on-one tutoring and homework assistance for low-income children. Our goal is to bridge the academic gap left by the COVID-19 pandemic social distance learning and to assist and encourage low-income and disadvantaged families towards academic success.

We will have rapper ThatMathMagician, Ballet Folklorico “Asi Se Siente Mexico”, Taquizas Angel Gonzalez “Best Tacos In Town”, and Kyle Cicerello with his Homewrecker Monster Truck.

All funds will be used to employ more qualified tutors, buy supplies and continue to raise the standards of this great program.

If you haven’t purchased your tickets yet, please visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rr-learning-center-taco-dinner-fundraiser-tickets-349977360707

We will also be selling tickets at the door. See you soon!

RR Learning Center is sponsored by Rey de Reyes Ministries at 512 W. 2nd Street.

 

“Big Country” Matthew Broad is first in school’s history.

“…super proud of you. This is an exciting day for Cornerstone.” – Principal and Head Football Coach Logan Heyer

By Allen D.  Payton

“Big Country” Matthew Broad was celebrated Monday evening, July 25, by former teammates, classmates, coaches and family as he signed his commitment letter for a scholarship to play football for Northwestern State University during a ceremony at his alma mater, Cornerstone Christian School in Antioch.

Broad js the first player from Cornerstone to play all four years on the school’s eight-man team, graduate from the school and attend a four-year college on a football scholarship.

He found out about the offer from Northwestern about a month ago.

“It happened pretty fast,” Broad said.

After graduating high school in 2020 he went to Los Medanos College and played football for the Mustangs. Broad played one year there as middle linebacker. Last year he was fifth in the state for community colleges and first team All-League in the American-Pacific 7 of the California Community College Athletic Association.

He applied to play football at multiple schools out of high school, received 12 offers while in college and decided to take this one.

Northwestern State University is in Natchitoches, Louisiana where the mascot is the Demons.

“Yeah, I know,” he said with a chuckle about the irony of a Christian athlete playing for a team with that name.

Broad will be playing linebacker on a full, four-year scholarship at NSU with a three-year eligibility and a red shirt year, if he needs it.

His desire is to go pro.

Asked if he had spoken to other local players like Najee Harris and Joe Mixon who are playing profession football Broad responded, “I’ve talked to Najee. He actually came to a few practices at LMC and practiced with us. Coach Marcus Malu (of Malu Fitness in Antioch) is a big part of that. He’s the strength and conditioning coach at LMC.”

“He began playing tackle football when he was nine years old with Oakley Pop Warner,” his mother, Danielle Broad shared. “It’s unheard of for an eight-man football player to receive D1 offers. It is a truly amazing offer and opportunity to give local teams, coaches and players a shout out that it is truly possible to come from a small school and enter into D1.”

During the ceremony inside the school’s gymnasium where his number hangs on the wall, Cornerstone Christian Center Pastor Steve Miner who is a football coach for the team said of Northwestern, “I’m going to be a big fan, now.”

“We are just thrilled. We are proud of you, Matty,” he continued. “You stayed here and that was the beginning.”

Then Cornerstone’s Head Football Coach and Principal Logan Heyer spoke.

“Welcome to the House of Champions and Matt you’re a huge reason why,” he said. “You left your mark, here.”

“Matt, from an early age I knew you were something special. You’re a man of integrity,” Heyer continued. “I’m super proud of you. Matt did everything we asked him to do and played every position we asked him to play. I’m just proud of the young man you’ve become. I just encourage you to take Jesus that’s inside of your heart and share that with the players on your team and change the world because of that. Because you have integrity, the way you operate your life, and the values you have.”

“So, super proud of you,” he continued. “This is an exciting day for Cornerstone.”

“This is a long time coming and that banner on the wall is blood, sweat and tears and the accomplishments you have you’ll remember forever,” Heyer added.

Wearing an NSU cap and shirt, the soft-spoken Broad was then given the opportunity to share his thoughts. Someone later told him that’s the most they’d ever heard him say.

“I just want to say thanks to everyone for coming out. It’s a special day not just for me but for the Cornerstone family and LMC family,” he said. “I’ve been here since I was in preschool as a little baby. I hope you can come out to Louisiana and see a couple games. I will miss you and love you all.”

“Big Country out!” Broad added using his nickname.

A video about Broad’s life and football experience was shared to the delight of those in attendance.

Heyer later shared that Cornerstone has had a football program for eight years. Broad helped the Cougars win their league and North Coast Section championships in 2019 and went 12-0 for the season on a 21-game winning streak. (See related articles, here, here and here).

He was the league’s Football Defensive Most Valuable Player and while at Cornerstone, also played on the school’s basketball team helping the Cougars achieve both their North Coast Section Division IV and CIF NCS Norcal championships.

Broad followed in the sports experience of his father, Richard who played rugby while growing up in Christ Church, New Zealand.

“I’m super proud of him,” he later shared. “It really has been his journey, his mission and his goal. He really has done everything to get to this place. We’re excited for the next part of his journey.”

In prepared remarks, which he didn’t offer during the ceremony, Richard wrote, “Congratulations on this achievement. We are so proud of the young man you’ve grown into and are super excited to see this next chapter of your life unfold. I wish I could take more credit, but this has truly been your dream, your journey and your tenacity and hard work that has got you here. There is a quote I heard somewhere that says, ‘the elevator to success is out of order. You’ll have to use the stairs, one step at a time.’ Continue your climb, son and never stop reaching for that next step. Walk tall and proud in your achievements thus far, you’ve earned them. But remember to always stay humble and kind.”

See a brief video of Broad’s signing ceremony on the school’s Facebook page.

Once again, founder and organizer Claryssa Wilson, with family and friends will host the annual Stuff the Bus School Supply Giveaway. This year’s 10th Anniversary event will be held on Saturday, August 6 at Deer Valley High School from 10 am to 2 pm. Sponsors and donations are needed. Contact the 4evermefoundation@gmail.com to help.