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Schools

Luan Burman Rivera Day Celebrated and Patch Honors a Local Achiever

Ramona Patch begins its series honoring local students.

Every week in the Talk of Ramona column, a student from Ramona Unified School District will be recognized for an achievement at school or out in the community. 

We will start this series with Parker Hicks, a sixth-grader at Mountain Valley Academy. Parker plays piano and trumpet and has done so since fourth grade, the same time he enrolled at Ramona Community School. He was chosen to play the trumpet in the RUSD Elementary Honor Band.

Parker likes all kinds of music and can recite a lot of the lyrics to songs from the 1960s and '70s. That just happens to be the era of his parents' favorite tunes. 

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Parker also plays tennis in an after-school program in San Diego Country Estates. 

His teachers said Parker excels in math and is working about a year ahead of his grade level. He also enjoys creative writing and has been writing episodes of a fantasy adventure. Parker said he would like to be a museum curator after college.

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Parker belongs to 4-H where he is involved in beekeeping. Last year, he and his dad spent the night at PetCo Park in San Diego, camping out on the field for a special Star Wars Extravaganza. Parker is a huge Star Wars fan, so this was a very memorable event for him and his dad.

If he could have whatever he wants, Parker's wish list would include a trip to Disneyland and getting a pug puppy. His favorite plant is the Venus fly trap and his  favorite meal consists of cheeseburgers with lava cake for dessert.

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March kicked off with a special honor for one local resident. County Supervisor Dianne Jacob proclaimed March 1 as Luan Burman Rivera Day throughout the county. 

Luan served on the Ramona Unified School District Board of Trustees for 16 years, stepping down in 2010. She served multiple terms as president and clerk of the board in addition to being a trustee. 

A former teacher, Luan was an active member of the San Diego County Achievement Gap Task Force and currently serves on the board for the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. She was a member delegate to the Assembly of California State Teachers Association and the San Diego County School Boards Association from 1996 to 2009. She also was on the board for the Pacific Region of National School Boards Association in 2008. 

Luan continued her commitment to education in 2006 when she was a member of California School Boards Association and is currently on the faculty of CSBA's Masters in Governance program and is a Senior Governance Consultant with CSBA's Governance Consulting Services. She also is on the national team that offers training for new board members and board presidents. 

Luan is involved with the Cities, Counties and Schools Partnership between the League of California Cities, California State Association of Counties and CSBA. She served as chairwoman for the board of trustees and also the Conditions of Children Task Force. 

Among Luan's other memberships are the National Conference for Community and Justice, Operation Understanding and the San Diego County Inter-agency Coalition for Human and Civil Rights. 

Congratulations, Luan.

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If you know of people you'd like to see recognized in Talk of Ramona, or if have any questions about the column, send an email to talkoframona@yahoo.com

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