Sunnyside High School

Free vaccination clinics offered

News briefs: 1 killed in 4-vehicle crash in Merced Co.

One person was killed and one injured after a four-vehicle accident Wednesday afternoon in Merced County, authorities said Thursday.

A 42-year-old Madera man was driving a truck and trailer about 2:15 p.m. on Highway 165 north of Johnson Avenue in Hilmar when he rear-ended a pickup, the California Highway Patrol said.

The pickup hit a car, which hit another truck and trailer. The pickup driver, a 71-year-old Hilmar woman, suffered major injuries and was airlifted to Doctors Medical Center of Modesto where she died. Her name was not made public pending notification of relatives.

Fresno Unified School District nurse practitioner Kathy Davis administers the diphtheria-tetanus-acellular vaccine for pertussis -- or Tdap -- to Hoover High student Billy Kongphouthakhoun, 16, during a free clinic Saturday that also offered free sports physicals at Hoover High School.

Proof of Tdap vaccinations is now required by state law for students entering 7th through 12th grades.

Two other clinics are planned for July 30 at Sunnyside High and Aug. 6 at Hoover High.

The clinics, which are open to all Fresno Unified School District students, are made possible through a $15,000 grant from Kaiser Permanente Fresno.

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Sunnyside seniors grasp the value of perseverance | Yakima Herald ...

SUNNYSIDE, Wash. -- They're BFFs to the extreme.

In fact, Sunnyside High School graduates Javiola Baldovinos and Faviola Contreras redefine BFFs. Because while BFFs get bracelets, Baldovinos and Contreras have planned matching tattoos.

The lifelong buddies, who go by "Gabby" and "Fabby," both giggle, and they're both 4-foot-10. They finish each other's sentences and work together at Fiesta Foods grocery in Sunnyside.

Baldovinos was born in Prosser while Contreras was born in California. Both moved to Sunnyside before starting kindergarten.

They're cumulative GPAs are identical at 1.9. Their class schedules are pretty close. They both plan to attend Yakima Valley Community College in the fall and aspire to nursing careers.

And their stories of lost-then-found trace the same narrative arc. They have held each other's hand through alcohol poisoning, counseling and a whirlwind effort to make up nearly four years of credits in only two.

"We had each other's backs," Baldovinos said.

"All the time," Contreras added.

They will both graduate on time when Sunnyside High School's Class of 2011 walks on Friday.

"I would not have predicted this outcome in the end," said Mike Thorpe, a humanities teacher who watched Contreras be sent to the hospital for drinking too much only two years ago.

Even their family members are a little shocked, though proud, of course.

"After she was so bad in school, she surprised us and showed us that (anything) is possible," said Maria Contreras, Faviola's mother, in an email translated from Spanish by her daughter.

Both girls grew up in homes broken by divorce. Both live with their mothers.

They often were in trouble with fighting other girls, skipping and talking back to teachers and administrators, they said. They hung around with gang "wannabes" and spent several weeks in Transitions, a program for students struggling academically that holds classes at the former alternative Pride High School campus.

Late in their sophomore year, the girls skipped school and passed a bottle of tequila around with some friends. Contreras drank a lot.

Classmates carried her back to school, where Thorpe caught her. Worried, he waved over an administrator. Soon, a crowd of teachers, principals and school resource police officers surrounded her. She responded by swearing and swinging, trying to get away.

Police handcuffed her, arrested her and took her to a hospital where doctors pumped her stomach.

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