Community Kudos: The feet of flames edition

The month of May — or “pre-summer” as it’s known around here — may bring to mind images of spring flowers, family picnics and Mother’s Day celebrations, but in these parts, it’s also a time to dance.

There definitely was a whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on last Friday at the St. Mary’s parish hall in El Centro as the Imperial Valley Regional Occupational Community Foundation held its annual Dancing with the Stars Gala. Kudos to the contestants, instructors and volunteers who invested considerable time and effort in preparing for the fundraiser. Also, congratulations to Oscar Grijalva and his dance instructor Magy Cardenas on their first-place finish, as well as to Dr. Adophe Edward and his instructor Arisbeth Camarena for taking People’s Choice honors.

And, of course, there is going to be plenty more dancing for the next few days at the 2018 Mariachi Festival Sin Fronteras in Calexico. Much of it, we suspect, will be fueled by guacamole, fresh salsa and tequila.

Congratulations to Estefania Velazquez on being crowned Señorita Mariachi Festival for 2018.

Another thing May brings is the launch of graduation season. San Diego State University-Imperial Valley held its commencement exercises on May 10, and University of Phoenix will do the same on Saturday. By the time the season hits full swing, there won’t be a graduation card available within a hundred miles.

OK, that last bit wasn’t true, but this part is: Good luck grads. We’re all rooting for you.

One of those graduates will be Bryanna Ruiz Fernandez. The Central Union High School senior was one of 104 students in the state and the only one in Imperial Valley to win a coveted Dell Scholarship, which provides $20,000, a laptop, textbook credits and more.

Fernandez’s accomplishments don’t end there. She is also the recipient of scholarships from Tenaska, Rotary Club, Imperial Valley Regional Occupational Program Community Foundation, MANA de Imperial Valley and the El Centro Education Foundation. She’s also done a fair amount of volunteer work in the community, including the Humane Society of Imperial County and El Centro Regional Medical Center.

Suffice it to say, we’re impressed. We’re also impressed with accomplishments of the Calexico High School culinary arts program. Three students in that program will be representing the state at an upcoming national competition. Fernanda Barkle, Genesis Porchas and Francisco Luna Jr. earned that privilege by placing first last month in a statewide competition. The trio are now headed to the national Family, Career and Community Leaders of America competition in Atlanta in late June.

El Centro Regional Medical Center also attracted some attention recently for earning a 2018 Patient Safety Excellence Award from Healthgrades, a Denver-based company that collects and compiles healthcare ratings data. The award reflects the hospital’s quick rise in patient-safety performance, from near the bottom of the list two years ago to the top 10 percent today. Kudos to the entire staff on the quick turnaround.

We’re going to wrap up this week’s kudos with a shout-out to the local non-profit the Water Station. The small group has been stocking water stations around the Imperial Valley wilderness for the past 18 years, and likely has saved many lives in the process. Although the project is intended to assist migrants who get stranded in the desert without water, a number off-road enthusiasts, hikers and even a Navy hospital corpsman have benefitted from the goodwill gesture.

“It’s not about race. It’s not about politics. It’s about human life,” Water Station President Julio Cesar Perez told our Julio Morales last week.

We couldn’t agree more.