Hi, my name is Dana Coates – Thanks for allowing me to contribute to the Eagle’s Youth Sports Program, offered by Gabrielino High School.

It’s my opinion that young people need as much support as they can get. So do Teachers, Coaches and parents. Not just financial support, but support through mentoring and by encouraging one another to be accountable and responsible in our society.

Over 50% of the parents I know are raising their kids alone, these are single parent households. A lot of the kids in these single parent homes are at a greater risk in today’s fast paced world.

It’s very hard to raise a child all alone, and that’s why wholesome activities like the programs offered on campus as well as other sports and social clubs on campus, are so vital to us parents.

But the school can’t do it all, and we parents shouldn’t expect them to. We need to strive to be directly involved in our kids lives – after all, think back to your own upbringing, were there deficiencies in how your folks interacted with you? How do we (as parents) fill the blank spaces of our own upbringing? Do we perpetuate the dysfunction of our own upbringing, or do we fight to do a better job than may have been done on us?

Each of us will need to answer these questions for ourselves, but I am a product of the 60’s, a time when parents were often involved in a lot of things other than parenting. Today, more than ever, I encourage parents to step firmly into their role and to take parenting seriously. Claim your rightful place at home, the leader of the house, and take that responsibility seriously. Expect accountability on the part of your kids – being firm with them and rewarding them for real successes will give them pride and will help to prepare them for the reality of the world, after High School.

THANK YOU Coach Joseph Laski, and all the rest of the Gabrielino Coaches, Instructors, Administrators, Support Staff Members, and the Parents who are involved and engaged in helping our young people to develop the necessary skills to be both alert and effective in today’s very competitive society.

Sincerely,

Dana J. Coates

United Agencies, Inc.

Gabrielino High School (GHS) is a public high school located on San Gabriel Boulevard in San Gabriel, California, serving grades 9-12. It was established in 1994, and is one of two high schools in the San Gabriel Unified School District. Del Mar High School (continuation) is the second. Gabrielino High School is a California Distinguished School, and is accredited by Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). In addition, Newsweek magazine recently ranked Gabrielino as a top high school in the United States as determined by the number of Advanced Placement courses taken at the school in 2005 divided by the number of graduating seniors. In 2007, Gabrielino earned the Silver Medal status from the "U.S. News and World Report" based on standardized test performance in Math and English and AP courses taken and passed with a "3" or better. Based on this report, Gabrielino is placed in the top 3% of the nation or top 505 schools. About 39% of graduates go on to four-year universities nationwide while about 55% attend community college after graduation. The school has had many accomplishments for being a newly built high school.

The school adopts a catchphrase each year. The catchphrase of the school year 2007 to 2008 is "Got 2 Soar".

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