 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Week Two
|
|||||
Monday
March 20, 2006 - Orange Glen High School (Escondido, California) Mother nature tried to throw us another curveball today. The weather during last week was amazing, blue skies and never once did it rain during showtimes. As soon as Friday's show wrapped up, in came the clouds and it poured all weekend along. It looked like Monday was going to be more of the same, but once again luck was on our side.
Today's show was in the middle of the football field at Orange Glen High. The faculty of the school agreed to have our show there as a reward to the students. The students of Orange Glen had tested very highly on the California Standards Test and High School Exit exams last year, so our show was the staff's way of thanking the students for their hard work.
The students packed the bleachers on the home side of the field and eventually ran out of seats so some of the students got to come down onto the field. The weather started to sprinkle for a bit, but the rain held off and Orange Glen High School got quite a show in the end.
This weekss crew is the same as last week, with one exception. We traded out Dave Voelker for long-time veteran BMX pro, Jim Burgess. Jim is no stranger to the got milk? Gravity Tour. He's been doing these shows ever since the tour started nine years ago.
Our crew would like to send a special thanks to Mr. Mark Atkins of Orange Glen High for all of his cooperation to make today's show a success.
-- Jimmy C
Check out photos from this show
Wednesday March 22, 2006 - Etiwanda High School (Etiwanda, California) The tour has moved on from the San Diego area, to the greater Los Angeles area. The later half of week #2 of the tour is taking place in Riverside county in an area known as the “Inland Empire.”
Our show today was at a rather large school in the town of Etiwanda appropriately called, Etiwanda High. This is a very large campus, with a student body of about 3,500. Our two performances today took place in the concrete quad area between the cafeteria and the gymnasium. Both shows were packed with students. Looking out from the ramp truck after the bell rang, I literally saw a sea of people coming into the quad. They gathered around the ramp and cheered the riders and skaters on, as they did their tricks. Today was beautiful day as well, nice and sunny and very warm. It was probably about 85 degrees by the time the shows started. It was almost surreal. Here I was standing in the middle of a high school campus in 85 degree weather announcing a show and sweating, yet I was staring directly at the snow covered mountains that were just a short distance away.
Overall, the students of Etiwanda High loved the show, and we had a great time as well. We even got treated to lunch by the staff. Special thanks to Bonnie Mondragon, and Nadine Gilbert for bringing us to Etiwanda High. After all, it was a busy week at the school. The sophomores are taking their state Exit Exams this week so our show was a great way to give them a break from the testing. Next stop, Redlands East High.
-- Jimmy C
Check out photos from this show
Thursday March 23, 2006 - Redlands Valley East High School (Redlands, California) Today was another typical southern California spring day. It was nice and sunny with a balmy 85 degree temperature. A perfect day for a got milk? Gravity Tour school show. Today’s show took place in the town of Redlands, at Redlands East Valley High School.
Our set-up area today was rather unique. The ramp was positioned in a corner of the softball/baseball practice field. What made it so unique was the setting and the scenery. The practice field is considerably lower than the main campus, so the landscape slopes downward towards the practice field. This created sort of a grass bleacher setting for the students, which made for some excellent viewing. As for the scenery part, there were snow covered mountains as far as the eye could see. Being a snowboarder, it was pure torture for me to see those mountains with all that snow. It looked like mother nature had poured a giant glass of milk all over them. Enough about my snowboard dreams, let me tell you about the show.
We did two shows today, both of them assemblies. Both shows were packed with students, and it was a great time. The students were incredibly loud from start to finish, and everybody wanted to get their hands on the got milk? t-shirts and skateboards. I even held a little contest today. I gave out a t-shirt to the student who picked up the most trash on the field. This young lady picked up every single piece of trash on the field, and it was a big field too, so I wanted to extend a special thanks to her. Another special thanks goes out to Penny Davidson for all her hard work and planning to bring us to Redlands East High School, and for making it a memorable day for the students.
-- Jimmy C
Check out photos from this show
Friday March 24, 2006 - Los Osos High School (Rancho Cucamonga, California) Today was the last show of week # 2 of the tour. It’s also the last stop in southern California, because after today, we head north and stay there for the remaining 5 weeks.
Today was another day of amazing weather, sunny and warm, almost too warm for my tastes. It got into the upper 80’s today. We finished up the week just in the nick of time too, because the news reported that rain was on the way for the next several days in the area.
Our show today was set-up inside the concrete quad, just behind the main office of Los Osos high. This is an insanely huge campus, with a large quad, so we had plenty of concrete on which to set-up. This was extra good news for our flatland rider, Gabe Weed. Instead of having to do all his tricks on the bottom of the ramp, he now had ample space to show the students a wider variety of his tricks.
We had two shows today, both during the lunch periods. The first group consisted of the juniors and seniors. They were pretty quiet and it took them awhile to get into it, but they finally came around. The second show was made up of the sophomore and freshman classes. They were loud right from the start. They were definitely the loudest group of the day, if not one of the loudest of the week.
After we finished the shows, we signed some autographs, took some photos with the school staff, and said our goodbyes to everyone. This was Fabiola da Silva’s last day on the tour this year. She injured her knee awhile back, and is going to be spending the next few weeks in physical therapy, getting ready for the upcoming competition season. We will miss you Fab, and get that knee back in shape.
Special thanks to all the school administrators who allowed us to come into their schools this week, and a very special thanks to the district tobacco prevention coordinator, Nadine Gilbert. She put in a lot of hours helping to book these schools, and it paid off.
That’s it for this week, next stop, Fresno.
-- Jimmy C
Check out photos from this show
gotmilk.com |
|
