Standout golfer Ethan Gonsalves continues to reach all the goals he and his coach set for himself coming into his senior season at Denair High.

• Compete successfully on a regional level? Check. Gonsalves fired an even-par 72 in March to win the prestigious Oakdale Tournament at Oakdale Country Club, impressing coaches and players from the area who hadn’t heard of him.
• Earn a college scholarship. Check. Gonsalves signed a letter of intent to play next year at Division II powerhouse Stanislaus State just down the road.
• Dominate the Southern League. Check again. Gonsalves kept his cool in gusty wind conditions Monday to win the league title with an even-par 72 at Pheasant Run in Chowchilla. He was named the league’s Most Valuable Player.

Next up for Gonsalves is trying to defend his championship at the Sac-Joaquin Section Small Schools Tournament on Monday at Cherry Island Golf Course north of Sacramento. A year ago, Gonsalves won the event with a 1-over-par 73 at The Ridge Golf Course in Auburn against roughly 110 other players. 

Even though Gonsalves has never played Cherry Island, his coach says his game is in great shape.

“It’s flat. It has a lot of water, which is similar to Chowchilla,” said Denair coach Greg Gaudio of Cherry Island. “It’s not that tricky of a course. He won Sections last year at The Ridge and he’d never played there before. (Cherry Island) is basically put the ball down the middle and put it on the green. It’s kind of like playing Dryden Park (Denair’s home course in Modesto).”

Gonsalves overcame winds blowing steadily at 20 mph and gusting as high as 40 in Chowchilla on Monday.

“To shoot 72 when it was an incredibly windy day, that’s very good,” said Gaudio, crediting Gonsalves’ athletic ability for helping him deal with tough conditions.

Gonsalves only began playing competitive golf as a freshman, but has blossomed into Denair’s best player.

As a sophomore, he finished fourth in the Section Small-Schools tournament, earning him a spot at the Masters Tournament. Last season, he improved on those results – winning the Small Schools Tournament. He again qualified for the Masters Tournament, where he tied for seventh by shooting an even-par 72 at The Reserve at Spanos Park in Stockton, narrowly missing a chance to play in the NorCal Tournament.

Gaudio said Gonsalves has continued to improve all facets of his game this season. He gained valuable experience by competing in some junior tournaments last summer and fall. He also benefitted from practicing with older players on the Stan State and Modesto Junior College golf teams.

“He’s definitely figured out driving distance,” Gaudio said. “Last year, he was using his driver pretty much all the time. Now, there are holes he doesn’t use his driver on to give himself a better shot at the green. He uses driving iron or 3 metal to give himself a better chance to make a birdie.”

Gonsalves’ ability around the greens – especially being able to hit flop shots that stop near the hole – also is impressive.

“It’s incredible. You can tell he’s hit 5,000 to 10,000 flop shots on the range,” Gaudio said. “And then his putting — he’s always practicing.”

At Cherry Island on Monday, the top team and three individuals not on that team will qualify for the Masters Tournament on May 13 at Spanos Park. From there, the top three teams and four players not on those teams will qualify for the NorCal Tournament on May 20 at Berkeley Country Club.

Making it to the NorCal Tournament has been Gonsalves’ goal since the season began.

Two years ago, he shot 78 at the Masters and it took 73 or better to qualify for NorCals. Last season, Gonsalves matched par on a calm day at Spanos Park, but “some guys went really low because there was no wind,” Gaudio said.

“Denair has had a player in the Masters Tournament for eight years in a row, but we’ve never had anyone make it to the NorCals,” Gaudio said. “This year, Ethan’s goal is to win the Masters and move on.”

Six questions for a Denair Unified Classified employee

Name: Jacob Pugh

Family: Wife, Alex, and son, Luka

Position: Technology systems support specialist

Experience: Three years

What attracted you to Denair Unified? Being a smaller district, it allows for the tech department employees to try their hands at many different systems.

What are your primary responsibilities? Troubleshooting and maintaining hardware such as Chromebooks, printers, and peripheral devices.

What do you like best about your job? No two days are ever the same and I am always getting to learn new things.

What would surprise people about your job? Turning it off then on again really does fix a lot of technology issues.

Why is Denair Unified a great place to work? Denair Unified has been one of the most friendly and welcoming work environments I have seen and had the pleasure of being a part of.

What do you do for fun? I enjoy visiting parks, aquariums, zoos and trying new food.

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Denair Unified is currently accepting applications for Classified substitutes, including positions in the technology department, like Jacob’s. If you would like to gain experience in a variety of roles, subbing is a great way to do that. You can apply at  https://www.edjoin.org/Home/JobPosting/1896889 or contact Daisy Flores at dflores@dusd.k12.ca.us.

Science lessons will come to life this week for 73 sixth-graders from Denair Middle School. The students will be learning about natural history while spending four days at the Foothill Horizons outdoor education camp. The group left Tuesday and will return Friday.

The much-anticipated field trip is one of the highlights of the year for sixth-grade students from school districts throughout the region. DMS Principal Gabriela Sarmiento said her students are eager to explore the same trails, hills and creeks at the 143-acre facility in Tuolumne County that many of their brothers and sisters – and, in some cases, even their parents – experienced years before. 

“Many parents and students look forward to this week since before they enter as new sixth-graders,” she said. “Many of our students have older siblings and sometimes even parents that have previously participated, so for many, the week at Foothill Horizons is their sixth-grade right of passage.”

Foothill Horizons is operated by the Stanislaus County Office of Education and certified by the State Department of Education. The lessons led by naturalists cover ecology, geology, and plants and animals native to the foothills. Students learn how to respect nature and how to cooperate with others.

“Our sixth-grade science teachers don’t teach any specific lessons in preparation for their week at outdoor education, but they do work with students throughout the year to prepare them for their experience,” Sarmiento said.

The district covers the cost of the transportation, but families do pay for the tuition and rooming costs. Multiple fundraisers occur throughout the school year and scholarships are available for those students in need of financial assistance. 

Three sixth-grade teachers from DMS also attend as chaperones and a dozen Denair High juniors and seniors serve as counselors. The high school students stay with the DMS students in their dormitories and assist the teachers and naturalists.

Led by three-time medalist Chris Torres, Denair Middle School finished sixth Saturday in the 19^th annual Academic Pentathlon competition.

The event is organized and hosted by the Stanislaus County Office of Education in Modesto. It tests students on math, fine arts, literature, science and social science. There also are speech and essay tests, plus an exciting Super Quiz competition to wrap up the day.

Students are broken up into three divisions – Varsity, Scholastic and Honors – based on their grade-point averages.

Torres, an eighth-grader competing in the Varsity category, won the most medals of anyone on Denair’s team. He took third in math, fourth in social science and fifth in fine arts. This year’s success capped an impressive two-year run for Torres, who won four medals in 2023.

Denair’s other medalists this year were Juliette Conde (bronze in Honors social science), Daniel Gomez (bronze in Scholastic social science) and Alberto Zatarian (bronze in Scholastic science). Conde’s medal was the first in the Honors division by any Denair competitor in Roxi Lagos’ four years as the team’s coach. She also received a plaque for earning the most points on the team.

“I think we did excellent,” Lagos said. “The thing I was most proud of is that my students showed excellent sportsmanship during the awards ceremony, not only for their teammates but also for the students from other schools.”

The 20 members of Denair’s team began practicing daily in August during their third-period class with Lagos. Denair is the only school to offer a special class for Academic Pentathlon participants. In all other school districts, students squeeze in practices before or after school, during lunch periods or even on the weekends.

The theme of this year’s competition was “Technology and Humanity,” and questions in all the categories involved computers and other aspects of technology. One of the highlights during Denair’s preparation, Lagos said, was a field trip the students took in December to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View in the heart of Silicon Valley.

Lagos said the students worked hard to prepare for the event. Practice consists of a mix of independent reading and note-taking as well as teacher-led instruction in some areas. 

There are also team-building activities. In November, the students hosted a Friendsgiving potluck. And in March, they welcomed back the eighth-graders from last year’s Academic Pentathlon team (students who are now freshmen next door at Denair High) to offer tips and advice on the competition.

“They got to hang out and ask each other questions,” Lagos said of the March reunion.

Here is the full list of Denair’s team members, with the student’s year in school in parentheses:

Avery Andrion (7), Alexa Colon (7), Juliette Conde (7), Eli Daniel (7), Daniel Gomez (7), Ashton Homen (8), Isaac Lagos (8), Logan Lagos (7), Taylor Leib (7), Jude Moody (8), Julia Reynolds (7), Luke Scalph (7), Kaycee Shriver (8), Chris Torres (8), Joplin VanGaalen (8), Zoey Vrioni (7), Logan West (8), Makenah Wideman (8), Blake Wood (8) and Alberto Zatarain (8).

“It was our biggest team yet,” Lagos said, “and we hope to grow it next year.”

Denair students will have access to free eye screening on Monday thanks to a partnership between a local nonprofit organization and a national health company.

The program is known as Glasses 2 Classes. It offers free eye screening and same-day glasses for up to 200 students of all ages per district. The Optical Academy of New Jersey runs it and Turlock-based Legacy Health Endowment is underwriting the cost of the clinics next week in Denair and four other school districts in Stanislaus and Merced counties.

At each clinic, Optical Academy’s mobile vision team will bring its state-of-the-art equipment to a school site to provide students with free eye screening and examinations. If students need glasses, they are made onsite that day and provided at no cost. 

The Denair clinic will begin at 9 a.m. in the Denair Middle School library. All 200 slots are spoken for; there is no room for additional sign-ups at this point.

The district partners with the Denair Lions Club annually to conduct vision screenings in the required grade levels and the Lions connect students who need glasses with local optometrists. But not all students are screened every year.

“The Optical Academy is a great opportunity for parents and teachers to refer children who appear to be having vision issues to be evaluated by a team of professionals so that correction can happen quickly,” said Denair Unified Superintendent Terry Metzger. “This is another great service to our students and families made possible by our generous partner, Legacy Health Endowment.”

Jeffrey Lewis, President and CEO of Legacy Health Endowment, said Glasses 2 Classes has the potential to positively impact hundreds of lives.

“Being able to see correctly is critical to any student’s success in or out of the classroom,” he said. “We are happy to be able to bring a proven program such as Glasses 2 Classes to this area.”

Abby Ayoub, founder of Optical Academy, praised LHE for providing the money to put on the clinics.

“Without partners with passion like the Legacy Health Endowment, we can’t deliver these crucial onsite mobile vision services,” Ayoub said. “We are extremely excited to serve students in the comfort of their school and engage them in making their glasses.”