How a Pasadena gardener worked through the worst January of his life to help open schools
Briefly

Juan Villegas returned to Eliot Arts Magnet Academy, his former school, after fire ravaged his community. Despite some parts of the school standing, much of the campus was destroyed. As a lead gardener for the district, Villegas was tasked with overseeing cleanup efforts to support the return of 14,000 students to school. The fires hit personally for him; he faced the recent death of his father and the loss of his in-laws' home, deepening the tragedy surrounding the destruction of his childhood school.
That's when it hit me, I broke down, and tears streamed down my face. I've never dealt with loss like this before.
I was in shock. It took me back to when I started at Eliot - this was my first school here in America and now the whole place was gone.
Read at Los Angeles Times
[
|
]