BASKETBALL PLAYERS LAUDED FOR LIFTING CAR OFF THREE KIDS.

Byline: SIMONE SCHRAMM Community Columnist

Members of a private school basketball team have earned the first Youth Heroism Award from the Optimist Club of Studio City for saving three children who became trapped underneath a runaway car outside their school in January.

The Arcadia Christian School basketball team was preparing for a game at Westminster Academy in Eagle Rock on Jan. 30 when a car driven by a 65-year-old woman lurched out of control and plowed into a crowd of parents, teachers and students. Eighteen people were hurt, including the children who were beneath the woman's Mercedes-Benz.

Under the guidance of their quick-thinking coach, the boys rushed to the car and lifted it enough to free the children. Basketball player Sean Poole said that day will remain etched in his mind forever.

``I was just very proud of my team and what we accomplished together. And that was a victory that we won as a team together,'' the Arcadia youngster said.

Other team members are: Ian Hoffman, Samuel Kim, Daniel Kuchenski, Robert Marquez, Matt Maulit, Robbie McDowell, David Navar and Al Platte. They all live in Arcadia.

Imagine never missing a day of school. Many kids love the idea of ditching the odd day, but not Jessica Cicinelli. The Granada Hills High School senior hasn't missed a day of school since first grade. ``Jessica is very responsible,'' said her mother, Laura Cicinelli. ``She thinks if she misses a day, even for a field trip, she will miss something in her classes.''

Jessica also has never arrived late to class in 12 years. ``She won't even take a ride with friends to school,'' Laura Cicinelli said. ``She's worried that they'll make a stop and she'll be late, so I always have to take her.''

Jessica's perfect attendance and her striving for excellence has won her many awards throughout the years, including White House recognition for Outstanding Educational Improvement from the President's Education Awards Program.

And she's in good company with her younger brother, Michael, a 10th- grader who also has never missed a day of school since first grade. ``He first started following in her actions, but now it's like his own thing,'' their mother said.

The Cicinelli family exemplifies Granada Hills' excellent student attendance rate. The school is No. 1 in student attendance in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the fourth year it has achieved such distinction. With an in-seat attendance rate of over 94 percent, Granada Hills soars above the district average of 88 percent for senior high schools.

``Students like Jessica embody the high standards we, as a community, expect of our students,'' principal Brian Bauer said. ``As a school community, we believe in the connection between good attendance and academic and personal development.''

Jessica graduates in June and plans to attend Pierce College in Woodland Hills, where she will major in business. She eventually wants to operate her own fashion business.

Lynda Esh, a Woodland Hills resident and Pierce College student, recently won a $750 scholarship grant for outstanding achievement in art from Women Painters West, a professional artists' organization.

Esh is known for incorporating social commentary into her watercolor paintings. ``I like to make people think,'' she said.

Paintings in her series ``Indian and Machine'' portray an American Indian face, usually with a headdress in which half the visage is a machine illustrating the spirit of the Indian and the earth compared with modern society.

``I enjoy the comforts of modern-day life, and derive power from depicting machines, but I believe we are going too far and too fast,'' Esh said.

Women Painters West began in 1921 to promote fellowship among female artists and aid them financially.