Hanging with Lange
PHOTO COURTESY OF Mr. Lange: The students are learning from the instructor at Long Beach City College.
April 6, 2022
“These boys have a ton of potential,” says Gray Lange, French teacher at Millikan. Seniors Diego Montalvo, Manuel Diaz Barrios, Jose Lopez, Carlos Orozco, Salvador Ortega, Manuel Pulunto, Alan Roman, and Enrique Vasquez-Lopez have been with Lange throughout their high school careers. Although some of these students didn’t take his class, these students have eaten in his class everyday without fail. “I grew to enjoy their company and they began to feel more like friends instead of students,” said Lange. They eventually became an official club on campus, known as “Los Compadres,” where they provide a safe place not only for Latinx students but for all.
As their senior year approached, Lange became concerned about the boys’ future. Unsure of what was next for them, Lange took on the role of a mentor. In efforts to motivate the students to further their education, he enrolled alongside them in an automotive class at Long Beach City College. He has made it his mission to close the achievement gap with these students. This gap is the unequal achievement of educational results between different social classes and ethnicities.
“I was participating in a bidding war on a 1969 Ford Bronco with the students, and we ended up winning it,” says Lange.
He believes that buying the car was a way of enticing and reminding these students that this was not his project, but theirs. Lange hopes that as they learn new skills at LBCC, they would start working on the car. Looking towards the future, Lange hopes to help these boys open their own auto shop.
These students are so fortunate to have someone like Mr. Lange looking out for them. He has demonstrated time after time that he has their best interest at heart. Millikan and the world definitely need more teachers like him!
Pablo Hermosillo • Apr 13, 2022 at 12:31 pm
In Issue 6/2022 (published April 6, 2022), Tere Quezada, a staff reporter here at Millikan wrote an article titled “Hanging with Lange”. This article mentions how a teacher here at Millikan who teaches French named Mr. Lange has grown as a mentor to a group of latinx students. This article goes on to mention how these eight seniors have been with Mr. Lange throughout their whole high school career. Some of these students never even had him as a teacher, but they have eaten in his class everyday without missing a day. Mr. Lange goes on to say “I grew to enjoy their company and they began to feel more like friends instead of students”. Since these students were eating lunch together everyday with Mr. Lange, they decided to form a club on campus named “Los Compadres” where their goal is to provide a safe environment for latinx students all around school. When the students started their senior year, Mr Lange started to worry about the students future, so he decided to enroll them all, including himself in a automotive class at Long Beach City College. Mr. Lange participated in a bid for a car, and won it. This was great because his goal with this was to give the students the car, so they could work on it together as a project. In the Future Mr. Lange wants to open up an auto shop with the students, so they all do something they enjoy. This is amazing to see because you don’t really see many teachers do this. It is also amazing to see because Mr. Lange has grown as a mentor to these kids, and I feel like they are all helping and benefiting each other.
Chambers • Apr 12, 2022 at 4:28 pm
In Issue 6/2022 (published April 6, 2022), Tere Qeuzada wrote an article titled “Hanging with Lange” about the French teacher here at Millikan, Gray Lange. The article is about how Lange helped out a group of students that he’d grown attached to. The group of students call themselves “Los Compadres”, and they are a safe-space club for Latinx students. The story behind how Lange grew a liking to the group is quite sweet. I think it’s very nice and interesting how Lange helped them out to settle a future for themselves. I had Lange in freshman year, and I remember him being very fun and social. He was a little crazy, which is why I think his bidding war, as mentioned in the article, is funny. He would totally get in a bidding war over a car. I always remember seeing students come into his class for lunch, as I had him fourth period, but I never knew they had such a story behind them. This story was very interesting because it gave me a look into what else is happening on campus. I’m always glad to hear about times where a teacher helped out a student with their future.