Local business gives teachers money through grant program

Two years ago GDI president Grant Davis started the "Adopt-A-Teacher" grant program. But in two years Davis said he has only received a grand total of two requests for funds.

Learning about space

Walnut Elementary Education Center celebrated "Space Week" this week. Space week started 15 years ago to commemorate astronaut Alan Sheppard's first U.S. manned space launch. Students at Walnut learned about aerodynamics, flight control and design, and rocketry. Fifth grade teacher Bret Sutterley said Space Week is now done in conjunction with California Standardized Testing to loosen up what can be a tight atmosphere on campus.

Renaissance kid

Pitman High School Principal Rod Hollars has worked in education for decades and has never seen a child so young and gifted as Kohl James.

School district dealing with Sacramento failures

After months of trying to work out problems with legislative Republicans, Gov. Jerry Brown called off budget negotiations on Tuesday.

TUSD school communities raise funds for sixth grade camp

Where there's a will, there's a way. In a remarkable display of cooperation, dedication and commitment all nine Turlock Unified School District elementary schools raised enough funds to send every single sixth grader to Foothill Horizons camp in May.

Wakefield students have ‘no excuses’

There is a simple theory that if you tell kids over and over again they are unlikely to succeed because they come from bad neighborhoods and are growing up in poverty, they will do exactly what society tells them to do, which is fail.

Cancer doesn’t keep Osborn student down

If you ever get a chance to meet Adham Hamza it will be hard to forget him. He has that much personality. He has been known to literally talk non-stop for hours and the whole time he will have a smile on his face and unrelenting enthusiasm for wherever his creative mind takes him.

Julien students blast math at competition

A group of sixth-grade students from Julien Elementary in Turlock recently competed in the Stanislaus County Math Blast. More than 200 sixth-grade students from across the county participated in the event.

Hilmar student earns dairy scholarship

Modesto Junior College student and Hilmar resident Karessa Mann was selected as a 2011 scholarship recipient by the Dairy Farmers of America, Inc. (DFA), a national milk marketing cooperative.

Crowell principal earns top honors

Before Linda Alaniz became principal of Crowell Elementary School in Turlock five years ago, there was a slight disconnect between parent, teachers and administrators. While the school was functioning, it wasn't doing so at its highest level, according to numerous parents and teachers on campus.

Local students excel at Occupational Olympics

The 26th Annual Stanislaus County Occupational Olympics and Career Exposition was held Wednesday at the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds in Turlock. More than 800 students from county high schools participated in 23 competitive events. In addition to the events 54 business and industry representatives exhibited and spoke to students during the Career Expo.

Turlocker named Middle School Teacher of the Year

Turlock resident Jeanne Hartman, a resource specialist teacher at Empire Elementary K-8 School in Empire, was recently named the California League of Middle Schools' "Middle School Educator of the Year."

Junior high rallies ‘Just for Jeremiah’

About a month ago Turlock Junior High School seventh grader Jeremiah Coghill started feeling ill. He was weak, had random nose bleeds, and was sleeping 20 hours a day and he had lost 15 pounds.

Pentathlon athletes bring home top honors

Denair Middle School seventh-grade students were big winners at The Stanislaus County Academic Pentathlon, held last Saturday in Modesto. The Pentathlon is a one-day, five-event competition for county seventh and eighth grade students. After weeks of coaching, studying and preparation, students gather and are tested on their knowledge in literature, math, science, social science, speech and essay writing. Other local seventh grade winners included Sarah Reedy (TJHS- silver ...

CSU system faces drastic cuts in enrollment, employees

The California State University system will likely enroll at least 10,000 fewer students and cut employees to meet a $550 million funding gap, according to a report delivered to the CSU Board of Trustees Tuesday.

Pumpkins pop up at Cunningham

The Kiwanis Club of Greater Turlock delivered 650 Halloween pumpkins to Cunningham Elementary School in Turlock on Friday. For the past 22 years the Kiwanis Club of Greater Turlock has been delivering the pumpkins. This year's batch was donated by Kiwanis members Ron and Karen Macedo, owners of Ram Farms.

Drug-free life

It was Red Ribbon Week last week in Turlock as schools all over town celebrated living a drug-free life.

Pitman High band kicks of Washington D.C. fundraising with free concert

The Pitman High School Band, known as the "Marching Pride" was recently invited to the 2012 National Independence Day Parade in Washington D.C. following a recommendation from Governor Jerry Brown. The Marching Pride hopes to raise $100,000 in order to make the trip to the nation's capital. Tonight the band will celebrate its nomination and kick off its massive fundraising effort with a free concert. The event will be held at 5:30 p.m. ...

THS Symphonic Band places 4th at Foothill Review

The Turlock High School Symphonic Band finished fourth overall out of 17 bands during the Foothill Band Review held Saturday at Amador Valley High in Pleasanton. The THS Symphonic band consists of 38 students who play an ensemble of percussion, wood and brass instruments. Only 38 students of the 100-member THS band participate in the symphonic section. At the review THS placed second in the concert class of schools. Band Director Daniel ...

Spooky fun at Chatom

It was a spooktacular engagement at Chatom Elementary School on Saturday afternoon. The country campus was filled with hundreds of ghostly sights and scary sounds.

Local schools to compete in Spelling Championship

Top local elementary and junior high spellers are scheduled to compete in the Stanislaus County Spelling Championships in the coming weeks. The top spellers in grades four through six from Chatom, Denair, Keyes, Sacred Heart and Turlock Unified School District elementary schools will compete with schools from throughout the county on Nov. 2 at Gregori High School at 5 p.m. Mountain View, Denair Middle, Sacred Heart and Turlock Junior High will compete ...

Migrant preschool program earns top honors

The Central California Migrant Head Start Program, operated by the Stanislaus County Office of Education, was recently named a "Center of Excellence" by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families. Locally, the Migrant Head Start Program operates the Turlock Child Development Center, which serves 150 children from low-income, agricultural-income based homes. Since 1965, the program serves 8,000 children in a seven county area and it was ...

Stanislaus AD resigns, joins staff at Simon Fraser in Canada

Strong Character at Crowell

Crowell Elementary in Turlock capped off its Character Counts Week celebration with a presentation of students who scored a perfect 600 on their California Standardized Testing on Friday. Throughout the week the school held assemblies to promote strong character amongst students and even held a professional dress and career day for sixth graders.

Farhadian named Love of Learning scholar

Isaac William Farhadian, of Turlock, a graduate student in History at CSU Stanislaus, was chosen as the Love of Learning award recipient by the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. Farhadian completed his undergraduate at CSU Stanislaus in 2010. He graduated Summa Cum Laude with a double-major in History and Political Science and received the J. Burton Vasché Award. He has also received the Miriam V. and John L. Keymer Student Leadership Award, ...

UC Merced names first Alumni Association Board

Now with more than 1,200 alumni to its name, University of California, Merced on Thursday announced it has established the first-ever board of directors for its Alumni Association. Christopher Abrescy ('09), Uday Bali ('08), Josh Bolin ('07), Jason Castillo ('09), Efferman Ezell ('09), Sam Fong ('09), Jose Godinez ('11), James Kirby ('10), Jacqueline Miramontes ('10), Elizabeth Perkins ('11) and Yaasha Sabba ('09) will serve as the board's founding members. The board will ...

Kamali named dean of CSU Stanislaus College of Natural Sciences

Reza Kamali, the current dean of the School of Science and Technology at Cameron University in Lawton, Okla., has been named the new dean of the CSU Stanislaus College of Natural Sciences.

Merced College president retires

Merced College President Benjamin T. Duran will retire at the end of the academic year, he announced Tuesday. "I have contemplated this move for the last year or so but could never find the right time to make this life changing decision," Duran said. " … After reflecting on this and talking with my family for the last few months I came to the conclusion that there is never a right time to ...

Stanislaus to offer first accredited online MBA in state

California State University, Stanislaus will be the first institution in the state to launch a fully online Master of Business Administration degree program which is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. "The fully online MBA represents an exciting opportunity for increased access that allows each individual to study anytime, anywhere in pursuit of their graduate business degree," said CSU Stanislaus President Hamid Shirvani. "We are extremely proud to offer ...

A garden gala

Julien Elementary School held its 13th Annual Garden Celebration on Friday. The garden has been a focal point of instruction for the school in science and nutrition. Julien Garden Coordinator Janet Wheeler said students have learned a solid foundation for later horticulture and environmental interest through learning about how the food cycle works, soil, insects, worms, nature and nutrition. This year the garden has produced chard, kale, carrots, radishes, lettuces, beets, edible flowers, poppies, ...