Stanislaus students the fittest in the state

Stanislaus County students surpassed students in every county in the state to take the title of "County of the Year" for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Fit for the Future" campaign.

UC Merced receives environmental leadership award

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that the University of California, Merced, has won California's highest and most prestigious environmental honor - the Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Award.

CSU Stanislaus Research week

California State University, Stanislaus faculty will put their research and creative activities on display for the Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity Week. The event will feature a variety of daily presentations, panel discussions, tours, and special programs.

Budget concerns take over first TUSD candidate debate

The budget was the number one topic at the first debate held for candidates running for open seats on the Turlock Unified School Board of Trustees. Five out of the six candidates running for the open seats on the TUSD Board sat patiently waiting for their next question from the community. Out of the questions they were asked, about half of those were concerning budget cuts and where the cuts were going to be made.

Students lament cut classes, professors

A drum beat out a steady, solemn march in the California State University, Stanislaus quad Wednesday morning, as four students carried a coffin to the center of campus. More than 300 students, all clad in black, marched close behind, holding cardboard tombstones depicting the names of each of the 144 classes canceled in the most recent round of state budget cuts.

Health grant opens door for future UC Merced medical school

The University of California Merced has been awarded a million dollar grant to establish a center to study health disparities in the Central Valley.

High school drop-outs cost state over $1 billion a year

Not only are drop-outs twice as likely to commit crimes as high school graduates, but they also cost the state money in juvenile crimes and in economic losses, according to a new UC Santa Barbara study.

Creativity on display

Students at Walnut Elementary Education Center displayed their hard work and creativity through different projects at the school's annual "Art on the Green" event held Wednesday. Each class had a theme to work with. They then displayed their finished projects for the entire school to see.

Visiting Portugal professor to address homelessness, poverty at CSU Stanislaus

California State University, Stanislaus is hosting a public discussion on the issues of global poverty and homelessness with an economics expert from Portugal.

UC Merced awards $28M in gift aid for 2009-10

UC Merced's Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships has awarded more than $28 million in grants and scholarships to 2,230 undergraduate students for the 2009-10 school year.

University foster advocate wins Congressional award

Wanda Bonnell, Coordinator of the California State University, Stanislaus Promise Scholars Program for former foster students, has been selected as a 2009 "Angel in Adoption" for her advocacy and efforts on behalf of emancipated foster youth.

Wakefield literacy fair brings students, parents together

Reading and writing are what school is all about. However, the administration and staff at Wakefield Elementary want reading and writing to go beyond the school house walls for their students. To achieve those goals, the school hosted their sixth annual "A Family Affair for Literacy" on Friday.

Dutcher acts out with drama club

Drama clubs are typically known as a group of students that put on and attend different plays and musicals, but not at Dutcher Middle School. In the Dutcher drama club, students learn to dance, read music, and they learn different acting techniques to help them perform for their city.

Pitman student is semi-finalist in National Merit Scholarship

Receiving one of the highest scores in the state on her Preliminary SAT test, Pitman High senior Sarah Staley is one of 16,000 semi-finalists in the country to win a National Merit Scholarship.

Scoreboard donation for MJC

Modesto Junior College will receive a new stadium scoreboard courtesy of a $150,000 donation from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local #684, and the Northern California Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association.

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, ...