History Day Winners move on to State Wide Competition

Monterey County History Day was held for at Los Arboles Middle School on Saturday March 8 from 9 am to 5 pm.

The theme for this year was Rights and Responsibilities, and dozens of Monterey County students completed exhibits, websites, documentaries and composed research papers on the topic. The following are the winners who will go on the represent Monterey County at the state finals in Riverside on April 26-27.

Junior Individual Website:
Isidoro Cosentino: Inalienable Rights Lost: Italian-American Relocation
James Gonzales: The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949

Junior group Website:
Alex Brody & Noah Silverstein: Jews in the Holocaust
Jordan Banon, Gabrielle Arreola & Marianne Tuazon: Emilio Aguinaldo: The Phillipines Independence

Junior Historical Paper
Tara Mann: Watch What you Breathe- A Fictional Letter from a Concerned Mother to the EPA
Katherine Hewitt I.D.E.A: Protecting Children with Disabilities in Education

Junior Individual Documentary
Kyle Worcester-Moore: Rights and Responisibilites in Outer Space
Molly Mancina: The Rights and Responsibilites of Photographers: The History of Photo Manipulation

Junior Group Documentary
Rohan Bhushan & Christopher How: The Salt March
Talia Awerbuck & Annika Uemura Japanese-American Internment: Tragedy of the West Coast

Junior Individual Exhibit
Natalie Lobo: The Fight for Black Voting Rights
Sophia Davies: The Rights and Responsibilities of Smoking and Anti-Smokers

Junior Group Exhibits
Quynh Stanoff, Thai Stanoff, and Primrose Waranimman: Garments in Flames
Grace Padgett & Arya Puar: Japanese Internment Camps

Junior Group Performance
Tara Smith, Gabriella Gallo Rodriguez, and Gabriella Flanders: From Brain Buckets to Racing Helmets: Rights and Responsibilites of Motorcycle

Monterey County girl leaders combat bullying with "smile" campaign

Girl leaders from different high schools throughout Monterey County have been busy this week plastering their schools with tiny bright papers and words of encouragement.

They call it the "Post-a-smile" campaign, the work of Girls' Health in Girls' Hands leadership network, a group of girls who are trying to take charge of their prospects in life.

Students from Alisal High, Everett Alvarez, Pacific Grove, the Boys and Girls Club, Marina High, and other sites are taking part of this event. The girls have been writing anonymous positive messages on sticky-notes and post them at their school campuses. The girls have been taking pictures and tag #ghghmonterey to enter to win a prize for the most creative post.

The idea behind the campaign is to spread positive messages to combat bullying.

The Girls Leadership Network has also created a public service announcement about suicide prevention to raise awareness about the campaign and the serious issue of bullying and suicide in Monterey County. The Suicide Prevention PSA can be seen here. The site has also information about the Post-A-Smile campaign.

Thanks for the smiles, girls! Love and kindness make the world go round!

Country singer Lizzie Sider brings anti-bullying message to Pacific Grove

Lizzie Sider, a 15-year-old budding country artist, made a stop in Pacific Grove last week during her California tour to promote bullying prevention.

Sider is collaborating with PACER, a parent training and information center for families of children and youth with all disabilities. October’s National Bullying Prevention Month, and the singer is performing her song “Butterfly,” which is partially based on how she overcame being teased.

Judging by the photos I received, looks like Sider fired up the students in Pacific Grove. Why didn't you go to Monterey? Scuttlebutt tells me the bullying over can get ugly...

of overweight TV anchors, bullies, and the people who influence them

It's National Bullying Prevention month, and I came across an eloquent video that touches on the subject. It's been making the cyberrounds, so you've probably seen it too.

TV anchor Jennifer Livingston  took a moment of her morning show to address an offensive email she received in which she's called fat and a bad example for youth.

To which she responded: "You don't know me. You are not a friend of mine. You are not a part of my family. And you have admitted that you don't watch this show. So you know nothing about me but what you see on the outside. And I am much more than a number on the scale."

I have to admit, I almost cried when I watched this woman standing up not just for herself, but for millions of people who get bullied every day, including children. To me, she's an example of people who want to achieve their dreams. If you want to be a TV anchor, even if you're not meeting society's idea of what's "right" for television, you can still do it. Bravo, Ms. Livingston.

But the most important message I heard from Jennifer was this:

"If you are at home and talking about the fat news lady, guess what? Your children are probably going to go to school and call someone fat."

Yes, bullying could begin at home, so we should be setting the example for our children. Let's not forget that. 

Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" Foundation is officially launching today

and José Hernández from Salinas is representing Monterey County at the Harvard launch!

Eighteen youth leaders selected from communities across California took part of the celebration. The Born This Way Foundation aims at empowering youth to be leaders and advocates in their communities.

Born This Way will try to explore the best ways to reach youth and create a new culture of kindness, bravery, acceptance and empowerment. BTWF, a non-profit charitable organization, will address issues like self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring and career development through research, education and advocacy.

During the launch, California youth will take part in training to learn how to advance social change through digital and social media advocacy, and will be posting multimedia content live throughout the day of the event. The youth also join in a Harvard-sponsored youth summit titled "Prevent Bullying, Create Caring Communities" involving more than a hundred young people from Boston and other communities. California youth also will tour the Harvard University campus.

If you want to get to know more about the California delegation, click here. Jose is not featured, but maybe his video can be added later??????