Chess crazy

Forget about the folklorico dancers, the singers or the speeches. All 13-year-old José Jacobo wanted to do was play chess. So on the corner of the Breadbox, while the Alisal Center for the Fine Arts celebrated the inauguration of their performance space, José was playing timed chess
against two -- TWO -- opponents.
"I'm using the knight strategy" he told me excitedly. "I'm going to work with the queen and then the bishop."
José is protegee of Alberto Murillo, the real estate agent turned teacher and chess evangelist. Alberto is convinced that chess will transform Salinas from an agricultural center into an "ideas" center.
First, he will have to convince local school districts to bring his programs back. Anybody heard about budget cuts?

And speaking of extra-curricular activities that work like magic for student achievement, Evan Liddle from Salinas High School was selected to attend the 2010 Congressional Academy which was held from June 27 to July 9.
The Congressional Academy for American History and Civics is a program for high school juniors to learn about pivotal turning points in American history memorialized by the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, and the "I Have a Dream" speech.
Only 112 high school juniors -- out of 775 applicants -- from across the country were selected to participate in the Congressional Academy. The professors conducting the Congressional Academy are among the finest scholars of American history and government.

Evan spent two weeks in Washington, DC, with day trips to Philadelphia and Gettysburg, studying the American Revolution and Founding, the Civil War, and the Civil Rights movement. Students are thereby exposed participants to the ideas and arguments that shaped these three great American epochs, the documents that make up our history, and the places where the history was made. During their stay, participants were surrounded by the streets and halls, the battlefields, public places, and private lodgings where the history we studied took place.
It'll be great if we can get more Monterey County students participating in this academy. For more information, click here.