Congratulations Jose Hernández of Alisal and Buena Vista Middle School

East Salinas youth leader Jose Hernandez was selected to attend the launch of Lady Gaga's Born this Way Foundation in Harvard University of Feb. 29. Jose will be representing East Salinas Building Healthy Communities, and will be among 13 other young adults representing other communities in California with similar program.

A native of San Luis Potosí, Mexico, Jose has been an Alisal resident for seven years. He's attending Cal State Monterey Bay majoring in Collaborative Health & Human Services, with a minor in Spanish. He works and is a mentor to East Salinas youth in after school programming at the Alisal Family Resource Center. Sounds like he has a very interesting story that I'll get around to telling one of these days.

Lady Gaga and her mother Cynthia Germanotta formed the Born this Way Foundation "to build a brave new world where humanity and kindness are embraced, where youth are empowered, and where intolerance is eliminated."

And now, back to Buena Vista Elementary

The "BV Scientists" - Buena Vista Middle School have been named winners of the second round of the fifth annual Lexus Eco Challenge. Their project, which aims to improve air quality and reduce air pollution through reduced use of fossil fuels, won them $10,000.

As part of the award, the BV Scientists have secured an invitation to participate in the final phase of the contest, with a chance to win one of two $30,000 grand prizes and eight $15,000 first-place awards.

For each of the challenges, teams are required to define an environmental issue that is important to them, develop an action plan to address the issue, implement the plan, and report on the results.

Way to go, Bobcats!

MPC's Doug Garrison did NOT get a recent raise

An alert student of Monterey Peninsula College called to share some rumors that President Doug Garrison had just received a pay raise. Funny, I thought, since I didn't see a review on the agenda (that's when usually superintendents get raises). And I sort of remembered he'd gotten a pay cut, along with the rest of the staff, when budget cuts hit.

So I called Barbara Lee, associate dean of human resources, and she confirmed Garrison has NOT received a pay increase.

Garrison's annual salary is $240,557.56 -- the same since July 1, when he took a 2 percent pay cut. Garrison also declined to take the 5 percent raise specified in his contract during his August annual review, so he's making 7 percent less he could have been making if the economy was rosier.

CSUMB students gear up for statewide march against budget cuts

There was fun to be had today at CSUMB when the clubs spread out their tables and information on the great lawn, and talked about all that's fun happening on campus.

There was the Asian Pacific Islander Association -- cheerfully represented by Ryan Johnson, business major, and Jeffrey Park, kinesiology major. Then there was Johna Sneider, modeling the outdoor gear you'd probably need if you joined the outdoor adventure club.

But there was some serious business too. A box with petitions to Gov. Jerry Brown is making the CSU rounds, and students had a chance to write their personal stories. Dubbed "The Buck Starts Here," students write their stories on facsimile copies of $750 million dollar bills with the photo of Brown on them. They will be delivered to the guv when a statewide march reaches Sacramento on March 5. A rehearsal march is being planned on campus for March 1.