Colors of the Rainbow

Dancing Classrooms of Monterey ended its second year with an all-county final where Laurel Wood Elementary students became the dancing champions.
But the real champions here are Dancing Classrooms. In their short life, they've raised the profile of arts in the classroom as not only fun, but essential. Those children are transformed by the dance and become the embodiment of self-confidence and poise, qualities that I'm sure carry over to the classrooms.
Here's to the Laurel Wood kids -- who are quite the dancers, indeed -- to Ingrid Tower, for her idea to bring this fantastic program to Monterey county, and to Scott Moore for letting me use his photos for my blog.

Everyone looks forward to Memorial Weekend for the hot dogs and lazy days on the beach, but there's actually two groups who will spend the day doing scholarly stuff. One is the Soledad High School, which is organizing a conference on Sunday to inform parents and high schoolers about the path to college. The event begins at 1:30 at the high school. For more information, click here or call Eliza Gonzales at 521-5035.

The second group is the he MECHA-LULAC club of North Monterey County High School, which will host a safety awareness fair for teens from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Castro Plaza Family Resource Center. Young people will have a chance to learn what their rights are at the workplace, and also advice on safety. For more information, contact Omar Mercado at 233-8696.

Oh, the places they will go!

Michelle Donohue-Mendoza, daughter of Hartnell trustee Pat Donohue and sister of the Mayor of All of Salinas Dennis Donohue, was one of the 10 students graduating from the Ed.D. program in educational leadership at San Francisco State University. Donohue is a native of Salinas and now works as an administrator at West Valley Community College. Mmmm, this community college thing appears to run in the family.

First graduates from stem cell master's program

Another Salinas native also graduating from SF State is Marisa Leal, who will be among the first group to complete the university's stem cell training program. Marisa had no idea where a science degree could take her until she came to SF State. As part of the master's program in stem cell science, Leal quickly learned how to grow stem cells in the lab and has investigated how to turn stem cells into skeletal muscle cells during a year-long internship at University of California, San Francisco.

Speaking of graduates, this weeks marks the beginning of graduation for all high and middle schools in Monterey County -- that's a lot of young people, many of them going into the "real world." It's an exciting time for them and their families, and I wish each and every one of them all the luck in the world. Felicidades!!!!

Ladies can sing! And make movies!!

The Santa Catalina School Choir brought home two trophies after participating in the "Music in the Parks" competition last weekend at Milpitas High School. They nabbed place in the women's choir division and the "finest overall choir," a great achievement considering the small size of their choir.
And they had the chance to spent the day at Great America. What a weekend!!!

And speaking of accomplished females, Rachel Asendorf, a junior in the Teledramatic Arts and Technology Department of CSUMB was selected as the 2010 recipient of the $1,000 prize in the Monterey County Film Commission Film Student Scholarship and Awards Program.
Rachel is putting herself through college, currently working as a news intern in the office of strategic communications at CSUMB, learning how to merge news and technology. She is also a production assistant for the Monterey Teen Film Festival, helping manage media and marketing. Rachel had her own political talk radio show, “Raving Raven,” focusing on issues such as media influence, and next semester she’ll be hosting the radio show, “Cult Pop.”
In other words, the lady rocks!!!