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HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, Calif. – The Hidden Valley Lake Garden Club is happy to announce that Middletown High School senior, Daniel Eagle, is the recipient of the 2013 HVL Garden Club scholarship.
As part of the 2013 community projects for the Hidden Valley Lake Garden Club the members chose to offer a scholarship in the amount of $750 to a graduating high school senior interested in majoring in subjects such as horticulture, landscape, botany, environmental science, floristry, forestry, natural resource management, viticulture, plant science, sustainable agriculture or agriculture production.
Half of the possible points on the applicant’s evaluation relate to participation and leadership in programs and activities and awards, with a heavy emphasis on community service that relates to the major field of study or science or the environment.
Eagle’s leadership roles included group foreman in ag construction and landscape design and team captain of the Middletown High School golf team.
His awards included the following: three years of Honor Roll and Freshman Coaches’ Award for golf. During his golfing tenure at Middletown High School Eagle was a medalist. He completed the following advanced classes: AP Environmental Science, Pre-Calculus and was involved in Future Farmers of America and agriculture classes for four years.
The project for the ag construction and landscape design class was to design and build landscape boxes and to plant them as part of the outdoor beautification of the campus.
As a foreman, Eagle not only considered design elements and plant choice, but also managed a team of high school agriculture students.
“Daniel’s willingness to tackle problems as well as manage the variety of students in class has made him a strong asset to our program. He takes initiative, and is not afraid to dive into any challenge presented,” said his FFA Advisor and Agriculture Department Chair Patricia Pachie.
Eagle plans to attend New Mexico Community College and to participate on their golf team. He would ultimately like to major in horticulture or landscape design, focusing on the design and construction of professional level golf courses. He enjoys and understands golf and likes working out doors.
“Daniel is a competent, serious, hard-working, reliable and pleasant student. I doubt that you will be able to find many students who could give you a better return on your investment,” said Richard Schaut, English instructor at Middletown High school.
For further information regarding the Hidden Valley Lake Garden Club Scholarship Program contact member Marsha Willard at 707-987-2034 or
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – A former Lakeport resident has graduated from the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina, in May.
Janae Tanti, who received her undergraduate degree, was among a record 1,850 graduates who participated in two ceremonies on May 11 under the majestic oak trees in the historic Cistern Yard.
South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Glenn McConnell was the commencement speaker. He told the graduating class that the most important value they can carry with them in life is integrity.
The College of Charleston is a nationally recognized public liberal arts and sciences university located in the heart of historic Charleston.
Founded in 1770, the college is among the nation’s top universities for quality education, student life and affordability.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Rocket Club got a big boost from Calpine employee Josh Wade when he asked his company to make a donation to the fledgling club.
Wade presented the Children’s Museum of Art and Science, the original backers of the club, with a check for $500. This money will be used for rocket kits and other supplies for next year.
Bill Bordisso, retired teacher and the club’s organizer, said the club had a great year.
The Rocket Club met weekly during the school year from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Thursdays at the Taylor Observatory in Kelseyville.
Bordisso said the 10 students involved were in grades fourth through eighth and came from various county school districts and charter schools and also included some home schooled students.
Three or four parents usually stayed for the sessions and Bordisso said, “It was hard to tell who was the most excited – the kids or the parents.”
Club meetings included information on Newton’s Laws, the history of the space program, the make up of the universe, and the use of scientific procedure. Hands-on activities were scheduled weekly to give students an opportunity, as Bordisso says, “to get dirty.”
Over the course of the year, club members made two rockets. For the first, all students had the same kit and they assembled them together.
For the second rocket, students got to each pick a different kit, some with enticing, descriptive names like Big Bertha, the Screaming Eagle, the Black Star Voyager and the Mean Machine (a rocket 6 feet tall). Twice the club held launches, once at Taylor and, at the end of the year, at Lower Lake Elementary.
Next year, says Bordisso, all launches will be at Taylor because the field is so much larger and it’s easier to recover the rockets after they’re launched.
“It’s heartbreaking,” says Bordisso, “When kids lose the rockets after they have spent so much time building them.”
Rocket Club member Jacob Stahr, a sixth grader at Terrace School, would like to pursue a career working for NASA. He loves math and is very good at it. His only complaint about the Rocket Club is that he wishes there was no summer break. He’d like to keep on building rockets all summer long.
He enjoyed building and launching the rockets as well as the other hands on activities like putting Alka Seltzer in a film canister to demonstrate Newton’s Law of equal and opposite reactions.
Overall, Jacob says, the club was “all around really, really fun” and he has been talking to two of his friends who may join him in the fall.
Mercedes McComb, a student at Kelseyville Elementary School, is also anxious for the club to start up again in the fall.
She said it was a “fun thing to do after school” and though she “felt weird being the only girl in the group” she wanted other girls to know “it’s really fun and they should get involved and show boys that rockets are not just a boy thing.”
Mark McCombs, Mercedes’ dad, attended all sessions with his daughter and would like to encourage other parents to get involved. He said a knowledge of rocketry is not necessary. It’s the shared experience that’s important.
He and Mercedes were very proud when both of their rockets were recovered intact after the launches. He feels participation in the club has broadened his daughter’s horizons and opened new avenues of interest for her.
Steven Sprague, who attends Mountain Vista Middle School, is also planning to participate again next year. He built the Star Voyager and the Chrome Dome rockets and wants other kids to know that being in the Rocket Club is “a lot of fun and building rockets is a great thing to do when you are bored.”
Bordisso is already planning for next year’s club activities. He would like to continue to build increasingly more complex rockets and take the club members on a field trip to a NASA facility in the bay area. He is willing to increase the club membership to 20.
Parents and students in grades fourth through eighth who are interested can call him at home at 707-279-0923. Adult volunteers are always welcomed and encouraged.
CMAS will continue to help support this club which is free for any Lake County student. CMAS greatly appreciates the interest of community members like Josh Wade and businesses like Calpine whose donations help to defer the costs of the rocket kits and other needed supplies. Donations to support and expand the Rocket Club program are always welcomed.
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UKIAH, Calif. – The 2013 graduation ceremony for the Mendocino College Nursing Program was held on Thursday, May 23, in the Center for Visual and Performing Arts at Mendocino College.
The ceremony began with an invocation by Dr. Barbara French, director of nursing at the college.
Nursing Instructor Fran Laughton’s introduction of the graduates was followed by speeches from student speaker Zyola Blu and class president Kristy Hosford.
This year’s graduates include Debra Gentry, Amanda O’Ferrall, Corinne Chaulk, Christina Pangle, Michael Teller, Gregory Hamilton, David Fissell, Jason Cox, Michael David Crowe, Geri Warner, Karen Kennedy, Samantha Rogers, Charlotte Kelley, Zyola Blu, Joanne Epperson, Gina Freeman, Alisa Grill and Kristy Hosford.
The Mendocino College Nursing program boasts some of the highest pass rates for a community college nursing program in the state of California.
According to French, the Mendocino College pass rate is 96.4 percent, while the statewide average is 85 percent.
Following the tradition established with last year’s graduating class, this year’s graduates each also received a check for $400 to fund their state board examination fees.
This generous gift was provided by the Mendocino Community Health Clinics, Ukiah Valley Medical Center, Albert Beltrami, Theresa Rohr, Daisy Ellsworth, Terri Ebrey, Leslie Saxon West, Barbara French and Jason Eddington.
According to Professor French, “For every month a nursing candidate waits to take their state board examination, their ability to pass goes down 24 percent. It is absolutely critical that our graduates take the examination immediately following graduation. This gift ensures that each graduate will take their state boards immediately.”
For more information about the Mendocino College Foundation, they can be reached at 707-467-1018 or at http://foundation.mendocino.edu/site/ .