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- Written by: Editor
LUCERNE, Calif. – Following the success of its inaugural college scholarship program last fall, California Water Service is now accepting applications for the 2015-16 academic year for students in its service areas.
Scholarships totaling up to $60,000 are available to eligible students in areas served by Cal Water, along with the California Water Service Group subsidiaries Hawaii Water Service Co. and Washington Water Service Co.
Two top scholarships of $10,000 each will be awarded to students who demonstrate financial need, with one scholarship based on academic achievement and the other based on community service.
Other scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 will also be awarded to students, depending on financial need, academic achievement and community involvement.
The scholarship program, which is being funded by the California Water Service Group’s shareholders, not ratepayers, will be administered by Scholarship Management Services, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
To be eligible for a scholarship, students or their parents must live in a Cal Water service area, plan to enroll in full-time undergraduate study at an accredited two- or four-year college or vocational-technical school, and not already possess a degree or diploma from an accredited two- or four-year college or vocational-technical school.
“Our commitment to our customers goes beyond the tap,” said Cal Water District Manager Gay Guidotti. “We are also committed to improving the quality of life in the communities we serve.”
Students interested in learning more about the scholarship program or applying should visit www.calwater.com/community/scholarship .
The deadline to apply for this scholarship period is June 1, 2015.
Cal Water serves about 3,000 people through 1,200 service connections in Lucerne. The company has provided water service in the area since 1999.
Additional information may be obtained online at www.calwater.com .
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- Written by: Editor
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Members of the Clear Lake High School Academic Decathlon team recently traveled to Sacramento to compete against nearly 600 other students in the state level three-day competition.
This intensive competition centered around this year’s theme, “New Alternatives in Energy: Ingenuity and Innovation” and included a speech and interview portion as well.
Coach Jim Rogers accompanied his students as they went head to head with 65 other county teams from throughout California.
Decathletes competed in economics, art, music, language and literature, mathematics, science, super quiz, essay, interview and speech.
Although Clear Lake High will not be advancing to the national competition, they did claim one individual medal at the competition.
Senior Chris Vincent was awarded a bronze medal in the essay portion of the competition.
“Aca Deca has allowed me to expand my breadth of knowledge while meeting other peers with similar interests,” Vincent said. “Being on an academic team builds everlasting relationships and connections. I thank Clear Lake High, Lake County Office of Education and our supporters, teammates and Coach Rogers for the opportunity and experience.”
The experience of being an academic decathlete goes beyond learning about the yearly subject and competing for medals.
Students and coaches work hard to develop a variety of skills that will benefit them later in life including test taking strategies and public speaking.
At the state competition students get the opportunity to meet hundreds of students from throughout the state and attend a mixer/dance after all competition is done.
The journey to representing Lake County in Sacramento came with a tremendous amount of local support.
Donations received from a variety of businesses, organizations and individuals made the trip possible without costing the students to participate.
Besides the monetary support given by the community, The Lodge at Blue Lakes and the Lake County Friends of Mendocino College, staff members at CLHS gave countless hours helping the students prepare for the competition.
This was the last year for longtime CLHS team coach Jim Rogers.
“Decathlon is the class that taught me how much I love to be a student,” Rogers said. “I’ve learned more art history in Aca Deca than I learned in college. And instead of testing, I was the coach; we worked together and learned together.”
English teacher Kristi Tripp will take over as Clear Lake’s Academic Decathlon coach in the fall.
With the local and state competition behind them, decathletes are eager to start preparing for next year.
Schools already are recruiting new team members and gathering study material to get jump start on next year’s competition.
The 2016 topic will be India; the science portion will focus on an introduction to ecology to include case studies and examples relevant to India.
The literature selection will be the novel “Nectar in a Sieve” by Kamala Markandaya.
For more information on the Lake County Academic Decathlon Program please contact the Lake County Office of Education at
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- Written by: Doyle Conatser and Danny Salvante
LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Welcome to the latest installment of the Carlé Chronicle.
Last week's CHILY winner was Danny Salvante and he chose a soccer ball.
On Friday, April 10, the whole school of Carlé will take a field trip to Santa Rosa Junior College.
Economics classes are playing a life skills game called “economic survival.” The game teaches students how to survive and live on their own in the world.
“I think it's good for kids to figure out how to economically survive in this world by learning how to write checks and balance their check books, invest wisely and learn how to avoid scams,” said economics and media teacher, Alan Siegel.
Carlé would like to thank Daniel Salvante and Kenny Kalousek for going around and collecting all the paper for recycling.
Thanks also go to Kristin Melcher and Jasmine Heckard for going around and picking up all the cans and bottles for recycling.
In addition, the school thanks Desteny Cypert for making plaques for thanking the Yuba counselors for running the collage readiness class.
It’s prom season and Carlé is having a prom here at the school.
We had a very kind opportunity to have a prom with Lower Lake High School. Mr. Strahl led a school-wide discussion about our options and then the student body voted to either have a prom here at Carlé or get together with Lower Lake High.
A majority of the student body voted to have the prom here at Carlé.
Carlé would like to thank the student body and the staff at Lower Lake for showing such kindness to us by reaching out to us to get together for a prom.
Thanks to Jessica Taliaferro, the principle at Lower Lake High School, and Melissa Lambert, the vice principle at Lower Lake High, as well as the Lower Lake High student council for their generosity and kindness towards our school.
Carlé greatly appreciates the hospitality that the Lower Lake High student body and staff have shown us.
Doyle Conatser and Danny Salvante attend Carlé Continuation High School in Lower Lake, Calif.
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- Written by: Editor
SACRAMENTO – Sen. Mike McGuire was joined by teachers, manufacturers, the farm bureau, and members of the building trades Wednesday morning when his bi-partisan legislation that would expand career and job skills in public middle and high schools advanced through the Senate Education Committee with a 7-0 vote.
“Career Technical Education is crucial for the success of our students in today’s economy. Almost 70 percent of public high school graduates in California will not go on to receive a four year college degree. Students require career, technical and job skills programs to ensure they have the tools necessary to thrive in today’s job market,” Sen. McGuire said.
Across the state, CTE programs have been cut by districts as California’s education financing structure has changed.
The Career and Job Skills Education Act (SB 148) restores the state’s previous commitment to Career Technical Education (CTE) by investing $600 million into new and expanded high-quality programs.
“CTE investment will soon be at a historic low, while at the same time, the state’s economic vitality is dependent on a skilled and qualified workforce coming out of career and job skill education programs in our schools. Investing in Career and Job Skills programs is one of the best economic development tools we have,” McGuire said. “We know that CTE programs are successful and we have to start investing in our future workforce.”
Investment in CTE not only creates tangible job skills for our future work force, it has proven to decrease high school drop-out rates.
The average high school graduation rate for students concentrating in CTE programs is 90 percent, compared to an average freshman graduation rate of 75 percent.
SB 148 has bipartisan support and closely mirrors, in language and intent, the CTE incentive matching grant program outlined in the Governor’s 2015-16 budget proposal.
It expands upon that $250 million, using funds from the anticipated billions in growth of Proposition 98 funds. In addition, the bill is specifically tailored to districts by preserving the local control funding formula.
“For the first time, this is a bill that will ensure funds go directly to CTE programs by requiring rigorous performance standards and accountability measures based on student outcomes,” McGuire added.
Representatives from the California School Board Association, State Building & Construction Trades Council, California Manufacturers & Technology Association, California Chamber of Commerce and the California Federation of Teachers testified in support of the legislation during the Senate Education hearing this week.
Nicole Rice with the Manufacturers Association said in her testimony: “We support the industry and education community working together so students are getting the skills they need to be able to compete for the jobs that are critical to California’s advancing economy.”
Senator Leyva, who sits on the Senate Education Committee said during the hearing: “I have not met anyone that does not support this issue (CTE). However we can make sure our youth are prepared for the future, is what we should do. … There is no downside to this bill.”
After approval from the Education Committee, SB 148 will now be sent to the Senate Appropriations Committee for approval.
The Senate Republican Leader, Bob Huff, and Assemblymembers Burke and Wood are principle co-authors on SB 148.
Senators Allen, Hall, Mendoza, Fuller, Beall and Vidak and Assemblymembers Dodd, Gonzalez, Lackey and Mullin are co-authors.
SB 148 has a long list of supporters, including California Labor Federation (AFL-CIO); California Chamber of Commerce; California Manufacturers & Technology Association; State Building & Construction Trades Council California School Employees Association; California Federation of Teachers; California School Board Association; California Parent Teacher Association; California Agricultural Teachers Association; California Association for Career and Technical Education; California Association of Regional Occupational Centers and Programs; California Association of Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors; California Automotive Business Coalition; California Business Education Association; California Correctional Peace Officers Association; California Farm Bureau Federation; Professional Beauty Federation of California; North Bay Commercial Services Inc.; CA Hospital Association; Southern California Regional Occupation Center; SIA Tech; California Association of Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors National Association; Edge Coalition (California Budget Project, CA Hosp. Association, CA Workforce Association, National Council of La Raza, Policy Link, Career Ladder Project for the Community Colleges, California Labor Federation, California Manufacturers & Technology Association, State Building & Construction Trades Council).