Camillia Lanham, Author at Santa Maria Sun

Santa Maria High student takes top honors at Santa Barbara County Fair

Josh Mendez of the Santa Maria High School Future Farmers of America wins Round Robin Showmanship award

by Camillia Lanham July 24, 2013October 28, 2022

Josh Mendez of the Santa Maria High School Future Farmers of America club won the Round Robin Showmanship award, and showed the Supreme Champion Meat Goat and the Reserve Champion Market Sheep at the recent Santa Barbara County Fair. The round robin is an event that requires exhibitors to show pigs, cows, sheep, and goats. […]

Music, Arts & Culture

The Guadalupe Buddhist Church celebrates life and death with the Obon Festival

by Camillia Lanham July 24, 2013August 17, 2023

As dancers move in unison, the silent rush of cotton kimonos and the shuffling of tall wooden geta sandals tell the story of ancestors and the hardships they suffered to make it through life. Bon Odori is a traditional style of dancing used to help celebrate the Obon Festival in Japan and all over the […]

News

A Mixtecan immigrant advocates for a future full of possibility

by Camillia Lanham July 16, 2013August 17, 2023

Editor’s note: This article is one of a series that follows up on the Sun’s May 30 cover story, “Reaching across the divide.” Esperanza Salazar speaks softly as she recounts what it was like to go to school in Mexico. She was a Mixtecan caught up in a Spanish-speaking world. All of her textbooks were […]

News

Pioneer Valley summer science institute moves to Allan Hancock College

by Camillia Lanham July 16, 2013August 17, 2023

Solar panels resting in the sun on top of a foldout table will greet visitors who check out this year’s high school class of Summer Science Institute students. Rather than hitting up Riccardo Magni’s science classroom at Pioneer Valley High School, experiment gawkers will need to wander the Allan Hancock College campus. There they will […]

News

Fallen firefighter mourned in Santa Ynez

by Camillia Lanham July 16, 2013November 21, 2023

California and Arizona flags were at half-staff with an American flag flying just a touch higher as a bagpipe procession led the solemn march onto the Santa Ynez Valley High School football field and track. Silence fell as first responders, from hotshots crew members to uniformed officers, filled row after row of white chairs behind […]

Music, Arts & Culture

Zumba for the mind

The latest fitness craze is about more than just the physical benefits

by Camillia Lanham July 16, 2013July 9, 2024

The small-framed Rosalie Fortner is dwarfed by the number of bodies dancing behind her. There are at least 50 students in her morning Zumba class on July 12; a mix of men, women, children, and senior citizens spread from wall to wall in five semi-straight rows that face the mirror inside the Santa Maria Valley […]

News

Foodbank receives big grants from Walmart

by Camillia Lanham July 16, 2013February 5, 2024

Grogan Park was a busy place on July 11. Children were playing on the jungle gym, eating, and cycle-blending smoothies, and near the park’s community center, the Walmart Foundation awarded two grants totaling $120,000 to the Food Bank of Santa Barbara County. Of that money, $45,000 will specifically go to the Food Bank’s Picnic in […]

News

A place to find books

by Camillia Lanham July 16, 2013June 30, 2023

Altrusa International, Inc. of the Central Coast will be giving away free children’s and adult books during its annual Festival of Books this summer. The event is held from noon to 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoons upstairs in the Town Center Mall in Santa Maria. This year’s festival will have three more events, July 28 […]

News

Celebrating the power of reading

by Camillia Lanham July 16, 2013June 30, 2023

Guadalupe Summer Academy students were awarded for their accomplishments in the United Way Power Reading program on July 11 with certificates, gift cards, school supplies for next year, and root beer floats. One hundred students from fourth through eighth grades enrolled in the United Way program at Mary Buren Elementary School this summer as a […]

News

Moving target

Oil companies watch closely as the discussion over where to set the greenhouse gas emissions bull’s eye in Santa Barbara County holds up Santa Maria Energy’s expansion plan

by Camillia Lanham July 10, 2013October 14, 2023

There’s diatomaceous earth, and then there’s diatomaceous earth with crude oil in it. The two look different. Most people are used to seeing the oil-free type that can be dug up and used in filtration systems. It’s a smooth-looking rock with white and beige coloring. But the good, oily stuff looks rough, with swirls of […]

News

Youth workforce orientations will be held weekly

by Camillia Lanham July 10, 2013October 28, 2022

Just for the summer, Santa Barbara County Youth Workforce is holding weekly orientations to introduce its program to young people from 17 to 21 years old. Coupled with that orientation is an introduction to the Youth Employment Opportunity Program, which helps young adults from 15 to 25 years old. Both programs are designed to help […]

News

Migrant summer school wraps up

by Camillia Lanham July 10, 2013August 17, 2023

The first run at a migrant summer school program finished on July 10 for the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District. More than 150 students from Santa Maria, Ernest Righetti, Pioneer Valley, and Delta high schools participated in the district’s first migrant summer school. The program is geared toward students whose families have had […]