School Scene Articles

On April 5, 11-year-old DJ Claborne turned Tunnell School, where he attends, purple for the day. After giving a presentation to the school’s principal and faculty about Relay For Life, he recruited students to help put up banners, balloons, and ribbons around the school to raise awareness about the life-saving fundraiser. “He’s awesome,” Senior Relay […]

THE FOUR QUESTIONS by Lynne Sharon Schwartz illustrated by Ori Sherman recommended for kindergartners to adults “On a certain night each year when the dark of winter is passing and the world is warming up for the green of spring, Jews in all lands gather to celebrate a joyful holiday: Passover, or Pesach.” So begins […]

Tyneka Smith might just be entering college, but she and her fellow Community Action Commission (CAC) Youth Corps peers are going back to junior high, minus the awkward school dances. The group received a $1,400 grant from the Fund for Santa Barbara’s Youth Making Change to develop The Good Life program at Arellanes Junior High […]

“Mama, is it time to go?” asks 7-year-old Emi, as she wipes away the tears and prepares to leave her home in this haunting story by Yoshiko Uchida. Emi and her family are Japanese-Americans in California in 1942, when the United States and Japan were at war and the U.S. government sent every Japanese person […]

  They didn’t have camouflage fatigues on, but students still battled it out at the Santa Maria-Bonita School District’s main office in March at the fourth annual Battle of the Books.   To prepare for the clash, students had to read at least 15 books and answer questions based on a list of 30 books […]

The Orcutt Academy Robotics Team came away from the FIRST Robotics regional competition in Long Beach March 24 through 26 with two trophies, including the Rookie Inspiration Award and the Highest Rookie Seed Award. “We had people coming up to us saying, ‘There’s no way you’re a rookie team!’ That felt really great,” said Ty […]

Nicholette Rodgers, a senior in the Santa Maria Joint Union Home School Program, has recently been awarded an internship at the Santa Barbara County Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, Teen Court. Rodgers will, in addition to working a part-time job and attending school, come in 20 hours a week to Teen Court. “It’s meant […]

Several dozen Allan Hancock College students, teachers, and staff members stood hand in hand at the Santa Maria campus on March 9 in preparation for a statewide event designed to educate people about funding cuts affecting the community college system. On April 17, Hancock, along with more than 100 other community colleges, will participate in […]

Family members and friends filled every seat and the aisle in the Ethel Pope Auditorium in Santa Maria on March 4 to watch their loved ones turn the tassel at Santa Barbara Business College’s North County graduation. During the graduation, Santa Maria City Council member Alice Patino addressed the grads, asking them to delve into […]