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Academic All-Stars 2007
Tim Anderson, this year's seventh-grade Academic All-Star, uses two words to describe how he earns straight A's, juggles scads of activities and serves his community.
Multitasking and scheduling.
He could have been speaking for the 11 other Valley students picked to be Academic All-Stars in the annual competition sponsored by The Fresno Bee. From first-grader Abigail Santos of Selma to 12th-grader Peter Jacob Mersino of Fresno, these All-Stars are a busy bunch.
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ABC's Roberts gets prime-time spotlight
Robin Roberts is comfortable in the knowledge that when ABC's "Good Morning America" makeover is complete, she will keep her seat at the anchor desk. She just doesn't know who will be sitting next to her.
As she waits, ABC is showing her some love. Roberts is the centerpiece for two prime-time specials this month: a Tuesday night hour featuring country music stars and an interview with Janet Jackson that will air on Nov. 18. The Jackson interview is the type of important "get" for which Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters used to compete.
The specials could be read as both internal and external signs of Roberts' importance to the news division. She's worked at ABC News or cable sister ESPN since 1990 and her contract expires in the spring.
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Sooners' `chameleon' adjusting to new role again
Three years into her college career, Amanda Thompson is used to doing the dirty work for Oklahoma's basketball team.
Playing alongside All-America center Courtney Paris and her twin sister, Ashley, it has been Thompson's job to do all the little things to keep the Sooners on a winning track.
She was second on the team in assists and steals and third in rebounds and blocks last season as Oklahoma went to its second Final Four. With the Paris twins now gone, coach Sherri Coale is calling on the senior to take on a new role again.
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Ohio woman: I got away from serial killing suspect
Suspected serial killer Anthony Sowell seemed like a "civilized person" on the April evening that Tanja Doss went up to his third-floor bedroom for a beer - until, she said, he leapt up and began choking her and threatening to kill her.
The 43-year-old woman told The Associated Press on Thursday that she survived a night of terror through a combination of calm and cajoling, prayer and trickery. But when she escaped the next morning, she didn't tell police. Her past conviction on a drug charge, she said, made it unlikely they'd take her seriously.
"Now, I feel bad about it," she said, "because my best friend might be one of the bodies."
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Evelyn Ramirez, from fields to Ivy League
The Bee is telling the stories of three people who didn't let growing up poor hold them back. They were driven to achieve in a Valley sometimes known as the Appalachia of the West.
Rural poverty blankets the region, and Fresno suffers with one of the highest concentrations of urban poverty in the nation.
The three people a young woman, a young man and a grandfather have never met, but their stories have common threads.
Sitting still doesn't sit well with sixth-grader Saira Delgado -- she's an upbeat, petite dynamo who thrives on challenges.
Here's just a taste of her interests and accomplishments: She has a 4.0 grade-point average at Sanger Academy Charter School and serves as a peer mediator. She focuses her energy into all kinds of academic contests, from science fairs to spelling bees. She plays the piano and clarinet and composes music. She's earned a green belt in karate.
"I like being kind of preoccupied and busy," said Saira (pronounced Sigh-ra). "I just can't stand sitting around and doing nothing, so it feels good to be active. And I feel this is going to help me in life."
Saira, 12, has certainly impressed Sanger Academy teachers. Bob Mullins said Saira is "very self-motivated." Another teacher, Carrie Given, said: "She will just do her best at whatever she's taken on."
Saira, who's thinking about being a computer animation designer, said she's proud of her participation at the Junior National Young Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C., last year and her upcoming involvement at the People to People Student Ambassador Program this summer at Stanford University. She's also proud of her selection as a sixth-grader into the Fresno-Madera Counties Music Educators Association Honor Band.
"I like being experienced in all sorts of areas," Saira said. "Sometimes, I feel 24 hours in a day isn't enough."
-- Felicia Cousart Matlosz
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Academic All-Stars 2007
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