Education Buzz for Sunday, Feb. 26
Fresno State to host annual Peach Blossom Festival
The 59th annual Peach Blossom Festival of Oral Interpretation will be held March 9-10 at Fresno State.
About 6,000 elementary school students from 200 San Joaquin Valley schools will take part in the celebration, said festival director Marcie Lierly.
The festival was started to educate youths on literature through oral interpretation and performance. The event also gives students an opportunity to see the college campus.
For more information, call 559-278-4419 or visit www.peachblossomfestival.com.
Granite Ridge students head to Science Bowl finals
Ten Granite Ridge Intermediate School students have secured their spots to compete in the 2017 National Science Bowl Finals in Washington, D.C. this spring.
The two Granite Ridge teams were among 48 California middle schools that battled at the regional competition at Fresno State in mid February.
The students’ math and science skills will be put to the test again at the 27th annual National Science Bowl Finals on April 27 to May 1. The top 16 teams at finals will win $1,000 for their schools’ science departments. It is unknown what the prizes for the top two teams will be; the 2016 teams won all-expense paid educational field trips.
The following two teams are Granite Ridge regional winners:
Team A: Iris Wang, 8th grade, Jai Mehrotra-Varma, 8th grade, Deepro Pasha, 8th grade, Sahib Manjal, 8th grade, and Manogna Jha, 7th grade.
Team B: Emma Muscato, 7th grade, Molly Muscato, 7th grade, Aya Almasri, 8th grade, Caleb Liu, 8th grade, and Joshua Liu, 8th grade.
State Center district inducts 3 into Wall of Honor
The State Center Community College District honored three people at the 20th annual Wall of Honor inductees ceremony Friday.
The wall is meant to recognize the contributions of outstanding African Americans who have either worked or gone to school within the district. Tamara Epperson, Marshall Kelley and Dr. Joe H. Lee were honored at the original location of the wall, inside Fresno City College’s Old Administration Building. The wall was later moved to the African American Historical & Cultural Museum.
Epperson is an accounting and business administration instructor at Madera Community College. She helped pass Measure C, a $485 million bond meant to improve infrastructure and job training at SCCCD.
Kelley, an FCC alumnus, was among the first African Americans to become a certified public accountant from the Fresno region. He now mentors and provides FCC accounting students with job opportunities.
Dr. Joe Lee, West Fresno School District superintendent, contributed to one of the first preschool programs in Fresno.
Reading and Beyond receives grant
Bank of the Sierra has awarded Reading and Beyond’s literacy program a $2,000 grant as part of the bank’s quarterly grant program.
The program provides tutoring for students in kindergarten through eighth grade who are reading below their grade level. After students reach their reading level, the program continues to support the students for an additional year to ensure their skills are maintained.
Reading and Beyond also provides programs for new parents, preschoolers, college prep, GED and work development.
For more information, visit ReadingAndBeyond.org.
Students to raise trout in school
The Trout in the Classroom program began for classrooms in Clovis, Oakhurst, Pine Ridge and Big Creek on Feb. 3. Members of the Shaver Lake Trophy Trout Project brought students rainbow trout fish eggs from the San Joaquin Fish Hatchery to hatch and raise in their classrooms and later release into Shaver Lake.
For eight weeks, kids will raise the fish by monitoring tank quality and learn about stream habitat, water resources and ecosystems. Classroom lessons are based on the project, and the lessons will have applications in science, social studies, math, language and fine arts.
The Shaver Lake Trophy Trout Project is looking for other schools interested in having the program for the 2018 school year. More information can be found at shaverlaketrophytrout.com or by calling 559-841-3350.
Fresno State student a finalist in ag discussion
A Fresno State agricultural business student was one of four finalists in the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Young Farmers & Ranchers Collegiate Discussion Meet on Feb. 11-12 in Pittsburgh.
Hunter Berry, a senior, earned a $1,250 scholarship for his responses and ability to analyze agriculture industry issues.
Berry won the California Farm Bureau state discussion in March 2016 in San Luis Obispo.
He served as an FFA state sentinel officer from 2013 to 2014 and works as an intern at Central Valley Community Bank. He is training to be an analyst. Berry will graduate in the spring and go on to the Craig School of Business graduate program.
Armenian Studies banquet set
The Armenian Studies Program at Fresno State will hold its annual banquet at the Fort Washington Country Club on March 19.
In addition to celebrating the program’s 40th anniversary, the event will honor Armenian scholarship and grant recipients. Students graduating with a minor in Armenian Studies will also be recognized.
The event will feature San Jose State President Dr. Mary Papazian, who has served more than 25 years in education. Papazian holds a bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in English from UCLA.
The event will start at 5 p.m. Tickets are $50, $25 for Fresno State students and faculty. Attendees can reserve a table for up to 10 people.
For more information, contact the Armenian Studies Program at 559-278-2669 or visit fresnostate.edu/armenianstudies.
$100,000 grant to fund photo archive
In collaboration with the Howard K. Watkins Photo Archive Fund, the Central Valley Community Foundation will give a $100,000 grant to Fresno State’s Henry Madden Library. The money will go toward establishing the Howard K. Watkins Photographic Archive Project.
The project will provide more than 160,000 historic and current photographs for students through the library’s special collections website.
This story was originally published February 26, 2017 at 3:01 PM with the headline "Education Buzz for Sunday, Feb. 26."