Education Buzz for Sunday, April 10
Students pitch to local investors
Fourteen students from grades eight through 12, representing 10 businesses from the Young Entrepreneurs Academy at the Clovis Chamber of Commerce, had five minutes to pitch their business plans to prominent local members of the business community, during the program’s annual YEA! Investor Panel Event at Clovis Community College on April 8.
Representatives from companies like Central Valley Community Bank, the Fresno/Clovis Convention & Visitors Bureau and Sierra Specialty will determine the amount of funds to allocate to each business based on the appeal and merit of the students’ plans and presentations.
One business group also will be selected to advance to the Young Entrepreneurs Academy Saunders Scholars National College Scholarship Competition, where they will compete for hundreds of thousands of dollars in college scholarships, a fast-track application pass to apply to be on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” and an all-expenses paid trip to attend America’s Small Business Summit in Washington, D.C.
Festival celebrates BBQ, wildflowers
SCICON, the outdoor school of science and conservation operated by the Tulare County Office of Education, is hosting its 56th annual SCICON Barbecue and Wildflower Festival on April 17 on its campus in the Sierra Nevada foothills near Springville.
The event runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and allows families and others to tour the SCICON campus at 41569 Bear Creek Road. The SCICON planetarium, observatory and museum of natural history will be open during the event, and wildlife shows will be presented in the SCICON raptor center.
Resource agencies like the U.S. Forest Service, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Tulare County Conservation Corps will provide educational displays and activities.
Families visiting the SCICON tree nursery can receive a free seedling and learn about worm composting. All visitors will receive a commemorative wildflower poster by local Springville artist Frances Pyles.
Also, 2,000 pounds of beef will simmer underground for 24 hours and be served with SCICON’s barbecue sauce as part of lunch. Meal ticket donations are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors 60 years and older, and $5 for children 12 and younger. All proceeds from the meal will go toward the “Friends of SCICON.”
#ShareAPair seeks socks for kids
Fresno State public relation students are leading the #ShareAPair Campaign, with the slogan “It’s what’s underneath that counts,” to raise funds and collect new pairs of socks and underwear for children ages 3-12 who are served by the Marjaree Mason Center and Catholic Charities.
The campaign, which began at a Fresno State baseball game on March 29 and runs through April 21, is aiming to collect 1,000 pairs of underwear. Drop-off locations are on the university campus at the Henry Madden Library and McKee Fisk Room 236 and at Catholic Charities in downtown Fresno at 149 N. Fulton St.
Students who are running #ShareAPair are enrolled in the Public Relations Cases and Campaigns course taught by faculty adviser Betsy Hays in the Mass Communications and Journalism Department.
Donors can also bring new kids’ socks and underwear to Fresno State’s Vintage Days festival, from April 15-17, where the students will staff a booth at the south end of Maple Mall near the Y101-FM booth.
Visit http://shareapair2016.wix.com/donate to see the full list of drop-off locations.
City College faculty member wins award
A Fresno City College faculty member has won a statewide faculty award for working with students addressing issues of diversity.
Jennifer Dorian, the Peer Assisted Study Sessions coordinator at the college, was named the 2016 Stanback-Stroud Diversity Award winner on April 8 by the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges, spokeswoman Kathy Bonilla said.
Dorian will receive a cash award of $5,000 and a plaque on April 22 during the ASCCC 2016 Spring Plenary session award ceremony in Sacramento, Bonilla said.
The PASS program is designed to increase student success, retention and student GPAs through embedded tutoring and supplemental instruction adaptation practices in English, linguistics and more, Bonilla said.
Fresno Pacific represented at Mennonite assembly
Faculty, students and alumni from Fresno Pacific University were a part of the 2016 Mennonite Health Services’ annual assembly titled “Finding Abundance in Scarcity,” from March 31 to April 1 in Sacramento.
Randy White, associate professor of community transformation and the executive director of the Center for Community Transformation at Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary, gave the keynote address at the opening general session titled “Finding Abundance in Scarcity Through Faith Tradition and an Assets-based Approach.”
Dina Gonzalez-Piña, Jose Eduardo Chaves, Patricia Vasquez and Jennifer Lehman presented the second general session titled “Finding Abundance in Scarcity Through New Generations and Cultures.”
Gonzalez-Piña is an assistant dean of multicultural affairs, Chavez is a current student and Vasquez graduated in 2015 and is now an admissions counselor. Lehman is director of development at Swiss Village in Berne, Ind.
Valerie Rempel, dean of seminary, associate professor, J.B. Toews Chair of History and Theology and Mennonite Health Services board member, served as assembly master of ceremonies.
Angela Hernandez, a student in the seminary’s Master of Arts in Marriage & Family Therapy program, presented the “Holistic Healing: Conceptualizing Mental Health Using Systems Theory” workshop. She was also a student representative to the planning committee.
This story was originally published April 9, 2016 at 6:50 PM with the headline "Education Buzz for Sunday, April 10."