Thumbs up, thumbs down

Thumbs up to Madalyn Vieira of Tulare for her aggressive campaign to get scholarships to study dairy science at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. She milked the scholarship system relentlessly like the dairy queen she hopes to be and it paid off – 25 times. Vieira won enough in scholarship aid to fully fund her first 2  1/2 years – $60,550.

She stayed up until 2 a.m. every night from October to March filling out scholarship applications after going to school, working at Rosa Brothers Creamery and doing homework. But wait, there’s more. She has been promised a job at the creamery on Cal Poly’s campus.

And the family hopes she will receive additional scholarship help from the university’s Agriculture Department endowment once she registers for classes. The 2016 valedictorian of Tulare Western High School hopes to work in the dairy industry as a scientist and possibly a lobbyist on the side.

Thumbs up to Fresno real estate investor Terance Frazier and his son, Matthew, who got some good news recently. “Who would have thought that 24 years later my son, Matthew, would be drafted to the Oakland A’s (the team I played for) in the 38th round right out of high school,” says Papa Frazier. “Not a lot of kids get this type of opportunity. What a milestone!

“I am so proud of Matthew for his hard work and commitment to making his dream of playing for the big league a closer reality. Excited for his journey and looking forward to watch him continue to grow as a baseball player. I know he will get very far. As I listened to the draft announcer say my son’s name, I couldn’t be more grateful. It was truly a proud dad and coach moment. Thank you, God, for your love and all the blessings you’ve given me and my kids!” Matthew is a Clovis North High School center fielder.

Congratulations as well go to the nine other Valley baseball talents who were selected during the recent Major League Baseball amateur draft.

Thumbs down to apartment owners Sunny and Cecilia Chan for continuing to neglect their tenants, despite code violations going back to 1996. Their practices of taking rent money for insect and vermin-infested residences with broken appliances is disgusting. Despite The Bee’s “Living in Misery” report showing their despicable properties and its effect on the tenants, little has been done to correct the issues.

Thanks to the work of the Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries, many of the Hmong residents now have the courage to speak the truth about their living conditions without fear of revenge by their greedy landlords. That is a huge help in documenting the violations.

The Chans are not alone. Negligent landowners cause substandard living conditions that continue to plague Fresno’s rental properties, causing health problems and contributing to the deterioration of its historic neighborhoods.

Thumbs up to six Valley medical students for spending part of their summer reaching out and giving back to the community. Four of the students are enrolled in the San Joaquin Valley Program in Medical Education. It is a collaboration among the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine, UC Merced, UC San Francisco and UCSF Fresno Medical Education Program to train future physicians to work with underserved communities, particularly those in the Valley.

We encourage medical students to become personally involved in the Valley, because to know us is to love us. We hope they will stay and practice medicine here, with our vast underserved population so in need of their skills.

The students and their Valley high school alma maters are Karenee Demery of Merced, Harvest Christian School; Kenneth Job of Fresno, Buchanan High School; Mandeep (Mandy) Sidhu of Bakersfield, Centennial High School; Monique Atwal of Selma, Sunnyside High School and the UCSF Fresno Doctors Academy; Neetu Malhi of Fresno, Central High School East; and Stephanie Melchor from Visalia, El Diamante High School.

Thumbs up to James Savage, 9, of Los Banos for setting a record as the youngest swimmer to make the journey from San Francisco to Alcatraz Island and back. James told Fresno NBC affiliate KSEE24 that the waves in the bay hitting him in the face 30 minutes into his swim made him want to give up, but his father’s promise of $200 kept him going.

Thumbs up to Matthew Rosenfeld of Nexstar, general manager of KSEE24 and CBS47, for receiving the annual CHAMPION (Companies Helping to Achieve Meaningful Progress in our Neighborhood) award from Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin. Rosenfeld was selected for the community focus of his television stations and being a driving force in Fresno’s nonprofits, serving on numerous boards.

Artie Padilla, executive director of Every Neighborhood Partnership, received the annual Key to the City award from Swearengin for his commitment to serving the residents of Fresno and improving the lives of children through education. The Partnership brings together the resources of neighborhood schools and a partnering church.

Its goal is to recruit folks to help improve the school and the surrounding neighborhood. Their many activities include sports programs, homework helpers, after-school support, classroom volunteers, cooking and home repair classes, block parties, bike repair and reading programs.

This story was originally published June 17, 2016 at 2:19 PM with the headline "Thumbs up, thumbs down."