Eight students from the Sacramento area each were awarded $20,000 scholarships from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.
The foundation named 300 students from across the country as Dell Scholars , selecting students from low-income households who had overcome significant obstacles.
To date, 86 students from the Sacramento area have received $1.72 million in scholarships from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.
Those students receive $20,000 to pursue higher education for six years, as well as a laptop, resources and mentoring to help them earn a college degree.
Locals receiving the scholarships were: Vongsri Vang of River City High in West Sacramento, Heather Van of Florin High, Javier Valenzuela of Encina Preparatory High School, Cindy Thao of Grant High School, Rosalva Ponce of River City, Luis Mendoza-Zamora of Encina Preparatory, Ewan Ho of Elk Grove High and Ranny Do of Pleasant Grove High School.
Also named Dell Scholars: Harmanpreet Chauhan of River Valley High in Yuba City, May Chen of Middle College High in Stockton, Chong Lor of Pleasant Valley High in Chico, Priyank Patel of
Seven local middle school and high school students will compete in the World Championship for robotics beginning Thursday at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
The students qualified for the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Lego League after winning the Northern California championship in Newark in January.
The international event will host thousands of people, including middle and high school students. The local team – called Legonauts – consists of students from Sutter Middle School and Folsom and Mira Loma high schools.
by lrosenhall@sacbee.com (Laurel Rosenhall)
California State University, Stanislaus, students Alicia Lewis, left, and Ashli Briggs move papers – intact and shredded, found in a campus trash bin – Tuesday in the Capitol. They say the papers include part of Sarah Palin's contract to speak at the school in June.
The controversy surrounding Sarah Palin's upcoming speech at CSU Stanislaus took a bizarre turn Tuesday when two students said they had found part of her confidential contract in a campus Dumpster.
By day's end, Attorney General Jerry Brown had vowed to expand his investigation of the nonprofit foundation that financially supports California State University, Stanislaus, looking into how the documents wound up in
by dlambert@sacbee.com (Diana Lambert)
The impasse between the Elk Grove Unified School District and its teachers union seems to have thawed – for now.
The Elk Grove Education Association has agreed to take two furlough days this school year, as have district administrators and the union that represents school psychologists and social workers.
In exchange, the area's largest school district will restore 29 counseling positions targeted for elimination next school year.
The district and teachers union, which also represents counselors, librarians and nurses, have been negotiating concessions since September.
The district announced an impasse in March.
But the agreement reached Friday isn't the end of it.
"This is just part one of our negotiations," said Elizabeth Graswich, district spokeswoman.
