OAKHURST –  Yosemite High School (YHS) senior, Lauren Bernardi, has been admitted into Smittcamp Family Honors College at Fresno State. According to Lars Thorson, one of Laurens advisors at YHS, the Smittcamp Honors College selects 50 students from hundreds of applicants each year. Now in its 20th year of operation, the Smittcamp Family Honors College provides academically talented and motivated ...

MADERA – Yosemite High School won the 2021 Honorable Edward P. Moffat Madera County Mock Trial held between January 26-February 11.  Yosemite High School battled Madera High and Madera South High Schools. Yosemite High School has competed in all 37 mock trial competitions held in Madera County and have been victorious 30 times. Way to go Badgers! This year’s event ...

MARIPOSA — The Mariposa County Arts Council has awarded Sydney Jacobs, a senior at Mariposa County High School, the title of Mariposa County Champion of Poetry Out Loud, a national recitation contest that encourages youth voice and agency through the memorization and performance of great historical and contemporary poetry. This contest took place virtually and required participants to select and ...

MADERA COUNTY MOUNTAIN COMMUNITIES – The 39th Madera County Academic Decathlon and the first virtual competition had 7 schools competing on February 6, 2021 in the 10 event competition answering questions based on the topic “The Cold War.” Madera High South High School was the overall winner with our own Glacier High School Charter coming in second only 51.7 points behind ...

Submitted by Jolene Anderson, student journalist for Minarets Press O’NEALS – In January of 2020, three student musicians met together for the first time, forming the band Sunroom. Starting in an actual sunroom, Jayci Coons, Evan Bethel, and Austin Bethel started rehearsing covers of songs such as “Blitzkrieg Bop” by The Ramones and “White Wedding” by Billy Idol. From there, ...

Submitted by Caden Shows and Trever Jobinger, student journalists with Minarets Press O’NEALS – Both old and young alike have or had aspirations of being a rockstar. Although this is not realistic for most, Minarets varsity baseball assistant coach Bob Siebenberg actually was one. Not known to many, Siebenberg was a drummer for the very popular 70s rock band, Supertramp. ...

Submitted by Marshall Newton, student journalist with Minarets Press O’NEALS – Chawanakee Unified School District has a new Interim-Superintendent: Dr. Stephen Foster. While he may seem new to some, he is actually the former Chawanakee Superintendent and, as explained by principal Daniel Ching, “He was instrumental in the building and design of Minarets.” Dr. Foster will be acting superintendent until ...

Submitted by Jane Irion Yosemite High School Student Journalist OAKHURST – Amidst a global pandemic there is an underlying consequence not getting much media attention. Elderly isolation is a serious and even lethal issue that has affected communities globally and locally. I interviewed two women from the Oakhurst community about how the global pandemic has affected them and how they ...

‘Check it out’! MCAC regrants ‘mcac cares’ to Yosemite Sierra Artists. This grant was part of a re-granting program through California Arts Council and Madera County Arts Council designed to get dollars to the local level of Madera County.                       Sign ups happening now! ‘Art School at the MCAC’ This ...

O’NEALS – Teachers in California were asked to submit their innovative teaching ideas the week of January 11 for an opportunity to win State Farm ® Teacher Assist grants. Two hundred submissions were accepted and reviewed. Forty California teachers were selected based on the programs they described and will each receive a $2,500 grant to implement or support their classroom ...