COARSEGOLD — He doesn’t even have his driver’s license yet, but Michael Hotchkiss, 15, is already a go-to guy when it comes to teen driver safety — and he’s been awarded a nice fat check to prove it. The National Foundation for Teen Safe Driving (NFTSD) partnered with Lithia Motors to promote safe driving. The NFTSD promotes the ideal that change ...

AHWAHNEE — The nonprofit group Helping One Woman (HOW) is meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 15 at the Hitchin’ Post restaurant to honor Suzy Kessler. The evening of food, fundraising and friendship begins at 6 p.m. Suzy’s son, Yosemite High School freshman PJ Kuzmitski, suffered a life-changing hit to his right knee at football practice on Wednesday, Sept. 27, resulting in the ...

SACRAMENTO — Yosemite Unified School District board member Monika Moulin has joined a select statewide group formed by the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE). Moulin is one of approximately 40 individuals in the California education arena selected from an applicant pool of 150 to serve as a member of the California Content Library review teams. The CCEE, in partnership ...

Submitted by Evan Higgins — OAKHURST — There is power in imagery and truth in words, but what lies between the lines and what exists outside of the frame is just as important.   If we pause and take on the premise that every picture aims to tell us a pointed story and every story aims to crystalize an exact ...

NORTH FORK — For 19 years, the students at North Fork Elementary School have been digging in the dirt and enjoying the fruits (and vegetables) of their labor as they work and play in what has grown to a nearly one-acre garden. Now, with a $5,900 gift from the Oakhurst Sierra Sunrise Rotary, they will be able to invest even ...

MOUNTAIN AREA — Cody Aleshire is 10 years old and he’s already made a choice in life to be supportive of others and work hard within the community. A couple of years ago, the Wasuma Elementary School student did a class project called American Heroes. That’s when things got really interesting for Cody and he began a successful, ongoing effort ...

MADERA — Yosemite High and Chawanakee Academy decathletes will join students from throughout California for the Madera County Academic Decathlon Lecture Day on Thursday, Oct. 26.  Valley experts will lecture on six subject areas to more than 600 students from throughout the state. “For 11 years we have been able to bring this wonderful event to Madera,” says Dr. Cecilia ...

AHWAHNEE — The Wasuma PTA has organized an exciting and truly different sort of fundraiser, and anyone 18+ is invited to come out and support the students while having a blast — in the dark, no less. It’s the Wasuma PTA Full Moon Glow Ball at River Creek Golf Course in Ahwahnee, set for Friday, Nov. 3, starting at 5:30 ...

SPRINGVILLE — Students from Minarets High School participated recently in the 2017 Sequoia Forestry Challenge, one group of a total of 58 high school students from 9 schools in the Central Valley and Foothills of California. The event was October 11 to 14 at Quaker Meadow Camp, east of Springville. One of the highlights for the students this year was the ...

MOUNTAIN AREA — Educational options are changing across the nation and some of those flexible choices are being offered locally, says Chawanakee Principal Rhonda Corippo. “Chawanakee Academy and Minarets High School have chosen to strengthen and support the option for students to customize their high school experience,” says Corippo. Through concurrent enrollment, students can now choose independent study/home school classes, ...