NGW logo for 3-27-24

2024-25 Tulare County Farm Bureau Student Art Calendar unveiled

Student Art Calendar artwork

This week, 14 students were honored at a meeting of the Tulare County Board of Supervisors for having their artwork chosen for the annual Tulare County Farm Bureau Student Art Calendar. The presentation ceremony coincides with the celebration of National Ag Week each year. This year’s calendar, “Celebrating Tulare County: #1 in Agriculture,” reflects the county’s status as the largest ag producer in the nation.

Members of the Tulare County Farm Bureau’s education committee, Jenn Sousa and Desi Molyneux, were on hand to introduce the winners to the supervisors. Molyneux reported to the board that this year the Farm Bureau received over 1,400 works of art for its annual competition – a competition which began as a bumper sticker contest in 1997 before expanding to a calendar. 

“We’re proud to partner with the Tulare County Farm Bureau in promoting Tulare County agriculture and the nutrition facts related to our numerous commodities,” said Tim Hire, Tulare County Superintendent of Schools. 

Student Art Calendar winners

The annual calendar serves as a colorful reminder of the prominence of Tulare County agriculture in California, the nation, and the world. Alex Rogers and Ukari Matney, from the Nutrition Education Obesity Prevention (NEOP) program, compiled the monthly agriculture and nutrition facts for various Tulare County crops and products. The calendar will be distributed to Tulare County teachers in April. 

2024-25 TULARE COUNTY FARM BUREAU STUDENT ART CALENDAR WINNERS
Front Cover
Sara Satko, grade 9, Doulos Academy (Porterville) 

Back Cover
Jazlene Burrell, grade 10, Tulare Western High School 

April
Eloyza Ceballos, grade 2, Waukena Joint Union School (Tulare)

May
Madison Modesto, grade 12, Tulare Western High School

June
Kari Lopez, grade 5, Ivanhoe Elementary School

July 
Diego Chirinos, grade 12, Redwood High School (Visalia) 

August 
Shanelle Allao, grade 8, Divisadero Middle School (Visalia)

September
Liyah Guardiola, grade 12, Tulare Western High School

October 
Melanie Banuelos, grade 5, St. Aloysius School (Tulare)

November 
Yesica Quiroz Hernandez, grade 11, Lindsay High School

December 
Sarah Dunbar, grade 10, Lindsay High School

January 
Ragan Dieterle, grade 3, Heartland Charter School (Porterville)

February 
John Bower, grade 6, Heartland Charter School (Porterville)

March 

Scarlett Robertson, grade 12, Tulare Western High School

Photos above:

~ The artwork featured on the cover of the 2024-25 Student Art Calendar was created by Sara Satko, a ninth-grade student at Doulos Academy in Porterville. 

~ Students who created the artwork for the covers and each month of the calendar pose outside the Tulare County Board of Supervisors with Tim Hire, Tulare County Superintendent of Schools (left), and Desi Molyneux and Jenn Sousa of the Tulare County Farm Bureau’s education committee (right).

UPHS finishes second in Central Valley regional robotics competition

UPHS robotics team and Stumpy

This past weekend, the University Preparatory High School (UPHS) team finished second in the Central Valley Regional FIRST Robotics competition held at the Fresno Fairgrounds. Forty teams from California and Taiwan competed. In the semifinals, UPHS’s Arborbotics Team 6657 formed an alliance with teams from Aragon High School in San Mateo (alliance captain) and Sanger West High School to capture second place. The alliance lost to another alliance led by Madtown Robotics out of Madera - the past FIRST Robotics world champions. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is an international youth organization that operates a variety of competitions to inspire students in engineering and technology fields.

Next weekend (April 3-6), Arborbotics – and their robot, Stumpy – will compete in the Aerospace Valley Regional in Lancaster with the hope of securing a victory and the chance to return to the FIRST World Championship beginning April 17 in Houston, Texas. 

Schools select their best of show in annual Student Art Exhibition

Student artwork

New this year, schools were invited to select their top pieces in the annual Student Art Exhibition to receive “Best of Show” honors. Over 140 pieces were chosen as Best of Show award winners. Readers are encouraged to visit www.tcoe.org/ArtGallery to see the pieces chosen by teachers and students as the best of the best for each school that participated.

The Student Art Exhibition contains over 500 hand-drawn and digital works, photographs, and sculptures from 37 Tulare County schools. 

Photo above:

Still-Life of a Fruit Bowl, created by third-grader Devyn Dyt of Catholic School of Visalia - George McCann, was chosen as a Best of Show award winner.

Harmony brings home 14 awards from state Academic Decathlon competition

Harmony Magnet Academy at state

This past Saturday, Harmony Magnet Academy represented Tulare County well at the California Academic Decathlon in Los Angeles by winning 14 awards at the state competition. Harmony advanced to the state competition by winning its second-straight Tulare County Academic Decathlon championship in February.

This is the most awards won by a Tulare County team at the state competition in recent history.

“I am so proud of the hard work and dedication Harmony Magnet Academy decathletes have displayed,” said Paula Terrill, TCOE’s student events coordinator. “Their remarkable performance at the state competition this year has fueled their resolve to return next year stronger and more prepared than ever. I have no doubt they will continue to do great things in the future.”

Harmony’s team was coached by Kimberly Marsh. The team was composed of Alyssandra Oracion, Danny Rodriguez, Judith Gomez, John Bailey, Shivaraj Thiagarajan, Lizbeth Ramirez, Alexander Delgado, Elisabeth Ceballos, and Owen Newsom.

All Academic Decathlon teams are comprised of two to three students in each of three grade divisions: Honors (GPA 3.800 and higher), Scholastic (GPA 3.200-3.799), and Varsity (GPA 3.199 and below).

Below is a list of all awards won by Harmony:

2nd place - Honors Category Highest Scoring Individual Student Division IV: Danny Rodriguez
2nd place - Art (Honors) Division IV: Danny Rodriguez
1st place - Art (Varsity) Division IV: Elisabeth Ceballos
3rd place - Art (Varsity) Division IV: Alexander Delgado
3rd place - Economics (Varsity) Division IV: Alexander Delgado
2nd place - Math (Scholastic) Division IV: Shivaraj Thiagarajan
2nd place - Math (Scholastic) Division IV: Lizbeth Ramirez
2nd place - Math (Scholastic) Division IV: John Bailey
3rd place - Math (Varsity) Division IV: Alexander Delgado
2nd place - Music (Honors) Division IV: Danny Rodriguez
3rd place - Music (Scholastic) Division IV: Shivaraj Thiagarajan
1st place - Music (Varsity) Division IV: Alexander Delgado
3rd place - Science (Honors) Division IV: Judith Gomez
3rd place - Super Quiz Division IV: Harmony Magnet Academy

Photo above:

~ The Harmony Magnet Academy Academic Decathlon team poses for a photo at the California Academic Decathlon. Harmony won 14 awards at the event.

Editor: Robert Herman, Communications Director
Contributors: Nayirah Dosu, Marlene Moreno, Jennifer Fisher, Paula Terrill, Juliana Davidian, Josh Curtiss

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