By RANDI ROSSMANN THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Shahalam Baig, 18, a recent graduate of Technology High School in Rohnert Park, gets queasy around blood. Still interested in medical issues, he’d like to build instruments to help doctors. “I don’t want to have to look at blood,” said Baig, who [...]
By TREVOR GREENAN THE SANTA ROSAN On August 26, the students of the Santa Rosa High School Cross Country team met at Julliard Park at the crack of dawn to volunteer for the Santa Rosa Marathon. About 45 orange-and-black-clad students and 20 parents directed, provided water for, and cheered on [...]
By KEVIN McCALLUM THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Jasmine Jolly is totally jazzed. The 14-year-old eighth-grader at Santa Rosa Charter School just wrapped up a summer highlighted by an epic bike trip in Oregon with her family. Over two weeks, Jasmine, her mother, Amy, father, Paul, and younger sister, Solana, [...]
By MARY CALLAHAN THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Rashad Butler, seated in the front, was assigned to take the photos when he and his dad took a helicopter tour of New York City a few years back. But not a single frame was shot — because, says his dad, Butler [...]
By KERRY BENEFIELD THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Incoming El Molino High School senior Jesse Fichman is a multitalented guy. An excellent student whose grade point average hovers around the 4.0 mark, Fichman also plays basketball, volleyball and soccer for the Lions. But Fichman’s true passion is music and nature. [...]
By GLENDA ANDERSON THE PRESS DEMOCRAT The summer before Willa Kurland started kindergarten, she decided she wanted to read and write. With quiet determination, she notified her parents, who helped her accomplish her goal. “It was pretty cute. She has always been extremely bright,” said Tashe Kurland, one [...]
By DEREK MOORE THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Swing Set, the jazz combo Connor Rutten founded when he was a student at Santa Rosa’s Maria Carrillo High School, has earned raves in performances at festivals and special events. That includes the group’s first-place performance at the 2012 Reno Jazz Festival [...]
By CATHY BUSSEWITZ THE PRESS DEMOCRAT In the cacophony of a noisy classroom with teenagers wandering in several different directions, Mariah Ruth Archibald calmly strolls in and says hello to the students. The Analy High School senior, who is a teaching assistant for the school’s Severely Handicapped Special [...]
The 2012 Youth Service Awards sponsored by The Press Democrat will be......
By BRIANA LEPPANEN VALLEY OAKS INDEPENDENT STUDY SCHOOL, SENIOR, 17 For me, school has been mostly enjoyable. I was the quiet student who took the hand that she was dealt without complaining. But this all changed when a new teacher in the school treated the entire class disrespectfully. [...]