By JULIE JOHNSON THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Alexis Wiffler and her father were best friends. When the Rohnert Park dad, Randy Wiffler, took up winemaking, 5-year-old Alexis Wiffler helped him crush grapes in their backyard. He put her face on the label. When he took up landscape painting, Wiffler [...]
By DEREK MOORE THE PRESS DEMOCRAT David Hua is a tiger at heart. If there is a need at Analy High School, the 16-year-old junior works to fill it. And always, with a smile on his face. “He always says, ‘Good morning,’ and ‘Hello,’ and calls you [...]
By JEREMY HAY THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Work, work, work, work, work. Joshua Vance does it, thinks about it, likes it. “Working is great,” he said recently after spending six hours cleaning creeks on a hot day for the Sonoma County Water Agency. In late September, after being [...]
By GLENDA ANDERSON THE PRESS DEMOCRAT At 17, Ukiah High School student Lindsay Maurer already is hard at work trying to improve the world. Last school year, she led the school’s environmental club in lobbying Mendocino County and city officials to implement a ban on disposable, plastic [...]
By CATHY BUSSEWITZ THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Emily Eakins has many habits of a successful businesswoman. She donates about 10 percent of her income to charity, budgets for off-season expenses, tracks her accounting in an Excel spreadsheet and occasionally takes out a business loan. The El Molino High [...]
By MARTIN ESPINOZA THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Gabriella Carroll has had clear vision for about a year, ever since she realized people are only as beautiful as they believe themselves to be — even if they wear glasses. That lesson came to Gabbi when she met a fellow [...]
By KEVIN McCALLUM THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Kids attending Santa Rosa’s Camp Wa-Tam have for years been treated to summers filled with games, canoeing, archery and nature walks in Howarth Park. But this year, one of the camp’s newest counselors, Jenna Catalon, is bringing a performing arts flair to [...]
By RANDI ROSSMANN THE PRESS DEMOCRAT When the songwriting vibe hits Forestville teen Koleyna Kohler, she picks up her guitar or ukulele. She pens notes and words about teen issues, such as love, or global problems, such as racism. The 17-year-old El Molino High School senior, known as [...]
By MARY CALLAHAN THE PRESS DEMOCRAT During most of high school, there were three weeks each year when Emily Glanton had to find time for varsity cheerleading and varsity swim team without compromising her Advanced Placement studies, her part-time job or her sleep. Glanton, 18, said she was [...]
By GUY KOVNER THE PRESS DEMOCRAT “All the world’s a stage,” Shakespeare wrote, and for Jazmin Gudino, 17, a stage is the best place on Earth. “It feeds me,” said Gudino, an Elsie Allen High School graduate and drama star. “I love the adrenaline.” Audience applause is gratifying, [...]