Reflecting on Rand

“When 2:30 p.m. rolled around, Merkel and Meech got the kids ready to go, told them to have a good weekend, watched them go, then closed the school down. They’ll only do this for one more month until the school year ends and Rand dismisses its students for the last time.”

For this article, California News Publishers Association awarded me third place in the “Education” category for our newspaper’s division. This contest was for work done in 2017. Clicking here, you can search for my name to pull up the results.

The family that codes together: Faller Elementary hosts first coding night event

“Simply the thought of learning to code might be enough to trigger technophobia in people, conjuring mental images of thousands of lines of code flying across the screen at you like in the movie the Matrix.”

We are in one of the most significant transitions in the history of education. Teachers who grew up in an analog world are preparing students for a digital world with technology we can’t even imagine yet. Local schools are not just trying to teach the students, they also need to teach the parents.

Joe Rumbles celebrates 45 years at Searles Valley Minerals

“Rumbles said, ‘Some people talk bad about Trona, saying, ‘It stinks and this and that,’ but when you needed to feed your family, Trona was there. I have my ups and downs, it ain’t all been roses, but it fed my family.'”

Drive to the edge of the world, then keep going five more miles and you’ll find Trona, a town built around the one company of Searles Valley Minerals. When the company celebrated the 45th anniversary of one of its coworkers, I took the opportunity to explore this unique factory and the people who work in it.

IWV Concert Association’s future hangs in jeopardy

“The Indian Wells Valley Concert Association is 71 years old. It started in 1947, making it 16 years older than the City of Ridgecrest itself.”

The IWV Concert Association has been bringing music acts to this isolated city in the desert for 71 years, but with an aging membership and increased costs, they don’t see a path into the future. Yet, with no clear path, they still march on.