My Favorite Outfit: MARCOS CORTEZ
Davis High School

The cheerleaders of Modesto Christian High School are off and running in their defense of the 2009 JAMZ National Championship.

Hilmar High School football supporters cheer for their team during last Friday’s game against Central Catholic.

Alex Chien isn't your average sixth-grader. He's only 11 years old, but the Saratoga resident already has performed piano pieces in Europe and at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and he's won several piano competitions.

Classical music is alive in modern times as young vocalists such as Olivia Berumen of Modesto take collegiate-level lessons in classical music and perform it across the nation.

The Spirit Halloween Superstore on McHenry Avenue in Modesto (there's also one on Sisk Road) is drawing a lot of attention from young adults.

The Bee's Teens in the Newsroom are proud to announce that they're "tweeting" on Twitter, the microblogging sensation sweeping the nation.

Are there things about your school that you wish you could change? Have you grown tired of your friends' constant complaining about school rules? Have you been told that you can't do anything to change these things?

Edgar Sanchez, Junior, Johansen High School

The next Merced Union High School District Superintendent's Award Night will be held Oct. 26 at 6 p.m. in the Merced High School Gymnasium, 205 W. Olive Ave.

Andrew Santana was a son, brother, student and aspiring musician. He attended Enochs High School and loved rapping and making musical beats with his friends. He was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 2007 and after a year of treatment passed away peacefully on Oct. 27, 2008.

Twelve area students who were among the top academic achievers at their respective high schools have been selected as 2009-10 recipients of the Presidential and Provost Scholarships at California State University, Stanislaus.

At a single college fair in Rocklin last year, 4,000 to 5,000 people — teens and parents — swarmed the tables of college recruiters in the academic equivalent of speed dating. At such events, colleges bring their most attractive brochures and students bring breathless questions ranging from "How hard is it to get in?" to "How far is it to the beach?"

The beginning of fall reminds high school students that it's time for the SAT. But many incoming students and upperclassmen alike wonder what the SAT is and how it affects their education.

O'Connor Matthews, 15, of Modesto was the grand-prize winner of Columbia's 27th annual Fiddle & Bango Contest, held Oct. 3. His prize was a quarter-ounce gold nugget, which he intends to have made into a necklace pendant for his mother, Joani.