Success & Service: Three area educators awarded child development fellowships
Three area educators are among 13 statewide awarded 2015 Simms/Mann Faculty Fellowships for leadership in early care and education. The locals include Cheryl Williams-Jackson, Ph.D., a professor of child development at Modesto Junior College; Gina Cook, an assistant professor of child development at California State University, Stanislaus, in Turlock; and Adrienne Seegers, a professor of child development at Columbia College in Sonora.
In its third year, the program involves selected faculty from community colleges and state universities in California. The recipients were honored at an event Tuesday in Beverly Hills.
Next river cleanup scheduled
Operation 9-2-99, the Tuolumne River beautification project through Modesto, has its next cleanup day scheduled for Saturday from 9 a.m to noon along Neece Drive between John Thurman Field and the SOS Club. The effort requires numerous volunteers, and organizers are hoping to recruit individuals, church groups and service clubs to participate. Visit http://tinyurl.com/operation9-2-99 to enlist or for more information.
Rebuilt Oakdale play park reopens
The Oakdale Children’s Play Park built originally in 1993 and recently rebuilt by volunteers and through donations, is open to the public once again. And it comes with a new name: The Alex and Emma Play Park. The A.L. Gilbert Co. donated a third of the total rebuilding cost, with other companies and individuals contributing as well.
The park is at the southeast corner of East A Street and North Second Avenue, near the Oakdale community swimming pool.
Wheelchair donations
Diane Carson, a breast cancer survivor who owns Right at Home, an in-home care service for the elderly and disabled, has partnered with the Free Wheelchair Mission and Operation Blessing to give free wheelchairs in Mexico. She traveled south of the border to help assemble 150 wheelchair in Mexican communities.
Author! Author!
Modesto resident Johnny Hernandez’ autobiography, titled “The Cotton Picker – An Odyssey,” is available on CreateSpace and in paperback on Amazon.com.
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This story was originally published November 7, 2015 at 3:02 PM with the headline "Success & Service: Three area educators awarded child development fellowships."