Teens Talk Back These Students are Well on Their Way to Beloved Careers By Mary Gaukel Forster “The Talk” With Your Teen was the focus of last month’s article, about how parents  can begin conversations about and encourage career explorations.  This month teens “talk back” about their work based experiences in Career and Technical Education courses offered at high schools throughout the county. Our organization, Your Future Is Our Business, held its annual luncheon, on March 8, which highlighted the work of Career and Technical Education teachers and students along with the support given by the community.  Caption: CTE award winners Adriana Avila-Medrano, Riley Rozario, Grace Bailey, Elijah Galster and…

Founding Director of the Santa Cruz Children’s Museum of Discovery Retires After four and half years of volunteering as Executive Director of the SCCMOD, co-founder Patrice Keet, will be retiring in June. The Board of Directors and Patrice tell us that there will be a smooth and well-planned transition as Dr. Rhiannon Crain will be stepping in as Interim Executive Director. Rhiannon has the distinction of being a founding Board member of the Museum bringing her knowledge, expertise and degree in Museum Science to the position. Previously she was Executive Director of Yardmap, a Citizen Science program of Cornell University. ALL COLOR students in Susan Penprase’s third grade class at…

California’s Mother of the Year is from Soquel Forget apple pies and crocheting, Susan Tatsui-D’Arcy is a Renaissance Woman By Brad Kava Before career woman Susan Tatsui-D’arcy had her first child three decades ago, she thought she’d hire a nanny, so she could run her corporation during the daytime. But one look at her daughter and she knew she wasn’t leaving home. She didn’t want to leave her job either, so she came up with a plan. She hired a nanny, of sorts, who was more like a teacher and she brought in other kids whose parents could share the expense of the childcare at her house.  She worked upstairs,…

These Two Santa Cruz Moms Risk Their Lives Daily By Jordy Hyman Every day, firefighters, law enforcement and other first responders risk their lives to serve the people of their community, but for these local women it’s not just their own safety they need to consider. They also have to contend with the fate of their children should anything happen in the line of duty. “It’s definitely a scary possibility,” says Trista Drake, an officer and spokesperson for California Highway Patrol Santa Cruz and mother of four. “I would never want to lay down my life, but would I do it? Yeah, of course, it’s what we swore to do…