Letter from the Editors

We hope the new design will show off the changes we’ve been making over the past 18 months, including advice and features for parents of kids newly born all the way up through students in college. 

We hope you’ll find articles of interest to all age groups, even grandparents.

Check out the variety in this September issue. In Birth Matters writer Laura Maxson explores the time when a newborn switches from a fetal heart and blood system to adult circulation. It’s something every new parent should check out.

We have two, yes two, articles on school lunches. One by Jhoneé Fillmore helps you organize preparing lunch and the other, by Kris Holden, has advice and recipes to make them healthy. Moving up the ladder, Mary Gaukel Forster launches a series to help middle school and high school kids start thinking about careers.

In our Extremely Sports column and on our cover, we got to meet three young athletes who are blazing to the top of the too-largely unknown synchronized swim world.  We expect to catch them in the Olympics before too long.

And we caught up with two people who have grown huge successes after growing up around Santa Cruz. Paul Bailey is not only one of the biggest local realtors, he’s built private school level athletic fields for our public schools. DJ Shae is only in middle school, but he’s drawing crowds to hear him play tunes. That’s a must read. 

Finally, we got some great photos previewing two great Latinx events in the same month as Mexico celebrates its independence Day.  On Sept. 7 Santa Cruz celebrates its 7th annual Mole and Mariachi Festival and on Sept. 21 the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk has a Fiesta featuring mariachi, cumbia and folklórico all day. 

Looks like a great September ahead.

Thanks for reading and for growing up in Santa Cruz

Brad Kava
Jennifer Ford
Steve Dinnen