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Keeping the Airwaves Alive
“Our motto at the station is ‘Serve the Community First’,” said Tina Davey, station manager and co-founder of KBCZ Boulder Creek Community Radio Station, 89.3 FM. Every day since the station’s inception in 2013, Davey and her fellow DJs enter their small booth in downtown Boulder Creek, ready to share news updates, personal insights and community-based interviews with local listeners. Born in the UK, Davey originally moved to North Hollywood to pursue a career in rock music and eventually worked in television production in the 90’s. However, after visiting Boulder Creek with her husband, the pair resolved to move to the area. They packed up their instruments and moved here…
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Something You Never Get Over
In early July, I interviewed Dr. Gail Newel, who was retiring from her position as County Health Officer, about her career. We talked about how Santa Cruz had just logged its first official death from “tranq,” an animal sedative called Xylazine that is extremely dangerous for humans. I knew we’d talk about the opioid epidemic and I suspected what she would say about the causes. But one statement she made brought me up short: Santa Cruz has a bigger problem than most counties in the state and it stems in part from our local culture. “We have a pretty active glorification of drug culture [in Santa Cruz],” Newel said. “I’m…
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At 93, Owen Hand is the Golden Conqueror of the Courts
Owen Hand, 93 years young, steps off the court victorious. He’s just won three sets of tennis against competitors 30 years his junior. Celebrated by a chorus of congratulatory calls from players and friends across the Tennis Club of Rio Del Mar’s courts, Owen bashfully jests to me how his on court running really isn’t quite what it used to be. Born on July 4th, 1930, Owen always had athleticism coursing through his veins. “I was always the first kid playing at the park and the last kid to go home… I played any sport I could but baseball was really my thing.” His passion and skill for baseball lured…
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Riding High in Rough Seas
Bianca Dootson is a 22 year old full-time student and professional longboarder who, despite her relatively short time on the waves, is swiftly riding her board to competitive heights. Unlike many of her peers who were surfing since infancy, Bianca didn’t come from a surfing family. Despite growing up around the ocean in Monterey and Santa Cruz, she only discovered her love for the sport at eleven years old, after taking a lesson while on vacation in Hawaii. “Generally, if your parents are surfers, you start surfing before you can even walk. I started a lot later than a lot of the kids… So I surfed twice as much and…
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Building a Foundation for Resilience
These days you might find Ginhee Rancourt, 38, owner of Young Art in Santa Clara, jetting around the world bringing art lessons for free to kids in developing nations. Or maybe you saw her win this year’s Minority Women Lead award for entrepreneurs or YWCA Silicon Valley’s Tribute to Women Award. But that’s not where she expected to be at 16 when her youngest sibling was born and she was planning a career in ballet. And her successes are definitely not what she wants you to take away from this story.Ginhee founded Young Art as a for-profit art studio in 2013 in Oregon, and she opened studios in California soon…
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19-Year-Old Has Got Social Media Wired
Scotts Valley High graduate Austyn Crispell is the founder of Santa Cruz-based Makhai Media, a company that helps other companies do their social media marketing.He spoke at a recent local business forum, where Growing Up was amazed at his successes, as was everyone in the room. Growing Up: Your bio says you make $100,000 per month…really? You might be the top earning teen business person in the county or the whole country. My business revenue at the moment is $100,000 per month but that will increase within the next few months. I don’t live a lavish lifestyle so I just reinvest all of the money back into the business. Growing…
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Neurodivergent Student Shares Secrets of Success
Meet Abby. She’s an independent, kind and funny 26-year-old who lives in Santa Cruz and loves hanging out with friends. Abby was born very prematurely and underwent a slew of surgeries as a baby, which left her with a phobia of doctors and hospitals. Abby’s not the kind of person who would allow physical limitations to stop her. Her desire to help others like her has led her to write a book that she plans to publish later this year. What do you want to do when you enter the workforce? Be a therapist for people with mental health issues. I have to be in school and it’s a long…
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Coach Still Making a Splash in Community
When last we wrote about you, you were struggling with staying in business during Covid. How did you survive when so many others went bust? Any tips for other businesses? We had to stop our program for a few months and when we reopened there were mandates to conform to. Each teacher could only be in contact with 12 students a day, parents viewing classes had to be 6 feet apart and of course wouldn’t be in groups. This required a huge change from our group lessons and families watching their kids progress in skills. So, for the rest of the year we only offered private classes, only one parent…
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Skipper Megan Tracks Whales
You might not notice right away, it could be fifteen minutes after the boat Velocity leaves the harbor, but soon it’s inevitable that you notice an all-female crew runs the boat. At the head is Megan Petersen. The excitement of whale watching has not dulled for Megan over the eight years she’s worked for Stagnero’s, and as she talks about sea life it’s clear that navigating a boat in search of whales and other animals is a passion. Of course, that was never a surprise to Megan, the daughter of a scuba master and a nature lover, she studied Marine Science in college, and while she knew she never wanted…
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Jody Ryker
Circus Performer or Mathematician? Why Not Both? By Jeanette Prather Math teacher by day and circus performer by night, Jody Ryker seamlessly closes the chasm between these seemingly different worlds. “I split my time between my two passions, math and circus arts,” said Ryker, who identifies as non-binary and prefers the pronoun “they”. “I teach math part-time at Foothill College, and I teach part-time for various circus and pole studios.”How did Ryker forge a path of teaching math and performing pole and circus arts? “I’ve always been interested in many things, and I like always trying something new,” they said. “I’ve always felt that I need something that engages me…
