Consuelo Vidal-Perez experienced the callousness of immigration law firsthand when her grandparents were barred from visiting her dying mother. Now she’s heading to USC to chase her dream of returning to Watsonville as an immigration attorney to help families like hers.
Nick Ibarra
Follow Nick Ibarra on: Twitter. Ibarra has a track record of reporting that has shone light into almost every corner of Santa Cruz County. Raised in the Santa Cruz Mountains, he came to journalism from an early background in the tech industry — working in systems administration and developing software. Before returning to his roots to report for the Santa Cruz Sentinel, he held an editorial role with Bay Area News Group and contributed reporting to publications such as Scientific American, Sierra Magazine and KQED Radio. His work has earned several statewide awards and appeared in newspapers across California, including the Mercury News, East Bay Times and Orange County Register.He is proficient in Spanish.“Bringing Santa Cruz County the depth and quality of coverage it deserves is personal to me,” he said. “Lookout has the talent, the resources and the vision to do exactly that — and I couldn’t be happier to join this team.”
Posted inEducation
UCSC digital artist channels fire, Chinese history in award-nominated VR project
A devastating 1938 blaze in his hometown of Changsha, China, was the jumping-off point for the latest project from MFA candidate Haoran Chang, whose virtual-reality work imagining a capitalist exploitation of traditional fire therapy is a finalist for a BAFTA award.
Posted inEducation
From groundskeeper to graduate: Katharina Pierini takes scenic route to UCSC degree
Katharina Pierini first enrolled at UC Santa Cruz in 1994 before life drew her away from her studies. Now a groundskeeper at the university, she is earning her bachelor’s degree this weekend — completing a path she set out on 27 years ago.
Posted inK-12 Education
Misconduct probe still ongoing, SLV school district taps new superintendent from within its own ranks
San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District selected Chris Schiermeyer, the district’s deputy superintendent of business services, as its incoming superintendent.
Posted inEducation
As registration lags further behind, Cabrillo College pivots to a mostly in-person fall class schedule
“There’s a lot of angst among faculty and counselors right now about how this is impacting student schedules, and I get that,” Cabrillo College President Matt Wetstein said of the course change that will make 50-60% of classes in-person.
Posted inK-12 Education
Trustee mounts first recall defense: Acosta labels campaign a ‘witch hunt,’ discloses cancer treatment
Pajaro Valley Unified School District Trustee Georgia Acosta issued her first public response to the campaign to recall her from office in a filing citing support from a Santa Cruz County supervisor and a Watsonville city council member.
Posted inK-12 Education
Nearly half the county’s school district chiefs are retiring — what we know about that unusual shakeup
New district chiefs are stepping in at the San Lorenzo Valley Unified, Live Oak, Mountain Elementary and Happy Valley Union Elementary school districts this summer — four of the 10 public school districts in Santa Cruz County. The County Office of Education is offering extra support to ease the transition.
Posted inCity Life
Holy Cross School gets stolen property back, suspect in custody after ransacking
A Santa Cruz resident arrested Thursday on suspicion of burglarizing the private Catholic school was wanted on seven outstanding warrants.
Posted inEducation
His very own ‘Tour de cello’: Wistful over the lost year, UCSC senior on a graduation serenade mission
UC Santa Cruz anthropology and politics major Ross Piscitello is graduating next week on his way to law school. But first he’s making a final tour of the campus, cello in tow, performing at each residential college in the order in which they were built.
Posted inEducation
‘Their own intersection of pandemics’: Oral historians reflect on stories from UCSC’s year of crisis
Oral history project “The Empty Year” preserves the firsthand accounts of 22 students and staff at UC Santa Cruz who — from near or far — navigated the successive crises the campus faced in 2020.