Ava Thornock grew up in Amador County, an education desert three hours from Santa Cruz that has no local college and limited internet access. She saw firsthand how rural students are cut off from opportunity. She is now a second-year student studying biochemistry at UC Santa Cruz, where academic access reshaped her future and career goals. Here, Thornock details how distance, poverty, staffing shortages and transportation barriers keep many rural students from higher education. With looming state and federal cuts, she argues that California must invest more in rural schools and community colleges so more students can succeed.
UC Santa Cruz
Posted inBusiness & Technology
UCSC students develop website to support Seabright small businesses amid Murray Street Bridge overhaul
UC Santa Cruz’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurial Development collaborated with the City of Santa Cruz on a student-built website to serve as a hub for local businesses, events and updates on Murray Street Bridge construction.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
UCSC students rally against ICE raids, Trump’s military attack on Venezuela
A couple hundred UC Santa Cruz students marched on campus Tuesday against violent actions by ICE and other federal agencies in Minneapolis and around the U.S. as well as against President Donald Trump’s military attack on Venezuela last month.
Posted inLatest News
UCSC students, faculty gripe about parking fee increase
UC Santa Cruz students and employees are disappointed by a proposal to raise parking permit fees by 7% to 10% annually starting this summer, a move that would nearly double some permit costs over the next decade amid ongoing budget deficits and infrastructure needs.
Posted inLatest News
UCSC police charge man with indecent exposure on campus
UC Santa Cruz police recently arrested and charged a man with indecent exposure after a staff member reported a young man committing a lewd act in a building on campus. He was previously accused of the same crime in October.
Posted inLatest News
Candlelight vigil in Santa Cruz to honor victims of Iran protests
Santa Cruz Vice Mayor Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson and UC Santa Cruz students plan to gather at the downtown clocktower on Saturday evening to honor those who have died in Iran’s antigovernment protests.
Posted inBusiness & Technology
This week in Santa Cruz County business: Joby expands in Ohio, national recognition for local astronomers, longtime music rehearsal space hits market
Santa Cruz-based Joby Aviation has purchased a second manufacturing facility in Ohio, the American Astronomical Society honors three UC Santa Cruz scientists and Santa Cruz Rehearsal Studios is up for sale – Jessica M. Pasko has all that and more in his weekly look at local business.
Posted inEducation
UC Santa Cruz family student housing opening delayed about six months
The opening of UC Santa Cruz’s new family student housing complex, which includes 120 two-bedroom units and an expanded child care center, has been delayed by about six months due to construction issues, university officials said. Student families say the repeated delays are disrupting housing and child care plans and straining household budgets as they wait for the long-anticipated move.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
We can stop ICE terror: It’s time to organize
The Trump administration governs through fear, particularly in the way it handles immigration, writes UC Santa Cruz researcher Veronica Hamilton. The antidote to terror is organization, she writes — and the time to build it is now.
Posted inEducation
Christmas Day winds up to 114 mph damage UC Lick Observatory
Powerful Christmas Day winds gusting up to 114 mph severely damaged UC Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, forcing the nearly 140-year-old facility to close while officials headquartered at UC Santa Cruz assess structural damage and begin repairs expected to take months.