First awarded in 2006, the annual Tulare County College Night Scholarship was given to one graduating senior who has an outstanding academic record and a commitment to community service. The scholarship was envisioned by the TCOE College Night Committee as a $1,000 award, renewable for up to four consecutive years. Beginning last year, the Tulare County College Night Scholarship is now given out to two outstanding graduating seniors.

Tulare County graduating seniors are invited to submit applications for the College Night Scholarship by visiting tcoe.org/CollegeNight/Scholarship. The application deadline is April 4, 2025.

The annual Step Up Youth Challenge kicks off this month with an advisor training on September 25 beginning at 4:30 p.m. at the TCOE Mooney Boulevard building in Visalia. Advisors are encouraged to register for the mandatory training by visiting  http://tulare.k12oms.org/1530-254289.

Details on the Youth Summit, community service project development and submission process, and the Red Carpet Awards ceremony will be shared at the advisor training. Continuing on November 13 and 14, advisors and their student team members will come together for full-day Youth Summits at McDermott X in Lindsay. The summits are designed to motivate and inspire students on their journeys to create impactful community service projects. Middle school teams will attend the November 13 training; high school teams will attend the training on November 14.

Participating middle and high school teams will compete for grants totaling $13,000. The Step Up Youth Challenge is coordinated on behalf of the County of Tulare and the Tulare County Health & Human Services Agency by TCOE’s CHARACTER COUNTS! program. For more information, contact Kelley Petty, program coordinator, at (559) 740-4303 or kelleyp@tcoe.org.

Registration is open for the Tulare County Council on Child & Youth Development's 16th Annual Legislative Event.

The free event was created for school district and early childhood educators, legislators, and children services leaders to learn ways they can increase access to early learning for Tulare County children.

One of the most exciting elements of the Legislative Event is the sharing of two long-range studies commissioned by the Tulare County Council on Child & Youth Development. Joanne Brion of Brion Economics will present a summary of the Early Care and Education Economic Benefit Study, while Stergios Roussos, Ph.D. will present a summary of the Tulare County Early Care and Education Needs Assessment. Roussos completed a similar needs assessment for the Council in 2018.

Following the presentation of the studies, attendees will hear from Dr. Adolph Brown, the keynote speaker. Engaging and humorous, Brown is a highly regarded human and organization behavior authority, one of the nation’s top business motivational speakers, a master teacher, and a mental health and parenting expert.

Brown was raised in the inner city by his single mother. His only brother was murdered when he was 11. Brown credits Head Start and public education for making him the success he is today. He was the first in his family of five to graduate from high school. At the age of 29, he became the youngest tenured university professor in the United States. Today, Brown is an educational and clinical psychologist, humorist, author, and philanthropist. He has served as a legislative advocate, president of the Virginia Head Start Association, and president of the Virginia Association of Black Psychologists.

The 16th Annual Legislative Event will be held from 11:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. October 3 at TCOE's Mooney Boulevard Administration Building in Visalia. Lunch will be provided. Registration is available at bit.ly/3VrMfvS.

Editor: Robert Herman, Communications Director
Contributors: Nayirah Dosu, Marlene Moreno, Jennifer Fisher, Paula Terrill, Kathleen Green-Martins, Samantha Terry

To receive the News Gallery Week, sign up here, or contact Jennifer Fisher at jenniferf@tcoe.org or (559) 733-6172.