Education roundup: Skills Olympics, March for California's Future and more
By THE BAKERSFIELD CALIFORNIAN
More than 400 Kern County high school students will test their occupational skills Friday during the "skills olympics" at Regional Occupational Center.
Students from several Regional Occupational Programs will be compete in 20 events and be judged by local business professionals. Medals will be awarded to the top three places in each category.
Occupational fields for competition include mechanics, accounting, computer technology, graphic arts and several more. Fashion students will also put on a fashion show.
Students learned career technical skills through capstone programs at ROC, North Kern Vocational Training Center, Westside ROP or Kern County ROP.
Event sponsors include the Golden Empire chapter of California Regional Occupational Centers and Programs, Kern Community College District and others.
The occupational center is at 501 S. Mount Vernon Ave.
From the blogs: Remember the group of educators and state employees who started the "48-day March for California's Future" here in Bakersfield last month? Well, on Tuesday they finished their 300-mile trek to Sacramento in protest of budget cuts.
In early March, the marchers rode buses from Los Angeles to Compassion Christian Center here, then went to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park before they started walking to the Capitol. They stopped and held rallies against cuts to education, among other things, at several cities during the trip.
The marchers include a community college professor, an adult educator, and several teachers. At noon Tuesday, they reached Sacramento State University.
Supporters can hop on a bus at 7 a.m. Wednesday outside Doubletree Hotel, 3100 Camino Del Rio Court, and meet the marchers for their final mile.
Garces Memorial High School will host more than 500 special education students at the 16th annual Special People Play Day from 9 to 11 a.m. on campus.
Special needs students from the Kern County Superintendent of Schools Office and the Bakersfield City School District will be paired with Garces students for interactive activities during a school carnival. Activities include a petting zoo, face painting, Frisbee toss and more.
Bakersfield Police Department, Kern County Search and Rescue, Kern County Fire Department and California Highway Patrol will also take part.
Highland High School will host a "job shadow day" in the workers' compensation insurance industry May 5.
Twenty-six juniors and seniors from the school's computer application class will shadow a workplace mentor at various work places. Highland students will observe staff from State Compensation Insurance Fund claims, underwriting and loss control departments at work.
Job shadow day, started in 1996, aims to help teens explore skills and education needed to succeed in the job market. For more information, go to www.jobshadow.org.
For more education news, go to The Californian's education blog, The Grade, at www.bakersfield.com/blogs, or follow The Grade's Twitter at twitter.com/TBCTheGrade.
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