Class notes

Morgan, who received her teaching credential from NDNU, then the College of Notre Dame, in 1974 and who is best known for her contributions to the NASA Endeavor flight in 2007, will speak about "The Power of Perspective” in her keynote address.

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El Camino High School in South San Francisco has long had the reputation of being not only an academic leader in education but also a school with a wonderful performing arts program. People wait all year long for the greatest show in the Bay Area and it’s the El Camino Dance Show.

In its fourth year under director Feliciana Stevenson, the show will feature dances to the music from the top of the billboard charts in a theme called "Rhythm Nation.”

There will be all new and original works with choreography by Stevenson and alumni director Sarah Chinn, as well as guest artists from the Bay Area and Los Angeles.

Shows are 7 p.m. Thursday, May 14 through Saturday, May 16, with an additional 1 p.m. performance Saturday, at the El Camino High School Little Theatre, 1320 Mission Road in South San Francisco. Tickets are $10. For more information call 877-8806.

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Help bring Jane Goodall to Cañada College by eating at local restaurants. People can help bring Jane Goodall, a pioneer in primate studies and a United Nations Messenger of Peace, to Cañada College by eating lunch or dinner at two local restaurants on Thursday, May 14.

The Cañada College Anthropology Department is teaming up with Caprino’s Italian Restaurant at 1000 Sixth Ave. in Belmont and New Kapadokia Restaurant at 2399 Broadway in Redwood City for a special Dine Out event designed to raise money to bring Goodall to campus for a lecture.

The two restaurants will donate 10 percent of their profits during lunch and dinner to the Cañada College anthropology department to help with the effort. For more information contact Jessica Einhorn, professor of anthropology, at 306-3311 or einhornj@smccd.edu.

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This spring, Borel Drama Dream Theatre brings to life its production of "The Wiz.” Based on "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” by L. Frank Baum, "The Wiz” is a musical featuring gospel, soul, and R&B styled music, with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and a book by William F. Brown.

Alyssa Goldrath, Borel drama instructor and a graduate of Borel Middle School, directs a cast of more than 57 actors, singers and dancers from Borel Middle School who portray the familiar characters of Dorothy, the Scarecrow, Tin Man, the Lion, the Wicked Witch of the West, and the rest.

The characters and story line are largely faithful to the 1939 movie version of L. Frank Baum's 1900 story. It begins on a tumbledown farm in Kansas, but a tornado sets Dorothy and Toto down in Oz. After celebrating the demise of the Wicked Witch of the East with the Munchkins, Dorothy departs for the Emerald City with a live yellow brick road. She encounters a hip Scarecrow, an uptight Tin Man and a mama's-boy Lion — together they will seek help from the powerful Wiz in the Emerald City.

The Wiz also features a live orchestra conducted by renowned Musical Director Rick Reynolds. Candy Cotton Farbstein is choreographer and Tracy Chiappone is vocal director.

Shows are 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 15 and Saturday, May 16, and 2 p.m. Saturday, May 16 and Sunday, May 17 at the Borel Performing Arts Center, 2025 Kehoe Ave. in San Mateo. Adult tickets are $15; student tickets are $8. Tickets can be purchased by downloading the order form from the Borel Drama Dream Theatre Web site at http://www.boreldrama.com. For more information call 572-7172 or e-mail boreltickets@yahoo.com.

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Alex Garcia spent his 20th birthday in the San Mateo County Jail, a high school dropout addicted to drugs. On Thursday, May 7, — nearly five years later — Garcia, 24, was honored as one of only 50 community college students nationwide to receive the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship.

"I was arrested six times and was headed to prison,” Garcia said. "I was sitting in jail, my mom had maxed out her savings to pay for a lawyer to keep me out of prison and a guard came up to me and said I was nothing but a no-good gang-banger and I would spend the rest of my life in prison. It was at that point I said ‘no way, it’s not going to play out this way.’”

Garcia was released into a drug rehabilitation transition house in Redwood City and decided to enroll at Cañada College. "I hated school with a passion,” he said. "But I knew I needed more than a GED to succeed in life.”

It was at Cañada that Garcia met Paul Roscelli, professor of economics. He had scored an A on an economics test in Roscelli’s class and went to visit the professor during office hours. It was there that Roscelli challenged him. "He told me I was too smart not to pursue a first-class education,” Garcia said. "I was considering transferring to a university but he challenged me to apply to Stanford, Cal and other top schools. It was a verbal slap in the face.”

Roscelli recruited Garcia to be part of Beta Zeta Nu, Cañada’s chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, the national honors society for two-year colleges. Garcia became co-president of the club and spearheaded several community activities including planting more than 50 trees in Redwood City, organizing debates on the Iraq War, and talking to potential students about the value of education.

"He told his story to about 500 of our students and they were absolutely mesmerized,” said Linda Haley, director of Cañada’s Community-Based English Tutoring Program. "You could have heard a pin drop. They saw how it was all about the decisions one makes — decisions to join gangs and continue that lifestyle, or the decision to achieve an education and open doors in that direction. Alex’s decision and steadfast commitment to his goals have gotten him where he is, and his audiences take note of that and are inspired by his story.”

Garcia said he was surprised to receive the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. "So few students receive it,” he said. "My plan is to major in economics at U.C. Berkeley and then go straight to grad school. My goal is to attend an Ivy League school.”

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship makes it possible for the nation’s top community college students to complete their bachelor’s degrees by transferring to a four-year college or university. The foundation provides up to $30,000 per year to each of approximately 50 deserving students selected annually, making it the largest private scholarship for two-year and community college transfer students in the country.

Class notes is a weekly column dedicated to school news. It is compiled by education reporter Heather Murtagh. You can contact her at (650) 344-5200, ext. 105 or at heather@smdailyjournal.com.