Each year Poetry Santa Cruz and the Santa Cruz County Office of Education present the Santa Cruz County High School Poetry Competition in which high school students in the county are invited to submit up to three poems. This year, the 21st annual competition was held. 360 poems were submitted and three judges selected three prize winners whose authors receive cash awards, seven Honorable mention poems and a total of 51 poems to be published in the annual anthology. The annual reading, awards ceremony, and celebration of the publication of the anthology was held at the County Office of Education on May 22, 2014 starting at 7 p.m. and recorded by Santa Cruz County Community Television.

The CAC's recent awards ceremony honored dedicated individuals serving students with disabilities in the North County schools, as well as students recognized for their perseverance and growth. Mayor Lynn Robinson presented retiring COE Deputy Superintendent, Bryan Wall, an award for his dedication to students and their families.

Enjoying a morning break from class, about 200 teenagers strolled through UC Santa Cruz's strawberry field, pausing occasionally to sample fruit. Hosted by nonprofit Food, What?!, the annual Strawberry Blast brought Santa Cruz County students to UCSC's farm Tuesday. Monica Falcon, a junior at Delta Charter High School in Aptos, first sampled organic smoothies, tacos and tarts. Delicious, she said.

A new website shows the graffiti, the hand signs and the colors of gangs in Santa Cruz County. It also explains the levels of gang involvement in a six-minute video, and it offers resources for parents and teachers who want to keep kids out of gangs. Developed by Santa Cruz police and the Santa Cruz County Office of Education in a roughly year-long project, police this week launched a new website for Basta, the broad-based apprehension, suppression, treatment and alternatives program. The website is at www.basta.santacruz.k12.ca.us.

The visual arts offerings included working with small metals, creating a monoprint picture and a rich discussion on Art History.

The Santa Cruz County Office of Education's Regional Occupational Program has received a donation of state-of-the-art Photoflex Professional Lighting Tools for every digital photography and video production classroom in Santa Cruz County.

Watsonville-based Photoflex is a 30-year-old company that provides professional, state-of-the-art lighting tools to the photography and videography industries.

Central California Migrant/Seasonal Head Start provides childcare to over 800 babies, toddlers and preschoolers at 90 family childcare homes, while their parents work in the strawberry and raspberry fields in Watsonville.

Providers plan monthly study topics to add variety and a focus to their daily activities with young migrant children. Typically they rely on books, puzzles, & flannel boards to illustrate their study topic. This year we're hoping to add creative, open-ended art projects to reinforce the concepts they are learning and to stimulate children's vocabulary.

Michael Watkins, superintendent of Santa Cruz County Office of Education since 2007, knows the importance of learning the fundamentals and providing leadership that reflects a broad perspective and understanding of how to create a culture of achievement.

As point guard for an Oakland high school basketball team, Watkins honed his emerging ability to lead the way. He learned to quickly assess a player's strengths and weaknesses, developed the agility to control the basketball and the confidence to set up a winning play.