Gavin Sellers as the emcee with the Kit Kat girls, from left, Elizabeth Ferreira, Ure Egbuho (as Sally Bowles), Rachel Juarez and Jessica Casado. // Photo by Craig Koscho, Sacramento State

A new “Family Sunday Funday” on April 14 is the centerpiece of a dramatically expanded Festival of the Arts at Sacramento State.

Presented by the University’s College of Arts and Letters, this year’s festival will run April 12-17 and will include more attractions to showcase the best of Sacramento State’s arts programs, with productions such as Cabaret, jazz by Saturday Night Live trombonist and Sac State alumnus Steve Turre, and special exhibits in campus art galleries.
“Our festival, like our majors, offers a variety of creative outlets – be it a theatrical or musical performance, a lecture on how artists price their talents and work, a film screening or a poetry reading,” says Edward Inch, dean of the College of Arts and Letters.

Steve Turre // Photo courtesy of CSUS

Visit www.csus.edu/festival for a complete schedule. Festival highlights include:
“Bodies of Water,” a free exhibit of works by Sylvia Sensiper, a researcher and artist who teaches courses on Buddhism and has produced a video about Tibetan Buddhism. It runs April 2-25 in the Else Gallery. A special reception featuring music and dance runs 5:30-8 p.m. Friday, April 12.

·Cabaret: The Tony Award-winning musical turns the spotlight on Kit Kat Klub singer Sally Bowles and her experiences amid the rise of Nazism in 1920s Berlin. Performances are April 10-21.

·“Dance Sampler,” a presentation of selections from some of the city’s professional dance troupes, under the direction of Professor Lorelei Bayne. Performances will be April 13-14, with two performances each day.

· Steve Turre: Saturday Night Live’s trombonist for 30 years, the Sac State alumnus is also the master of the jazz conch shell. He performs Wednesday, April 17, with our own Jazz Ensembles.

Family Sunday Funday runs 11 a.m.-4 p.m. with demonstrations; performances; exhibits; live music; a special Kids’ Zone; and the best of the city’s mobile food providers, Sacto MoFo, with vendors such as Krush Burgers and Chando’s Tacos.

“Funday is an opportunity for the college to welcome our students, staff, faculty, alumni, neighbors and their families to campus for one day – to experience both the arts and the letters at Sac State,” says Inch. “Funday celebrates what makes our programs so unique.”
The College of Arts and Letters has lined up events for the entire family on that day, including a Kids’ Zone that will be located on the Main Quad at the north end of campus, with a bounce house, free ice cream, and many other child-oriented attractions.
The University’s Ceramics Guild will offer demonstrations of making items from clay on a ceramics wheel. Adults and older children will have the chance to try it themselves.

Visitors to Mendocino Hall will be able to use the sound studio to record themselves and listen to the results. And there will be theatrical and dance presentations as well as exhibits in galleries across the campus.

Parking on campus is free during the run of Funday, as are all activities except Cabaret and the Sacramento Dance Sampler.

Ticket prices, times and more details about the Festival of the Arts are available at www.csus.edu/festival. More information also is available at the College of Arts and Letters, 278-6502, or at its Facebook page, www.facebookcom/CSUSArtsLetters.

Caption: “Livelyhood” by Noemi is one of the works in “Transparancy.” “Transparency,” a free exhibit of photos made by first-time photography students in Nicaragua and formerly abused women in India, runs Feb. 12-March 16 in Sacramento State’s Library Gallery Annex, on campus, 6000 J St. The two groups are using photography to capture their environment in honest and sensitive ways. Curated by Ethan Flanagan, the exhibit includes a reception at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, contact 278-4189

“Three Sisters Bound to the Elements” is the first of two free exhibits kicking off the Spring semester in Sacramento State’s Library galleries.
The exhibit by Chinese-born sisters Hong, Bo and Ling Zhang displays works based on the three elements of water, earth and wood,  and their interconnectiveness. It runs Feb. 1-May 24 in the University Library Gallery. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
The Zhangs’ works show how the elements are bound together – wood grows in the earth, the earth absorbs the water, and wood needs  water to grow. As they are bound together, so are the sisters’ individual works bound together in one exhibition that includes charcoal drawings, watercolors on rice paper, and ink and pencil.
Hong Zhang is a Sacramento State alumna, receiving her master of fine arts degree in 2002 and her bachelor’s from the Central Academy  of Fine Arts in Beijing.
Hong’s twin sister, Bo Zhang, received her bachelor of fine arts degree in printmaking from Beijing Central Academy of Fine Arts.  She then attended Georgia State University in 2004. In addition to her artwork, Bo Zhang works as an art consultant for the Beijing office of Soho Myriad, an art consulting service.
Eldest daughter Ling Zhang witnessed the Chinese Cultural Revolution and received her master of fine arts from Beijing Central  Institute of Nationalities in 1988. She came to the United States, and decided to stay, in the late 1980s to share her works at the invitation of Signet Fine Art, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Illinois governor.
All three artists have exhibited works around the world.
A reception will be held 4-5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 1, and will include a talk by the artists. Hong Zhang also will give a talk, “Middle  Kingdom Meets Middle America,” at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 7, in the gallery.
The second exhibit, “Transparency,” runs Feb. 12-March 16 in the University Gallery Annex. A reception will be held at 6:30 p.m.  Saturday, Feb. 16 in the gallery.
Curated by Ethan Flanagan, the exhibit is a collection of photographs taken by first-time photography students in the Nicaraguan  fishing village of Padre Ramos, and by young women in India who were formerly forced into lives of abuse and sex slavery.
“The Padre Ramos children use donated cameras to capture images of their environment in honest, intimate and sensitive ways,” Flanagan  says.
For the Indian women, photography is part of their rehabilitation. “They’ve learned to use photography to communicate without words  and see their lives and themselves from a new perspective,” Flanagan says.
For more information on the galleries, visit www.al.csus.edu/sota/ulg or call (916) 278-4189. For media assistance, call Sacramento State’s Public Affairs office at (916) 278-6156.

Sacramento State Chemistry Professor James Ritchey is the 2013 recipient of the Andreoli Faculty Service Award.  The honor was presented during the California State University Biotechnology Symposium, Jan. 3-5 at the Anaheim Marriott.

The honor recognizes a faculty member who has made outstanding contributions to the development of biotechnology programs in the 23-campus CSU system. Professor A. Andreoli (CSU Los Angeles) was committed to his students and believed  the CSU has a special role to play in higher education by providing opportunities to many nontraditional students who otherwise would  have fewer options for advancement.

Ritchey enjoys teaching and appreciates the fact that many of his students have been the first in their family  to earn a college degree. “I was the first in mine to do so,” he says, “but was fortunate enough to receive scholarships. So many of my students are working, which makes it doubly difficult to keep up with their course work.”

The professor is something of a Renaissance man. His major fields are biochemistry, chemistry, patent law and intellectual property law. His lecture and lab assignments have combined general, organic and biochemistry courses, and various upper-division biochemistry classes.

His book College Chemistry in the Laboratory is in its 10th edition.

Richey attended McGeorge School of Law at night, earned his degree and taught intellectual property law and patent law as an adjunct there for 15 years. He’s currently a partner at the law firm of O’Banion & Ritchey LLP, which specializes in intellectual property law (patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and unfair competition) and related litigation and licensing matters.  And he advises Sacramento State’s University Enterprises Inc. on patent law.

“I enjoy doing different things, which is why I didn’t concentrate on research following my postdoctoral work at  UC Berkeley,” he says. As a National Institutes of Health scholar there from 1974 to 1977, he could have landed a position at one of the country’s leading research universities.

“I came to Sacramento State because I wanted to teach,” Ritchey says. And he has done just that for the last 35  years, except for a 12-month leave in 1985 to learn how to practice patent law at a leading firm in San Francisco.

When Professor Francie Dillon was named Arts Educator of the Year by the Arts & Business Council of Sacramento during an Oct. 12 luncheon, she wasn’t sure how to get her message across in her acceptance speech. So she borrowed lessons from the hokey pokey.
Dillon teaches Literature for Children and has been performing for years at venues such as Fairytale Town and the Sacramento Public  Library, where her shows have been aimed at bringing literature to children.
She has a reputation for throwing herself into her shows, and some of her fans have been very enthusiastic about her performances.  Following one show in front of young children, a 4-year-old came up to her and said, “When it’s time, I think I’ll hire you for my wedding.”
But Dillon has had to curtail many of her activities because of an undiagnosed neurological problem that has affected her mobility and speech. “I was concerned that if I did win, would my body allow me to say what I wanted to say, the way I wanted to say it.”
While approaching the stage, she was helped by Sacramento Business Journal columnist Ed Goldman and found her strength. “It was like the person who lectures and is the entertainer came out, and it all fell into place,” Dillon says.
Noting that her success has occurred through many components, Dillon quoted the hokey pokey to the audience. “When I put my right  hand in, always at the other end has been my family and my friends who believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself.”
Left hand, right leg and left leg represent Fairytale Town, the library, the Sacramento Bee, and fans young and old. “And when you shake yourself all about, that’s when you acknowledge what it is to be human – the creativity, curiosity and participation in life. That is what it’s all about.”
Dillon was one of three nominees. The others were Art Professor Elaine O’Brien – who also is a Sacramento State instructor – and  Milton Bowens, lead artist in residence at the Twin Rivers Unified School District.
Dillon’s award was one of several given out Oct. 12. For more information, visit www.sacabc.org/programs/prelude-to-the-season/. For media assistance regarding Sacramento State’s arts programs, call the University’s Public Affairs office at (916) 278-6156.

The path to a college degree is never easy. For Sacramento State’s Katrina Currie, it was an especially rough road, but a road that has paid off in more ways than one – most recently with the honor of a William Randolph Hearst/CSU Trustees’ Award for Outstanding Achievement.
Currie is one of 23 students from California State University campuses to receive a $3,000 scholarship. All the students will be honored at the Tuesday, Sept. 18, meeting of the CSU Board of Trustees in Long Beach.
Abused at age 12, addicted to alcohol and drugs as a teen, and a runaway from home, Currie became a single mother at age 15 and again at age 17.
Then, one day at a park, her young son fell and broke his arm. Even though Currie was not there and her son was under the care of one of Currie’s relatives, the incident sparked a turnaround in her life.
“I finally realized I needed to focus more on my children and take a more active part in their lives,” she says.
She got her GED and then started college.
Her initial goal was an associate degree in nursing. But she kept going beyond that. She came to Sacramento State, twice winning the prestigious BEL Foundation Scholarship and earning a bachelor’s degree in gerontology. And she’s still going, coming back this fall in the master’s of education, curriculum and instruction program. Amid all this, there also has been an internship at the UC Davis Hospice Program, plus volunteer work at the Senior Safe House.
Eventually, Currie plans to become a consultant and educator to get care facilities to offer a person-centered care approach to those with dementia.
“If I would have seen myself becoming like this seven years ago, I would have said it was impossible,” Currie says.
Currie says no one ever encouraged her to go to college, and one of the best things about her new life is serving as a role model for her children. Her daughter, now 17, is already on her way and wants to become a special education teacher. “If I made it this far, they can,” Currie says.
For more information on the Hearst Scholarship, visit www.calstate.edu/foundation/hearst/. For media assistance, call Sacramento State’s Public Affairs office at (916) 278-6156.

Sac State announces fall arts lineup

Fall is almost here, and things are falling into place for another season of entertaining and thought-provoking performances and exhibits at Sacramento State, courtesy of the University’s arts programs.
At the heart of the lineup is Sac State’s acclaimed Festival of New American Music. The November tradition is a 10-day series of free concerts featuring the best of new American music, an interpretation that presents contemporary classical or jazz components sharpened with a cutting edge.
From there, check out the other offerings in music, theater and dance, visual arts and design. There will be a special art exhibit focusing on water, a play that tells the story of a different kind of “Robin Hood,” modern dance concerts, lectures by prominent authors, and a display of rarely exhibited works from Sac State’s own art collection.
Autumn 2012 is just around the corner, and the actors, musicians, singers, artists, dancers, designers and photographers at Sac State are ready to make it a season you’ll enjoy.

Theatre and Dance
Faculty and guest choreographers come together to guide students through their first performance of the year in “Dance Sites 2012: Faculty Dance Concert.” This always-anticipated annual evening of dance on the University Theatre main stage presents a wide range of music and dance styles. Performances are Oct. 17-21.
Attention next turns to Playwrights’ Theatre, where new department Chair Melinda Wilson Ramey will direct “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf.” A choreopoem by Ntozake Shange, the play weaves dance and poetry to express the struggles of different women in their search for God, peace, love and happiness. It runs Nov. 1-4 and Nov. 7-11.
It’s back to dance for “Dance House,” directed by Lorelei Bayne and Philip Flickinger, showcasing original works choreographed by students, alumni and community guests. Performances are in Solano Hall’s Dancespace, Nov. 14-18.
Finally, take a trip to Sherwood Forest for a different kind of “Robin Hood,” written by Don Nigro and directed by Professor Michelle Felten. In this version, the daring hero tries to keep wicked Prince John from building an arms manufactory, a slaughterhouse and a tennis court. Supported by a cast of vivid and wacky characters, this mixture of farce, physical comedy and bawdy humor is sure to tickle your funny bone. It runs Nov. 28-Dec. 2 and Dec. 5-9 in the University Theatre.
For more information on the season or the department, visit www.csus.edu/dram/ or call (916) 278-6368. For tickets, call the University Ticket Office at (916) 278-4323. For media assistance, call Sacramento State’s Public Affairs office at (916) 278-6156.

Music
The Festival of New American Music (FeNAM) runs Nov. 1-10 and features a lineup of artists guaranteed to please all fans of new American music. It starts with a keynote address by composer Augusta Read Thomas and features musicians Geoffrey Burleson, the Calliope Duo, the JACK Quartet, Third Coast Percussion and Allen Vizzutti as well as the festival’s “house band” Citywater, the Sac State Faculty Jazz Trio and the University’s Symphonic Wind Ensemble. Most of the concerts are in the Music Recital Hall and all of them are free. www.csus.edu/music/fenam/index.htm
The Music Department’s international reach will again be apparent with the return of the World Music Series. South Indian vocalist S. Sowmya begins the series at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17. She has received extensive training in Carnatic music, and established Carnatica, an institution dedicated to music and dance instruction. She will be followed by the Balinese gamelan group Gamelan Sekar Jaya at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2. The 60-member company of musicians and dancers plays various types of bronze or bamboo percussion instruments. They have performed throughout the United States and Bali. www.csus.edu/music/bravo/worldmusic.htm
The Piano Series is back starting with Sacramento State’s own Professor Richard Cionco at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29. Cionco performs frequently throughout the United States as well as Italy, Germany and China, and has performed in Denmark, Slovakia, Japan, Canada and many other countries. He celebrates 20 years on the Sac State faculty with a new CD of Beethoven’s later piano music. The semester’s second recital features Ju Ying Song at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20. Song earned her MM and DMA from Juilliard and is on the faculty of the New School for Music at Mannes College. Her awards include Pro Piano Artist of the Year, the Sudler Prize for outstanding achievement from Stanford University and the Petschek Award, Juilliard’s highest honor for a pianist. www.csus.edu/music/bravo/pianoseries.htm
Faculty recitals will be presented by saxophonist Keith Bohm with pianist John Cozza at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 12; and by harpsichordist Lorna Peters with violinist Jubal Fulks at 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21. Both recitals are in Capistrano Hall 151.
Sac State’s jazz groups have been recognized as some of the best in the nation. The Jazz Ensembles have been invited six times to the Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival, and there will be two opportunities for people to find out just how good they are. The band will play at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, and 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6. The vocal jazz group, selected for several consecutive years as the best in the nation by Downbeat magazine, will perform at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30.
Choral music at its best will be presented when the University Choirs perform at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3. They’ll gather again for the extremely popular Procession of Carols at 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1, and 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2. All performances are at Sacred Heart Church, 39th and J streets.
The Symphonic Wind Ensemble holds a concert at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 26, and the Concert Band performs at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 15. The two groups combine forces for a concert at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 28.
The Symphony Orchestra takes the stage at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16 and Dec. 4. Camerata Capistrano, Sacramento State’s baroque ensemble, performs at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 9.
The season concludes at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 10, with the always-charming free holiday concert by the String Project, local young violinists and cellists taught by Sac State music students.
Sac State music students contribute to the lineup throughout the year with free performances. The Mu Phi Epsilon music fraternity presents a recital of chamber and classical music at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 5; jazz combos perform in short sets at 3 p.m. Friday, Oct. 12, and Friday, Nov. 16; violin students of Professor Ian Swensen perform at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26, in Capistrano 151; piano students of Professor Lorna Peters will present a recital at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 26; the Clarinet Choir holds a concert at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 27; saxophone ensembles perform at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 5 in Capistrano Hall 151; and student composers present their work at 4 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6, in Capistrano Hall 151.
All concerts are in the Music Recital Hall except where noted.
For more information and details on ticket prices, visit www.csus.edu/music or call (916) 278-5191. For tickets, call the University Ticket Office at (916) 278-4323. For media assistance, call Sacramento State’s Public Affairs office at (916) 278-6156.

Fine Art and Design
Art Department instructors have ventured into the department’s vault of treasures and retrieved pieces collected over the last 60 years. “Lost & Found: Selections from Sac State’s Art Collection” will share those works with the public Aug. 28-Sept. 27 in Kadema Hall’s Else Gallery. Works include limited-edition lithographs by luminaries such as Pablo Picasso, Rufino Tamayo, Andy Warhol and Frank Stella, as well as ceramic sculpture, paintings, drawings and prints by regional masters and familiar Sac State names such as Robert Else, Ruth Rippon, Robert Arneson, Irving Marcus and Jack Ogden. A reception will be held 5-8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30, in the Kadema Hall breezeway. Professor Elaine O’Brien will lead a panel of former Art Department chairs in a discussion of the history of the collection, 6:30-8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 13, in Mariposa Hall 1000.
In conjunction with “Lost & Found,” documentary filmmaker Laurence Campling will present a lecture illustrated with images and video clips from his current project, the Candy Story Gallery in Folsom. The talk will take place at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20, in Mariposa 1000.
The Else Gallery hosts “Water: Essence and Potential” from Nov. 5-Dec. 7, a special exhibit that serves as a tributary of Sac State’s One World Initiative, a program designed to engage the entire campus in discussion about global perspectives on water. Curated by Professor Pat Chirapravati, the show features works by Brenda Louie, Koo Kyung Sook, Meech Miyagi and Minh Tran.
Works by students and guest artists will be featured in Kadema Hall’s Witt Gallery throughout the semester. Else Gallery hours are noon-4:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday. Witt Gallery hours are noon-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. Call (916) 278-6166 or visit www.al.csus.edu/art/ for more information. For media assistance, call Sacramento State’s Public Affairs office at (916) 278-6156.
The University Library Gallery hosts “Balancing Act” to begin the fall semester. The exhibit of David Middlebrook works runs Sept. 6-Dec. 15 with a reception 5-8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 6. Middlebrook’s work has its roots in ceramics and has evolved into site-specific sculptures of stone, marble and bronze. The Sac State show will feature a number of precariously balanced shapes.
Meanwhile, Americana art will be on display in “Artistry of the Traditional Quilt,” which begins Sept. 6 next door in the Library Gallery Annex and runs through Saturday, Oct. 20, with a reception 5-8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7. A companion exhibit, “Piecing the Past Together: Nineteenth Century Quilts” runs Sept. 6-Dec. 20 in the Library Special Collections and University Archives. Pieces in both shows are from the collection of Carol Gebel, a former Sac State library services specialist and member of the American Quilt Study Group.
Library Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Hours for Special Collections and University Archives are 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, call (916) 278-4189 or visit www.al.csus.edu/sota/ulg/. For media assistance, call the Public Affairs office at (916) 278-6156.
The Library Gallery is also the site of the Friends of the Library’s popular Author Lecture Series, which begins this year with Sacramento State’s own professor of contemporary art history, Elaine O’Brien. She will discuss her book Modern Art in Africa, Asia and Latin America: An Introduction to Global Modernisms at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 3. The book is an anthology of essays and documents about modern art beyond the West.
“Sacramento’s Chinatown,” by Brian and Larry Tom, is the topic at 3 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 1. Sacramento has one of the oldest Chinatowns in America. The author brothers are third-generation Chinese Americans.
For more information, call Sally Hitchcock at (916) 278-5954.
Sacramento State invites everyone in the greater Sacramento region to visit the campus and experience the superior and affordable performances, exhibits and many other events presented by its students, faculty and guests.

With the 2012-13 school year fast approaching, incoming high school freshmen often face that sometimes-difficult transition from middle school with a mixture of wonder, fear and trepidation.
To help alleviate a little of that fear, 16-year-old Shia Streator, McClatchy High School senior and WayUp facilitator, volunteered her time during the first few days in August for a three-day/two-night leadership camp.
Nearly 400 incoming 9th graders within the Sacramento City Unified School District converged upon Sacramento State for the Sacramento WayUp Youth Leadership Program Summer Camp, which was held July 31 to Aug. 2.
The goal of the leadership program was to build a bridge that dilutes freshmen fears and makes students more comfortable with the transition to high school, Streator said.
“When I came in as a freshman, I didn’t have anybody really to teach me anything social wise,” Streator said. “This three-day leadership program is designed to give the freshmen an essence of accomplishment and friendship during and after the camp. Because freshmen are usually alone the first couple of months, this summer program gives them an opportunity to know 300 freshmen who feel the same way as they do.”
Streator says programs like WayUp have helped her build her own leadership skills.
“When I entered my junior year last year after participating in the camp, I did come out of it with a lot more confidence and assurance of who I am and what I can do,” she said. “I have just become captain of my criminal justice academy, so it really applies to what I am doing in school.”
The Sacramento WayUp Youth Leadership Program Summer Camp teaches kids how to stand as leaders in their schools, communities and within their own lives under the camp theme “Evolution 2 Revolution: Leadership is Not an Option.”
Students participate in a variety of activities from team-building exercises to developing strategic-thinking and problem-solving skills.
“The three-day event nurtures, guides and grows the next generation of leaders,” said WayUp Sacramento Program Director Talia Kaufman. “This year’s tracks are specifically ‘change yourself, change your community and change your future.’ It’s teaching young teens to assert themselves and give them self-empowerment along with thinking about community change and how we as individuals can help.”
This year Streator taught her own track.
“I talked about life values and planning your own life future,” she said. “It’s a way to help freshmen discover their own passion and help them carve what they want their high school and college experience to be like. For example, if they want to pursue more art, music, sports, academics, it will help them understand their own passion and encourage them to go for it.”
Sacramento City Unified School District Superintendent Jonathan Raymond said programs like these are more vital than ever, especially given of the city’s limited resources.
“Our goal is to give kids … rich summer learning experiences so that all of our students return to school is September ready for the new school year,” Raymond said.
Years of state budget cuts have forced the school district to reduce traditional summer school program to remediation classes only, Raymond said.
“We simply don’t have the money to offer the summer school programs that students enjoyed in the past,” he said. “But we are enriching the lives of thousands of kids this summer with our Summer Matters programming.”
In one year, the WayUp camp has gone from mentoring 40 kids to nearly 400 this year.
“When this initiative started a year ago, we never imagined it would grow so fast,” Raymond said. “The rapid expansion of this program is a testament to the kids and everyone involved who has worked tirelessly to give our youth the tools they need in order to become the next generation of great leaders of this community.”
WayUp Sacramento is funded primarily through grants received from the California Endowment, as well as through contributions from numerous businesses and community-based organizations throughout Sacramento.
“To see these kids interacting, learning, growing, smiling and laughing together is truly inspiring,” Kaufman said.

Elizabeth@valcomnews.com

Another Eppie’s Great Race has come and gone, but memories of a fun-filled day will live on. Thousands of people participated as well as volunteered for the annual event, now in its 39th year, which took place Saturday, July 21.
The race began with a 5.82-mile run along the American River bike trail near the bridge at William Pond Recreation Area.
Teams, “Ironmen” and “Ironwomen” then biked 12.5 miles from Guy West Bridge at Sacramento State to the Sunrise Avenue Bridge in Rancho Cordova.
The race concluded with a 6.35-mile kayak down the American River to River Bend Park.

tom@valcomnews.com

In the post-World War II era, Sacramento State College – today’s California State University, Sacramento – became the city’s first, and still only, four-year college. And playing an important role as a member of the school’s original faculty was Dr. Frederick Westphal.

River Park resident Hinda Westphal holds a first edition copy of her late husband Dr. Frederick Westphal’s book, “Guide to Teaching Woodwinds.” / Valley Community Newspapers photo, Lance Armstrong

Although Frederick, who served as the college’s first associate professor of music, passed away at the age of 87 on Dec. 23, 2003, his legacy remains strong due to the impact he made while contributing to the success of the school.

Born in the small, northeast Arkansas town of Walnut Ridge, which was founded as a railroad town in 1874 and is located about 75 miles east of Memphis, Tenn., Frederick took an early interest in music.

Frederick’s interest in music led him to study in this field at the University of Illinois – today’s University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – where he received bachelor’s degrees in conducting and arranging (1937) and public school music (1938).

In 1939, Frederick, who played the clarinet, earned a master’s degree in music education at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. This prestigious school, which is within the University of Rochester, was established in 1916 by Eastman Kodak Co. founder, George Eastman.

During the same year, Frederick, at the age of 23 and having completed his master’s degree, was hired to teach music classes at Texas State College for Women – today’s Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas, between Dallas and Fort Worth. He continued to work in this role, which by his third year included taking charge of a concert band, until 1946.

Another one of Frederick’s endeavors in music was his summertime employment at the National Music Camp – later Interlochen Arts Camp – where he was responsible for music for the performance groups during the camp’s eight-week sessions.

Additionally, during the annual camp, where he taught from 1935 to 1942 and 1944 to 1945, Frederick instructed clarinet in relief of the famous 20th century clarinetist and clarinet teacher Gustave Langenus, when his schedule was overloaded, conducted bassoon sectional rehearsals for band and orchestra and was a guest conductor of the high school band for a one-week session.

Dr. Frederick Westphal is shown in this c. 1948 photograph. / Photo courtesy, Hinda Westphal

During the latter part of his time at the music camp, Frederick married Traverse City, Mich. native Hinda Cunningham, a violinist, whom he met at the camp. Hinda worked at the camp from 1941 to 1942 and again from 1944 to 1946.

Hinda and Frederick were engaged on Frederick’s birthday (April 25) in 1943 and were married about two months later on Hinda’s birthday (June 22).

Frederick furthered his education in music following his time at the camp, as he once again attended the Eastman School of Music and earned a performers certificate in clarinet in 1947 and a doctorate’s degree in music a year later.

In his memoirs, Frederick explained that the completion date of his doctorate’s degree was very timely.

“When my doctorate was completed, I was recommended for a position at a new California State College at Sacramento, one of several that were created following World War II,” Frederick wrote. “I accepted the position primarily because it was a new institution with no long range traditions and my job would be to create and develop the music department curricula and faculty. While still in Rochester, I provided the architectural specifications for a music facility to be built on a permanent campus in Sacramento.”

During Frederick’s early years with Sacramento State on the old Sacramento Junior College (today’s Sacramento City College) campus, the state college offered junior and senior level classes, while the junior college provided freshman and sophomore level instruction.

Sacramento State relocated to its current, 242-acre campus in 1953, at which time it became a four-year college.

Hinda Westphal is shown with her violin in about 1960. / Photo courtesy, Hinda Westphal

Reflecting upon his introduction to the current Sacramento State campus, Frederick, according to The Sacramento Bee, in 1983, said, “I had to get out my old rubber boots from my days in the East, because there was a lot of mud and there weren’t any sidewalks. We had three little buildings for classrooms, office space, storage and the piano classes. We held a few classes in the administration building, too.”

Among all of Sacramento State’s academic departments, the music department was the first to obtain national accreditation.

Frederick, who served as chairman of the music department for 15 years, was also well known in the community for his work as a member of the Sacramento Symphony Association’s board of directors from 1961 to 1981.

Additionally, he was the principal clarinetist of the Sacramento Municipal Band and the State Fair band, a founding committee member of the Sacramento Youth Orchestra – predecessor to today’s Sacramento Youth Symphony – the first vice president of the Sacramento Community Concerts, a two-term president of the Northern California section of the California Music Educators Association, chairman of the founding committee of the Golden Empire Music Festival, which was originally co-sponsored by California State University.

Hinda, who said that she is not sure if she is 90 or 91, since she spent the early part of her life without a birth certificate, said that she first arrived in Sacramento with Frederick on Aug. 8, 1948.

“When we got to Sacramento, the State Fair was going on, so we couldn’t find lodging,” said Hinda, who earned bachelor’s degrees in music and English and a music teacher’s credential at what is now Northern Michigan State University. “We ended up staying in a hotel on Marconi (Avenue). We later got a duplex at 2100 H St.”

In October 1948, Frederick and Hinda moved into their first Sacramento house at 2130 Stover Way in Hollywood Park, and by about 1953, they permanently moved to River Park, where they raised their sons, Frederick III, who is commonly known as “Rick,” and Carl, who is currently serving as the principal of Crocker/Riverside Elementary School in Land Park.

One of Frederick’s greatest contributions to music was his work as an author and editor of music textbooks for the former Dubuque, Iowa-based William C. Brown Co. Publishers, which was later designated Brown and Benchmark, and even later purchased by another publishing company, McGraw-Hill.

This 1960s Selmer clarinets promotional poster featured Dr. Frederick Westphal of Sacramento State College’s music department. / Photo courtesy, Hinda Westphal

Frederick contributed to 276 music books, including three books, which he authored.

The most notable of these three books was the very popular, “Guide to Teaching Woodwinds,” of which eight editions were published.

Although Frederick resigned as Sacramento State’s music department chairman in 1963, he remained a part of the faculty, teaching one semester per year until 1983.

At the time of his retirement, Frederick had the notoriety of having the longest tenure of any faculty member in the history of the school.

When asked to summarize the time that Frederick spent at Sacramento State, Hinda briefly, yet enthusiastically replied, “He loved every minute of it.”

Dr. Frederick Westphal is shown with his wife, Hinda Westphal, during the latter years of his life. / Photo courtesy, Hinda Westphal

lance@valcomnews.com

When it comes to the topic of bees in the capital city, Sacramento Beekeeping Supplies has a strong reputation, as it has served as a premier one-stop shop for bees, beekeeping supplies, honey and other bee-associated items for about a quarter century.

NANCY STEWART, owner of Sacramento Beekeeping Supplies, has operated her business for the past 26 years. / Valley Community Newspapers photo, Lance Armstrong

Located in the brightly-colored, bee-themed, artistically-painted building at 2110 X St., where the wholesale carpet business, Berven Carpets operated during the late 1960s and 1970s, this local business has been serving its customers at this site since 1993. The store was located at 2400 21st St. from 1985 to 1990 and at 2100 21st St., near Pancake Circus – 2101 Broadway – for the following three years.

Among the store’s offerings is a full line of backyard beekeeping supplies, including boxes and beeswax frames.

One can also purchase soap and candle making supplies, as well as many ready-made bee products, which include candles, lotions, creams, lipsticks, shampoos and conditioners.

The store also offers various gift items such as bee-related T-shirts, books, home and garden decorations, jewelry, cookbooks, stuffed animals and even beeswax crayons.

One of the most popular attractions of the store is its honey products tasting bar. A generous selection of raw, local honeys, comb honeys, spun honeys, honey sticks, pollen and royal jelly are available.

Many people are impressed by the store’s selection of honeys, and at times customers inquire whether the store adds flavor to some honeys, since they are only familiar the typical clover honey that is available in grocery stores.

Those interested in purchasing local honey from the store can do so at the $4 per pound, “fill-your-own jar” cost or at the $5.95 to $6.95 per pound, pre-bottled cost.

SACRAMENTO BEEKEEPING SUPPLIES offers a wide variety of beekeeping equipment and accessories, local honey, pollen, royal jelly and bee-themed gifts. / Valley Community Newspapers photo, Lance Armstrong

Because of its relatively large inventory, the store is also well equipped for setting up new hobbyists with all the necessities for entering the beekeeping world.

One can begin beekeeping for as little as $250 to $400, which includes a box, board bottom, suit and gloves.

Although the number of bee boxes one can operate depends upon the size of one’s property, a standard size backyard is allowed to contain up to two boxes.

As a mainly family-operated business, the store is headed by its owner Nancy Stewart, who is assisted by her daughters, Donna Stewart and Pam Hill.

Working as volunteers in the store are Nancy’s husband, Fred, who Nancy married in 1957, and her grandchildren, Courtney Hill, 15, and Brooklynne Hill, 12.

With a chuckle, Nancy, who earned a degree in psychology at California State University, Sacramento in 1972, said that Fred is a full-time volunteer, except when his golf outings get in the way.

Although the Stewarts’ involvement in the beekeeping business world began in 1985, the roots of Sacramento Beekeeping Supplies can be traced back much earlier.

JAMIE CONCANNON, an Amador County resident who was visiting the store last week, prepares to taste local honey at the business’s honey products tasting bar. / Valley Community Newspapers photo, Lance Armstrong

During his youth, Fred found himself fascinated by the bees that his aunt kept on her property in Arkansas.

Already carrying with him this fond memory, in the 1970s, Fred was loaned a book about beekeeping and his interest expanded, resulting in his acquisition of his first beehive in 1975.

By the early 1980s, while working for Caltrans, Fred was maintaining 100 beehives with his friend and co-worker, Al Brink.

Through Fred’s interest in beekeeping, Nancy also grew fond of beekeeping. But her desire to venture into the beekeeping world did not occur until 1983, when she met Barbara Dwyer of the now-defunct, West Sacramento business, United Bee Craft.

After opening her store in 1985, Nancy purchased United Bee Craft a year later.

Pondering her years of operating Sacramento Beekeeping Supplies, Nancy, who resides in the Little Pocket neighborhood of Sacramento, said that she has had many rewarding experiences and that she is very content with her store and the success that it continually experiences.

“I really enjoy the store and its ongoing success,” Nancy said. “Most of all, I like dealing with people who are involved in beekeeping. I also enjoy helping people who are new to the hobby, who want to learn how to do it.”

Nancy said that the popularity of beekeeping is on the rise and that her business has assisted about 100 to 200 new beekeeping hobbyists within the past year.

“Beekeeping has become pretty popular as a hobby in the last three years,” Nancy said. “The bees have had something called colony collapse disorder and they’ve had some

BEESWAX candles are among the products sold at Sacramento Beekeeping Supplies. / Valley Community Newspapers photo, Lance Armstrong

heavy die out. That’s improving and there’s been a lot of people who I think were thinking about beekeeping for years who finally decided to do it.”

Nancy added that the current gardening boom has also added to the popularity of beekeeping.

“There have been a lot of people doing their own gardening and eating local and organic food, and bees and beekeeping go along with that, as well,” Nancy said.

Nancy’s desire to educate others about beekeeping is something that she has passed on to her store’s employees, who are eager to assist the general public in answering any beekeeping questions.

Wilton resident Brian Fishback, a past president of the Sacramento Area Beekeepers Association, said that he is very appreciative of the willingness that workers of Sacramento Beekeeping Supplies have to share their beekeeping-related knowledge.

LOTS OF OPTIONS. The store offers a wide variety of non-beekeeping supplies, including candles, lotions, creams, lipsticks, shampoos and conditioners and bee-related home and garden decorations, jewelry, cookbooks and stuffed animals. / Valley Community Newspapers photo, Lance Armstrong

“I think (Sacramento Beekeeping Supplies) is a great asset,” Fishback said. “They’re not only an asset to the beekeeping industry, but they’re an asset here to local beekeepers. They are a hub for beekeeping issues in the city, in the county, as well as with local beekeepers. You have a lot of hobbyists who are coming into (beekeeping) and it’s like anything else; you can read a lot of books, but it doesn’t exactly always mean that that’s what is going to happen out in the field. And that’s where Fred, Nancy and, of course, their girls come in. When people come down and find them and have a lot of questions, they’ve always attended to everybody’s questions and answered them.”

Nancy emphasized that because her business has a partially misleading name, she strives to continuously educate others that her store offers much more than beekeeping supplies.

“I do like to (stress the) difference between just beekeeping things (and other products),” Nancy said. “I named the store Sacramento Beekeeping Supplies, because (beekeeping supplies) is all we had at first. It’s much more than beekeeping. Come and see for yourself.”

Sacramento Beekeeping Supplies is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

For more information, call (916) 451-2337 or visit www.sacramentobeekeeping.com.