Print
When Timothy VanderPloeg went to school in Ramona, he remembers being fascinated by news accounts of the space shuttle launches and classroom discussions about moon missions.
And when he was asked to choose between chemistry or physics at Ramona High, he selected physics and never looked back.
“I was interested in engineering in general,” said VanderPloeg, 27, who graduated from Ramona High in 2011. “I always wanted to be able to apply that to space.”
In 2016 he got his bachelor’s in electrical engineering from Cal State Fresno and then worked five years as a civilian engineer at the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in Ridgecrest.
is an entrepreneur and documentary producer. She lives in Rancho Bernardo.
This past year was tough for everyone. People lost their freedom, many lost their jobs and some, very sadly, lost their lives.
From the point of view of a mother of a high school senior, this year was tough for me because of what I saw the batch of 2021 seniors go through.
We are immigrants and have been living in San Diego for 20 years. My husband has been working for a local company and we have been paying some of the highest taxes in the country.
Advertisement
We provide this platform for community commentary free of charge. Thank you to all the Union-Tribune subscribers whose support makes our journalism possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider becoming one today.
UpdatedThu, Apr 29, 2021 at 11:19 am PT
Replies(42)
More than 100 California high schools were ranked top schools by U.S. News and World Report. (Shutterstock)
CALIFORNIA Thousands of public California high schools have been ranked by U.S. News and World Report in the publication s latest analysis of upper school education in the United States, revealing the top schools across the state and beyond.
This year s Best High Schools list ranks more than 24,000 public high schools throughout the country.
Here s where the top 100 California schools ranked among others in the U.S.
(first number is ranking in California, second number is national ranking):
plant sale Saturday
The Carlsbad Garden Club will hold a plant sale from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at The Makers Market fair, on the grounds of St. Michael’s By-the-Sea Episcopal Church, 2775 Carlsbad Blvd., with vendors, music and plant bargains. Proceeds go to horticulture college scholarships. For questions, call or text (760) 481-5414.
Advertisement
Genealogy buffs to meet online Tuesday
The Legacy Users Group, sponsored by the North San Diego County Genealogical Society, will meet virtually from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in GoToMeeting format. The meeting is free; registration is not required. Visit nsdcgs.org.
‘Crafting a DNA Testing Plan’ subject of class
Print
At a dinner party in 1935, the Irish writer George Bernard Shaw was conversing with a young woman who said, “What a wonderful thing is youth!” Shaw sagely replied, “Yes and what a crime to waste it on children.”
The exchange was memorialized in the well-known but acerbic adage: “Youth is wasted on the young.”
With all due respect to Shaw, I beg to differ especially after meeting sisters Nene and Ekene Okolo, ages 20 and 17, who are using their talents to combat racial injustice. The pair are being honored at the National Conflict Resolution Center’s Peacemaker Awards on May 15.