CITY COUNCILS CARLSBAD The Carlsbad City Council met Tuesday for a hearing and approved its 2021-22 operating budget, other city budgets and associated resolutions.
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Ofelia Lopez-Villamar, a school office assistant at Jefferson Elementary in the Carlsbad Unified School District, has been named the 2021 Countywide Classified School Employee of the Year by the San Diego County Office of Education.
The county Office of Education runs the countywide Classified School Employee of the Year program to recognize employees of distinction, nominated by their school districts.
“We celebrate Ofelia and all her fellow nominees, who work tirelessly to ensure students have what they need and deserve to succeed,” said San Diego County Superintendent of Schools Paul Gothold in a statement. “The key roles they play in the day-to-day functions of schools are as important as ever as we adjust to life during the pandemic.”
POWAY
For all of his 18 years, Ben Lou’s physical disabilities have made him dependent on others 24 hours a day. But the Poway teen’s mental abilities have no limitations.
Ben is an exceptional mathematics whiz who was born with a genetic disease known as spinal muscular atrophy, or SMA. His health care needs require hands-on assistance from others for about 60 percent of his waking hours. Since his early teens, Ben has faced off against much older students in mathematic competitions and math camps around the world.
His prowess with numbers and near-perfect SAT score have earned him spots next fall at three of the nation’s most selective universities Harvard, Caltech and his first choice of M.I.T., where he’ll start online classes in the fall. Ben said his college dream is to study math, physics and biology with the goal of one day designing assistance products for people with disabilities like himself to become more self-sufficient. He’s still not sure how that wi