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Council sets aside more than $41,00 for social services
Last week, San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales completed a South Bay tour of Santa Clara County's 14 cities by making a special appearance at the Campbell City Council meeting.
Campbell City Hall was the last stop in the mayor's inaugural series of goodwill visits to neighboring city councils. Gonzales' bridge-building tour, which began in February, marks the first time that a Santa Clara County mayor has appeared before all the county's city councils. In his quick appearance, the newly elected mayor of the "Capital of Silicon Valley" spoke to the council and Campbell constituents of the need to foster a spirit of cooperation among cities countywide in order to effectively work together on important regional issues, such as traffic congestion, affordable housing, environmental concerns, and education and jobs in the 21st century.
High schoolers win kudos for delivering poems in foreign tongues
Students from Prospect and Westmont high schools took home the gold last month as the best foreign-language poetry readers out of 15 participating schools in Silicon Valley. Following the April contest, a Prospect student won first prize in the Spanish category, and a Westmont student in French.
The wins were that much more impressive considering there was no English allowed. Every poem was read in either French or Spanish.
"They say the name of their poem, the author of the poem and then they recite it," says Carol Crane, head of the Prospect foreign language department. "The poem is in the native language."
Contestants practiced for one month before the competition, sharpening their foreign tongue with a famous poem they had selected with their foreign language teachers at school. On the big day, students were judged on their pronunciation, gestures, intonations, pacing and poise.
College professors, high school language teachers and people with French or Spanish as their native language made up the nine judges.
Spanish contestant winners were awarded a pen, and French poetry winners were given a miniature Eiffel Tower.
"I think they were doing it for the honor of their school; it's not like we had $100 prize to give out," Crane says.
The poetry contest is an annual event that was begun by Presentation and Notre Dame high schools 16 years ago.
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Campbell, California
