![Junior Aneesh Patil displays photos of his family on a vacation in Chicago. His family reunited in the U.S. after being apart from his father for a year. “I didnt want to come to U.S. at the beginning [but my sons] were missing their dad,” his mother Anu said. “That was the reason I had to move here.](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Hsiao_20240308_IDMag_AneeshPatil_23-1200x799.jpg)
![IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Junior Zalie Mann performs “I Love to Cry at Weddings,” an ensemble piece from the fall musical Sweet Charity, to prospective students during the Fine Arts Showcase on Wednesday, Nov. 8. The showcase is a compilation of performances and demonstrations from each fine arts strand offered at McCallum. This show is put on so that prospective students can see if they are interested in joining an academy or major.
Sweet Charity originally ran the weekends of Sept. 28 and Oct. 8, but made a comeback for the Fine Arts Showcase.
“[Being at the front in the spotlight] is my favorite part of the whole dance, so I was super happy to be on stage performing and smiling at the audience,” Mann said.
Mann performed in both the musical theatre performance and dance excerpt “Ethereal,” a contemporary piece choreographed by the new dance director Terrance Carson, in the showcase. With also being a dance ambassador, Mann got to talk about what MAC dance is, her experience and answer any questions the aspiring arts majors and their parents may have.
Caption by Maya Tackett.](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/53321803427_47cd17fe70_o-1-1200x800.jpg)
![SPREADING THE JOY: Sophomore Chim Becker poses with sophomores Cozbi Sims and Lou Davidson while manning a table at the Hispanic Heritage treat day during lunch of Sept 28. Becker is a part of the students of color alliance, who put together the activity to raise money for their club.
“It [the stand] was really fun because McCallum has a lot of latino kids,” Becker said. “And I think it was nice that I could share the stuff that I usually just have at home with people who have never tried it before.”
Becker recognizes the importance of celebrating Hispanic heritage at Mac.
“I think its important to celebrate,” Becker said. “Because our culture is awesome and super cool, and everybody should be able to learn about other cultures of the world.”
Caption by JoJo Barnard.](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/53221601352_4127a81c41_o-1200x675.jpg)
“They influence our lives more than a sitting President, yet no one seems to pay attention to them. Let’s change that.”
In July, Filipp Dmitriev (’25) founded the Pleasanton Echo, an online newspaper shedding light on the operations of Pleasanton’s local commissioners, appointed officials that assist and advise the City Council on specific projects.
Dmitriev has been interested in the local government for a long time. Ten months ago, he served as a commissioner on the Pleasanton Human Services Board. This board voices the needs of the city’s inhabitants, especially those disadvantaged economically and socially.
“I’m really honored to serve as a commissioner on the Pleasanton Human Services Board,” said Dmitriev. “Together, we advise the City Council on the human needs in our community. We provide feedback on city plans and allocate grants to nonprofits.”
As a commissioner, Dmitriev was fascinated by the interconnectedness and complexity of Pleasanton’s local government. He saw how a multitude of groups worked together to run the city.
“One thing that stood out the most for me was really the sheer amount of organizations that help our community and the Tri-Valley. It’s really quite amazing,” said Dmitriev.
Dmitriev started his nonprofit newspaper, the Pleasanton Echo, to increase community engagement in committee meetings and the local government. He publishes the newspaper on Substack, which provides a platform for small newsletters like the Echo.
“I write short summaries of local government meetings because it provides the community a really digestible format to understand what’s going on in our government,” said Dmitriev.
Running the newspaper takes a lot of time and effort. To gather information, Dmitriev attends committee meetings and reads through pages of agendas, notes, and supplementaries.
“I’ll watch recordings of them. Sometimes I go to them. I record the main points, and I summarize them in an easy-to-understand way for community members to process what’s going on,” said Dmitriev.
In his articles, Dmitriev defines key terminology that may seem like legal jargon to a new reader. Through his efforts, he hopes to make local government and its plans more accessible than ever.
“My hope for the future of the city is to see the community more engaged than ever and participate in the local government meetings,” said Dmitriev. “The city should always be led by the people.”
This story was originally published on Amador ValleyToday on October 2, 2023.
