Published in the December 6 – 19, 2017 issue of Morgan Hill Life

The Mount Madonna girl’s volleyball team

Congratulations to the Mount Madonna Girls Volleyball team for scoring the Central Coast Section highest academic honor by the California Interscholastic Federation: the 2017-18 Fall Season Scholastic Championship Award.

The team scholastic awards were instituted by the CCS Board of Managers in 1985 as a way to recognize teams with the highest collective grade-point average in their respective sport during that season of competition.

“With the varsity girls earning the CCS team scholastic award my assumptions have been confirmed,” Head Coach Erin Mitchell said. “These girls are not just incredible athletes, they are not just devoted students. They are truly a team made up of student-athletes, who hold those two positions on the same tier, not one above another.”

The Mount Madonna team’s collective GPA is 3.83. Team members are Savannah Cambell, 9th grade; An-Mei Dasbach-Prisk, Paola Jacobs, 10th grade; Eleanor Harrington, Imogen Cockrum, Kaili Sullens and Mara Peruzzi, 11th grade; Aimee Kerr, Gracie Howley, Indigo Kelly and Sienna Clifton, 12th grade. Mitchell was assisted by coach Marissa Ottesen.

This is the fourteenth time a Mount Madonna School volleyball team has earned the distinction. Way to go, girls.

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The Morgan Hill Library is the place for free family-focused fun for the winter festive season. Community Librarian Heather Geddes wants to community to know there are three special holiday-themed events suitable for children leading up to Christmas at the library at 660 West Main Avenue.

The Harpers Hall Ensemble Holiday Concert will be held 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 12. “Join us for a Harper’s ensemble holiday performance by South Bay and central coast musicians,” Geddes said.

The Holiday Jazz Night will start 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 18. It’ll be an evening of free, live holiday music at the library.  Listen to some great jazz standards performed by local musicians. And the Fratello Marionettes group will present a free puppet extravaganza called “The North Pole Review” at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 21, and 10:15 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 23.

We love our local library — and one reason why is because the programming its staff provides brings to Morgan Hill the best entertainment for children. Check it out!

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Mark Fenichel

Everyone loves Mark… Mark “Fenny” Fenichel that is. He’s also known as “Harmonica Man” for his phenomenal talent in playing blues, country and other music. Check out the current issue of gmhToday that features a profile of Morgan Hill Life’s ad rep in a wonderfully written by Jordan Rosenfeld. You’ll find it on page 56 and 57 of the lifestyle magazine. It’s titled “Mark Fenichel: Letting the Music Move Him.”

“Music is really in me, it’s really important and it’s definitely a strong passion,” he is quoted in the story.

Mark encourages the idea that music is important for everyone, whether they perform it or appreciate it at concerts or other venues.

“Music makes people feel good,” said in the story. “You could be depressed and music makes you feel better. You could be ill and music makes you feel better. Music brings back the memories when you’re old.”

Mark also wrote a holiday-inspired song called “I Love Christmas.” Look for how to download it in a future issue of Morgan Hill Life.

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Nov. 9 was a special day at Gavilan Community College celebrated with students, staff and residents of the South Valley joining together for a formal ceremony to retire an old American flag and raise a new one over the campus.

During the remodel of the Student Center, the student military veterans saw a need to replace the weathered flag on the Gilroy campus’s flag pole nearby. With funding help from the Veterans of Foreign War, District 12, Post 9242 out of Hollister, the college purchased several sets of American and California state flags. The old flag had received much use since it was first flown Jan. 21, 2015.