DanielleGaines's blog

If the nation’s students decided the election:

Barack Obama / Joe Biden (D) - 64.24%
John McCain / Sarah Palin (R) - 32.16%

Those are the result of the National Student/Parent Mock Election, a congressionally-authorized election holiday that showcases the opinions of the nation’s young people five days before the general election.

Here in Merced, 124 fourth and fifth graders at Sheehy Elementary School participated. Here are their results:

The supporters of Measure were confident in conversations Friday that the $149.5 million school bond would pass despite the economic downturn.

At some point today, many of you might receive a phone call reminding you to vote.

Why?

The Yes on M committee is concerned that early presidential campaign projections will dissuade evening voters in Merced from casting their ballots, chairperson Adam Cox said.

Just a friendly reminder that tomorrow is the last day to turn in an application to receive a mail-in ballot.

More information on how to fill out the application or to vote by mail is available at this Merced County elections Web page.

In my endless surfing of all things UC Merced related, I found this very interesting post by Matthew Traum, a UC Irvine graduate and current engineering professor at the University of North Texas.

Traum has great links that show how the university construction at Merced mirrors the construction at Irvine. Both were built essentially in the middle of nowhere.

The Project on Student Debt released its new state-by-state data on educational debt incurred by the Class of 2007 today.

California is in the top ten states for low debt burden, ranking ninth with the average college student graduating with $17,215 in loans. The state ranked even better in the percentage of students who must take loans to pay for school – fifth – with only 45 percent of students graduating with debt.

Unacceptable.

That was Merced City School District Board Member Susan Walsh’s reaction to a smaller library building at the $16 million planned Rivera K-8 campus.

Construction currently being planned by the district will transform the 40-classroom middle school into a 60-classroom K-8 campus.

“I don’t find it acceptable at a school where you are adding more children to decrease the size of the library,” Walsh said of the schematic design presented by WLC Architects.