Steve Soderstrom pitched three games for the Giants in 1996, allowing 16 hits and 11 runs, eight of them earned, in 13 2/3 innings. These numbers are forgettable, at best, but Turlock is not most places, and in Turlock, Steve is a legend. Soderstrom was the first alum of Turlock High to be selected in the first round of the MLB Draft (in 1993, after competing collegiately at Fresno State), and when he first touched big-league grass on Sept. 17, 1996, he became the second player from the high school to do so.

Sure, he gave up three hits and five runs in his debut, but he also shared a field with Barry Bonds and Tony Gwynn. His legend wasnt born that night in San Francisco, though; that came years later. By the time he debuted with the Giants, Steve had long considered himself an almond farmer he still does today. His baseball career is the source of fond memories from a different time.

In 2003, his oldest son, Tate, fell in love with the game just like...

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Backyard product: A's top pick Tyler Soderstrom boosted his MLB stock in Turlock - The Athletic

The future home of the UAB Blazers will be outfitted with artificial turf that can have sod laid over it after the BJCC board of directors approved the move at its meeting Friday.

Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Authority Board Chairman Dennis Lathem noted that the surface is pricier than other options such as grass or hyrbid turf, but he said the type of turf the board went with makes the most sense" because it offers more flexibility.

He did not say how much the playing surface would cost or the types of events that would be played on sod, but the stadium is expected to hold World Games events in 2022 after the festivities were postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Construction on the $174 million open-air stadium is on track to be completed by the end of October 2021 with the whole project expected to be finished by November 2021, Lathem said. The Blazers will be moving from Legion Field to Protective Life Stadium.

In other business, the hotels owned by the BJCC -- the Sheraton Birmingham Hotel and the Westin Birmingham -- have been severely impacted by COVID-19 with the hotels operating at a nearly $500,000 loss last month combined, the board reported.

The Sheraton, where there are no occupied rooms, lost $195,000 in April and only generated a little more than $8,100 in revenue.

The Westin, which had a 29.1 percent occupancy rate, lost $289,000 in April and had $216,000 in revenue against a $1.26 million budget.

Also at the meeting, which was held at the North Civic Hall and via teleconference because of the pandemic, the board approved a measure that decreases the cost of construction of the Legacy Arena renovation by more than $301,000.

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Protective Life Stadium will have turf with option for sod over artificial surface - AL.com

During a sultry Texas summer, we really appreciate a little shade in the landscape, so a large tree can be a great asset. But we also appreciate a lush, beautiful lawn and turf and trees tolerate each other at best.

Warm-season turfgrass requires a significant amount of sunlight to maintain acceptable growth and density. For best results, a minimum of four to six hours of direct sun is needed, although a bright, dappled shade over the course of the entire day may be enough. Less sun means a progressively thinner, weaker stand of grass.

Among our southern turf species adapted to the Bryan-College Station area, St. Augustine is the most shade tolerant. If a spot is too shady for St. Augustine, it is too shady for any warm-season lawn grass. Zoysiagrass is next, followed by centipedegrass and finally by bermudagrass, which is by far the least shade tolerant.

In a landscape filled with trees, the light intensity the grass receives decreases a little each year as the trees grow larger, blocking more and more of the sun. So, it is no surprise that a shady area where grass once thrived can begin to decline over several years.

Once a lawn begins to thin out from lack of sunlight, other complications likely will arise. Soil structure will be lost as foot traffic creates compaction, reducing water infiltration, aeration and root growth. Weeds often become a problem in these spots, further stressing the remaining grass.

Turfgrass weakened by a lack of sunlight is more susceptible to some disease problems, and lawn care practices that may be fine in sunny areas can exacerbate problems in the shade. A natural response to thinning turf is to water and fertilize more to make it grow faster and fill in better.

Extra watering also is counterproductive, as this can increase some diseases; in fact, grass uses less water in the shade than it does in sun.

The bottom line is that while sunlight, nutrients and moisture are all needed for strong growth and good grass plant health, you cant make up for a lack of sun by adding more of the other two.

If you have a shady spot where the grass is not thriving, here are several tips to help improve your lawn:

Avoid compacting the soil. Reroute the pitter-patter of little feet, both people and pets, until the area fills in. Areas that are already compacted may benefit from mechanical aeration. You can rent a machine or hire a lawn care professional.

Set your mower higher for shady spots. The leaf blades of the grass are its solar panels. More leaf area enables them to capture more light to support new growth. Plus, it makes thin areas look a little thicker than if they are mowed shorter.

Avoid the temptation to over-fertilize. Turf growing in the shade requires less nitrogen, not more. Extra nitrogen results in the plant pushing more leaf growth at the expense of root development. But without solar rays to drive photosynthesis, there isnt the carbohydrate production needed to build a stronger grass plant and to increase turf density.

Avoid the temptation to over-water. As with nutrients, you cant make up for a lack of light with extra water. In fact, heavily shaded areas use only 1/2 to 2/3 as much water. Over-watering also can result in increased disease problems.

Sometimes selective tree trimming by removing some branches around the lower periphery of the tree canopy can help allow a little more light in from the sides. If the shade is not too dense to begin with, this may be somewhat helpful. However, pruning throughout a tree enough to make the turfgrass thrive is generally not recommended since doing enough pruning to make a big difference is detrimental to the trees structure and form. It is also only a temporary fix; the tree will quickly regrow, often creating a denser shade in the long run.

If the shade is marginal and you have taken some of the above steps, planting plugs or sod strips in bare areas can help speed reestablishment of the turf as it tries to fill back in under less than ideal light levels. Otherwise the new plugs will just decline along with the existing turf.

These tips, although helpful, will not guarantee a lush lawn in heavy shade. Lets face it, some spots are just too shady to grow grass. Shady spots can become mulched areas with outdoor seating, or planted with very shade tolerant groundcovers, perennials and shrubs. With a little planning and creative design, these areas can become a beautiful addition to the landscape.

Robert Skip Richter is the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Horticulture Agent for Brazos County, 2619 Texas 21 W., Bryan, Texas 77803. For local gardening information and events, visit brazosmg.com. Gardening questions? Call Skip at 823-0129 or email rrichter@ag.tamu.edu.

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SKIP RICHTER: Grass doesnt have it made in the shade - Bryan-College Station Eagle

NEW YORK (TNS) Gov. Andrew Cuomo invoked the AIDS crisis of the 1980s Friday to encourage the use of masks during the coronavirus pandemic.

During the AIDS crisis, a public health campaign convinced people to practice safe sex and use condoms to stop the spread of HIV, he said.

That could make a difference between life and death, he said.

Its the same idea now with face masks, he said. The mask could make a difference between life and death, Cuomo said.

A state survey showed that about 20% of the public in New York City have tested positive for the Covid-19 antibody, meaning those people had the virus. Just 12% of health-care workers had the antibodies, the same survey showed.

Cuomo said today that shows how masks, handwashing and other protective measures can work.

You dont have a right to infect another person, he said. You dont.

Plus, he said, its a requirement. In mid-April, Cuomo signed an order requiring people to wear masks when in situations where they cant socially distance.

The mask is mandatory in public settings, Cuomo said, such as on public transit, in an Uber, or anytime in public within 6 feet of another person. Not wearing one, he said, is not just a nice thing to do.

LANDSCAPING, HORTICULTURE ESSENTIAL

New York put the landscaping and horticulture businesses on the essential list this week for all safe activities.

The state decision makes official what seems widely in practice already.

These businesses are considered low-risk to spread the coronavirus, the state said. Businesses still must create a plan to reopen safely using guidance from the Non-Food Related Agriculture Summary Guidelines to protect public health.

The state expanded the allowable activities for landscapers to include the care and planting of grasses, sod, plants, shrubs and trees and the mulching, trimming and removal of these items. Horticulture which includes greenhouse operations, nurseries, sod farms and arborists is also allowed.

NEW YORK NUMBERS

Another 109 people died from the coronavirus in the past day, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said, bringing the total number of reported deaths to 23,192.

Of the 109 deaths, 27 of those people died in nursing homes, Cuomo said today.

This number has been stubborn on its way down, Cuomo said of the steady number of deaths each day in the state.

This week, the daily death toll hovered just above 100. The average over the past five days was 107 deaths every 24 hours.

A month ago, the state was reporting 472 deaths in a day. The high came on April 14, when 800 deaths were reported.

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Cuomo: Face masks could be 'difference between life and death' - Olean Times Herald

The author is a professor and extension forage specialist with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.

Legumes have been used as pasture and hay crops throughout history. They are high-quality forages that improve livestock weight gain, reduce fescue endophyte problems, extend the grazing season, and reduce nitrogen fertilizer inputs due to nitrogen (N) fixation. The unique association of legumes with rhizobia bacteria to fix N is an often promoted but also widely misunderstood process.

The total amount of N fixed depends on the legume species and the population in the field. The reported amount of N fixed from full stands by different legume species varies widely. For example, N fixed by hairy vetch ranges from 50 to 150 pounds per acre and for alfalfa the reported range is 128 to 250 pounds per acre (Table 1). Annual legumes such as crimson or arrowleaf clover fix N at a higher rate than perennial legumes, but longer growing seasons allow perennial legumes to fix a higher total amount of N.

An expensive process

Symbiotic N fixation allows legumes to grow in an N-deficient environment. Nitrogen fixation is a biologically expensive process for both the legume plant and the rhizobia bacteria responsible for N fixation. The bacteria infect the legume roots, which causes the root to form a nodule where the rhizobia live and do their work.

The rhizobia bacteria fix N from air thats in the soil and the legume gains benefit from the fixed N. In turn, the legume provides carbohydrates and sugars from photosynthesis to the rhizobia. Each organism gains necessary nutrients from the association. Nitrogen fixation directly promotes legume growth without the need for N fertilization. Enhanced grass growth is only an indirect effect of N fixation.

Plants use N from various sources including snow or rain, which can contribute 5 to 10 pounds of N per acre annually; soil organic matter (OM), which can contribute 10 to 30 pounds of N per acre annually for each percentage unit of OM in the soil; fertilizer or animal manure, which varies by application rate; and N fixed by legumes.

So, adding N does not have a direct negative impact on the legume plant, but the net effect is greater competition from the grasses, which crowds the legumes from the sward. A study from Arkansas showed the percent clover in a bermudagrass-clover sod dropped by half for each additional increment of N fertilizer used (Table 3).

Most is in the top growth

It is important to note that the root nodules are the factory, but not the N warehouse. Research done in Texas by Gerald Evers showed that up to 90% of the N is in the top growth of annual legumes. In perennial legumes, about 70% to 80% of the N is in the plants top growth. Legume top growth typically contains about 2.5% to 4% N, which equals about 50 to 80 pounds of N per ton of forage dry matter (DM).

Work done in Virginia showed that a 53% stand of red clover or 59% stand of alfalfa grown with tall fescue fixed enough N for a total DM yield of 4.7 and 5.8 tons per acre, respectively. Top growth of the legumes contained 2.8% to 2.9% N.

Three modes of transfer

If the fixed N is in the plant top growth and is not freely shared with companion grasses in the stand, how does it reach grasses and other plants in the sward?

There are three primary mechanisms for N transfer. The smallest of these three pathways is through root-to-root contact and mycorrhiza fungi associations. The other two primary pathways are by plant-animal cycling through grazing and by plant decay. By far, the largest transfer pathway is cycling the plant material through grazing animals, mostly aboveground, but also by belowground herbivores.

Only a small proportional amount of the N is retained in the grazing animals body. Up to 80% to 90% of the ingested N is excreted in the urine and feces. About 50% of the N in the urine is lost through volatilization.

Clearly, the system is somewhat leaky and not all the fixed N is captured in the soil. Further, use of the excreted N by grasses is dependent on distribution of the excreta across the pasture. Researchers have shown that only about 14% to 22% of the pasture area is covered by this transfer annually.

Grazing management and stocking rate influence distribution. More manure and urine tend to be concentrated near water and shade at low stocking rates and in continuous grazing systems. More of the N is distributed across the pasture at high stocking rates and in rotational systems.

Its different in hayfields

In hay systems, most of the N-containing top growth is removed so a secondary transfer mechanism comes into play. The second largest pathway of N transfer after grazing is through plant decomposition. As plants are grazed or harvested for hay, roots die back resulting in sloughed nodules. Normal plant maturation and damage also results in dead crowns, leaves, and stems. These plant parts must decay by action of bacteria and fungi to release N over time.

This pathway can be a significant N source in warm-season grass systems where a grass such as bermudagrass is overseeded with annual legumes. As the annual legume matures and dies in late spring, the plant residue breaks down, releasing N for use by the warm-season grass during summer. A Texas study showed that a combination of winter annual clovers overseeded in bermudagrass yielded as much DM as bermudagrass fertilized with the equivalent of 113 to 142 pounds per acre of N.

Nitrogen fixation takes time

An Arkansas study showed that the percent clover or alfalfa increased over four years when these legumes were interseeded into bermudagrass pastures. Calf body weight gain per acre tended to improve as legume percentage grew over the course of the four-year study, especially for alfalfa, but gains were generally lower in nonlegume treatments where N fertilizer was applied. Interestingly, calf gains per acre dropped drastically during a severe drought year for the N fertilizer treatments but stayed more stable across years in the legume-grass treatments (Figures 1 and 2).

Legumes are important forages and reduce the need for N inputs. Knowing how N cycling works in forage systems is critical to making effective use of these forages. An important concept to understand is this: Growing forage from N fixation is a process, whereas growing forage from N fertilization is a one-time event.

This article appeared in the April/May 2020 issue of Hay & Forage Grower on pages 6 to 8.

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Forage stand nitrogen movement is not what you think - Hay & Forage Grower

Market Expertz sheds light on the market scope, potential, and performance perspective of the Global Grass & Lawn Seed Market by carrying out an extensive market analysis. Pivotal market aspects like market trends, the shift in customer preferences, fluctuating consumption, cost volatility, the product range available in the market, growth rate, drivers and constraints, financial standing, and challenges existing in the market are comprehensively evaluated to deduce their impact on the growth of the market in the coming years. The report also gives an industry-wide competitive analysis, highlighting the different market segments, individual market share of leading players, and the contemporary market scenario and the most vital elements to study while assessing the global Grass & Lawn Seed market.

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Hancock SeedPennington SeedThe Scotts CompanyBarenbrug GroupTurf MerchantsGreen Velvet Sod FarmsBonideJonathan GreenPickseedPGG wrightson TurfNatures SeedAllied SeedNewsom Seed

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In market segmentation by types of Grass & Lawn Seed, the report covers-

Bluegrass SeedRyegrass SeedFescue Grass SeedBahia Grass SeedBermudagrass SeedBuffalograss Seed

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Landscape TurfGolf TurfGardensOther

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Grass & Lawn Seed Market Provides in-depth analysis of the Industry, with Current Trends and Future Estimations to Elucidate the Investment...

Plainsman Park, home of Auburn baseball.(Photo: Zach Willard)

AUBURN On March 22, Jon Bailey tried to see if he could take the trash out to the street, check the mail and make it back inside his house in less than 120 seconds. Just to remember the feeling of the fifth-inning drag again.

Five days later, he intentionally threw his newspaper at the mailman. Just to see if he would charge me or not.

OK, maybe those are just jokes that Bailey posted on Twitter. But what they mean is real. He misses baseball, and in a way that is unique to most in the Auburn community Bailey is the head groundskeeper at Plainsman Park.

For him and the rest of Auburns grounds crew, the last 10 weeks have been very, very strange.

People think football season is our busiest time, said Eric Kleypas, Auburns director of turf and landscape services. Thats busy, but not anything like spring. Spring, the hour demands are just so high. So its taken us a while to kind of shift gears and get into a normal work week, so to speak, versus what were used to.

Wednesday marks 10 weeks since the last games played on campus at Auburn softballs 2-1 win over Georgia State and baseballs 4-3 loss to Wofford on March 10. The SEC officially shut down competition the next day because of the coronavirus pandemic. Before long, the entire spring season was canceled.

Had it not been, and had life still been normal, Auburns grounds crew would have worked 40 home events over the past 70 days 19 baseball games, 17 softball games, two outdoor track and field meets, a spring soccer scrimmage and the A-Day spring football game, plus countless practices in between.

Instead, the five full-time employees currently on staff have worked mostly in solitude, without the help of the 12-14 turf students they normally have.

Its just really weird for most of us who have been doing this, said Zach Willard, who is the manager of athletic turf. Borderline eerie, almost, because Im supposed to be at the ballpark all day on a Friday, from 7 a.m. till 10 or 11 p.m. Thats just ingrained into who I am at this point.

Willard isnt exaggerating. Getting a field ready for play is exhausting work. For a home baseball game at Plainsman Park, it usually starts at 7 a.m. and runs through 3 p.m. They have to mow the grass, water the infield dirt anywhere from six to 10 times depending on the temperature outside, do detailed clay work on the mound and around home plate on the field and in both bullpens, and manage the landscaping around the ballpark. And thats just before the game. During it, they drag the dirt between innings, fix any issues that arise and pull the tarp if it rains. After, they stick around to get the field ready for the next day.

So you can imagine the comedown from that has been quite a shock to their systems. The grounds crew normally works 80-hour weeks during the spring. This year, though, they have only recently gone back to working even 40 hours for a while, they were just coming in early, getting done what they needed toand heading home.

The Auburn Soccer Complex.(Photo: Zach Willard)

The experience has been strange, Kleypas said. But it has also been freeing, in a way. For one, they have all gotten to spend more time with their families than they normally would this time of year. Kleypas has a wife and a son. Willard and his wife Kendra, who works for Auburns athletics communications department, have two young daughters.

Its really allowing us to make up for a lot of lost time, Willard said. As weird its been to not be working, its also been very refreshing to connect with my kids in a way that Im normally not used to doing.

And when it comes to their jobs, 10 weeks of no sports has given members of the grounds crew time on the fields they have never had before.

At Plainsman Park, Bailey has already completed the process of transitioning the field from ryegrass (which thrives in colder temperatures but struggles when the weather heats up) to Bermudagrass (which has exceptional heat tolerance but dies out in the winter). Last year, because the baseball team needed the field nearly every day through its trip to the College World Series, that work wasnt done until the middle of June.

The same is true at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Pat Dye Field isnt used nearly as much during the spring as Hitchcock Field across the street (just a few scrimmages and A-Day), but it still needs to look perfect all times for recruiting purposes a field with patches of dead grass or dirt has never impressed anybody.

For that reason, Willard said the grounds crew often does a lot of sod work during the spring. If the Bermudagrass isnt coming in correctly at some spots, they just replace it in order to speed up the transition. And they have to plan that work around the football teams schedule, so they dont interfere with visits or camps.

But on-campus recruiting was banned early in March and will be through at least the end of June because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has allowed Kleypas, Willard and Co. to let the grass at Jordan-Hare grow in naturally. They had originally planned on replacing the turf before the 2020 football season. Now, they wont have to.

Rather than tip-toeing around schedules, we pretty much have free reign to go about how we want to get our fields back in shape for the fall, Willard said. Its actually been freeing. Were thinking on a different wavelength than we have the last decade or so, because recruiting has become so heavy. Its been nice. Its been really nice.

The Auburn football team's outdoor practice field.(Photo: Zach Willard)

As a result, Willard said, all of Auburns fields are in tremendous shape. Theres just one thing missing, and thats the people who enjoy them the players plying their trade, the coaches watching from their perch on the sideline or dugout, and the fans in the stands.

Thats one of the coolest parts of our job, kind of that initial moment of the fans coming up the stairwells and coming out of the tunnels and taking a look at the field for the first time that day, Willard continued. We take great pride in the fact that our players, coaches and fans love our playing fields. We do what we do for our coaches and student-athletes. We also do what we do for our fans. To not have the fans in the ballparks to enjoy their ballfields, as well, is tough on us.

So you can count Auburns grounds crew among the many waiting anxiously for sports to resume, no matter the workload and time demands that entails.

We miss it. This is what we went into this field for, Kleypas said. Were ready for our student-athletes to get back on campus. Were ready to get back to whatever the new normal will be.

Josh Vitale is the Auburn beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. You can follow him on Twitter at @JoshVitale. To reach him by email,click here.

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What has it been like to be on Auburn's grounds crew during a time with no sports? - Montgomery Advertiser

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In the late 1870s Robert Kerr, a wealthy Marion County farmer, built the Kerr House Hotel on N. Main Street adjacent to the County Courthouse.

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Staff Reports Published 5:38 p.m. ET May 22, 2020

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Marion County will celebrate the 200th Anniversary of its founding with celebrations and events throughout the year. As part of those celebrations, assorted Moments and Memories from the past 200 years will be shared every Saturday in 2020 in the Marion Star.

For a calendar of events and more information about the bicentennial celebrations and activities, visit the Bicentennial Facebook page Marion County Ohio Bicentennial Celebration or http://www.marionhistory.com200.

The historic notes have been compiled and shared with the Star by the Marion Historical Society.

Read or Share this story: https://www.marionstar.com/story/news/local/2020/05/22/marion-county-200-kerr-house-hotel-built/3097895001/

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Marion County at 200: The Kerr House Hotel is built - Marion Star

HALIFAX, N.S.

Here we grow again.

Halifax regional council will consider a motion at its virtual meeting Tuesday to convert the grass in the boulevards of some of its streets into a garden of flowers and plants.

Last October, council requested a staff report to focus on guidelines for boulevard gardens, with boulevards being defined as the area between the curb and the sidewalk that are typically planted with grass.

Right now, residents whose properties abut such boulevards are required to maintain any grass and clip it to a height of no greater than six inches.

Municipal staff reviewed nine other Canadian urban centres with boulevard garden policies for consideration in draft guidelines for HRM.

A meeting with HRM internal stakeholders led to a recommendation that the placement of boulevard gardens be addressed through street bylaw amendments and the adoption of an administrative order.

Additionally, a resident guide will be published with information for residents who wish to plant a boulevard garden abutting their property. The guidelines cover public safety and access to HRM rights-of-way, municipal operations including snow-clearing and street cleaning and maintenance and road and sidewalk repairs.

The boulevard gardens will not be permitted within medians or traffic islands, digging shall not extend deeper than 30 centimetres below grade and gardens must be a metre away from utility poles, fire hydrants, trees and bus shelters.

Further, gardens are not permitted where there is no sidewalk, permanent and temporary planters and irrigation will be prohibited and damage that may occur during road work, snow clearing or any other general maintenance may be reinstated with grass seed or sod. Damaged gardens will not be replaced by the municipality or any other contractor.

The list of prohibitions include areas with paid street parking and space adjacent to accessible parking spaces.

The boulevard garden shall not create a hazard to public users of the right of way, the staff report states.

The municipality would not allow trees, woody plants or climbing vines to be planted in boulevards and the maximum height for plants would be a metre, except for 0.6 metre within five metres of an intersection or marked crosswalk.

No plants will be permitted to overhang streets or sidewalks and plants must be trimmed if they do. If plants are deemed to be a visibility, mobility or safety concern, they may be trimmed or removed by staff.

Residents may want to consider planting annual or perennial plants which will thrive in the location, including a tolerance to drought and salt and exposure to sun, the staff report says.

Upon approval by council Tuesday, staff will prepare bylaw amendments to be brought back before council in approximately four months.

The residents guide will be published upon adoption of the boulevard garden policy and will be available in several languages.

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Time to grow that boulevard garden in HRM? - TheChronicleHerald.ca

Alec Garcia and 20 other freshmen stepped onto the baseball field at Grover Cleveland Charter High School in Reseda for the first time in June 2016. The grass was crunchy and yellow; the dirt, dangerous and unforgiving, chopped into uneven shards from the stampede of weekend soccer games.

But the freshman class was talented and the players were already anticipating a strong senior season, mentally circling March 2020.

9:16 AM, May. 09, 2020 An earlier version of this article said Erika Kerekes older son was valedictorian at his high school. He was salutatorian.

Since our freshman year, we were like, Man, when were seniors were going to be really good, Alec said.

Over the next four years, they played year-round and became family. Thanks to head coach Sid Lopez and a motivated group of parents, the quality of the field new sod, new bleachers, new clubhouse began to mirror that of the team. In two of the last three seasons, Cleveland advanced to the city semifinals. With 14 seniors this year, the Cavaliers had a realistic shot at the L.A. City Section title game, which was to be played at Dodger Stadium.

Alec, a three-year varsity player, had developed into one of the teams most reliable performers. He was a good student, with a 3.4 grade-point average in Clevelands demanding CORE magnet program, but he wasnt a slam-dunk prospect for a college scholarship. A strong spring could cement his future.

I dont want to say that I was riding on baseball for college, Alec said from his Encino home, but I put a lot of effort into [it], hoping that I could get a scholarship.

Column One

A showcase for compelling storytelling from the Los Angeles Times.

After L.A. Unified schools shut down, Alec improvised to stay in shape. I was trying to be optimistic and have hope that we would get back into things even if we came back in mid- to late May, he said, because my whole life has been school and baseball, you know? And not having either of them. His voice trails off.

These 14 young men have worked so hard for four years to be where they are, and they were in a great position to compete, Lopez said.

It was something that was taken away from them.

The coronavirus outbreak has disrupted the foundations of daily life. For the high school and college classes of 2020 and their families the catastrophe has left a large, empty space where signature coming-of-age moments should be.

Graduation speeches and senior projects; interviews and internships; grad nights and proms and spring sports banquets all gone, replaced by the monotonous limbo of self-isolation and a spooky uncertainty: What now? What next? When?

Seniors everywhere have lost their bearings.

For years, focusing on academics gave San Pedro High School senior Skye Carbajal a sense of control and comfort. Her life outside school had been turbulent. She was put in the foster system and placed with her grandmother, Liz McConnachie, in ninth grade and the classroom became her sanctuary.

Skyes senior-year schedule started at 7 a.m. and included Advanced Placement classes, college courses, violin lessons and volunteer work through her local Boys and Girls Club. She earned the second-highest GPA in her class and in the fall will attend Pomona College on a full ride. In her graduation speech, she planned to thank her grandmother, who was going to record it and listen to it every morning.

Weston Kerekes, a senior at Santa Monica High School, practices on his bass at home. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, his symphony orchestra will miss out on its planned European tour.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Weston Kerekes, a member of Santa Monica High Schools symphony orchestra, had been practicing the bass in preparation for a spring appearance at the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Berliner Philharmonie in Berlin. The orchestra had been planning to perform Beethovens complete Fifth Symphony. Instead, Weston found himself sitting at home, teaching himself how to whittle and paint.

Though Weston, a leading contender for valedictorian, expressed a vague disappointment about not experiencing that kind of final kumbaya when were all getting together and being happy and whatever, he was calmly pragmatic about the sudden change in plans. In fact, hes quickly pivoted toward whats ahead: his freshman year at Yale.

My heads already there a little bit, so thats how Im dealing with not having all that finality.

Westons mother, Erika, had a different perspective and stands as a reminder that the sudden cancellation of senior-year rituals may hit parents harder than their children.

She lamented the lost rites, particularly because her older son a junior music major at Yale and former Santa Monica salutatorian got to have all of those experiences. It feels like theres just going to be a big hole in that photo album for Weston, she said.

Guadalupe Gomez is the mother of Culver City High School senior Diana Martinez, who turned a lifelong Lego fixation into an interest in engineering. Diana was scheduled to attend a robotics competition in Michigan at the end of April. It was canceled, as was the upcoming event she was most excited about her graduation ceremony

Dianas parents immigrated to the U.S. from Oaxaca, Mexico, and shes the first in the family to finish high school. We all worked very hard to get her where she is, said Gomez, speaking through an interpreter. And now this happens.

Diana and her family arent just disappointed, theyre worried. Diana was accepted into the mechanical engineering program at San Jose State. But when the shutdown started, her father, Arturo Martinez, a chef, lost his job, and Gomezs hours as a housekeeper were severely cut.

Were stumped, Gomez said. What are we supposed to do now? We dont really have the funds.

Dylan Schifrin, center, with parents Lissa Kapstrom and Will Schifrin, was set to stage a senior capstone musical he had written and composed at Yale. That production and his graduation has been canceled.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

For high school seniors with college in their sights, the final events before graduation are supposed to be a reward for a 13-year grind. Theyre a reward for college seniors as well, but many of those students have been participating in another kind of ritual: the launch of their careers. Now, projects and plans have been thrown out the window, leaving soon-to-be graduates scrambling in place.

Dylan Schifrin, a music major at Yale, started writing and composing an original musical as a sophomore. He completed Y2K: A Survivalist Musical for his senior thesis in the fall and recruited close to 50 fellow students to volunteer as cast, crew and orchestra members in a production that was set to open on campus April 2 his 22nd birthday.

It was going to be my capstone experience, Schifrin said.

It also would have offered him an entree into the world of professional musical theater. Schifrin planned to invite industry contacts he knew, including Book of Mormon writer Robert Lopez, and recordings of the production would have provided samples to share with theaters in New York City, where he hoped to start a career.

The loss of both the production and graduation hit his parents particularly hard. Schifrin, an only child, has studied music since he was 4. His parents refinanced the mortgage on their Sherman Oaks home to help pay for his Ivy League education. Theyd booked their flights and hotel rooms for both events months ago.

It was heartbreaking for us, said Schifrins mother, Lissa Kapstrom. Its been a 22-year journey that weve been there for the whole time. This was supposed to be a culmination.

For Leticia Mejia, an immigrant from Honduras, her sons graduation would have looked different but been no less important.

Victor Rojas, who was born with brittle bone disease and has been in a wheelchair most of his life, started at Cal State Northridge in 2014. He almost came undone during his freshman year when his father, who had cancer, died of complications from a routine biopsy. Rojas was lost, attending classes but mentally checked out. I started partying; I started doing drugs, drinking, he said.

He was placed on academic probation and lost his financial aid but a family friend helped him get back on track. Rojas will complete his studies this month.

Mejia, who stopped her schooling after the sixth grade, had been planning to have a dress made in Honduras for the occasion. The family was going to celebrate at a restaurant, maybe Olive Garden, afterward.

Now the graduation has been postponed until at least late 2020. Mejia canceled the dress order. She still hopes to see Rojas graduate, though, and to enjoy a celebratory dinner even if its only at home.

He deserves it, she said.

Christine Tran, a first-generation college student at UCLA, was looking forward to a big graduation ceremony that would signal to her Vietnamese parents what she had achieved and let them know their sacrifices have mattered.

(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Christine Tran, a UCLA senior, was looking forward to graduation and certain traditions associated with it perhaps most significant, dipping her hand in the inverted fountain, a campus landmark. UCLA students are initiated at the fountain their freshman year and told not to touch it again before graduation, lest it add an extra quarter to their undergraduate careers.

But she also wanted to show her parents what she has accomplished and to let them know their sacrifices have mattered.

Seeing thousands of other students, Tran said, would signal something to them that this is a really big thing my daughter did, to graduate from here.

Her parents, who emigrated from Vietnam after the war, had been working as a carpenter and a seamstress in El Monte. Both of them lost their jobs after the pandemic started and the economy tanked. Now Tran, who works as a law clerk at UCLA, is the only income earner in her family of five. She had to double her weekly hours, from 10 to 20, and cut short work on her honors thesis about cultural perceptions around domestic violence.

Recently, Tran was offered a Fulbright fellowship to teach in Vietnam a dream job but now shes waiting to hear from a U.S.-based fellowship that would keep her closer to home.

Even if I do get these post-grad opportunities Ive been dreaming of, maybe I cant take them because I need to support my family first and it would feel selfish to just leave, she said.

The ending of the script we associate with hard work, personal sacrifices and fastidious planning has been rewritten.

Samir Al-Alami, a senior at UC Riverside, had already said his goodbyes to campus life. On March 6, the political science major got together with friends outside his apartment complex to play soccer and eat shish kebab. They were celebrating the end of winter quarter and bidding Al-Alami farewell before he headed to Washington, D.C., for the University of Californias UCDC program.

Hed carefully mapped out his undergraduate plans so he could spend his last quarter in Washington. He had an internship lined up with Rep. Mark Takano (D-Riverside) and hoped to build connections that he could parlay into a job in public policy after graduating. And Al-Alami, the son of Palestinian immigrants, was looking forward to fasting for Ramadan with a new community of Muslims.

But the University of California canceled Al-Alamis program 13 days before it was scheduled to start. He lost his internship. His last hope, a fellowship that would assign him to a local government job in Riverside, has put the review of applications on hold.

I really truly dont know what Im going to do, he said. Every single one of the plans I made and all of the backups have failed.

Alec Garcia had hoped his last season at Cleveland Charter High School would help him earn a baseball scholarship. He now plans to play junior college ball to catch the eye of a Division 1 school.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Alec Garcia continues to be reminded that his senior year didnt end the way he had imagined. At the moment, he is thinking about enrolling at Glendale Community College and playing baseball there to get the attention of a Division 1 university.

A few weeks ago, he received word that the school yearbook wanted a baseball team photo. But instead of a group shot on the field, this year, each player had to be photographed alone, at home, in uniform. That was just another time where it hit me that its over, and there might not be another chance for us to take pictures of the team, he said. Its really weird.

As Alec posed against a wall in his living room, he considered his shoulder-length hair, which he believed was inexorably linked to his teams success.

His hair was everything, said his mother, Geraldina Garcia. Hed say, Im winning, and I cannot cut it.

But her son was no longer winning his games. He was disoriented about the abrupt end of high school and his baseball family. His whole world has been turned upside down, said his father, Salvador Garcia. I think it was less about not playing baseball and more about belonging to a team. Whatever might have happened, he still treasured being part of a team.

After a burst of anger during a family dinner, Salvador Garcia spoke to his son, hoping to make some sense of a world that has been upended.

Because of the outbreak, Salvador Garcia explained, nothing would be the same going forward even if Alec were allowed to finish his senior year. I dont know if it gave him solace or some kind of warmth knowing that the change was going to happen anyway, but right after we finished talking, he cut his hair. He said, Im pumped. For that moment, he was happy.

That was the biggest heart-to-heart I had with my dad, Alec said. I was just thinking about my hair, and honestly, I had it for other people. It was annoying to wash it, and it took forever to dry, but people remembered me for the hair. So I kept it. Now I was going to do what was best for me. So that night I was like, Im going to buzz my hair.

During the Cleveland baseball teams Zoom meeting the next day, much of the discussion revolved around Garcias shorn locks. Soon after, many of his teammates followed suit, shaving their heads in solidarity. For that moment, Salvador Garcia said, they were a team again.

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For the class of 2020, all those once-in-a-lifetime moments are gone - Los Angeles Times