Around Town: Gordon Bowley receives Costa Mesa Mayor’s Award
Gordon Bowley was given the Costa Mesa Mayor’s Award this past week for his contributions to the community.
Mayor Steve Mensinger called Bowley, a Costa Mesa resident since 1968, a consummate leader and mentor.
“He’s the proverbial sparkplug in the community to make things happen,” Mensinger said during Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
Bowley has been involved with youth sports and Costa Mesa First. He also has served as a director for Hoag Hospital and an elder for St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, among other activities.
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OCC Chamber Singers to perform with Long Beach musicians
Orange Coast College’s Chamber Singers will join the Long Beach Chorale and Chamber Orchestra for a performance of Kirke Mechem’s “Songs of the Slave” at 7:30 p.m. March 12 in the college’s Robert B. Moore Theatre.
The piece features music with texts adapted from Mechem’s opera “John Brown,” the Declaration of Independence, a speech by abolitionist Frederick Douglass and a letter from an enslaved woman to her husband.
Mechem will offer a pre-concert talk at 6:45 p.m.
Tickets are $15 for the general public and $10 for students. They may be purchased through occtickets.com or at the door.
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Matching campaign for environmental preschool to end next month
The Environmental Nature Center in Newport Beach is nearing a deadline for preschool campaign donations to be matched by an anonymous donor.
A year ago, the donor pledged to match, dollar for dollar, donations the center receives, up to $3 million. The deadline to donate is April 4.
The amount will go toward construction of the center’s first nature preschool and play area.
“We have one month left to take advantage of the matching opportunity by raising the final $2.2 million,” the center’s executive director, Bo Glover, said in a statement. “Donations made this month will accelerate the timeline to making our nature preschool a reality.”
At the preschool, students will spend the majority of their day outdoors. Instructors and environmental educators will teach them typical preschool material and more.
For more information or to donate, visit encnaturepreschool.org or email maria@encenter.org.
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Save Our Youth seeks scholarship donors
Save Our Youth, a Costa Mesa-based nonprofit serving Westside youths, is seeking scholarship donors for its eighth annual fiesta.
The April 29 event will include food from Taco Mesa, drinks, dinner, entertainment and auctions.
For more information, visit save-our-youth.org or call (949) 548-8501.
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Registration for English-teaching and real estate courses open
Courses in real estate practice and teaching English to speakers of other languages are open for registration through UC Irvine Extension.
The English-teaching program will help prepare professionals with second-language instructional methods.
The real estate course will cover analysis of day-to-day real estate sales, brokerage practices, the selling process and how to handle real estate transactions from listing to close of escrow.
For more information, visit unex.uci.edu.
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Enrollment is open for Segerstrom summer camp for students
Enrollment is open for the Segerstrom Center for the Arts’ Six Days of Broadway summer musical theater camp.
The session for students ages 11 to 13 will be June 27 through July 2. Another for students ages 14 to 19 is set for July 5 through 10.
Students will participate in classes on musical theater performance, audition technique, acting on camera and introduction to the business of acting.
Scholarships are available to families who need financial assistance.
For more information and to register, visit SCFTA.org/SixDays or call (714) 556-2122, Ext. 4333.
—From staff reports