Do you have any unwanted household products, such as paints, cleansers, solvents, antifreeze, batteries or used motor oils; or electronics like computer equipment, old radios, mobile phones, TVs, VCRs, calculators or copiers? Dispose of them properly, free of charge, on May 7th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Catawba County Finance Department is a winner of the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), for its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2010. Catawba County has now won the award for 29 consecutive years.

The committee compiled existing information about the status of children in the county. It also held public meetings and surveyed members of the public about their priorities and ideas. The committee found that most children in the county are well-cared for, but that a substantial number are falling through the cracks. A major cause of concern is the large number of children living in poverty.

A new Seniors Morning Out location has opened at Bethlehem United Methodist Church in Claremont. This program, which is operated by Catawba County Social Services, provides a nutritious lunch, plus social activities, for persons age 60 or older.

A Catawba County Department of Social Services program that helped teenagers enrolled in a poverty reduction and teen pregnancy program better understand the myths of government support programs has been named a winner of a 2011 National Association of Counties (NACo) Achievement Award.

Beginning July 1, 2011, computer equipment and televisions will be banned from disposal in North Carolina landfills, under a law passed last year by the General Assembly. Catawba County will provide four one-day electronics recycling collection events in fiscal year 2011-2012, free of charge. All residents of Catawba County will have access to these electronics recycling events, including those who live in the cities and towns in the county.

Senior Nutrition Services is now housed at 507 Boundary Street in Conover. Senior Nutrition Services includes Home Delivered Meals (Meals on Wheels), Seniors Morning Out, Nutritional Supplements (Ensure and Boost), Frozen Meals, and In Home Aide Services.

Area youth participating in the NC Cooperative Extension�s 4-H program helped children at Catawba County Public Health plant vegetable seeds. The activity was one of a series of visits by local North Carolina Cooperative Extension staff and volunteers to Public Health�s Women, Infants and Children (WIC) clinic designed to encourage WIC families to grow and eat fresh vegetables.

The facility is now testing biodiesel fuel being produced by several companies in the region and from the harvest of crops growing around the landfill to test which ones grow best in the local climate while producing the best oils for biodiesel.

The Catawba County Sheriff�s Office, in conjunction with The Cognitive Connection and The Foothills Coalition, is sponsoring an Operation Pill Stoppers program that now provides fixed locations for citizens to properly dispose of their unused and unwanted medications.

Vaccines will be administered on a first-come, first-serve basis, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., or until the supply is depleted on September 21, World Rabies Day, thanks to 250 vaccines provided by the World Rabies Organization and Pfizer Animal Health.

Winnie Hovey has won the American Volunteer contest sponsored by the Meals on Wheels Association of America. Hovey is a 92-year-old Hickory resident who has been volunteering with the local Meals on Wheels organization for approximately 30 years

Work is under way to ready the Conover Branch Library for re-opening on Tuesday, September 20. Staff and volunteers are unpacking boxes of library materials and arranging furniture. The new branch address is 403 Conover Station, SE, in the Warlong Building on the former Broyhill plant property along the railroad tracks downtown.

The Library re-opened for business in newly renovated space on the top floor of Conover Station. Its new address is 403 Conover Station, SE, in a 1918 structure erected for the Warlong Glove Manufacturing Company. Business hours will remain unchanged: 12 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, 9- 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 9 - 2 on Saturday.

Presentations are an example of a traditional 4-H program that dates back to at least the 1950s. They involve giving a 5-12 minute talk on a topic using tabletop visuals and posters to illustrate main points.

The award was presented for the agency's Children and Aging Strategic Planning Projects in the category �Profiles in Community Collaboration�. The entry described the Children�s Agenda Planning Committee and the Aging Leadership Planning Project. In both cases, Social Services took the lead in collaborating with area agencies to develop reports about the needs of children and older adults.

More than 120 people recently attended the seventh annual Foothills Regional Conference for Early Childhood Educators in Statesville. This year�s conference theme, "You Make a Powerful Difference", explored the difference that early childhood educators make in the lives of young children.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation has released recommendations on widening of Highway 16 South in Catawba County (within the minutes of public meetings). Link to project maps: http://www.ncdot.org/doh/preconstruct/highway/roadway/hearingmaps_by_county/county/Catawba.html

The expansion will more than double clinic space. It will allow the clinic to provide routine dental services, such as cleanings, fillings, sealants, and extractions, to an additional 1,500 children and young adults. During the renovation, the current dental practice will remain open and operate under current hours

Catawba County�s Budget Office has been recognized by its peers for producing a budget document which is easy to read and understand. The County Budget Office has won the 2011 Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA).

County programs which developed QR (Quick Response) codes for building permits; reach families affected by economic distress, and serve as an ongoing, immediate source of food for students during weekends and extended breaks from school; and promote healthy, sustainable policies that improve physical activity and nutrition in schools were honored.

A Catawba County Social Services program that serves as an ongoing, immediate source of food for students who often go hungry, during weekends and extended breaks from school, and a Green Vendor Exhibition designed to shine a spotlight on existing and potential vendors that specialize in providing recycled and environmentally-friendly products and services, have been named winners of 2012 National Association of Counties (NACo) Achievement Awards.

New State food rules recently put in place are expected to enforce safe food handling and reduce transmission of food-borne illness.

Smart Electric North America, LLC is opening its North American headquarters in Conover, NC at 1550 Deborah Herman Road SW. SENA plans to build market share by supplying quality components and finished goods to the top tier lighting companies in the US first; then abroad.

The Institute for Conservation Leadership has chosen to honor the Catawba-Wateree Relicensing Coalition for their exemplary collaboration to accomplish outstanding environmental protection. The Coalition is being recognized for collaborative work that is creative, visionary, and highly effective and that their respective coalition members could not have achieved by acting alone

As of October 1, 2012, Catawba County EMS has been named a Permanent Car Seat Checking Station by Buckle Up NC. Car seat checks will be conducted Monday thru Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., by appointment, at the Newton EMS base, located at 1101 South Brady Ave, Newton, NC 28658.

Catawba County Assistant County Manager Dewey Harris has earned the International City/County Management Association's (ICMA) Credentialed Manager designation. Established in 2002, the ICMA Credentialed Manager program recognizes professional government managers whom the ICMA certifies as having a "commitment to continuous learning and professional development".

The Catawba County Library System has received two awards from the North Carolina Public Library Directors� Association. Library Director Karen Foss was on hand to accept honors for the new Conover Branch facility and Battle of the Books programming presented at the NCPLDA annual awards banquet December 6 in Winston-Salem.

Catawba County has launched a performance dashboard, a program that will be the gateway for hundreds of pieces of data on dozens of topics related to the County government, demographics and quality of life. Catawba County Facts and Figures, offers users a choice of exploring data grouped into eight broad categories.

The agreement would substantially increase the number of items collected for recycling across Catawba County, with further expansion of items collected as needed over time; begin �single stream� collection of recyclable commodities so recycled materials would no longer be required to be separated at curbside; increase Republic Services� investment in Catawba County by $13 million; and protect more than 150 local jobs.

Lori A. Mathes was appointed by the Catawba County Board of Commissioners as the County�s new Tax Collector, based upon staff�s recommendation, at the Board�s meeting on February 18, 2013. Mathes served as Chief Financial Officer for Mental Health Partners of Hickory for eight years, responsible for overseeing the agency�s expenditures and revenues, its accounting policies and procedures.

A new State law will soon shift collection of motor vehicle taxes from counties to the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles.

Catawba County will mail data verification, income and expense request, to property owners as 2015 revluation process continues on May 17, 2013. Owners are requested to verify the information found on the data verification sheet, provide pertinent additional information and make any necessary corrections, and return the form to the revaluation office. http://www.catawbacountync.gov/events/revalmailer13.asp

The Western Piedmont Council of Governments has won a national honor for the Western North Carolina Annual Air Quality Conference held at Lenoir-Rhyne University.

"Catawba County Facts and Figures" web page, the gateway for hundreds of pieces of data on dozens of topics related to the County government, demographics and quality of life, has been named winner of a 2013 National Association of Counties (NACo) Achievement Award.

Catawba County Public Health's annual report, emergency preparedness outreach have won national honors from the National Association of County Information Officers.

County employees in the first Leadership Academy recently helped families in transition through a Family Care Center project.

Article by Catawba County Public Health School Nurse Margaret Sides on vision screenings for students is published nationally.

Catawba County has been ranked #1 nationally in its population group in the 2013 Digital Counties Survey by Gov Tech Magazine.

Adult Services Social Worker Chandra Henson with Catawba County Social Services has been honored by the North Carolina Adult Foster Care Association.

Sheriff's auction items placed for sale by the Catawba County Sheriff's Office are now posted online.

Budget Office wins national award, for producing budget document judged easy to read and understand, for 25th straight year

Annual Financial Report for Fiscal Year 2012-2013 shows Catawba County improved its financial position with conservative approach.

Randy Cress, currently the Systems and Network Manager for Rowan County, North Carolina, is named Catawba County's new Chief Information Officer.

Synopsis of Catawba County Board of Commissioners meeting of December 16, 2013.

Catawba County Public Health has earned reaccreditation from the North Carolina Local Health Department Accreditation Board.

Charter Communications' Government Channel for Catawba County will move from Channel 3 to Channel 192 effective January 28, 2014.

Catawba County Board of Commissioners adopts resolution supporting citizen participation in government through elections in Catawba County.

Catawba County Board of Elections appoints Amanda Duncan as new Director of Elections to succeed retiring Larry Brewer.

Lisa Przekop, director of admissions at University of California, Santa Barbara, says that many high schoolers this year wrote their application essays about depression and anxiety during the pandemic.; Credit: Patricia Marroquin/Moment Editorial/Getty Images

College-bound high schoolers are making their final deliberations ahead of May 1, the national deadline to pick a school. That day will mark the end of a hectic admissions season drastically shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many colleges dropped standardized testing requirements, and because some high schools gave pass/fail grades and canceled extracurriculars and sports, admissions counselors had to change how they read and evaluate applications.

"[It was] definitely the craziest of all my 36 years, without a doubt," says Lisa Przekop, director of admissions at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The UC school system received the most applications in the United States.

Like many others, Przekop says all of her staff has been working remotely throughout the pandemic. But if pivoting to working from home wasn't a challenge enough, Przekop says the school saw an increase in applications of 16%.

"On top of all that, we had to devise a way of doing our admissions selection process without the use of SAT or ACT scores," she says. "So any one of those things would have been a major change, but to have all of them at the same time was beyond anything really that I could've imagined."

Przekop spoke with All Things Considered about how what counselors looked for in applications this year changed, what topics they saw in admissions essays and how the process might have actually improved in spite of the pandemic.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Interview Highlights

Has it all added up to more time spent on every individual application?

Quick answer, yes. Things are much more nuanced now. And although a student may have, for instance, planned to do certain activities, well many of those activities were canceled. The other big difference was students were a lot more depressed this year, obviously. Everybody's more anxious, including students. They're applying for college which is stressful in and of itself. And so what we found is a lot of students used their essays to talk about depression, anxiety, things like this. To read essay after essay after essay about depression, anxiety, stress — is taxing. And so we really had to encourage staff to take more breaks as they were reviewing. So it definitely slowed the whole process down at a time when we had more applications to review.

Can you give any insight into what you are basing your decisions on this year?

Absolutely. Maybe in the past I would've focused on that GPA right away. Now when I'm looking at that academic picture, I have to look at the fact that did the student challenge themselves as much as they could have? Were the courses even available? Do I see any trends in their academic performance? If their spring term of last year, their junior year, was all pass/no pass, can I safely assume that they did well in those courses? And that's where you really had to rely on what the students shared in their essays to try to piece that together.

Are you noticing greater diversity in the students applying to UC?

In terms of ethnic diversity, yes, we are seeing that. In terms of diversity of experience — for instance, first generation students and students with lots of different socioeconomic backgrounds — we're definitely seeing that. I'm seeing students who are very committed to the environment more so than i've seen before. I'm seeing students who are more politically aware and active than I've seen before. So I'm definitely seeing a pattern of behaviors that look a little bit different than students in the past.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.