Our family had the opportunity to attend the Fan Fest celebration in Phoenix for the Men’s NCAA Final Four basketball tournament. At this event we celebrated men’s basketball and all the teams that made it to the NCAA tournament. We started the event with the Final Four Dribble from Heritage Square to the Phoenix Convention Center. Before the Dribble began, there were food trucks, music, and other fun activities to participate in by the starting line. The Dribble was for children 18 and younger, and we all received T-shirts and basketballs.

We had the opportunity to interview Cherami Leigh, an actress who also does voices for anime and video games. We discovered that she has had a passion for acting since a very young age. She enrolled in her first acting classes at the age of 5 and landed her first professional job at the age of 7. Throughout her career, she has undergone a wide range of acting training, including film and television acting, stage and theater training, microphone work, singing, dance and gymnastics.

David Rubio is the former head Arizona Wildcats Women’s Volleyball coach. He held this position for 31 seasons before retiring in 2023.

Worlds of Words is a center on the University of Arizona campus where children can explore global literature. The center is located in the College of Education and its mission is to have children learn more about literacy and the world through books. There is a large collection of about 40,000 books representing many global cultures and in a variety of languages. The center hosts school field trips and tours to help bring global literacy into classrooms.

Last fall, my family and I went to the 13th annual Tucson Comic-Con. There were many things to do. One we enjoyed most was the scavenger hunt. It took us all three days of the event to complete the task, but we did it by exploring Comic-Con, talking to people at the booths, participating in panel presentations, and talking to attendees, just like us.

Recently I had the opportunity to visit Catalina Island on a field trip with my school. Catalina Island Marine Institute (CIMI) had so many activities for us to do during our week-long trip. I was able to enjoy snorkeling, kayaking, hikes, squid dissection, team building exercises, learning labs, hand on activities with some of the sea life in tanks, rock climbing andGaga Ball. My favorite activities were snorkeling, squid dissection and rock climbing.

Every year the Kiwanis de Amigos hosts a cross country meet called the Rattlesnake Run at Christopher Columbus Park. Middle school cross country teams across southern Arizona are invited to participate free of charge!

There are two heats for both boys and girls— the A and B heats. The top seven runners on a team run in the A heat for both boys and girls and the rest who want to run are placed in the B heat. This year 158 girls and 199 boys participated. This represented 13 girls’ teams and 15 boys’ teams.

At one of our Bear Essential News Young Reporter Meetings, Mikyla Mace Kelley spoke with us. Kelley works with scientists from the University of Arizona and shares their fascinating research with the public and the media.

During the three-day weekend on Sept. 2–4, I attended the 13th annual Tucson Comic-Con. This event was held at the Tucson Convention Center in downtown Tucson. It started at 3 p.m. on Friday and ran through Sunday at 5 p.m. This was the first Comic-Con in several years due to COVID cancellations the past few years. This was my first time attending Comic-Con and it was almost overwhelming because it was so large and there was so much to do.

 Recently I attended a Bear Essential News Zoom meeting and met Sarah Murphy who is currently one of the managers of the Tucson Comic-Con. Murphy talked about how she was really excited about Tucson Comic-Con coming back after a two year hiatus due to the pandemic.