Upcoming Events

The Los Altos History Museum’s Apricot STEM Fair, scheduled 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 30, includes activities that highlight the science-fair-meets-state-fair vibe.

Designed for all ages, the free event will feature science-themed games, interactive exhibits, an appearance by a NASA scientist and apricot tasting. Local education nonprofit groups and vendors will present hands-on STEM activities, NASA Ames Research Center will provide a live link-up to the space station and the Los Altos Environmental Commission will teach teams of high school students to pitch environmental projects. Orchard-themed games and activities and guided tours of the historical J. Gilbert Smith House and orchard will round out the schedule.

Courtesy of the Arthritis foundation
Mountain View High School graduate Katie Taves plans to participate in this year’s Walk to Cure Arthritis event, scheduled Saturday.

Los Altos native and University of San Francisco sophomore Katie Taves is scheduled to be honored Saturday morning at the Walk to Cure Arthritis in San Francisco.

Taves was diagnosed at age 9 with a rare form of arthritis – polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis – according to a press release from the Arthritis Foundation. She was forced to drop Advanced Placement classes in high school due to her condition and was unable to attend school her sophomore year but graduated from Mountain View High in May 2017, the release said. Taves is a communications major at USF and the fundraising director for her sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta.

LACF sponsors solstice celebration

Los Altos Community Foundation has scheduled a “Summer Solstice Celebration” 5:30-8 p.m. Thursday at the Behar family’s historical Marini House near downtown Los Altos.

The event will include appetizers and locally produced wines. Local residents can network with foundation donors and learn about the organization’s impact and opportunities to become involved.

Mountain View-based Schola Cantorum Silicon Valley recently launched a poetry contest for high school students, with the winning poem being set to new music and performed by the 75-voice ensemble.

Young poets are asked to submit work under the theme “California’s Natural Beauty.” All poems must have a title and be 20 lines or fewer. Any rhyme style is accepted except free verse.

Choi

The Los Altos-based Peninsula Symphony has scheduled its annual free summer concert 6:30 p.m. June 22 in Grant Park, 1575 Holt Ave. The location is a change from its usual venue of Hillview Park, which is undergoing construction for the new community center.

Conductor and artistic director Mitchell Sardou Klein said this year’s concert reflects the wonders of space and its heroes.

The Foothills Amateur Radio Society will demonstrate the capabilities of amateur radio during the 24-hour Amateur Radio Field Day, scheduled 11 a.m. June 22 to 11 a.m. June 23 in a field owned by Maryknoll Residence, located directly across the street from Rancho San Antonio Park at 23000 Cristo Rey Drive, Los Altos.

The society will operate three radio stations and attempt to make as many contacts as possible with amateur radio stations throughout North and South America. They will communicate using voice, Morse code radio and digital radio. More than 37,500 amateur radio operators participated in last year’s event.