The focus in the classroom is evident as elementary-age students at Washington Elementary STEM Magnet control images on a video screen using coding. These kids are lucky participants of STEAM:CODERS, a Pasadena nonprofit that inspires underrepresented students and their families through Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) – all in preparation for academic and…
John Matthiessen enjoyed a long career as a salesman and then as the owner/operator of PlayWell, a local company that crafted high-quality play equipment for children. After he sold the company in the early 2000s, a friend invited him to visit the Boys & Girls Club Pasadena (BGCP), and John was hooked. “With my company,…
The Welcome Home Fund recently announced its first two scholarship recipients at Pasadena City College (PCC). John Pipia and Betty Ma established the fund with Pasadena Community Foundation in 2021 in support of full-time student veterans at PCC. The students must demonstrate serious academic ambition and progress, as well as a plan to transfer to…
John Clay III (pictured top left) has deep roots in Pasadena. Since the 1940s, his family has been Pasadena residents; John was also born and raised in the city. He attended local public schools Loma Alta Elementary, Eliot Middle School, and graduated from Muir High School. In 2014, John met Pegah Sharestani (top right), and…
“‘Lala’. She was the heart and soul of the family,” explains Kate Healy about her grandmother, Nancy Nash Beckham who lived in Pasadena and was a familiar fixture at All Saints Church and other volunteer organizations in Pasadena that helped the homeless and hungry. At the church, she was known as “The Cookie Lady,” since…