COARSEGOLD - The Madera Method Wagon Train rolls into town Friday [June 18] to kick off a host of weekend festivities in honor of the Sesquicentennial.
    This year marks the 150th year since gold was discovered in the California hills.
    The Madera train features approximately seven wagons, in addition to teams, crews and outriders.
    This train also has one thing none of the other 93 wagons have - children who are making the journey as part of their education.
    This explains the word "method in the wagon train's name. It is a method of teaching the children about the history of the Old West. The 20 or so children are fifth- and sixth-graders at Madera schools.
    "The kids will learn how they did it 150 years ago, says wagonmaster Steve King, owner of Steve's Wrought Iron in Madera.
    "They'll learn the state's history, the discovery of gold, and what the pioneers had to do and how they had to live traveling in covered wagons.
    It will definitely be a hands-on experience for the youngsters, who will drive the teams, harness and unharness the teams, put the canvas on the wagons, and lead the horses to water.
    History teacher Bill Coate, from Sierra Vista Elementary School in Madera, will travel with the children.

    Oakhurst area residents interested in serving on the newly created Oakhurst Community Advisory Council are invited to submit applications by June 25.
    The council, an official panel that will advise the county Board of Supervisors, Planning Commission and county agencies concerning Oakhurst procedures, will be named by the supervisors.
    There are nine openings, five of them "public seats and four representing four constituencies - the Eastern Madera County Chamber of Commerce and the Sierra Senior Society, plus one person who is a licensed architect or engineer and another who is a licensed building contractor.
    Applications can be submitted in writing to Supervisor Gary Gilbert [Mountain Area-District 5], 209 West Yosemite Avenue, Madera 93637.

    Fifty-nine students received their high school diplomas last Friday in a ceremony at Mountain Christian Center. These were students from five alternative education schools within the Yosemite Joint Union High School District.
    Schools represented were Ahwahnee High School, Evergreen High School, Foothill High School, Raymond Granite High School and Yosemite Adult High School.
    Scholarships were also presented to students during the ceremony. Recipients and donors were:
    Lora Mercer, Murray Hammerling Memorial Scholarship; Pam Baize, Sierra Sunrise Rotary Scholarship and Jeremy Wilson, Oakhurst Elementary School Staff Scholarship.
    El Capitan Foundation presented five scholarships that were made possible by donations from these local businesses: