Applause for the week of Feb. 23

Kudos to: Connor Luong, sixth-grader at Brookfield School

Accomplishment: Awarded $1,000 prize from Soil Science Society

Details: The Soil Science Society and the California Museum competition challenged students to develop a hypothesis on how certain factors cause soil erosion. Luong’s experiments demonstrated how thermal expansion of seawater can lead to rising sea levels and cause soil erosion along coastlines.

Kudos to: Jack and Kathleen Sellers

Accomplishment: Donated nearly $8,000 to improve dental care for animals at Sacramento County’s Bradshaw Road animal shelter

Details: The Sellers’ gift in memory of two shelter Chihuahuas named Autumn and Pepper enabled the purchase of a veterinary dental unit with a compressor and a dental scaler. The equipment will increase the adoptability of animals, some of who come in with abscessed teeth.

Kudos to: Police Officers’ Association of Lodi

Accomplishment: Presented bicycles to teenage brothers Juan and Jose Pulido

Details: The Pulido brothers lost their bike – and Jose was injured – when they were hit by a hit-and-run vehicle. Officers then learned that the brothers shared the bike to get from home across town to school. The union board of directors donated money to purchase the bikes.

– Bill Lindelof

blindelof@sacbee.com

This story was originally published February 22, 2015 at 5:26 PM with the headline "Applause for the week of Feb. 23."