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📢 Local Events from Mentor & the Area: MentorLocalBuzz.com/Events!

📰 Local News: 📰 $1.5 Million Gift Supports Holden Arboretum Science Center Expansion

🏫 Lake County Youth Summit Brings About 90 Students to Mentor High

🛣️ Sunday Drives by Next Stop: Letchworth and Geneseo: A Scenic Escape Before Fall Hits Full Speed

⚾ Sports: ⚾ Martínez Homers From Both Sides as Guards Stay Atop Central

⚽ Local Sports Brief: Cougars Fall, Cardinals Look Ahead

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🤣 Something Funny

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A $1.5 million gift is helping move plans forward for a major expansion of scientific research and education facilities at The Holden Arboretum in Kirtland.

Longtime Holden supporters Sally and Larry Sears committed the gift toward an approximately 10,000-square-foot addition planned next to the existing Center for Plant & Environmental Science. The expansion is expected to include new research laboratories, collaborative work areas and spaces where students and the public can engage with Holden’s scientific work.

That work reaches well beyond the arboretum’s gardens and trails. Holden scientists use its 3,500 acres of forests and living plant collections to study forest health, biodiversity, climate change, emerging pests and diseases, soil ecology and ecological restoration.

The project is also designed to expand educational opportunities. A flexible learning laboratory is planned for scientists as well as programming involving students, community partners and the public.

Holden’s goal is to begin the project in 2027, and additional fundraising remains underway. The organization has not announced a total project cost or completion date.

👉🏻 Click here for more on the story - the expansion goes well beyond adding laboratory space. See what Holden scientists are already studying, how the new building is being designed and why the project could have an impact far beyond Kirtland.

About 90 middle- and high-school students from across Lake County gathered at Mentor High School this month for a day focused on leadership, good decision-making and student well-being.

The second annual Lake County Youth Summit was held recently at the Paradigm on the Mentor High campus. According to The News-Herald, the Education Service Center of the Western Reserve organized the program, which included workshops and activities centered on leadership, mental health, prevention and student empowerment.

Students from across the county participated in the program, although publicly available information does not specify how students were selected to attend.

The gathering gave young people an opportunity to develop leadership and decision-making skills while learning about issues affecting students both in and outside the classroom.

For Mentor-area readers, the summit also brought students from around Lake County to the Mentor High campus for a program focused on helping young people build skills they can carry back into their schools and communities.

Waterfalls and gorge views bring the drama. A historic small town gives you somewhere comfortable to explore once the park day is done.

Letchworth State Park has the kind of scenery that can make a regional road trip feel much farther from home. The Genesee River cuts through a deep gorge, three major waterfalls anchor the park’s best-known views, and scenic stops along the park road make it possible to experience the landscape without turning the day into a serious hike.

That flexibility is part of the appeal. Strong walkers can build the visit around trails, while travelers who prefer a gentler day can choose overlooks, picnic areas and shorter walks. Near the Humphrey Nature Center, the accessible, mile-long Autism Nature Trail offers another way to experience the park.

The better strategy is to resist treating Letchworth as a checklist. Choose a few priority views, leave room for the drive between them and remember that some destinations require more effort than others. Lower Falls, for example, involves roughly 127 stairs.

Then add Geneseo.

Its historic Main Street gives the trip a distinctly different second act, with shops, restaurants, landmark buildings and nearby Village Park overlooking the valley. Instead of leaving the waterfalls and immediately beginning the long drive home, you have somewhere pleasant to eat, walk and settle into the evening.

A one-day visit can work: arrive early, concentrate on a few Letchworth highlights, then stop in Geneseo before heading home. With a full weekend, give the park most of one day, stay near Geneseo and leave the following morning open for Main Street or the surrounding Genesee Valley.

Late September is a useful in-between moment. Go for the gorge, waterfalls and first hints of seasonal change—not a promise of peak fall color.

👉🏻 Planning the drive? Our full Next Stop guide shows how to pace a day at Letchworth, which experiences work for different activity levels and why adding Geneseo can turn a scenic park visit into a complete weekend escape.

Ángel Martínez delivered a huge night at the plate Saturday as the Guardians beat the Athletics 12-6, won their fourth straight and maintained their one-game lead in the AL Central.

Martínez homered from both sides of the plate and finished with four hits and four RBIs. His two-run homer helped fuel a five-run first inning after Oakland had taken an early 2-0 lead. He added a solo shot in the fourth, becoming the second Guardians hitter this month to homer from both sides of the plate after Brayan Rocchio accomplished the feat Sept. 4 against Detroit.

Cleveland’s offense had plenty of help. Chase DeLauter hit a three-run homer, while David Fry contributed a two-run double during another five-run outburst in the third. Five Guardians finished with at least two hits.

The win improved Cleveland to 80-75 and kept the Guardians one game ahead of the Chicago White Sox, who beat Detroit 3-1 Saturday.

Cleveland will now go for the series sweep in Sunday’s regular-season home finale. Gavin Williams (13-8, 3.78 ERA) is scheduled to face Oakland’s Jack Perkins (3-11, 6.14).

See highlights at espn.com

Lake Catholic boys soccer saw its strong start interrupted Saturday afternoon, falling 4-1 at Shaker Heights. The match was close through halftime before the Raiders pulled away in the second half. The loss moved the Cougars to 5-2-3 after they had won 5-0 at Holy Name earlier in the week. Lake Catholic returns home Tuesday to face Elyria Catholic at 5:30 p.m.

Mentor boys soccer will also be back in action Tuesday, traveling to Riverside for a 7 p.m. Greater Cleveland Conference matchup. The Cardinals enter at 3-7 overall and 1-2 in conference play, but they are coming off an emphatic 7-1 victory over Euclid on Sept. 15.

And Mentor’s cross-country teams have some momentum of their own. Both the Cardinals boys and girls varsity teams won the 54th annual Cardinal Classic at Garfield Park last weekend against a 49-team field, with seven Mentor runners finishing in under 17 minutes.

🐝 Buzz Fact: Your car’s electrical system powers everything from the headlights to the radio—which is impressive considering the radio always seems to work perfectly when the repair shop is explaining why you need $1,400 worth of “other stuff.”
Answer: Google

Try not to laugh… this is hilarious.