Back in 1998, two family businesses —Holt Bros. and Tenco Tractors — merged into one, for a total of three families now under one business roof at Holt of California. Twenty years later, they rely on a long history of leadership transitions to select the next in line for succession.

Outside the Whitney High School library, a group of seniors sit in chairs, each clutching a resume and cover letter. The girls wear dresses or skirts. The boys are in slacks, a dress shirt and tie.

At the beginning of the fall semester, about 450 seniors at Whitney High School in Rocklin participated in mock interviews to learn the valuable skills needed to enter the workforce. They learned how to prepare a resume and cover letter, participated in an interview class and completed a 20-minute mock interview.

Is there something weird about California’s standardized test scores?

Last year, 49 percent of California students who took the test scored as meeting the state’s reading and writing standards. This year, that number flatlined at 49 percent. So despite most teachers and students having an additional year to get familiar with the exam, and an additional year of instruction conceivably tailored to improve on student weaknesses identified in the test, California public schools were no better at getting students to master state English standards.

New UC Davis Chancellor Dr. Gary May arrived at the university with a stellar reputation for innovation, leadership and academic equality for all students. We sat down with him recently to discuss his plans and goals for one of the region’s landmark institutions.

Getting into college is only half the challenge; paying for it is quite another. According to research conducted by two assistant professors of economics, in a paper titled “Accounting for the Rising in College Tuition,” the cost of college tuition more than doubled from 1987 to 2010, and outpaced inflation by 2-4 percent.

The sun was already sinking below the horizon on the final night of the lawmaking year as nearly two dozen lobbyists stalked the Capitol’s brightly lit hallways, making sure lawmakers didn’t approve a new math and science school for disadvantaged students.

Studies show that students who graduate in four years see financial benefits, both by paying less tuition and being faster to boost their income by getting a better job, and they also tend to have higher GPAs.

In 2004, four years after launching their first farm, the founders of Soil Born Farms Urban Agriculture and Education Project incorporated their group as a nonprofit to help others see the value of growing food within cities, spreading the philosophy of “healthy food for all.”

Dee Lucien is waiting patiently. She’s on the shortlist for a spot in the prestigious doctoral program at UC Davis’ Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, thanks to a full-ride scholarship she says she never would have known about if it hadn’t been for one local nonprofit.

Randy Roberts, deputy director of the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, offers her insight into the essential role of museums as community organizations.

Founded in 2000, Music to Grow On focuses on special-needs children and works in 20 school districts throughout the greater Sacramento region. Barth describes music therapy as “the use of music to reach non-musical goals,” which can include everything from communication and motor skills to memory and academics.

Bessie Barth, director of Music to Grown On, offers her insight into the role of music therapy.

Comstock’s monthly look at the business news in the Capital Region. So what happened in July (and the tail end of June)?

Students at UC Davis are building a house. Not just any house, but a solar-powered house, one with the potential to be as affordable as it is innovative and, above all, energy efficient.

Children at River Oaks Elementary School in Galt are more than just students. They’re scientists in the classroom and they do what scientists do — observe, ask questions, identify problems, gather data, analyze it and apply this knowledge in science, technology, engineering and mathematics to the real world.

Under sunny skies at Argonaut High School in Jackson, representatives from the Amador County Public Schools system and OpTerra Energy Services recently celebrated the official groundbreaking of the Amador GOLD program. The public-private partnership combines school infrastructure improvement and energy-efficiency projects with STEM education for students.

Take increasing student enrollment. Add economics. Stir both in slowly with the 23-campus California State University system during the past three decades and nowadays you get stark inequality.

With graduation gifts, it’s the thought that counts. The cash is nice, too.