Nhu Y Stessman started running to relieve the stress of teaching organic chemistry at Stanislaus State and lose weight she’d gained while pregnant with the last of her three children.

Her husband and fellow organic chemistry professor, Chad Stessman, hit the road a few years later at the invitation of colleague Elvin Alemán, who’d decided they should get together and run a couple of nights a week, after their children had gone to bed, just to get back in shape.

After a two-year absence, the Giving Tree is back on the Stanislaus State campus and proving that helping a child in need is a popular way for Warriors to feel the joy of the holiday season.

Growing up in the small farming town of Delhi and attending Hilmar High School, Julio Pimentel never expected to be a cancer researcher discovering new ways to target aggressive and treatment-resistant forms of the disease while winning dozens of accolades for his work.