Welcome to this month’s edition of Good Life in Happy Valley. We are pleased to introduce you to local jazzman Rick Hirsch, who has found his niche in the State College music scene, where he shines as a band director, performer, composer and teacher. He has spurned urban music hotbeds to guide budding performers at State College Area High School, take the stage with several local bands and also to raise his family here.

The Living Local feature highlights Kimber Hershberger, a third-grade teacher at Radio Park Elementary who will soon be recognized nationally for her contributions to learning.

We’ll take you to historic Curtin Village — home of the Curtin mansion, built in 1830 — where visitors can take a look back to the days of the Eagle Ironworks and a bustling local industrial community featuring a school, a mill and two churches.

Our Q & A features Don Spackman, who was voted most likely to succeed by his Bald Eagle Area classmates in 1962. He returns to his alma mater next week to deliver the commencement address to the class of 2012 after earning an engineering degree, working at NASA and a local hospital, and running his family’s farm. He analyzes how life in the valley has changed in 50 years, and hints at pearls of wisdom he’ll offer to young people getting ready to leave BEA and take on the world.

You’ll want to look for familiar faces in On the Scene. This month we are featuring the American Cancer Society’s Race Day Soiree and the Children’s Dyslexia Center in State College.

Susan Leath is president and publisher of the Centre Daily Times.