COMMUNITY NEWS BANKER'S VISIT TO INDIA WAS AN EYE-OPENER.

Westlake Village banker Jim Parson recently returned from the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, where he took part in a mission to immunize children from polio.

Parson, a vice president of First State Bank of California, was struck by the chasm between his life and that of the villagers he met.

His volunteer work took him to the remote area of Aligarb, where he said he witnessed some of the ``worst poverty on the face of the planet,'' including a village constructed of cow patties and a medical clinic without any supplies or furniture.

``It was a reality check to shift in one day from a Westlake banker's environment to a world of absolute desperation,'' he said. ``It put a whole new meaning to a charitable effort, and will change my life's perspective forever.''

Parson served among thousands of volunteers working to see that every child under 5 years of age is immunized against polio. ``Every door was knocked on, and if no one answered, we returned until every child was checked,'' he said.

The effort is part of work by Rotarians who joined with the World Health Organization and UNICEF.

Sixth- and seventh-graders from the Centers of Learning, a private college preparatory school in North Hills, won prizes in the sixth annual Time 2 Write ``Seuss'' Style writing contest sponsored by Time Warner Cable.

Four seventh-graders captured the grand prize and will see their story ``Larry the Lumpie'' performed by the Musical Youth Artists' Repertory Theatre before the whole school in May.

The Seuss-style story is about a ``lumpy'' born with wings who overcomes feelings of being different from all the other wingless ``lumpies.''

The sixth-grade authors won top prize in their grade levels for their story ``My Pet Rock'' and will receive Dr. Seuss-related prizes for their work.

The winning entries were chosen from 91 other stories by students in grades K-8 throughout Los Angeles. The contest is designed to encourage creativity and teamwork among students and supports the National Education Association's Read Across American campaign.

San Fernando Valley teens will be part of 52 high school teams displaying their robots at a Southern California regional robotics competition Friday and Saturday.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is providing nearly a dozen mentor engineers to advise the teams, along with about 50 volunteers to help staff the event, which will take place at the Great Western Forum.

This year, robots built by teams will face off on a field containing nine goals, with the robots handed game pieces that are used to score points and claim ownership of the goals. Each match will last 2 minutes and 15 seconds.

Regional teams compete to play in the 2005 championship April 21-23 in Atlanta.

San Fernando Valley area teams include Van Nuys High School in Van Nuys, Taft High School in Woodland Hills, Louisville High School in Woodland Hills, Harvard-Westlake High School in North Hollywood, Hart High School in Newhall, Granada Hills High School in Granada Hills, Crescenta Valley High School in La Crescenta, Clark Magnet High School in La Crescenta, Chatsworth High School in Chatsworth, Chaminade College Preparatory in West Hills, and Campbell Hall High School in North Hollywood.