Mountain View High School senior Cindy Lee, this year’s top valedictorian for the Class of 2020, has been named a 2020 Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Scholar, one of only 300 students across the nation to receive the full-tuition scholarship. Lee will attend her dream university, UC Irvine, where she will major in data science and pursue a graduate degree.
Four schools in the El Monte City School District are being touted as 2020 Top Los Angeles County Public Schools for ensuring high rates of success in math and English language arts for low-income Latino students. LeGore School was honored for achieving high rates of success for elementary students in both areas and Cleminson for success in English for elementary students. Gidley and Durfee schools were praised for their success for middle school English.
Highlighting the achievements and successes of each student, Canyon Oaks High School and Mountain Park Independent Study School will celebrate the graduating Class of 2020 with a drive-thru commencement ceremony at Monrovia High School on June 2. The ceremony will follow all social distancing requirements and public health guidelines established for Los Angeles County.
The El Monte Promise Foundation, in collaboration with El Monte Union High School District, has launched a donation campaign to raise $10,000 for graduation banners and signs recognizing El Monte Union’s Class of 2020. EMPF and EMUHSD are working in partnership with local cities – including Rosemead, El Monte and South El Monte – to support the display of banners throughout the El Monte Union community that will recognize approximately 1,800 individual graduates from six high schools. The deadline to donate is Wednesday, June 10.
El Monte Union’s six high schools will host Car Parade Diploma Celebrations for approximately 1,800 graduates on Thursday, June 4, during which families will drive up at their designated appointment time, students will exit their decorated vehicles, take photos and collect their diplomas. To ensure social distancing and face masks requirements are followed across all schools during the individual diploma ceremonies, the District has released specific guidelines that are in line with county rules. Distribution times will vary across schools but may take up to seven hours. The streaming of a virtual celebration program for each school will follow at 7:30 p.m. The District plans to hold traditional commencement ceremonies in November, or as soon as it is safe to do so.
El Monte City School District will celebrate the promotion of 975 eighth-graders in the Class of 2020 through a mix of lawn signs, banners and virtual ceremonies that will be streamed via YouTube from Tuesday, June 2 through Friday, June 5. In addition, the District will celebrate advancing sixth-graders through montage videos and kindergarteners through Google Class presentations.
Monrovia Unified School District will celebrate the Class of 2020 during two days of commencement drive-thru events. Canyon Oaks High School and Mountain Park Independent Study School will celebrate seniors at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 2 at Monrovia High School, 845 W, Colorado Blvd., Monrovia. Monrovia High School will host its ceremony at 3 p.m. Wednesday, June 3 at Monrovia High School. Every student will be allowed to attend in one car, and only the student will exit the vehicle to walk the stage and receive his or her diploma. The graduates will then take their graduation photos, make their way back to the cars and drive through to the exit point. The plan put forth by Monrovia Unified adheres to all social distancing requirements and public health guidelines established for Los Angeles County.
Ten Baldwin Park Unified Class of 2020 seniors gave shouts of joy and even shed a few tears as a District caravan of well-wishers, equipped with balloons and flowers, traveled through the city on May 15 to personally deliver the news that the students had received scholarships totaling $11,000. District leaders – including Superintendent Dr. Froilan N. Mendoza, Board of Education and Cabinet members, administrators and community leaders – wore masks and practiced social distancing as they surprised students at their homes, placing the decorations and a certificate on the lawns and porches of recipients.
Throughout the spring, 16 students in their first year of Río Hondo College’s Associate Degree of Nursing (ADN) program volunteered at the El Monte City Drive-through COVID-19 testing station, lending a hand to efforts to combat the health crisis that immobilized much of the world. Students began volunteering in April and continued throughout May, rotating through stations to work with nurses from Greater El Monte Community Hospital to instruct community members on testing, distribute testing materials, collect samples and educate patients.
As Whittier Union seniors approach the final days of their high school career, the District’s high schools are finding ways to safely recognize 2,800 members of the Class the 2020, their accomplishments over the last four years and their ability to persevere under the most unexpected circumstances. Following social distancing guidelines and facial covering requirements, each school meticulously in May organized grab-and-go opportunities to provide seniors their graduation packages, which included caps and gowns, medals and yard signs, which were sponsored by the Whittier Union High School District Educational Foundation. Virtual awards shows were also held to celebrate students.
