El Monte Union will host its inaugural 2020 Lunar New Year Celebration from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12 at the Grace T. Black Auditorium, 3130 Tyler Ave., El Monte. The festive event, celebrating the Year of the Rat, will feature entertainment, crafts and refreshments. Space is limited to 300 guests.
Humberto Solorio, who has spent the last 18 years helping students at Whittier Union’s California High School reach their potential and explore their abilities, strengths and interests, will attend the 2020 State of the Union Address in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Feb. 4. Solorio will attend the historic event, taking place during the same week as National School Counseling Week, as an invited guest of U.S. Rep. Linda Sanchez. At Cal High, Solorio provides counseling services to students, including those enrolled in the school’s Business Academy, co-leads the school’s new Fresh Air Mentoring Program, which provides additional support to male upperclassmen, and is part of the District’s Crisis Response Team.
Monrovia Unified will open a Paxton Patterson Lab at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4, at Santa Fe Computer Science Magnet School, 148 W. Duarte Road, Monrovia. Students will use the lab for activities that include audio communications, video production, electricity and electronics, instructional engineering, and computer graphics and design. The lab will help students build skills in problem solving, teamwork, creativity and responsibility.
Mountain View High School will celebrate senior Erika "Kika" Rivera, who will formally sign her letter of intent to play softball at Pitzer College during a special ceremony at 7:15 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4. Rivera is accepting a full scholarship and will play softball for the Division III university. She will be joined by family, teachers, fellow ASB students and friends. Rivera is in the top 10 of her graduating class, earning a cumulative GPA of 3.91. Her athletic accomplishments include 2019 All CIF Southern Section Softball Team Division V - Pitcher; 2019 San Gabriel Valley All Star Game - Platinum - Most Valuable Player; and 2019 All SGV Tribune Softball Team - Pitcher. Mountain View High is at 2900 Parkway Drive, El Monte.
IRS-certified students from Río Hondo College will provide free basic income tax return preparation aid for individuals and families who earned $56,000 or less in 2019 as part of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. The program is being held from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Fridays, Jan. 31 through April 10, excluding March 27. For information, call 562-463-7359.
Monrovia Unified School District’s Santa Fe Computer Science Magnet School will hold a grand opening for its new Paxton Patterson Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Lab, which offers students hands-on instruction in connection with career technical education (CTE) pathways. The STEM Lab will offer students access to lessons in fields such as audio communications, video production, electricity and electronics, instructional engineering, and computer graphics and design.
Edgewood High School senior Yuriko Chavez’s poetic perspective on social justice won her the 2019-20 Romero Scholarship for Excellence in Spoken Word on Jan. 20. Chavez’s poem submission “Mission First, Mission Always” was ranked No. 1 on four out of the five judges’ score cards.
Plymouth Elementary School’s community will come together to celebrate Lunar New Year during a family night. Celebrating the Year of the Rat, the event is set to have many mouse-themed performances. Students will take part in musical performances and skits, and families will have the opportunity to make shadow puppets of the zodiac animals and perform on a puppet stage. Other activities include Chinese hacky sacks and paper fortune tellers.
The Río Hondo Police Academy will host an “All Class Reunion” for graduates of the academy dating to its first class in 1964. The reunion is the second annual event and is expected to draw scores of former cadets from law enforcement agencies across the state. The gathering follows the graduation of the Academy’s Class 209 on Feb. 6. There are roughly 39 cadets in the class; more than 140 cadets graduated in 2019 and thousands have passed through the academy since it opened.
Baldwin Park Unified School District and Foothill Family have expanded a decade-long partnership to include new Medi-Cal certified satellite offices at Margaret Heath and Walnut elementary schools. Since Jan. 24, the satellite offices have offered daily services to more students, including individual and family therapy focused on prevention and early intervention.
