Lynwood Unified High School students received the opportunity to earn on-the-spot acceptance to Historically Black Colleges and Universities when a caravan of HBCU college recruiters and admission counselors visited LUSD campuses on Feb. 1. The schools included Tuskegee University, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science and Harris-Stowe State University.
Rio Hondo College will partner with the Office of Assembly Majority Leader Ian C. Calderon to host a Cash 4 College financial aid overview and a financial aid application lab on Saturday, Feb. 2 for students and their families, including free assistance with the 2019-20 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and California Dream Act application. The overview will be offered at 10 a.m. and the lab at 11 a.m. Rio Hondo College is at 3600 Workman Mill Road, Whittier.
Plymouth Elementary School’s PTA will celebrate the Lunar New Year during Chinese New Year Family Night from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 31 at Plymouth Elementary School, 1300 Boley St., Monrovia. The event will feature arts and crafts and a cultural dance student performance. The event was created to emphasize the school’s Mandarin Dual Immersion curriculum and enhance students’ learning of the language.
When the Los Angeles Rams take the field for Super Bowl LIII on Feb. 3 in Atlanta, a piece of Lynwood will join them. Lynwood High School teacher Brittany Washington will carry Lynwood to the biggest stage in sports when she performs in front of 75,000 fans at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and millions tuning in across the country as a member of the Rams’ cheerleading squad. Washington, Lynwood High’s Career Technical Education (CTE) dance instructor and cheer coach, is a third-year cheerleader for the Rams and a seasoned performer, but she admits to crying tears of joy when she learned she would be showcased at the Super Bowl.
Bassett High School’s Pathways Showcase introduced eighth-graders from Edgewood Academy and Torch Middle School as well as current ninth-graders to academic pathways in health care, business, engineering and education on Jan. 30. The event also highlighted visual and performing arts (VAPA) classes.
The Whittier Union High School District community is remembering the life of inspirational educator, mentor and former Santa Fe High School athletic coach Jack Mahlstede, who died Jan. 24 after battling pancreatic cancer. He was 80. Mahlstede, who dedicated more than 42 years of his career to Whittier Union, began as a varsity assistant football coach for Santa Fe High School in 1969 and became head varsity football coach in 1970. He served as Santa Fe’s head varsity coach for football, track and cross country until 2011, when he retired. In 2014, the District dedicated Santa Fe High School’s football field to Mahlstede.
Arroyo High School seniors Ethan Wong and Molly Hake share an affinity for academics and athleticism. After years of diligence in the classroom and in athletic competition, the students have been recognized as two of the top scholars in the nation. Wong, a tennis player, scored his most impressive ace when he earned the highest possible ACT composite score of 36, a perfect score reached by only 2,760 students – or 1/10 of 1 percent – of the more than 2 million who took the exam in 2017. Hake, a distance runner who has garnered many awards on Arroyo’s track and cross country teams, was recently recognized as a Commended Student in the National Merit Scholarship Program.
El Monte Union hosted a CTE Fair on Jan. 23 for area middle school students and their parents, introducing them to a host of career technical education pathways available at EMUHSD schools. Students and parents learned about pathways in business/finance; engineering; arts/media/design; health care; hospitality and food service; building and construction; transportation; and manufacturing.
Students at Paramount Unified’s Odyssey STEM Academy are learning from successful professionals at hospitals, in city government buildings and at schools through a six-week internship program that immerses them in real-world careers. Students are spending two days per week in their fields of study from Jan. 14 to March 8. Students were required to seek out their own mentors and apply for the internships through job fairs and personal visits. Students will continue with new internships throughout their four years to learn new skills and career possibilities before they graduate.
A podcast launched in fall 2015 by two Bassett Unified teachers on special assignment (TOSAs) celebrated its 100th podcast this month and logged its 70,000th download by educators who are keen to learn ways to integrate technology into their instructional plans. Called “TOSAs Talking Tech,” the podcast was created by Tom Covington and Michael Jephcott to connect with District educators with busy schedules. The show’s popularity skyrocketed after the duo presented at classroom tech conferences in 2017.
