Follow-up Story: Baldwin Park Unified’s Kenmore Elementary School has qualified as one of 18 U.S. honor roll schools in the 2018 America’s Best Urban Schools Award given by the National Center for Urban School Transformation (NCUST). The award honors schools in urban areas with high percentages of low-income students that create a thriving academic community. A NCUST team will visit Kenmore in spring and decide whether it will be among those chosen as bronze, silver and gold medal schools.
Baldwin Park Unified Elementary School Honored for Academic Success
Follow-up Story: Baldwin Park Unified’s Kenmore Elementary School has qualified as one of 18 U.S. honor schools for the 2018 America’s Best Urban Schools Award given out by the National Center for Urban School Transformation (NCUST). The award honors schools in urban areas with high percentages of low-income students that create thriving academic communities. A NCUST team will visit Kenmore in spring and decide whether to name it a bronze, silver or gold medal school.
Follow-up Story: Baldwin Park Unified’s Sierra Vista High School has won a NASA-sponsored Regional Challenge Rookie Team Grant that will provide the school’s robotics team with the funds to cover registration for the FIRST Robotics Competition, representing the team’s first time entering such a contest. The grant provides Sierra Vista’s Robodons with $6,000 for competition registration and a robotics kit that includes a base model with frame, controller, gears and motor. Bryant Hong, a junior at Sierra Vista and the robotics club president, applied for the grant.
Holland Middle School’s robotics team snagged fourth place in the qualifying round of a VEX In The Zone Competition on Jan. 6 – far outpacing its previous performances. The Bulldogs also placed third in the elimination round, edging out experienced magnet and private school teams. This is the first year the Bulldogs have competed in VEX Robotics. The team is on the waiting list for a competition on Saturday, Jan. 13 and will compete on Saturday, Jan. 20 at Grace Brethren Church in Simi Valley.
Baldwin Park Unified Marching Band Plans Holiday Performance
Sierra Vista High School’s 130-member marching band will hold its annual winter concert at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15 at the Baldwin Park Performing Arts Center, 4640 Maine Ave., Baldwin Park.
Follow-up Story: Long-time educator and Baldwin Park resident Betsabel Lara took the oath of office on Jan. 16 as Baldwin Park Unified School District’s newest Board of Education member. Lara will serve alongside President Teresa I. Vargas, Vice President/Clerk Diana E. Dzib and board members Santos Hernandez, Jr. and Christina Lucero. Lara’s seat will be up for election in November.
Follow-up Story: When he was in middle school, Isaac Aguila missed months and months of school as his family grappled with the unthinkable – the kidnapping of his father. By the time he reached high school, Aguila lagged far behind his peers. Today, with the help of Baldwin Park Unified’s North Park Continuation High School, Aguila has not only caught up with his studies, he has excelled to the point that he graduated a year early, earning his diploma in August. Aguila’s determination and academic excellence have earned him the 2017 Every Student Succeeding Award from the District’s chapter of the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA). Aguila plans to enroll this spring at Mt. San Antonio College to begin his pursuit of a business degree
Follow-up Story: Cameras rolled this fall as 38 students from Baldwin Park Unified’s Vineland Elementary stretched and jogged alongside 1972 Olympic medalist Rod Dixon for a documentary on his life and campaign to inspire healthy living. Vineland students joined the effort when in 2016-17 they signed on as part of Rod Dixon’s Kids Marathon, an international program that teaches the benefits of regular exercise and engenders a passion for running. Students learn about the importance of nutrition and run roughly a mile a week, completing in stages a marathon’s 26.2 miles. The documentary is expected to feature interviews with student runners, principal and co-coach Dr. Laura Rodriguez and co-coach Marisol Lazaro, as well as shots of the school’s entrance.
Follow-up Story: Baldwin Park Unified’s Board of Education on Dec. 5 named Teresa I. Vargas as board president and Diana E. Dzib as board clerk/vice president for 2018. Vargas was elected to the board in 2009. She served as president in 2015 and as clerk/vice president in 2011 and 2017. Board Member Santos Hernandez, Jr. was selected during the meeting as the board’s 2018 representative on the Los Angeles County School Trustees Association. Hernandez and Vargas also will serve on the Community Collaborative Committee. Board Member Christina Lucero, who served as president in 2016 and 2017, will represent the board on the Los Angeles County Committee on School District Organization and the East San Gabriel Valley Regional Occupational Program. The Board of Education’s fifth seat, recently vacated, will be filled through appointment on Dec. 11.
Baldwin Park Unified Middle School Students Compete in Robotics Contest
Follow-up Story: Holland Middle School’s robotics team battled 23 teams from across the region during the second round of the VEX Robotics Competition on Dec. 9. During one match, the Bulldogs discovered a design flaw in their robot, which placed them 16th out of the top 20 teams. Now, with two such competitions under their belts, the Bulldogs are using the experiences and the support from the team parents and sponsors as they prepare for a rematch Saturday, Jan. 6.
