A trio of Firebaugh High School engineering students will represent Los Angeles County in a statewide engineering design contest on Saturday, May 14 after taking first place at a regional competition at El Camino College. Juniors Melody Del Cid and Nelly Gutierrez, and freshman Alexis Guerrero beat out students from 17 schools. It was Firebaugh’s first time competing in Project Lead The Way’s Chevron Design Challenge, which required the students to solve a real-world design problem. Photos are available.
Lynwood Unified Preschools Receive $5.3 Million Program Expansion Grant
Lynwood Unified is receiving a $5.3 million state preschool expansion grant that will enable the District to preserve its half-day preschool program at all schools and add full-day classes at most campuses, expanding service to 200 more students. Lynwood Unified will use the funds – approved on April 1 – to transition its preschools to the California State Preschool program from Los Angeles Universal Preschool, which is discontinuing funding.
Lynwood High School seniors Irving Arias and Jose R. Lozano were named winners of the inaugural Long Beach Region California Student Opportunity and Access Program (Cal-SOAP) College Prep Summer Camp logo design contest on April 13. Arias and Lozano both received $150 VISA gift cards. This year’s official summer camp T-shirts, program documents and fliers will boast both students’ logos.
Six Lynwood Unified schools have been named California Gold Ribbon Schools for shaping lesson plans to address diverse student needs, using data to drive teacher collaboration on classroom instruction and guiding students to take charge of their own learning. Winning schools are Helen Keller, Janie P. Abbott, Mark Twain, Roosevelt, Will Rogers and Woodrow Wilson elementary schools. The Gold Ribbon is California’s highest academic award, created as a substitute to the Distinguished School Program to celebrate schools for model programs during rollout of the new California Standards.
As part of a call to action from first lady Michelle Obama, Lynwood High School seniors on April 26 joined students across the nation in taking their first step toward college during College Signing Day. The White House event was initiated in 2014 to encourage students to attend college and to support those already planning their college journeys. Lynwood High seniors signed letters of intent for their colleges or universities in front of a crowd of underclassmen at 12:30 p.m. at the high school.
Sixty Lynwood Unified middle and high school students will screen 10 original short films on Saturday, April 30 at Lynwood High School auditorium, 4050 Imperial Highway, Lynwood. The films were created through a film program offered through a partnership with the Southern California Crossroads film program. This is the program’s fourth year. A reception will begin at 4 p.m. Screenings run from 5 to 8 p.m.
Seeking to inspire female students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), the Lynwood Unified School District held its inaugural Girl STEM Conference at Lynwood’s Bateman Hall on April 20. The conference, attended by more than 150 female LUSD elementary-, middle- and high-school students, featured motivational speakers and videos, workshops and hands-on activities assisted by Lynwood and Firebaugh high students in biomedical and engineering career programs. Tables with engineering students from Lynwood and Firebaugh high schools displayed 3-D printers, fingerprint scanners, solar-powered car chargers, heart monitors, puzzle cubes and a Rube Goldberg machine.
Lynwood Unified Dedicates Parent Center in Honor of Community Volunteer
Lynwood Unified will dedicate its refurbished parent resource center at Roosevelt Elementary School to the memory of Matilde Zapien, longtime Roosevelt parent volunteer and founder of Lynwood Unified’s first parent organization, Parents Interested in Education. The dedication ceremony will be held at 9:15 a.m. Friday, April 22 at the campus, 10835 Mallison Ave, Lynwood.
Lynwood Unified Parent Council Honors Women in Education
Follow-up Story: The Lynwood Unified School District African American Advisory Parent Council (DAAAPC) honored seven volunteers and staff members at its third annual Women in Education celebration on March 23. Honorees are Adrienne Koniger-Macklin, Lynwood Unified general counsel; Dawn Green, teacher; Dr. Yvette Harps, Lynwood Unified transformation administrator; Rosana Lee, special education teacher; Gickee Ormeo, administrative office coordinator; Viola Putney, parent volunteer; Stella Woods, school custodian. The women received certificates of recognition from DAAAPC and state Sen. Ricardo Lara following a dance performance by Lynwood High students. Photos are available.
Follow-up Story: Scores of elementary students crafted miniature powered windmills while their parents learned how to prepare for college on Feb. 19 during Lynwood Unified’s fourth annual Noche De Ciencias, or Science Night, an event designed to promote interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. Nearly 200 Lynwood Unified elementary students and their parents attended the engineering workshops and college planning meetings conducted in English and Spanish at Marco Antonio Firebaugh High School. Twenty students from Firebaugh and Lynwood high schools’ chapters of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers guided the elementary students as they built their windmills – which produced enough power to lift weights – and other STEM-related activities.
