Follow-up Story: Sixty Whittier Union High School District students demonstrated their mastery of physics during the District’s inaugural Science Cup, held March 2 at the Sierra Education Center. Student teams from all five Whittier Union comprehensive high schools competed in three separate events: building and racing mousetrap cars, designing and launching bottle rockets and creating a Rube Goldberg machine. Medals were given at the end of each event, with a cup awarded to the overall winner
Follow-up Story: California High School senior Kelly Clavel’s dreams of finding a cure for cancer were nearly shattered as a child when a south Los Angeles elementary school teacher advised her to choose a more realistic goal. Using the slight as a stimulus to not only excel academically, but to inspire young Latinas in impoverished areas to strive for the impossible, Clavel has become an exemplary leader on the Cal High campus and a standout student in class. Clavel can now demonstrate that anything – including becoming a surgeon and find cures for the incurable – is possible after gaining early admission to Stanford University, one of the top biomedical research colleges in the country
Follow-up Story: Frontier High School is one of 32 schools in the state to be recognized by the California Department of Education as a 2018 Model Continuation High School for creating innovative programs that address the academic, social and emotional needs of students who need added support as they pursue their paths toward graduation. This is the seventh time Frontier has been honored with the three-year designation. It will be recognized at the 2018 California Continuation Education Association (CCEA) State Conference in April.
Follow-up Story: Santa Fe High School senior Kyla Moore has a passion for the arts, communicating with her friends and family through song, dance and sign language. With an eye toward earning a degree in public relations, Moore has been accepted into Pepperdine University on a full-ride scholarship from the Posse Foundation. The foundation identifies students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential, but who may be overlooked by traditional college selection processes. Moore, who holds a weighted 4.39 GPA, ranks 10th in her class and has taken several rigorous Advanced Placement courses. She has been in choir all four years and is a community volunteer for the youth cheerleading program, SFS 49ers.
Keith Boyer Concert to Benefit Whittier Union Student Scholarships
Whittier Police Officer Keith Boyer’s surviving bandmates from his classic rock tribute band, Mrs. Jones’ Revenge, will perform a memorial concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17. The event will raise funds for the Keith Boyer Memorial Scholarship at La Serna High School, from which he graduated in 1981. The two-hour concert will be at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd., La Mirada.
Follow-up Story: Whittier High School social science, technology and English students will boost the success of three local businesses through creative mobile and emerging technology solutions they will develop with a $20,000 grant from the Verizon Innovative Learning STEM and entrepreneurship program. Whittier High is one of five Los Angeles-area high schools accepted into the two-year program, which provides educators a unique experience to create a design-thinking curriculum, partner with local businesses and teach students entrepreneurship and technology skills through real-world challenges. More than 150 students from Whittier High’s Cardinal Computer Academy will take part in the program, set to begin in February.
Follow-up Story: Pioneer High School senior Sabrina Hawthorne has been accepted to Cornell University, an Ivy League research university in New York where she will study industrial and labor relations, paving the way for her to become a civil rights lawyer. Hawthorne, who has a 4.2 GPA, is the first in her family to attend college and credits her mother for instilling in her the inspiration to believe in herself. She also credits the Pioneer High staff for their support in the classroom and securing financial aid. Hawthorne is captain of both the varsity swim and varsity water polo teams and a member of the volleyball team. She is also in the Pioneer High Leos Club and is founder and president of the Good Eats Health Club and Science Club.
Follow-up Story: For 17 years, Whittier Union High School District has partnered with the Hispanic Outreach Taskforce to provide students with financial, emotional and academic support, while engaging and empowering parents to support their children. The organization recently held its 17th annual Parent Education Conference, a daylong event for more than 300 parents from across seven K-12 school district partners, including Whittier Union.
Ushering in the holiday season with music ranging from uplifting classical works to fun Christmas favorites, the choirs of Whittier Union’s five comprehensive high schools will celebrate the season at the District’s annual Choral Festival on Tuesday, Dec. 5 at Whittier College, 13406 Philadelphia St., Whittier. Choral groups from California, La Serna, Pioneer, Santa Fe and Whittier high schools will perform and receive critiques from this year’s adjudicator, Bruce Rogers, an elite vocal instructor and director of choral activities at Mt. San Antonio College.
Follow-up Story: Whittier High School recently held its second annual Alumni Career Fair, connecting Cardinal graduates – now skilled and seasoned engineers, nurses, educators and police officers – with hundreds of students who are exploring college and career pathways. More than 200 juniors and seniors and their parents flooded Whittier High’s William C. Gordon Library and its classrooms on Nov. 7 to hear professionals speak about their journeys to achieve success and answer questions from curious students.
