Students and faculty from Jefferson Elementary School in the Santa Ana Unified School District gave the Angels Baseball Foundation a grand welcome on April 25. 
Each year, the Angels Baseball Foundation works with OCDE to identify five elementary schools to adopt. 
Los Angeles Angels player Luis Rengifo addressed the campus with radio host Roger Lodge by his side. 
Jefferson Elementary students and staff sported the Los Angeles Angels’ team colors. 
Infielder Luis Rengifo spent time speaking with students and signing memorabilia. 
Jefferson Elementary students interacted with Luis Rengifo and sports radio host Roger Lodge during a question and answer session.
Donning their bright red shirts and baseball jerseys, students and staff from Jefferson Elementary excitedly welcomed Los Angeles Angels infielder Luis Rengifo, radio host Roger Lodge and strike force members with cheers and posters.
The Santa Ana Unified School District campus is one of five in Orange County that are celebrating their new partnership with the Angels through the annual Adopt-A-School program.
Their visit on April 25 included an assembly where Rengifo signed hats, jerseys and other memorabilia and gave students their own post-game interview session with Lodge facilitating.
Each year, the Angels Baseball Foundation works with the Orange County Department of Education to identify five elementary schools to adopt. In 2023, this work was accomplished in partnership with OC Waste & Recycling, as a new program sponsor.
This year, the Adopt-A-School classes also include Orange Grove Elementary School from the Anaheim Elementary School District, Acacia Elementary School from the Fullerton School District, Carillo Elementary School from the Garden Grove Unified School District and West Orange Elementary School from the Orange Unified School District.
The baseball foundation will support each adopted site with promoting growth in literacy, STEM programs, bullying prevention and other school initiatives, and in baseball-themed initiatives focusing on leadership, integrity and diversity. The campuses will each receive a $2,000 grant and a four-pack of game tickets per student.
Here are the other stories we’ve been following this week:
- The Orange County Department of Education named six educators as the 2024 Orange County Teachers of the Year this week. Recipients learned of the honor during surprise visits that included Deputy Superintendent Dr. Ramon Miramontes, sponsors and news media, including the Orange County Register.
- OCDE is teaming up with the Orange County Health Care Agency to host a pair of no-cost workshops on May 9 that will cover the dangers of fentanyl and counterfeit pills and share prevention resources.
- A panel of art teachers narrowed down a list of 721 nominees to 107 semifinalists for the OC Register’s annual Orange County Artist of the Year program.
- Capistrano Valley High senior Alex Zhao created an Instagram account to demystify school board meetings for district students.
- An assembly member seeking to tackle the statewide teacher and school staff shortage introduced a bill that would set annual targets for the state’s Local Control Funding Formula with a goal of reaching a 50 percent increase by 2030.
- Ritvik Swamanathan, an 11-year-old from Melinda Heights Elementary School, will travel to Arlington, Virginia in June to compete in the final round of the National Geography Bee.
- The reopening of Corona Del Mar High School’s pool is creating a splash after it went back online far sooner than the 20- to 30-week timetable that was originally given to the Sea Kings’ campus community.
- The Cloud Campus, Newport-Mesa’s 100 percent virtual learning option offered to students in grades TK through 12 during the pandemic, will not reopen for the 2023-24 academic year, as community interest has changed and shifted.
- There is still time for middle and high school students to participate in the California Coastal Commission’s Climate Video Challenge, which asks young filmmakers to make a short video answering the question “What is your vision for a thriving future?”.
- High school students from Irvine were invited by a UC Irvine professor of biomedical engineering to meet with experts in the field to study congenital heart defects and take part in cardiovascular research activities.
- Gilbert High School unveiled the Anaheim Union High School District’s first permanent food pantry, alleviating stress of not knowing where their next meal will come from for 150 families.
- Parents from the Anaheim Union High School community are asking the district to take action after the principal from Sycamore Junior High was assaulted after stepping in to protect a student.
- An aging population in San Juan Capistrano has led, in part, to the school district’s student enrollment decline, the Capistrano Dispatch reported.
This is the part where we encourage you to keep up with local education news stories by bookmarking the OCDE Newsroom, subscribing for emailed updates and following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.