Weekly roundup: Girls Engineering Day in Anaheim, Chinese New Year, new social-emotional learning guidelines and more

More than 120 middle and high school girls built bridges out of plastic straws, designed roadways, learned about watersheds and collaborated on other engineering-related projects last Saturday at South Junior High School in Anaheim.

An image of paper in a typewriter with the words "Orange County Education News"The occasion? It was the fourth annual Girls Engineering Day, presented by the Anaheim Union High School District in collaboration with WTS, an international organization dedicated to the advancement of women in transportation.

According to this report from the Orange County Register, mentors were on hand to assist students as they worked together on five pre-planned activities. 

“The objective is to expose the girls specifically to careers in transportation,” one organizer told the newspaper.

And here are some other recent education news stories impacting Orange County:

  • More than 16,000 local students in grades three through six descended upon the Honda Center where the Anaheim Ducks helped lead hands-on science lessons on the principles of energy. The Orange County Register captured the event with a gallery of photos.
  • The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week in a case that could potentially strip public employee unions of their ability to collect fees from workers who decline to become members. The outcome of this case could have huge implications for collective bargaining groups in education.
  • With research showing just how critical social and emotional learning is to students and their academic success, the California Department of Education has announced a new set of guidelines designed to support and develop the whole child.

This is the part where we encourage you to keep up with local education news stories by bookmarking newsroom.ocde.ussubscribing for emailed updates or following us on the big three social media platforms.