Two Orange County students recently received top honors in the annual Congressional Art Competition.
Senior Raymond Tran-Nguyen of Costa Mesa High School earned the People’s Choice award in the 48th congressional district, and Catherine Liu of Oxford Academy was recognized by the 47th congressional district.
Each student will have their award-winning artwork on display in the United States Capitol for one year.
The nationwide high school visual art competition is sponsored by the Congressional Institute to recognize and encourage artistic talent across the country. Students submit entries to their representative’s office, and panels of district artists select the winning entries.
And here are some of the other news stories we’ve been following this week:
- A school trip to Africa inspired a Corona del Mar High School senior to write and self-publish “In Bad Water,” a book that introduces kids to the global water crisis and shows how they can help.
- According to new data released by the Governor’s office, 99% of all California school districts are planning to reopen their campuses for full-time instruction in the fall. And, nearly 90% of the state’s districts also plan to offer summer school.
- A group of Los Alamitos High School seniors took to the streets of their former elementary schools in a ceremonial car parade to celebrate the of their end of their high school careers.
- In related news, graduating seniors of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District took part in celebratory car parades throughout the city as part of annual senior graduation activities.
- Seattle-based CEO Dan Price this week hand-delivered nearly $50,000 worth of scholarship funds to 33 Irvine students he made a promise to six-years ago.
- Effective Tuesday, June 15, face coverings will no longer be required in most spaces for Californians who are fully vaccinated, according to new guidance from the state Department of Public Health. But a handful of exceptions will remain, including indoors in K-12 schools, childcare and other youth settings.
- For the second consecutive year, OCDE’s Inside the Outdoors environmental education program will offer a free virtual summer camp for children ages 6 to 12 years old.
- Two high school students from Valley High School in the Santa Ana Unified School District were recently named 2021 Orange County high school volunteers of the year for their work with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County & the Inland Empire.
- California teachers are now able to share teaching strategies and resources, and support one another on an online platform called California Educators Together, launched by the California Department of Education and Californians Dedicated to Education Foundation.
- A new study published by the Annals of Internal Medicine has found that when elementary-school children mask up and maintain some distance from one another over the course of the school day, a single infected child will likely pass the infection to fewer than one other student, on average, over the course of 30 days, according to the Los Angeles Times.
- And finally, after nearly sixteen months of living and learning through a global pandemic, high school seniors across Orange County are finally getting the chance to celebrate with in-person graduation ceremonies. OCDE Newsroom staff have rounded up posts from Instagram and Twitter in celebration of the Class of 2021.
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.