Before venturing off to make their mark on the world, some graduating seniors from Costa Mesa and Early College high schools squeezed in one final field trip this week.
Dressed in their caps and gowns, local representatives of the class of 2019 visited their old stomping grounds at Costa Mesa’s Sonora Elementary School to share a few words of wisdom with the young scholars who will follow in their footsteps. The “Senior Salute” — known in some districts as a Grad Walk — also offered the graduates a little perspective on how far they’ve come since their elementary days.
As reported here in the Daily Pilot, the seniors greeted the Sonora student body out on the blacktop, where they emphasized the importance of working hard, listed the colleges they plan to attend next year and explained the medals and cords that adorned their gowns.
“We are all living proof that you guys can truly accomplish anything and everything you want in life,” Costa Mesa High senior Katie Belmontes said, according to the Pilot.
And here are some other stories we’ve been following:
- A new report from Orange County Superintendent Al Mijares tracks the progress of OCDE’s programs and services, as well as the overall performance of OC students.
- While cleanup of the closed Ascon oil-waste landfill site has been put on hold over community concerns, air-quality monitoring continues at nearby Edison High School, which began its summer session this week.
- California lawmakers are looking to put a $13 billion school construction bond on the 2020 ballot, followed by a second bond in 2022. But as EdSource reports, a number of details still need to be worked out, including the amount of the second bond.
- Select libraries in Orange County are offering healthy summer lunches to children and teens weekdays at noon. Meals are served on a first-come-first-served basis, and no registration, identification or application is needed.
- California may be home to a lot of technology firms and workers, but more than half of the golden state’s high schools don’t offer computer science courses, according to a new study.
- An OC grad night event ended before it started for hundreds of seniors whose buses failed to show up.
- Two years after a heart attack nearly took his life, an Edison High senior now has a diploma, an offer to work full-time at a business that upgrades Porsche engines, and a blunt sense of humor.
- A bill that would require school districts to provide full-day kindergarten is one step closer to becoming law after clearing the Senate Education Committee.
- Godinez High School, which opened just 12 years ago, has quickly become a softball powerhouse, winning this year’s CIF Southern Section Division 4 championship and earning praise from County Superintendent Al Mijares.
- A bill that’s making its way through the Legislature aims to close loopholes in the 2015 school vaccination law that eliminated “personal belief” exemptions. EdSource has published a rundown of what schools and parents should know about the current law and proposed legislation.
- Parents, teachers and students at Oak View Elementary School in Huntington Beach celebrated the unveiling of a new 10,975-square-foot multipurpose room and gym that includes bleachers, a basketball court and a stage with lighting.
- Summer learning loss can affect students of all backgrounds, but it takes a particular toll on the children of low-income families. With that in mind, the OCDE Newsroom offers five tips for keeping young minds sharp in the offseason.
- As state policymakers debate new regulations for charter schools, charter authorizers are becoming be the focus of increased scrutiny in California, EdSource reports.