After playing professional softball and competing in the Olympic games, former Loara High School softball star Lauren Lappin returned to home plate to have her jersey retired at a ceremony held March 20.
During the special event attended by friends and Loara families, Lappin spoke about her successful career in softball and shared her advice on being a woman in sports. The Orange County Register reported that four members of the Saxons softball squad addressed Lappin’s impact as a role model and inspiration for a league of young female athletes.
Lappin, now an assistant softball coach at the University of Arizona, was named the Orange County Register’s female athlete of the year in 2002. After graduating high school, she went on to earn many accolades at Stanford University, becoming a two-time Pac-10 defensive player of the year and later winning a silver medal for Team USA at the 2008 Olympics.
“I’ve never taken lightly my role in impacting young women to be empowered to be their best self through this sport,” Lappin said at the event. “Everything that you young women said, it’s my daily goal and I now have a reminder of how special and important that is.”
One Loara student thanked Lappin for the standard she has set for her and all female softball players, according to the Register.
As the ceremony came to a close, the former professional softball player greeted a long line of students wearing her number, taking time to pose for pictures, sign autographs and exchange hugs. A special banner with Lappin’s No. 37 was unveiled to event attendees in the school gym and will be placed on display at Loara’s softball field.
Here are the other stories we’ve been following this week:
- On Monday, nine exemplary school workers were named this year’s Orange County Classified School Employees of the Year. The Orange County Department of Education recognized these employees for their work performance, leadership and dedication.
- The Westminster School District Board of Education voted Thursday to appoint its new superintendent, Dr. Gunn Marie Hansen, who previously served in the same role for the Orange Unified School District.
- The Orange County Register has announced the nominations of 4,946 high school students as part of its annual Artist of the Year program, which honors top juniors and seniors in seven different arts disciplines.
- The Helping Hands club at Marina High School in Huntington Beach recently welcomed spring by planting flowers and shrubs around campus to kick off its beautification project.
- Costa Mesa middle and high school students sketched and painted portraits of Ukrainian children for this year’s installment of the nonprofit Memory Project, connecting classroom arts programs with children facing hardship around the world.
- Garden Grove Unified eighth-grader Jayden Ham has taken on a new role as the star of “Bossy Bear,” Nickelodeon’s new animated preschool series.
- Learning the five food groups and playing “avocado bingo” were on the menu for 155 Lincoln Elementary School students during a recent visit to their local Northgate Market as part of the grocery chain’s health and wellness initiative.
- On March 22 and March 23, teams of Orange County high school students tested their construction skills by building structures based on original designs during the 38th annual Design Build Competition at Golden West College.
- Santa Ana College hosted 1,000 kindergartners from the Garden Grove and Santa Ana unified school districts to help them explore different professions and learn about higher education at its annual KinderCaminata career fair.
- A student-created app that combines study techniques with a timer to increase productivity and reduce mental burnout will be presented to Congress by three Garden Grove High School juniors in April.
- Capistrano Unified student Edward Reising was presented with an award at a recent San Juan Capistrano City Council meeting for his courage and resilience in overcoming a brain tumor.
- Following a three-day strike by district employees, campuses in the Los Angeles Unified School District reopened for 420,000 students on March 24.
- Anaheim High School celebrated its 125th anniversary on March 16 by unveiling a new school logo and announcing a $2 million community project fund to restore its auditorium.
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