The Rotary Club in May honored two Laguna Beach High School athletes, both bound for the Ivy League. Water polo player Lexi Del Toro, offensive player of the year, is a four-year scholar athlete on the Superintendent’s Honor Roll. She will attend Harvard University in the fall. Robert Clemons, a four-year varsity football starter and scholar [...]
Artwork by several Top of the World Elementary students was selected for display at the Festival of Arts’ Junior Art Exhibit this summer. This year’s TOW students receiving the honor: Sol Mcdermott, Arthur Proctor, Nicole Leuschen, Owen Blum, Estella McIntee, Hannah Williams, Chase Williams, Julie van der Baan and Katherine Storke. In total, about 300 [...]
Laguna Beach’s Schoolpower Student Directory achieved a record in advertising support, which propelled the popular publication past its $70,000 fundraising goal at a business appreciation party last month. Directory Chair Melissa Cavanaugh gave recognition to the town’s generous parents and supportive business community. The group that supports local schools is still accepting advertising for “the [...]
After eight years as architect of Laguna Beach schools’ technology infrastructure, Victor Guthrie is off to a far-away land for something not so different. With hotter climes, a metropolitan culture and an attractive contract to lure him, Guthrie, 37, said he accepted a position as technology director for a private international school in Abu Dhabi, [...]
Laguna Beach High School alum Breanna Hite (’09) received her commission as an ensign in the U.S. Coast Guard on May 22 after graduating with honors from the New London, Conn., academy with a bachelor of science degree in marine and environmental sciences. Vice President Joe Biden addressed the 227 cadets, which included a record [...]
Schoolpower’s Endowment Board delivered checks totaling $170,174 to Laguna Beach’s school board last week, including $70,174 for teacher grants next fall, and $50,000 each for a 10-year foreign language grant and the first installment of a three-year pledge for a strings program. Endowment President Bill Moore called this year’s payout “spectacular.” A whopping “We are [...]
All students who participated in Laguna Beach High School’s instrumental music program benefited from the Festival of Arts Foundation’s $5,000 grant. This year’s donation provided instruments to the students who needed them, purchased sheet music and underwrote recording the jazz band’s 2013 CD. Support insures the continued improvement of music instruction and student opportunities for [...]
Laguna Canyon Foundation presents a summer youth camp for kids age 6-13, and tot camp (with parents) age three to five. The older group will engage in science fun, nature exploration and survival skills. The younger group will explore nature and learn about the wonders of the natural environment through all five senses. They too will [...]
Top of the World Elementary School teacher Triana Ramazan was named teacher of the year, the school district announced this week. Ramazan was recognized for her ability to intervene with students at every level in the district’s K-12 Response to Intervention program to ensure that each student is progressing. “It’s a reading intervention program for [...]
Pulling the Curtain on a Saturday Academy The Claire Trevor School of the Arts at UC Irvine is having a Saturday Academy in Drama on Saturday, June 8 to familiarize middle- and high-school students, their parents and teachers with the school’s award-winning drama program. The Academy will cover acting and improvisation technique and audition tips. [...]
Singers and jazz musicians from Thurston Middle School and Laguna Beach High School are putting their talents together in the first-ever combined spring concert in the Artists’ Theatre, June 6, at 7:30 p.m. A celebration of the great variety and shared heritage of American popular songs and jazz standards, the joint program includes spirituals, show [...]
By Kate Rogers, Special to the Independent Over 140 people filled the Aliso Creek Inn as Dr. Wendy Mogel delivered her unique blend of humor and wisdom during PTA’s Coffee Break parenting workshop. A practicing child psychologist for years, she has authored “The Blessings of a Skinned Knee,” and “The Blessings of a B Minus.” [...]
Jackson McKay Pries is the winner of the DAR American history scholarship for Laguna Beach High School. The organization also honored a score of other students at an awards program at Laguna Presbyterian Church last week. Counselors and teachers selected Jackson for the award because of his passion for American history as well as his [...]
Middle School’s Café to Open May 30 Thurston Middle School’s Wave Rider Café is scheduled to open Thursday, May 30, allowing parents and students to purchase a sample lunch while they are visiting campus during the annual open house. The café is intended to offer students nutritious, healthy grab-and-go lunches without a long wait. “A [...]
Eighty-five students in Laguna College of Art + Design’s class of 2013 participated in this week’s commencement ceremony. This year’s keynote speaker was Dr. Mitch Rosenberg, a human resources expert. President Jonathan Burke congratulated students on their achievement, which he described as demanding rigor, perseverance and creative vision. “I had the privilege of watching the [...]
Ill Prepared Hiker Rescued from Hillside
A sheriff’s helicopter was used to extract a hiker who suffered an anxiety attack and was unable to move from a steep trail in Laguna Beach’s open space about 6 p.m. Sunday, June 9, police said. Lifeguards in an all-terrain vehicle coordinated the extraction from thick brush and a steep slope between Alta Laguna Park [...]
