This year, local students were educated and supported by a caring community. They celebrated a 75th anniversary, and got a boost from Walmart grants and more space to grow and learn with the building of a new school.
Laps for Boston
Almost 800 Miller Elementary School students ran laps around a course set up for a Boston Marathon fundraiser on May 2. At least 26 students per class ran one mile each, which is the equivalent of each class running its own marathon. The goal of the fundraiser was for each student to raise $1 to help children injured in the bombing that shook the Boston Marathon.
New school in town
Shovels hit the dirt on June 5 for Santa Maria-Bonita School District’s 20th school. The new school will hold 28 classrooms and up to 700 students. The nearly $17-million project is slated to be finished before the start of the 2015-2016 school year.
Happy anniversary
St. Mary of the Assumption School kicked off a year’s worth of 75th anniversary celebrations with a pep rally, open house, and dinner on Sept. 14. The Sisters of Penance and Charity founded the school in 1940, as well as Our Lady of Perpetual Help Hospital, which today is Marian Regional Medical Center.
Walmart boost
Walmart awarded two grants totaling $120,000 to the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County over the summer. Of that money, $45,000 went specifically to the Foodbank’s Picnic in the Park program, which provides summertime lunches and the chance to use bicycle-powered blenders to children who participate in free and reduced-price lunch programs during the school year.
Horse winners
With the California championship tucked firmly under their saddles, the Santa Maria High School light-horse judging team headed to Kentucky for FFA Nationals in October. Yessica Hernandez, Noe Perez, Valerie Cañas, and Giselle Sanchez-Zuno made up the team that won the high school’s FFA chapter’s first championship since 1977.
School Scene is compiled by Staff Writer Camillia Lanham. Information should be sent to the Sun via fax, e-mail, or mail.
This article appears in Dec 26, 2013 – Jan 2, 2014.