Talentedly tinkling the piano and strumming guitars were kids at the Youth Center’s Elementary School Keyboard and Guitar Concert on May 19 at the Youth Center in Los Alamitos where about 100 parents and family members proudly gathered.
Barbershop celebrates one year anniversary
La Palma Mayor Gerard Goedhart helped local barbershop NY2OC celebrate their one year anniversary in May.
Catholic Woman of the Year
Grace Francis was St. Irenaeus Parish’s nominee for the Catholic Woman of the Year Award at the 40th Annual Catholic Woman of the Year Benefit Luncheon held at the Hilton Orange County- Costa Mesa on Thursday, May 12.
Francis was one of 23 women that Catholic Charities Auxiliary honored and recognized for their volunteer work in their parishes in the Diocese of Orange.
Coffee with a Cop
The Los Alamitos Police Department, in partnership with Starbucks, will host the second of several community outreach events known as “Coffee with a Cop” at the Starbucks located at 3575 Katella Ave on June 8 from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
Officers and staff from a variety of assignments will be on hand to meet and mingle with members of the community as well as answer any questions they may have.
This program, along with the Area Command Program, is an effort to reach out and enhance the department’s relationship with the community.
Senator Janet Nguyen recognizes local High School students
More than 120 women and men gathered at Old Ranch Country Club on Saturday, May 21 as the Rossmoor-Los Alamitos Republican Women Federated club awarded scholarships to two local high school students at its High Tea and Fashion Show to Benefit Scholarships.
The afternoon event included an opportunity drawing with more than 100 items and a silent auction.
With a harpist Sarah Hsiao filling the ballroom with soft string music, women in stunning hats visited vendors offering a variety of unique items.
Soccer club prevails in Memorial Day Classic tourney
Pacific Soccer Club (PSC) Los Alamitos Girls 2003 “Adrenaline” competed in the Irvine Memorial Classic Soccer Tournament over the Memorial Day weekend, finishing all matches both undefeated and in shut outs, with zero goals against to take the championship title.
It came down to a close final: Adrenaline’s strong defense stopped Cerritos United from scoring, putting the match into free kicks.
PSC kickers made their first three shots, finding the corner of the net out of the reach of the Cerritos keeper.
Los Al High School XC runners give back
Current LAHS Cross Country Athletes have created a Youth Distance Running Program known as Griffin Runners.
Griffin Runners is for middle school age kids who enjoy running and want to learn and train with the LAHS XC athletes and coaches.
It is a summer program created by the athletes in order to give back to the sport that has given them so much.
Two of the students that are heading it up are Delaney Falsken (Sophomore) and Klaus Quinonez (Freshman).
Five Los Al track athletes headed to CIF Championships
On June 3-4 five Los Al Track & Field athletes will compete in the CIF-State Championships at Buchanan HS in Clovis.
– Kallie Given (high jump)
– Thomas Heib (800m)
– Alison Parsons (long jump)
– Faimalie Sale (shot put)
– Ashley Willingham (400m).
At the CIF-SS Masters state qualifying meet held on May 27, seniors Thomas Heib and Ashley Willingham ran season best times, and both are aiming to lower their school records at their second consecutive CIF-State Championships this week.
Slow start dooms Cypress as HW holds on for 5-3 win
A three-run home run in the first inning and a key single in the seventh proved to be enough for Harvard Westlake to edge out the Cypress High baseball team, 5-3, in a CIF-SS quarterfinal game on Friday at Cypress High.
Starter James Acuna struggled early, eventually giving up a three-run home run that gave the Wolverines a 3-0 cushion.
Acuna settled in and did not allow another hit until the seventh inning, a drag bunt single, before leaving the game.
Late explosion by rival defeats Cypress
Cypress High’s softball team trailed Orange Lutheran just 4-2 after five innings, but after the Lancers scored eight runs in the final two innings, the Centurions were eliminated from the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs with a 12-2 loss at Cypress High on May 24.
Paige Hallam, Jessica Martinez and Christine Loverde each had two hits to lead the Centurions offense. Caitlyn Koenig had a hit and an RBI for the Centurions. Loverde had a triple in the fifth inning and scored when the throw to third was off line.
Holcomb helps Denhart hold off Vista Murrieta
Vista Murrieta loaded the bases in the top of the seventh inning with three singles. But the two hardest hit balls were run down in centerfield by Jenna Holcomb who gloved the final shot with a diving snag to secure a 4-1 win for the Los Alamitos High softball team on Thursday at Los Alamitos High.
Projects on display for STEAM
The second annual District-Wide STEAM Showcase was a big success.
More than 500 students, parents, STEAM professionals and community members participated in the second annual Los Alamitos Unified district-wide STEAM Showcase, which was provided by LAEF (Los Alamitos Education Foundation) on May 21.
Students of all ages created amazing projects that incorporated science, technology, engineering, the arts and math.
Give a soldier a night off in June
“Give a Soldier a Night Off” is the theme for the annual Army Birthday Ball on the Queen Mary on June 11.
An opportunity for local Soldiers to relax, have fun at a formal military gala to celebrate the U.S.Army’s 241st Birthday going back to June 14, 1775.
Cypress schools make California Honor Roll
The Cypress School District recently announced that A.E. Arnold, Clara J. King, Margaret Landell, and Steve Luther Elementary Schools have been named to the 2015 California School Honor Roll by the Educational Results Partnership (ERP) and the Campaign for Business and Education Excellence (CBEE).
President Obama and dignitaries recognize volunteers at annual Youth Center Awards
Youth philanthropic volunteers shined at the 4th annual A Night Among the Stars awards ceremony held at the Youth Center in Los Alamitos on April 30. All the nominees were formally recognized at the red carpet event for their outstanding volunteerism with a letter from President Obama and certificates from senators, congressmen and city dignitaries, with the top three being awarded $500 scholarships.
Los Al athletes sign for college
Los Alamitos High School held its final signing day of the year recently. With 15 students signing, the year’s total number of Los Al students going on to play collegiate athletics is 47.
The event was held during lunch and packed with fellow students, parents, grandparents, friends, coaches, teachers, counselors and administrators.
Each player was introduced by his or her coach and stated the college or university he or she was attending, selected major, and acknowledged coaches and family.
Los Al continues to produce dozens of student-athletes who are awarded athletic scholarships and many of Los Al alumni have gone on to play at the National, Olympic, and professional level of their given sport. Following is a list of Los Al athletes that recently signed a letter of intent:
• Cade Denyer: Baseball-Occidental College
• Molly Herrera: Lacrosse-Linfield College
• Sophia Schade: Lacrosse-Naval Academy
• William Boudreau: Rowing-Boston University
• Annmarie Alvarez: Soccer-Biola University
• Angelique Anguiano: Soccer-UC Merced
• Bryn Chesser: Soccer-Vanguard University
• Madison Slade: Soccer-Vanguard University
• Julian Guerrero: Soccer-Marymount Ca University
• Ariana Ford: Track & Field-Tuskegee University
• Alison Parsons: Track & Field-CSU Fullerton
• Kelsey Cunningham: Volleyball-Belmont Abbey College
• Jonathan Frenzel: Volleyball-Stevens Institute of Tech
• Kylie Osgood: Volleyball-CSU Dominguez Hills
• Natalie Rojes: Volleyball-UC Riverside
Overnight parking on Los Al Blvd. restricted
Katella Ave. will be studied by Los Al’s Traffic Commission to determine how a “no overnight” parking restriction would effect residents who live nearby.
Parking on Los Alamitos Blvd. will soon be restricted during the hours of 2 a.m.-6 a.m. following a unanimous vote to do so by Los Al’s City Council on May 16.
During the meeting, Mayor Richard Murphy and the rest of the council agreed it was too soon to approve parking restrictions on both streets since the impact to residents that use the parking has not been studied.
“I really want to slow this down,” said Murphy at the meeting. “It’s a great idea but we are going to impact some people that we don’t know about and we should consider them.”
A few residents that live in “apartment row,” as Murphy put it, urged the city council to analyze the impact before implementing the restriction.
“You should notice people in the area because I don’t think people know this is happening,” said Gerri Mejia during the public comment period of the meeting.
Giving residents a chance to be heard was backed by Murphy as he noted the restriction felt rushed.
“We mentioned this at the last council meeting and now it’s already back to us. I feel like we’ve rushed this, we haven’t had any hearing,” said Murphy. “I’d like to kick it back to the traffic commission and let them look at it.”
The timing felt right to the city council for Los Al Blvd. and now the wheels of enforcement are currently in motion. Residents can expect the new restriction on Los Al Blvd. to begin being enforced as early as August of this year. The timeline included in the city staff report says installation of the new signs will go up in July.
Time-limited parking
Los Al’s City Council concluded another long parking debate during the May 16 meetin with the implementation of time-limited parking throughout various areas in the city. The biggest change came down right before the new restrictions were voted upon.
Mayor Murphy led the change for four-hour parking on Los Al Blvd. between Florista and Catalina Ave. Parking in front of senior living homes on Florista was changed to a three-hour time limit.
Crossfit raises $2,000
Pictured jumping for joy are the Youth Center After School Program kids, staff and volunteers with members of CrossFit Tribe in Los Alamitos. CrossFit Tribe raised almost $2,000 in one day for the Youth Center. Every year, CrossFit partners with the Youth Center’s Summer Day Camp and After School Program to help keep kids fit, healthy and active. They have been supporting the Youth Center for over 3 years and recently joined in their Community Support Campaign for the first time in April.
New programs on Los Al TV
Pictured to the right is John Hughes, one of just two remaining Pearl Harbor veterans still standing and still remembering the day the United States was drawn into WWII, exactly 75 years ago. He spoke at a luncheon recently, the last luncheon of Chapter 14 of the Orange County Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, and to Los Al TV cameras. Chapter 14 is down to just two standing and publically speaking Pearl Harbor veterans in Orange County now, and Los Al TV producer John Underwood saw the urgency to capture what these “Last Men Standing” had to say about that day and why we remember it today.
Station Manager Larry Strawther added, “We have four new shows, which have debuted within the last week or will be debuting over next few days: Pearl Harbor Survivors – produced by John Underwood.
And three shows produced by OUR Los Al with students from Los Alamitos HS
1. We care “From the Heart” fundraiser
2. Los Alamitos HS Song & Cheer Exhibition
3. Los Alamitos Elementary Gold Ribbon Celebration”
See page 19 for Los Al TV airtime listings, or view programs online at losaltv.org.