Anthony Elementary School Celebrates National Blue Ribbon Status

Last week, Anthony Elementary School hosted a school-wide event to celebrate being named a National Blue Ribbon School! The event featured choral and orchestra performances, student testimonials, remarks from Superintendent Gabriela Mafi and Principal Tyleen Perez, and certificate presentations from elected officials! The students looked fabulous in their special Blue Ribbon t-shirts as they showcased their school pride! A special thank you to GGUSD Board of Education President Teri Rocco, Vice President Lan Nguyen and Trustee Bob Harden who also attended to show their support!

GGUSD had three of Orange County's six 2023 National Blue Ribbon Schools, including Anthony Elementary School, Cook Elementary School and Paine Elementary School! We couldn't be prouder of our high-performing schools and all they do to equip students with the academic and personal skills for lifelong success!

Hundreds of Students Attend Latinos Unidos Conference

Over 400 students from our elementary, intermediate, and high schools attended GGUSD's 11th Annual Latinos Unidos Conference at Cal State Fullerton over the weekend. Students heard inspiring and motivating speeches from Superintendent Dr. Gabriela Mafi, OC United Way's Sergio Contreras, and Dr. Edgar Zazueta, Executive Director of the Association of California School Administrators. The event included a networking fair, a tour of the CSUF campus, and various breakout sessions covering topics such as college planning, mental health, leadership, and arts & culture. Before the day ended, student representatives from all schools in attendance shared the goals their Latinos Unidos clubs wish to meet in the coming year. #GGUSDpride

High School Students Team Up with Kindergartners for Art Show

Student creativity was on full display at last night's Imagine This Art Exhibit. The unique project includes drawings from transitional kindergarten and kindergarten students whose art is enhanced by high school Visual Arts students using the techniques and training they have developed through their art education. We loved seeing the incredible talent on display and the dozens of different artistic expressions of outrageous ocean creatures! #GGUSDPride

Garden Grove City Council Spotlights GGUSD Success

At their most recent meeting, the Garden Grove City Council shined the Community Spotlight on the Garden Grove Unified School District for their notable achievements and accomplishments in 2023. The Garden Grove city council presented Superintendent Dr. Gabriela Mafi, and the GGUSD Board of Education which was represented by President Teri Rocco, Trustee Lan Quoc Nguyen, and Trustee Dina L. Nguyen with a certificate of recognition for their hard work and high rankings.

Pacifica Students Explore Science at UCI Labs

This week Pacifica students attended a field trip to the First Gen BEES (Becoming an Earth and Environmental Scientist) workshop hosted by the UCI Earth System Science Department to give students informative experiences about careers in Earth Science. The field trip began with a presentation and panel discussion by a professor and his graduate students on how they become scientists and how to engage in scientific research at the university level.

Students also received a campus tour and visited the school's Ice Core Lab, Bee Lab, Bacteria Lab and Greenhouse. A favorite of students was the Ice Research Lab which studies the global cycling and impacts of atmospheric trace gasses. Pacifica students experienced what college level research looks like in tracing gas detection and the distribution of various gasses in the modern and ancient atmospheres in frozen ice core samples. They loved every minute of the day, exploring their college and career goals (Goal 3).#ggusdgoalgetters #GGUSDPride

GGUSD Honors January Employees of the Month

EMPLOYEES OF THE MONTH: At its meeting this week, the Board of Education honored our January Employees of the Month. Congratulations to Jeraldine Villalba-Lara, teacher at Riverdale Elementary School and Eddie Corona, Plant Supervisor at Irvine Intermediate School! These two employees go above and beyond to provide a warm and welcoming classroom and campus for students, staff and families (Goal 2)! Watch our video to learn more about Jeraldine and Eddie and all they do to carry out the Garden Grove Way!

GGHS Students Win Congressional App Challenge

Garden Grove High School students won awards for their entries in Congresswoman Michelle Steel's Congressional App Challenge. Lan-Anh Trinh, Nyomi Castro, Jessica Nguyen and Jasmine Chau won the originality award for an app they created called Recycled Plates aimed at connecting restaurants and food distributors with food banks that would accept their excess food. The app allows users to schedule excess food pick up in a calendar system and allows users in need of food to use the mapping feature to find a food bank. Minh PHam was recognized for an app called JPPLY (short for just apply), which is an easy to use search engine for young job seekers. Congratulations to these creative students!

GGUSD Athletes Score Up Wins

This week, Los Amigos boys' soccer defeated Santiago, improving to 4-1 in the Garden Grove League and Garden Grove High School girls' soccer beat Godinez and remain second in the Goldenwest League. Congrats to these hardworking athletes!