SANTA ANA : 200 Attend Ceremony to Mark the Opening of Chavez High School

Accompanied by strains of mariachi music and folkloric dancing, Santa Ana Unified School District officials, students and community members Friday celebrated the grand opening of Cesar E. Chavez Alternative High School.

About 200 attended the ceremony at the campus, at 2128 S. Cypress St. Held on what would have been the civil rights leader’s 68th birthday, the celebration included comments from members of Chavez’s family about how strongly he believed in the importance of a solid education.

“There’s something special about this alternative high school,” said Paul Chavez. “My father made an effort to help people society has forgotten about. That’s part of what this high school is about.

“Once you gain knowledge, the trick is to go back to your community and help people less fortunate than yourself.”

Cesar Chavez, founding president of the United Farm Workers of America, is known for organizing nonviolent civil rights protests on behalf of migrant workers in the 1960s and 1970s. Last year, the Board of Education unanimously approved naming the school in his honor, said spokeswoman Rosemary Gladden.

Alternative high schools offer the same range of classes as regular high schools but students have individualized instruction and advance at their own pace.

The blue-and-gray, 17,700-square-foot building includes space for 10 classrooms, two computer labs, a library and administrative offices. The campus has been open to students since fall, Gladden said.

“I think this is a monument to a very important American that will serve as an inspiration for students and the community for generations to come,” Trustee Audrey Yamagta-Noji said.

Sophomore Cynthia Mariz, 17, said she was proud to attend a school named for Chavez: “He was a great person and he did a lot. My parents were migrant workers and it means a lot to me. He worked (on behalf of others) when nobody else cared.”