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IRVINE

Dance Raises Funds for Woodbridge Arts

Woodbridge High School raised $3,000 for arts programs with a recent invitational dance competition.

More than 300 dancers from 17 high schools faced off at Woodbridge High.

The event was sponsored by the high school’s Music Booster Club, members of the dance and flag teams, parents and school officials.

FULLERTON

Elementary School Honors Custodian

The Sunset Lane Elementary School student council recently proclaimed March 24 “Ut Nguyen Day” to honor the school’s longtime custodian.

Faculty, staff and students showered Nguyen with accolades and presents including a jacket, a gift certificate and a book.

“He’s always there when you need him,” said Sunset Lane’s office manager Pam Hight. “You don’t even have to ask for help because he always offers his services. He’s terrific.”

COSTA MESA

Firewood Sale to Help Fuel Grad Night

The Costa Mesa High School Grad Night Committee is selling firewood to raise cash for its annual senior class bash.

Grad night tickets sales cover only a portion of the evening’s costs.

Parent volunteers chopped wood at the campus recently in a show of support. The wood is on sale for $140 a cord or $75 a half-cord. Last year’s firewood sale raised more than $1,000.

NEWPORT BEACH, COSTA MESA

3rd-Graders Get a Forest to Plant

Third-graders attending public and private schools in Newport Beach have received one Australian willow sapling each from the Newport-Balboa Rotary Club as part of the annual Arbor Day observance.

Club members also recently participated in a shade tree-planting ceremony at Newport Heights Elementary School. Students sand songs and read poems to commemorate the day.

The club gave away 76,600 saplings to the third-graders to plant at their homes or in public places. The trees are evergreens that grow about 25 feet tall, said Rotary president Richard Holmgren.

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO

5 Named National Merit Finalists

Five Capistrano Unified School District students are finalists in the National Merit Scholarship program.

The students were chosen from among a field of 15,000 semifinalists nationwide.

They are: James Lindeman and Andrew Ritz of Capistrano Valley High School, Adam Cota of Dana Hills High School and Priscilla Hung and Seema Nagpal of San Clemente High School.

--COMPILED BY BERT ELJERA, WITH RUSS LOAR, HOLLY J. WAGNER, JEFF BEAN AND DEBRA CANO