BRIEFLY IN SCHOOLS

College students in cartoon challenge

Laguna College of Art & Design students Karina Gazizova, Sierra Lewis, George Yang, Lee Tong and Krystina Haggerty have been selected to compete against students from nine other schools May 17-20 at the Kalamazoo Animation Festival International in Michigan.

In January, LCAD students were given a topic “The Egg” — and asked by the school to create a story, design characters and storyboards, and fully animate and edit the 30-second film in 24 hours.

The teams worked all night, collectively producing more than 1,500 drawings. The winning team’s film was submitted to the national competition, which accepted them to compete.

The team will spend four days and nights to create a 30-second animated public service announcement to compete for an animation scholarship that will be managed and awarded by the winning school.

College animation chair Aubry Mintz will speak at the festival’s Educators Conference.

SchoolPower holds advertiser party

As a kickoff for its annual directory campaign, SchoolPower, the fundraising foundation for Laguna Beach public schools, held a party for its advertisers and district officials.

Key advertising slots in the directory, which lists students and school contact information, were auctioned off; Irvine BMW bid $2,200 for a prime back cover space — a new record.

The event was held at the Surf and Sand on March 16.

Jog-a-thon today at El Morro

The annual El Morro Elementary Jog-a-thon fundraiser will be held today from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the school field.

Kids from all grade levels will run in the event, along with school board members and district officials.

Students have trained for the past month in running laps, preparation and pacing; Principal Chris Duddy has also led the school in lunchtime workouts.