Briefly In Education

Children’s Palettes on display

The city of Laguna Beach and Laguna Outreach for Community Arts have collaborated on a dual exhibition of Holiday Palettes drawn by Laguna Beach students, now on display through December at City Hall and at the Laguna Beach Library.

The program, administered by the Arts Commission, inspired 290 entries from pre-kindergarten to high school students. Images include surfing Santa’s, sunbathing snowmen and shooting stars. Winning designs, selected by the Arts commission, are shown at City Hall, 505 Forest Ave. The remaining works are on view at the LOCA exhibit walls in the Children’s wing of the Library, located at 363 Glenneyre St.

Robinson named Student of Month

Math prodigy Will Robinson was honored as Student of the Month at Laguna Beach Rotary’s Nov. 19 lunch meeting. He was praised by his teacher, Gary Shapiro, for his outstanding work with calculus. Will considers himself an environmentalist as well as loving to read, run, enjoy music and the world of the outdoors. He is in the Order of the Arrow in Boy Scouts and plans to attend college and graduate school.

McMullen earns Eagle Scout status

Griffin Scott McMullen, a member of Laguna Beach Boy Scout Troop 35 since 2000 when he joined as a second grade Tiger Cub, has earned the rank of Eagle Scout.

Only four percent of all Boy Scouts succeed in achieving the Eagle rank. Qualifications include earning at least 21 merit badges, holding leadership positions within the troop along with designing and implementing a community service project.

Griffin constructed a teaching supply organizational unit for Ms. Minerman’s third grade classroom at Top of the World Elementary School helping to enhance the environment he loved learning in. Minerman was Griffin’s teacher when he first joined scouting and she served as a role model for him.

Griffin’s favorite leadership role was Den Chief where he mentored younger scouts, teaching a variety of outdoor and safety skills. Demonstrating a passion for service, he has logged more than 240 hours of community service over the past three years. He hopes to study environmental science at the University of British Columbia next fall.

Kids Ink sample sale

Kids Ink, a children’s clothing line that uses prints inspired by pop art, imagination and different cultures, will hold a sample sale from 4 to 6 p.m. today at the Anneliese School’s Manzanita campus during “KristKindle Markt.”

The sale will offer 50 to 70% off retail prices on boys and girls clothing ages 0-12.

Proceeds will benefit arts education.

Seeking families to host students from Madrid

The Language Connection, a private language instruction service and branch of Polyglot Communications, Inc. headed by Laguna resident Arturo Valdivia, will conduct immerse English courses for a group of students from Madrid, Spain for 30 days in July, 2011. Host families are needed for the students.

The exchange students, boys and girls ages 14 to 19, speak English well enough to communicate well with host families, who are asked to provide free room and board, but will receive monetary compensation for meals and other miscellaneous expenses.

The purpose of the exchange is to give students the opportunity to practice and improve their English communication. The students will attend ESL classes in Laguna Beach, Monday through Thursday. Organized excursions will be held each week, so families don’t have the sole responsibility of entertaining the students.

For more information or to sign up as a host family candidate, call The Language Connection at (949) 497-1544 or e-mail arturo@languageconnection.com.

Laguna dancers to perform in Nutcracker

Thurston Middle School students Tess Duval and Aingeal Packes will perform in the Orange County Ballet Theatre’s production of The Nutcracker at noon Saturday at the Northwood Performing Arts Theatre, 4515 Portola Parkway, Irvine.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit https://www.classicalballetacademy.com.

Students trade library fines for food

Students at Laguna College of Art & Design recently took advantage of a rare opportunity to give back to their community — with a special incentive.

Beginning in November, students who owed library fines for overdue and lost books at Laguna Beach Library were given the chance to erase their debt by 50 cents per food item donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank for the holiday season. The incentive helped gather more than 185 pounds of food in less than two weeks, according to the college.

Of the more than 40 donors, several participated even though they did not have a fine to pay. Items included soups, dry goods, pasta, beans and water. Collectively, the group banished $110 in library fines, and as a result, made the Thanksgiving holiday a little brighter for deserving families in the community.

“We were struck by the generosity of our students,” said librarian Jennifer Wormser. “Perhaps the stereotypical view of the ‘starving student’ or ‘starving artist’ enables our students to be more sensitive to and better understand why it’s important to support others in need.

“Clever, forward thinking students who did not currently owe fines even asked library staff if they could donate food to receive credit for future fines they may accrue.”

LCAD said it plans to continue the incentive in the future, hopefully expanding to other food banks.