14 Dec San Fernando Valley Schools, Educators and Students Recognized at Economic Alliance Board Meeting
San Fernando Valley schools, educators and students, who have recently received national education recognition, were recognized and awarded at the 17th Annual Steve Allen “Excellence in Education” Awards on May 18th at The Valley Economic Alliance (TVEA) Board of Governors meeting.
Steve Allen “Excellence in Education” Award recipients include: Los Angeles Valley College Speech & Debate Team who received a Bronze medal, 3 individual golds, 1 individual silver medal and 12 individual bronze medals at the Phi Rho Pi National Speech Competition
Togo won the national cyber security championship competition. Tasks at the competition included safeguarding a computer system against a team of professional hackers working against them in real time.
Erica Rood is a 3rd grade teacher at Chime Institute’s Schwarzenegger Community School in Woodland Hills who received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching from President Barack Obama.
The Granada Hills Charter High School’s Academic Decathlon team won its third United States Academic Decathlon title in a row. It’s the team’s sixth national title since 2011. The competition includes multiple-choice exams in each subject, essays, speeches, and a fast-paced Super Quiz relay. This year’s topic was World War II.
California State University, Northridge’s senior level mechanical engineering students came in first overall at the 2017 American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Human Powered Vehicle Challenge (HPVC) for the second year in a row. Each team in the HPVC presented an originally designed human-powered vehicle that was judged for design, workmanship and innovation.
The “Business and Education Partnership” Award is presented to an outstanding business in the community that has partnered with a San Fernando Valley School. This year’s award was presented to Northrop Grumman Corporation for their partnership with LAUSD, Reseda High School’s Navy Junior Reserves Officers’ Training Corps team.
The “Champion of Education” Award recognizes individuals and/or organizations who have dedicated their lives to improving education. These individuals are creative and passionate leaders that have influenced positive change in the academic community to improve the lives of children and their families. This year’s recipient was Bernardine S. Pregerson. Pregerson has spent the last 42 years as a professor of biology at Los Angeles Pierce College and CSUN.
The “Innovation in Education” Award recognizes outstanding educational leaders for their innovative use of the arts in the classroom and community. This year’s recipient was Dr. Michael E. Spagna, Dean of Michael D. Eisner College of Education at CSUN. Dr. Spagna is responsible for positioning the public college to produce the largest number of educators anywhere in the nation.