Orange County junior high school wins Spring 2024 Vocabulary Bowl
Ladera Vista Junior High School claimed the top spot in its division in the Spring 2024 Vocabulary Bowl before school let out for summer. This is an impressive feat, as the competition drew more than 160,000 students from 1,800 schools.
Students at the Fullerton school mastered 31,113 words, placing them first in Division II and ninth overall in the nation.
Vocabulary Bowl is a biannual competition that brings together K-12 schools across North America to showcase their vocabulary and literacy skills.
The more than 160,000 students mastered a total of 4,400,000 words throughout the spring, demonstrating their unwavering commitment to linguistic excellence. Schools competed in three distinct categories based on enrollment size.
– Submitted by Joslyn Chesson
CHOC receives $6 million to expand urgent care services
Orange County residents Victor and Janie Tsao are helping local children in a big way. Their recent $6 million gift to Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) will establish a South Orange County pediatric-dedicated urgent care center, augmenting the health care system’s growing urgent care offerings in the community.
Thanks to the generosity of the Tsao Family Foundation, the new urgent care center will provide South Orange County families with additional access to CHOC pediatricians who can provide acute but non-emergent care to children in need when their general pediatricians’ offices are not available.
Set to open in 2025, the center will be solely dedicated to pediatric patients and care for children with lower levels of acuity, such as sore throats, simple viral infections and minor injuries that do not require emergency care.
The new center will expand CHOC’s sprawling urgent care network that includes locations throughout Orange and Los Angeles counties. Among the network are two pediatric-dedicated centers in Orange, including one recently opened on CHOC’s hospital campus.
Its largest donation to an Orange County nonprofit to date, the Tsao Family Foundation’s gift deepens a treasured relationship between the foundation and CHOC that began in 2022 with a $2 million gift to bring 17 WellSpaces to Irvine schools.
“We are honored to support CHOC in its efforts to serve the children and families of Orange County,” said Janie Tsao.
– Submitted by CHOC
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Orange County students shine in world’s largest rocket contest
Two student rocketry teams from the Orange County chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) stood out in the world’s largest student rocketry competition – the American Rocketry Challenge.
The two Irvine Rocketry Club teams were among the 100 teams competing at the recent National Finals at Great Meadow in The Plains, Virginia. In total, more than 5,000 students from 922 teams in 45 states competed in the 2024 American Rocketry Challenge
AIAA Orange County Section Team 1 finished third at the National Finals, earning the seven young rocketeers $12,500 and the organization $1,000. AIAA Orange County Section Team 2 finished 13th.
As top-25 finishers, both teams secured invitations to participate in NASA’s Student Launch initiative. This marks the student rocketry program’s fourth trip to the National Finals, securing a fourth place finish in last year’s competition.
The teams’ accomplishments follow months of preparation designing, building and testing a rocket capable of meeting rigorous mission parameters set by the contest’s sponsors – the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), National Association of Rocketry and more than 20 industry partners.
To qualify for the National Finals, participating teams designed, built and launched model rockets that could safely carry a payload of one raw egg with a target flight duration of 43 to 46 seconds and an altitude of 820 feet. The requirements for the National Finals were modified to introduce a new challenge to the teams.
Now in its 22nd year, the American Rocketry Challenge has inspired nearly 95,000 middle and high school students to date to explore education and careers in STEM fields.
Teams at the National Finals represented 28 states from Washington to Florida and competed for a total of $100,000 in prize money and scholarships.
– Submitted by Raegan Gall
The Bravo! section highlights achievements of our residents and groups. Send news of achievements for consideration to ocrbravo@gmail.com.
