November 18, 2011

As we approach the end of the first quarter of the 2011-2012 school year, even considering the numerous challenges we faced, we had a smooth first nine weeks.  We successfully navigated around construction and we were the first school in the district to verify that all students had received the state-mandated Tdap immunization.

 I am pleased to announce that nine Valencia seniors including Megan Lee, Cara Ta, Laila Atalla, Jason Chi, Elizabeth Knarr, Alan Herbert, Boyoung Kim, Allen Lin, and Katherine Pierce have been named semifinalist in the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Program.  Less than one percent of the high school seniors throughout the entire nation qualify for this distinction.  Valencia’s nine Nation Merit Semifinalists this year places us in a very select group of top Orange County high schools. 

Out of the 93 public and private high schools in Orange County, only five had more National Merit Semifinalists than Valencia this year.  It is also significant to note that there were a total of only twelve semifinalists in the entire Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District’s four high schools.  Twelve additional seniors including Cynthia Bor, Harji Charaia, Clarence Chu, Duy Anh Dang, Daniel Kim, Rachel Leiken, Kellan Liem, Richard Ma, Biola Macaulay, Neil Srinivas, Jason Wan, and Lindsey Youngquist were named as National Merit Commended Students. 

In addition, Valencia seniors Biola Macaulay and Andy Anusiem were selected for the National Achievement Recognition Program.  This program recognizes the top 1500 African-American students in the United States.  Only eight students in Orange County received this recognition.  Seniors Matthew Ruiz and Alexander Sauceda were selected for the National Merit Hispanic Recognition Program which recognizes the top Hispanic students in the nation.

 Also on the academic front, this year we added Level IV Mandarin Chinese to our already extensive list of Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses.  We now teaches 45 such courses at Valencia.  There are few, if any, high schools in Orange County that teach as many college-level courses as does Valencia.

 Valencia’s highly-successful Chemistry Program continues to be recognized as one of the premier science programs in Orange County.  The California Department of Education recently released results for all Content Standards Tests (CST) taken last spring.  Eighty-one percent of Valencia’s Chemistry students scored “Advanced” or “Proficient” which means they passed the test.  Throughout California, only 38 percent passed, while 55 percent passed in Orange County, and 68 percent passed in the PYLUSD.  Only four high schools in Orange County had a higher pass rate than Valencia.

 On the athletic front, Valencia experienced a successful fall season of sports.  Out of six varsity sports in the seven school Empire League, Valencia captured three championships including Girls’ Tennis, Boys’ Cross Country, and Boys’ Water Polo.  Congratulations to coaches Mike McCall, Pat Hadley, Bernard Ma, and their athletes.  We wish them the best of luck in the CIF Playoffs in their respective sports.

 The pace of construction on campus has slowed.  Most of the projects started last school year and over the summer are completed.  We anticipate that the decorative screens on the front of the campus will be installed by the winter break.  Also, the new quad restrooms and Bradford Stadium team rooms should be completed by winter break or soon thereafter.  Currently, we are in the planning stages for the new science classroom which we hope will be completed for the 2012-2013 school year.