Middle College High School

There are plenty of openings in Orange Coast College's innovative Middle College High School program. The program, which just completed its fourth year, offers classes for high school students on OCC's 164-acre campus. Students entering the 11th and 12th grades are eligible to apply. The academic year begins Aug. 14 and runs through May 25, 2001. The school is designed for students who, for a variety of reasons, are not performing up to their full potential in a traditional high school setting.

As a former Newport-Mesa Unified School District certificated employee (1966-2002), I would like to clarify a disappointing statement regarding Wendy Leece that I recently read in the Daily Pilot. Stephen Leece enrolled, attended and graduated from the district' Middle College High School at Orange Coast College. As the principal of the Middle College High School, I was proud of Stephen's academic accomplishments and his personal demeanor. He was cooperative, responsible and respectful of his teachers and fellow students.

Orange Coast College's Middle College High School will hold its second graduation ceremony at 3 p.m. Wednesday at 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa. Thirty-eight high school seniors are candidates for diplomas from the school, which has been operating on OCC's 164-acre campus since 1996. College President Margaret A. Gratton will be keynote speaker. Valedictorian Melinda Jaime also will speak. Robert Barbot, superintendent of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, will award diplomas.

Walkathon to benefit 4-year-old girl A walkathon will be held in Costa Mesa next weekend to benefit Leilani Gutierrez, who was rendered a quadriplegic after an auto accident on Mother's Day. The "Walk for Leilani", will take place Aug. 18 at Fairview Park from 3 to 7 p.m. The event has been organized by waitresses at The Omelette Parlor, where Leilani's mother, June, works. The accident caused serious chest and head injuries to Leilani, who was comatose for a month.

Deirdre Newman ORANGE COAST CAMPUS -- High school graduation is usually a prerequisite for attending college. But for many of the ambitious students who attend Middle College High School, graduation is a mere formality since they already take classes at Orange Coast College. But that didn't stop an energetic crowd from celebrating the achievements of the 62 seniors who graduated here on Thursday. Middle College High School attracts Newport-Mesa Unified School District students who either don't feel comfortable in a traditional high school setting or want the extra stimulation that a college campus provides.

Middle College High School at Orange Coast College has openings for the 2002-03 academic year specifically for students who aren't performing to their full potential in the traditional high school setting. Part of a collaborative effort between OCC and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, the school offers classes to either junior or senior high school students within the district. With small classes taught by specialized high school teachers, students enrolled in the school will receive individualized attention.

Take a closer look at middle college high Orange Coast Middle College High School will hold an open house for prospective students and parents from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Orange Coast College student center. Administrators will provide an overview of the high school program, curriculum and include student and parent testimonials. Middle College High School is part of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District and is located on the OCC campus.

Deirdre Newman OCC CAMPUS -- For the past six years, Newport-Mesa high school students attending classes at Orange Coast College had to trek back and forth across campus. Now they have a home of their own. Today, the school celebrates the official opening of two new Middle College High School buildings. The new additions include four classrooms, a computer lab and a career center. "It gives us more of a feeling that we belong," senior Whitney Crowell said.

For those interested in learning more about the unique high school experience offered at OCC's Middle College High School, an open house has been scheduled for Tuesday. Now in its fourth year, the high school is open to juniors and seniors throughout Orange County. The program is a collaborative effort between OCC and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. It is designed for high-potential, underachieving high school students. Classes for the program are offered on the OCC campus.

T hirty-one seniors from Orange Coast Middle College High School's final graduating class received their diplomas on Wednesday to the thunderous applause of several hundred people in the audience. It was a tearful experience for many, including alumni who attended the event in the Robert B. Moore Theatre at Orange Coast College. The high school, which affords students the opportunity to earn college credits at OCC, opened in 1996. But due to cutbacks, the school was forced to close in order to save the Newport-Mesa Unified School District $800,000 at a time when the state is withholding billions of dollars in funding for various school districts.

A chance meeting at Costa Mesa’s first Relay for Life cancer walk in 2007 changed the life of Shadow Lane. Lane, then a sophomore at Newport Harbor High School, had lost his younger brother to bone cancer a few years earlier and was taken to the event by a classmate who had just lost his father to throat cancer. The two walked around the OCC track for 16 straight hours, through the night. “Once it started getting hard to walk we felt more and more that that’s what we should be doing, staying on the track even though it was hard,” Lane said.

Peering through the small square window into Newport Beach jail at the drunk man awaking from his nap behind bars, 16-year-old Sarah Crosby thought, “I never want to go there.” “It was kind of eerie,” the Orange Coast Middle College High School student said of the jail. While the jail may have been the creepiest part of her trip to Newport Beach Police Department on Thursday morning, it certainly wasn’t the only interesting part of her day with police.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District is aiming to cut more than $8 million from next year’s budget in the face of shrinking funding, officials said Tuesday at a school board study session. Roughly $5 million will come from program cuts, while another $3 million will come from short-term fixes like delaying equipment replacement, said Deputy Supt. Paul Reed, the district’s chief financial officer. While the equivalent of 36 full-time jobs will disappear next year, those losses will mostly come from attrition rather than mass layoffs, Reed said.

Parents and students at Orange Coast Middle College High School were close to unanimous in their response to the sudden news that the school will be merged into Early College High School in September 2010: shock, not to mention some anger. Most parents and students only heard about the campus’ closure in the newspaper, said parent Chris Ludlow. “I feel really betrayed by this whole thing,” she said. “I feel like you pulled the rug out from under us. You did it really, really fast.

Newport-Mesa Unified School District students have two programs to choose from if they don’t feel they fit a traditional high school education and are open to taking college classes. By 2010, they will have one. In a late-afternoon announcement Wednesday, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District announced it is merging Orange Coast Middle College High School and Early College High School for the school year starting in fall 2010, a move officials say will save money. The decision came as a recommendation from Newport-Mesa Supt.

The article (“Nested on the pier,” June 11) on its own was interesting and nice coverage of a man who has become an institution to many of us in Newport Beach, but based on one quote I feel was completely inappropriate and unnecessary, I have no inclination to donate. “Holy crap, look at the birds,” one child shouted. It is not just unnecessary in the context of the article itself, but it portrays children as using illiterate and crude language. I was offended by the quote, the language and its use. I think there must have been many more appropriate and descriptive quotes from others that could have been used to indicate the awesome sight children are experiencing.

COSTA MESA — Richard Hoff observed his last graduation Thursday as an Orange Coast Middle College High School teacher. He couldn't have gone out on a better note. Hoff, who will retire this month, is the last remaining faculty member from Middle College's charter year in 1996. Over the last decade, he's watched the student body expand and test scores rise — and on Thursday, for the first time, he presided over a class in which every graduating senior was headed to college.

Let's take a trip to la la land where the children ask to go to school, the parents involve themselves with their success and the teachers aren't frustrated. Well, OK, maybe the students aren't always enthusiastic to get to class, but in general, they want to be there. I'm talking about Early College High School. The campus for ninth- through 12th-graders offers students the chance to receive an associate's degree or two years of college credit by the time they graduate. This is not to be confused with Middle College High School on the Orange Coast College campus.