COLLEGE GRADUATES
Carlota Muntanola Ortega of Oceanside graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Minnesota State University Mankato.
DEAN’S LIST
The following students made the dean’s list at their respective schools: Jadon Bowen of Oceanside at Chadron State College in Nebraska; Ricky Johnson of Oceanside at Olivet Nazarene University in Illinois; Laura Enfinger of Encinitas and Anthony Lloyd of Oceanside at California State University, Stanislaus; and Lillian Evans, Nathan Paterson, Katelyn Hnatek and Jett Foreman of Carlsbad, Kailer Brown, Jacob Santorelli, Sadie Holsten, Hazel Roy and Ella Greupner of Encinitas, Cristina Milne of Solana Beach, Anna Hatala of San Marcos and Lauren Littlejohn of San Diego at Belmont University in Tennessee.
RESEARCH PAPER
Carlsbad-based Army and Navy Academy has recognized Cadet Cohen Lu, whose research paper on artificial intelligence was accepted and presented at the NeurIPS 2025 Workshop on SPACE in Vision, Language, Embodied AI (SpaVLE) on Dec. 7 at the San Diego Convention Center.
FOOD BANK
The Community Service Club at The Grauer School, based in Encinitas, collected 186 pounds of food for The Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank, which will provide approximately 155 meals. With its North County location, the food bank provides emergency food to 400,000 children and families, active-duty military and fixed-income seniors living in poverty every month.
FEMININE PRODUCTS
The Grauer School’s Girls Rising Club partnered with PATH Connections to host the club’s second Feminine Products Drive to collect a variety of pads and tampons. According to the club, an estimated 25% of US teens struggle with affording and securing feminine products for themselves. PATH offers services for those experiencing homelessness, including outreach, housing navigation, interim housing, rapid rehousing and permanent supportive housing.
WOODEN TOYS
Wood and Construction students from Escondido and San Pasqual High Schools crafted and donated more than 200 handmade wooden toy cars and dinosaurs to children at Lincoln and Farr Elementary Schools in Escondido for the fourth consecutive year. Santa Claus joined the high school students during their visit to the elementary schools, where they gave the gifts to the younger students and watched them play with their new toys.
ROLLER COASTER
Tom Storer and PJ Catalano, project leads of Galacticoaster, LEGOLAND California Resort’s newest indoor family space-themed rollercoaster, recently visited fourth- and fifth-grade students at Discovery Elementary School in San Marcos to inspire them as they are tasked with building their own rollercoaster. Once their projects are complete in 2026, the 25-plus students will be some of the first to ride the new Galacticoaster, set to open on March 6, and show their coaster creations to LEGOLAND Master Model Builders.
WINTERFAITH WONDERLAND
Interfaith Community Services’ Holiday Sponsor-A-Family program served 343 families and residential clients at Winterfaith Wonderland on Dec. 13, made possible through more than $100,000 in monetary donations and gifts, and with the support of more than 150 volunteers. Interfaith turned its Community Hub into a holiday-themed shopping mall, giving clients the opportunity to “shop” for their own families.
