Rubik's Cube craze culminates in the U. S. Rubik's Cube Championship competition at Caltech. Local middle school student Shotaro "Macky" Makisumi clocked the fastest time but could not claim top prize because he was born in Japan. Local Frank Chang also competed.
First Avenue Middle School welcomes new principal Semeen Issa. Dr. Issa had been assistant principal at the school for the past 6 years and this will be her 17th year at First Avenue Middle School.
The Arcadia Unified School District is participating in the Fulbright Teacher exchange Program for the first time. The program is responsible for First Avenue Middle School teacher Michelle Shaw exchanging places with Leena Heinila, a teacher from Helsinki, Finland.
Arcadia Unified School District's First Avenue Middle School music teacher Michael Danielson is one of only 16 teachers to be recognized as a 2019-2020 Teacher of the Year.
Arcadia Unified 'lip-dubs spirit of its middle schools. Some 2,200 Arcadia Unified School District middle school students and adults are featured in a four minute YouTube video featuring Jason Derulo's "Undefeated," to show their school spirit and pride. A lip-dub video is music played over a lip-sync video, filmed in one continuous shot.
First Avenue Middle School program "Exploratory Wheel" allows students to rotate through four electives--art, drama, industrial technology and home economics--to discover their interests and strengths, in 6th grade.
The Arcadia Board of Education will study the environmental impact of new uses and the addition of lights at Dana and First Avenue Middle schools and the Arcadia High School softball field.
A 13-year-old female was critically injured after a motorist lost control of a vehicle and struck her in front of Dana Middle School. A surgical team decided to amputate the lower portion of her right leg 5 inches below knee.
In the Regional Odyssey of the Mind competition, three teams from Foothills Middle School have won first place trophies and invitations to advance to the state tournament.
A tour bus with 53 Arcadia school children from First Avenue Middle School was involved in a five-vehicle wreck on the San Bernardino (10) Freeway. They were coming back to school from a science camp.
Arcadia High School's runner Phillip Rocha ran a record CIF Cross Country race with a time of 14:58, the fastest time of the year in California in Division I.
First Avenue Middle School celebrated the 26th birthday and life of teacher Jennifer Castillo with a ceremony and the release of over 900 balloons. She taught 6th grade Algebra and introductory Spanish. She died February 8 of heart failure.
Arcadia’s First Avenue Middle School student-actors are out of this world. The school’s Production class of 2019 has been preparing the entire fall semester for its upcoming play “Out of This World,” to be performed December 6 and 7 in the First Avenue auditorium. The theater teacher is Susi Reck. The theater program at First Avenue has four different levels.
Arcadia Unified teachers share what learning looks like in a pandemic. Karalee Nakatsuka, 8th grade history teacher at First Avenue Middle School, discusses remote learning during COVID-19.