8:30am | Long Beach Unified School District announced today that this year’s scholarships and other monetary awards earned by graduating LBUSD seniors exceed $51 million – surpassing last year’s record of $40 million.
The new record also represents a significant increase from the $18 million earned by local high school graduates just three years ago.
“This new record speaks to our schools’ ability to put children first, even during the most challenging of circumstances,” said Christopher J. Steinhauser, LBUSD superintendent of schools. “The state budget meltdown has impacted public schools throughout California. Our own schools have not been immune to the crisis. Amazingly, our students continue to thrive. With strong support from parents and others in our community, we have remained focused on our vital mission.”
Students at the California Academy of Mathematics and Science earned $14.42 million in scholarships (nearly twice last year’s amount), including $1.5 million earned by just two students. With a senior class of only 142 students, CAMS graduates earned an average of $101,600 each in scholarships this year.
CAMS is a regional high school at Cal State Dominguez Hills and is run by LBUSD. Students at CAMS this year gained admission and scholarships to Amherst, Brown, Caltech, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Florida Tech, Georgetown, Harvard, Harvey Mudd, Johns Hopkins, Howard, MIT, NYU, Olin, Pomona College, Princeton, Stanford, Syracuse, all of the University of California campuses, the University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, USC, Vanderbilt, Washington University in St. Louis, Williams and Yale.
Poly High School students earned $10.72 million, including a $270,000 scholarship to Columbia; $210,000 to Lehigh; $202,000 to Stanford; $188,000 to USC; $207,000 to Reed; and $157,000 to Georgetown. Poly students also gained admission to Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth, Brown, Fontbonne, NYU, Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Boston, Grinell, Cornell, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Science; University of Massachusetts, Amherst, University of California (Berkeley, Davis, Santa Cruz, San Diego, UCLA and Riverside) and the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Wilson Classical High School students earned $9.13 million along with 1,343 acceptances to 201 universities in 40 states and four countries. School acceptances included Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, Northwestern, Fordham, Purdue, USC, George Washington, New York University, all University of California campuses (including 32 admissions to UCLA and 27 admissions to UC Berkeley), and all California State University campuses.
Millikan High School students earned $8.07 million. A member of the girls’ track and field team, Ashley Smith, earned more than $1.2 million in athletic scholarships (she has committed to attending UC Berkeley). Millikan students gained admission to Stanford, Columbia, Vanguard, Princeton, all University of California and California State University schools, USC, Purdue, Berklee College of Music, The Citadel – The Military College of South Carolina, Westmont, Biola, BYU, Cal Lutheran, Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, Concordia, Hope International, Azusa Pacific, Chapman, Reed, Whittier, Pepperdine, Xavier, University of New Mexico, University of Alaska, University of Washington, University of Oregon, University of the Pacific, University of Hawaii, University of La Verne, University of Illinois – Chicago, St. Mary’s University, LMU, Florida International and Regis University.
Lakewood High School students earned $3.37 million, with acceptances to Notre Dame, Stanford, Azusa Pacific, Duke, University of Evansville, University of Miami, Grambling State University, University of California (Berkeley, UCLA, Irvine, Davis, Santa Barbara, Riverside), USC, Cal Poly Pomona, University of Illinois, Northern Arizona University, Webster University, BYU, St. John’s University, University of Great Falls, Utah Valley University, University of Miami and other schools.
Jordan High School students earned $2.61 million, with acceptances to USC, the University of California (Berkeley, UCLA, Irvine, Davis, Santa Cruz and Riverside), Oral Roberts, Charles Drew, Spelman, Clark Atlanta, Howard, Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts College, University of Washington, Richmond University, University of North Dakota, South Carolina State, University of Dallas, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Channel Islands, Cal State San Francisco and The Cleveland Institute of Art.
Cabrillo High School students earned $1.97 million, with acceptances to the University of California (UCLA, Berkeley, Davis, Riverside, Irvine, Santa Barbara, San Diego), Clark Atlanta University, Mount St. Mary’s, The Art Institute of California – Los Angeles, Otis College and Stillman College.
Renaissance High School for the Arts students earned $737,766, with acceptances to the University of California (Irvine, Riverside, San Diego, David, Santa Barbara, Merced), Weber State, Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, California State University (Humboldt, Long Beach, Dominguez Hills, Bakersfield, East Bay, Northridge, Fullerton, San Francisco and Pomona), Azusa Pacific, LMU, Musician’s Institute Hollywood, Cornish College of the Arts, San Diego Arts Academy, Cal Baptist University, Biola University and the Southern University Naval ROTC.
Students at the Educational Partnership High School and Reid High School alternative education programs earned $9,040 and $5,000 respectively, while Long Beach School for Adults students earned $6,200.
Hundreds of students won non-monetary honors, including awards for Service Learning (logging hundreds of community service hours), K-12 perfect attendance, and recognition by Kiwanis, Rotary and many other local youth service organizations.
LBUSD has 5,957 graduates this year, including 150 at the Long Beach School for Adults.