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Leaders at Los Angeles, Monrovia, Whittier schools
to be honored at Cal State L.A. Nov. 14
Los Angeles, CA – Collectively representing well over a century of exceptional service and leadership in education, five individuals will be honored at Cal State L.A.’s 19th Annual Distinguished Educator Award Dinner on Friday, Nov. 14.
Sponsored by the Friends of the Charter College of Education at Cal State L.A., the Distinguished Educator Awards will be presented to Lynn Andrews, principal of Allesandro Elementary School; Louise K. Taylor, superintendent of Monrovia Unified School District, and Sandra Thorstenson, superintendent of Whittier Union High School District.
In addition, Distinguished Service Awards will be presented to Edna Young, former resource manager of the Charter College of Education at Cal State L.A., and Harry Gerst, former director of Public School Accountability Act for the Los Angeles Unified School District.
The event, to be held at the Golden Eagle Ballroom on the Cal State L.A. campus, will begin with a reception at 5 p.m. followed by a dinner at 6 p.m. Last year, the Charter College of Education hosted more than 250 education professionals, friends, family, and business associates at this event.
Lynn Andrews, principal, Allesandro Elementary School
For 27 years, Andrews has served as principal of Allesandro Elementary and Cooperative Learning Magnet School in Los Angeles, helping the school receive many recognitions, including recently the State Title 1 Academic Achievement Award and the California Business for Education Excellence Award. Over the past nine years, the school’s Academic Performance Index (API) has risen from 525 to 788. Andrews has worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District for 39 years.
Louise Taylor, superintendent, Monrovia Unified School District
Taylor, a Cal State L.A. alumna, is in her 18th year as superintendent of schools for the Monrovia Unified School District (MUSD) this year. She has held many key positions in her 29-year career with MUSD. She has helped bring the city, chamber, and school district together in productive collaborative activities, including serving as a district liaison as Monrovia was revitalized.
Sandra Thorstenson, superintendent, Whittier Union High School District
Thorstenson, beginning her 17th year as superintendent of the Whittier Union High School District (WUSHD), have spent her entire 31-year career in Whittier Union. The California Department of Education identified WUHSD as “a district to watch.” Prior to becoming superintendent, she served as assistant superintendent of educational services, principal of Santa Fe High School, assistant principal of both California High School and Santa Fe, and a social sciences teacher at Pioneer High School.
The Friends of the Charter College of Education is a group of alumni, educators and community members who support scholarships for students in Cal State L.A.’s teacher-preparation and school administrator programs and other activities.
All proceeds from the dinner will support the Friends’ Scholarship Endowment and Faculty Development funds. For more information regarding the Distinguished Educator Award Dinner, call the Cal State L.A. Charter College of Education Development Office at 323-343-4446.
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Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 205,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds—reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to a unique university center for gifted students as young as 12. Programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include an NEH- and Rockefeller-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, housed in the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center. www.calstatela.edu