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Western Regional Office

A Note from Our Regional Vice President

Al Mijares

Al Mijares

With the bright lights of Las Vegas as a backdrop, the more than 450 attendees of the Western Regional Forum celebrated our colleagues for their contributions to students. Jim Scott, president of Punahou School, received our highest recognition, the 2012 Joe Allen Exemplar Award. As winner of the Ned Tibby Award, UC Berkeley’s Esperanza Bernal received an all-expenses-paid trip to the regional forum, where she conducted a session on how to assist veterans enrolling in college.

Patrick Gordon, a history and economics teacher at Gahr High School in Cerritos, Calif., was the recipient of the Jaime Escalante AP Award for his role in connecting students to success on AP® Exams.

Kenneth Ryan Olden, who teaches at White Swan High School, nestled in the shadow of Mt. Adams on the Yakima Indian Reservation in Washington state, well deserves the region’s Bob Costas Grant for the Teaching of Writing. More than half of his students are Native American, and more than 90 percent are from low-income backgrounds. Olden has been aggressive in finding funding to support publishing his students’ work. In honor of a student who gave his life in Afghanistan, his students interviewed active duty and retired members of the U.S. Armed Forces and published Something to Fight For: The Stories and Experiences of American Veterans, which was then disseminated through the Marines and Gold Star Family Network.

In closing, I’m proud to introduce you to several new Western Region employees. Let’s give a warm College Board welcome to Jerry Califano, K–12 educational manager based in San Jose; Jacques Bordeaux, K–12 educational manager based in Los Angeles; and Dale Gaubatz , higher ed educational manager based in Colorado.

How Our Office Serves You

Your College Board regional office is here to provide you with information and opportunities specific to the western region of the country. We offer such services and programs as professional development opportunities, associational activities, legislative relations and governance structure. To learn more about the services we can provide you, contact us today.

Western News

Scripps College Is Leader in Outreach

Each year, the Scripps College Academy offers free tutoring and mentoring and an accelerated college-readiness curriculum to more than 325 young women from the greater Los Angeles area. Nine out of 10 of those students will become the first in their families to attend college.

This year-round initiative, founded in 2002 by Scripps College, has empowered these often underrepresented young women to attend schools such as Dartmouth, Georgetown, UCLA and Yale.

Because it is discovering and preparing the next generation of women leaders, the program received the 2010 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award. The honor, given to 15 after-school and out-of-school programs across the country, was presented by First Lady Michelle Obama at a formal White House ceremony.

Research On Health Threats To Athletes Wins In Nation's Leading Public Health Competition For High School Students

A Washington student’s research on injuries related to barefoot running won the top prize in the Young Epidemiology Scholars (YES) Competition, the nation’s leading public health competition for high school students. YES was created by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the College Board to inspire the next generation of public health leaders and encourage the brightest young minds to enter the field.

Rebecca Leong, a senior at Columbia River High School in Vancouver, Wash., was recognized for her epidemiological research on injuries associated with the popular trend of barefoot running. She received a $50,000 scholarship.