Fountain Valley High School

"Break a leg" is the preferred way of wishing good luck to thespians before they take the stage. For Pete Uribe, however, it has a more literal meaning ? it's how he found his way to the theater in the first place. Back when he was a junior at Fountain Valley High School, Uribe broke his ankle while playing basketball for the Barons. Unable to return to the court, the only class he could get into during sixth period was acting. That class changed his life. "It really opened up a whole new world for me," Uribe said.

Elia Powers Ever the schmoozer, Paul Berger had one of his final academic discussions late last month with Orange Coast College President Gene Farrell. "I told him, 'Paul, thanks for what you've done for us. What can we do?'" Farrell said. "He paused for about 30 seconds, and then he answered, 'Just keep taking care of the students.'" A Coast Community College District trustee since 1987, Berger was known as an advocate of student causes, including greater access to the arts and lower activity fees.

Students show off their financial smarts A team from Fountain Valley High School recently won the 2004 Orange County Capital Market Contest, a competition held by the California Council on Economic Education to test students' economic literacy. The team was chosen from more than 400 Orange County students who participated in the 10-week competition from September to December. Team members Tim Hyde, Nickole Pena, Megan Jones, Phil Brockamp and John Gutierrez, all seniors at Fountain Valley High School, participated in a stock market contest with a simulated portfolio, essays about recent economic trends and an oral presentation.

Andrew Edwards When Susan Henry's children went to school, she went with them. On the advice of a friend, she became a PTA volunteer at Courreges Elementary School in Fountain Valley when her eldest son, Brian, started kindergarten there. "She said when your kids start school, you should go with them," Henry said. The incumbent running for reelection to the Huntington Beach Union High School District Board hasn't regretted a day of it. As her three children traveled the road from elementary school to Fountain Valley High School, in the Huntington Beach Union High School District, she switched gears slightly, moving from the PTA to the Fountain Valley High School Foundation.

The season has come to an end for the Edison High wrestling team, which sent five members to last weekend's CIF Masters Meet at Fountain Valley High School. None of the five Charger wrestlers were able to qualify for Friday's CIF state finals in Bakersfield. Two juniors, Brandon Drucker at 125, and Dylan Jensen at 130, did go undefeated on the first day of action on Friday. Both reached Saturday's quarterfinal round, where they were eliminated from title contention.

Vote: 5-0 WHAT HAPPENED: The board approved a new round of digital high school grant funding for technology support and staff training at Huntington Beach, Marina and Westminster high schools. WHAT IT MEANS: Funding amount is projected to be $97,515 for Huntington Beach High School, $111,915 for Marina and $115,785 for Westminster. The district has certified to the state that these schools have met the digital high school funding match requirements.

Huntington Beach Elks Lodge 1959, serving Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley, donated $1,000 to each city's police-sponsored anti-drug program. The donation supports Huntington Beach's PRIDE program. The group also donated a 61-inch TV set to the Veterans Hospital in Long Beach. . . . Karin ChiaLun Shieh has enrolled at Harvard University. She is the daughter of Jiann Sheng Shieh and Suzanne Shieh of Huntington Beach and a graduate of Fountain Valley High School.

Angelique Flores FOUNTAIN VALLEY -- Fountain Valley High School students and staff were glued to their radios Friday morning. Everyone was tuned in to KROQ-FM (106.7) to listen to the scheduled showdown between Fountain Valley and Simi Valley high schools, which would be vying for the Punk Rock Prom. In the previous weeks, schools around the area were tackling the radio station's 10 challenges to qualify for the final challenge. Winners would go to Six Flags Magic Mountain for a free concert with Offspring and Weezer and win a $10,000 shopping spree at Best Buy. To meet some of those challenges, Fountain Valley students made a television commercial on how to stop the violence in schools, wrote "KROQ" on the foreheads of 106.7 students, donated more than 1,067 pounds of food to the Orange County Food Bank and convinced Principal Connie Mayhugh to sing 30 seconds of the Offspring's "Pretty Fly for a White Guy" while in a tub of noodles at a senior assembly.

The most important issue on Fountain Valley's radar screen is the unification of our kindergarten through eighth-grades and high schools. There are many reasons why this must be done. It is paramount that we get a cohesive K-12 curriculum, we need a home-grown system to reflect the wants and desires of our community and we need to extricate Fountain Valley High School's faculty and students from the Huntington Beach Union High School District. If Fountain Valley families in the Garden Grove School District wish to join us they're welcome, but we won't drag them.

Jeremy Johnson scored 32 points Sunday, and the Jazz came from behind to remain perfect on the season, beating the Sun Devils, 62-54, in a Fountain Valley National Junior Basketball Division I contest played at Fountain Valley High School. Derek Kramer also scored in double figures with 14 points as the Jazz improved to 6-0 overall. In other games: Lakers 33, Jabberwalkies 27 Viet Nguyen scored 14 points, and Jeffrey Sett added eight as the Lakers pulled away in the final period in a game tied through three quarters of play.