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 Hello! Welcome to the Laguna Beach High School Alumni Website.
Our mission is to foster a sense of shared tradition and belonging within the community of the alumni of Laguna Beach High School, teachers, staff, and current students.
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REPORT TO LBHS ALUMNI ASSOCIATION MEMBERS
WALL OF HONOR DEDICATION UPHOLDS BEST TRADITIONS OF LBHS
On May 30, 2009, a large gathering of the LBHS “extended family” was on hand for a ceremony dedicating the Wall of Honor exhibit in the lobby of the North Gym. Members of the LBUSD School Board and the Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Robert Fraisse, were in attendance, along with veterans from WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. Students and parents, faculty and school staff, past, present and future, were there too. It was an uplifting experience, solemn but also a celebration, honoring the valor of combat veterans, and the dedication to duty shown by all the men and women of LBHS who have served in uniform. [Photos from the event are in the Photo Album]
Under the guiding hand of LBHS Principal Don Austin, the lobby of the North Gym has become a focal point for honoring LBHS tradition, a repository for LBHS historical memorabilia and presentation of exhibits that honor our school’s history. The Wall of Honor is now the permanent lead exhibit in the lobby. For me, that site has now become hallowed ground.
In addition to the exhibits in the North Gym lobby, photographs and other historical displays throughout the campus recognize past decades of campus life. There just is no mistaking that fact that Dr. Austin has faithfully fulfilled his commitment to honor the heritage of our school. Indeed, he has done so in a way that exceeds by far anything we ever expected.
Also, in addition to honoring alumni, faculty and staff who served in the U.S. military, the school is recognizing current and former members of the LBHS family who have shown compassion, character, and creativity across the entire spectrum of human endeavor and achievement. The Alumni Association is supporting this new spirit at LBHS in every way we can.
For example, last October, Dr. Austin and LBHS staff arranged for former LBHS cheerleaders and homecoming courts were honored by the school and community during the homecoming game halftime celebration, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the first LBHS homecoming. The Alumni Association acted in partnership with ASB advisor and student organizers to make that a great success in which the students at LBHS saw how important their homecoming was to five decades of former students who had participated in homecomings over the years.
Similarly, Dr. Austin recently took under advisement a proposal from an LBHS alumnus working in Africa to designate space in the LBHS library for a collection of published professional and creative literature by LBHS alumni. Of course, the traditions of LBHS include a fairly consistent stream of iconoclastic, nonconformist, idiosyncratic, and eccentric students, like me, who go on in that vein after they leave LBHS, but that is what the library materials screening process is all about! Seriously, though, the library alumni collection idea is a great one that we are enthusiastically supporting.
There were many other people who played important roles in the success of the Wall of Honor project, without whom it would not have happened much less been such a success. But in this report to you, our members, I wanted to emphasize and spread the news that your alma mater has been entrusted by the School Board and the community with a Principal who will never turn his back on you, its alumni, and who will uphold the small town heritage of LBHS, so it can always provide stewardship of our most precious natural resource, the young men and women who are the future of families, our town and our nation.
That is why the Alumni Association gives lifetime Alumni Association memberships along with the financial scholarships we give each year, as we did at the LBHS 2009 Scholarships Awards Convocation on June 5, 2009. And that is why LBHS Alumni Association Board Member Amanda Horton, in presenting one of the three cash awards given to graduating seniors this year with your membership dues and donations, called on the entire Class of 2009 to join the Alumni Association and become part of its mission. Board Member Mandi Hallahan, Class of 1958, presented one of the three scholarships this year as well, and reminded the community of the history of the Alumni Association. Finally, Alumni Association Vice President Wendy Potter presented the third scholarship award for 2009, and also made a warm and enthusiastic personal appeal to the Class of 2009 and the community to support LBHS and the Alumni Association.
Wendy Potter and several of your Board Members are bringing forth exciting new ideas to improve your Alumni Association effectiveness, including capacity building to increase support we want to give to class reunions, and improved internet capabilities. We also are reaching out and networking with alumni throughout the community to combine efforts with other organizations and institutions wherever possible. We will keep you posted on the progress we are making. Thank you for your support.
Howard Hills
LBHS Alumni Association President
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PROFILE OF LBHS PRINCIPAL, DR. DON AUSTIN:
We are very glad to be able to report to you that Dr. Austin, with the support of the Superintendent of Schools and the School Board, has changed the atmosphere at LBHS to make knowledge and understanding of the school’s history part of the educational experience. He has not done this for the Alumni Association, he has done it for the students, but he has recognized that the Alumni Association is a valuable resource and asset to the school administration and faculty in making the school’s heritage part of the total learning experience at LBHS.
Dr. Austin has a friendly and relaxed demeanor that fits right in at LBHS, but he is a very serious and sophisticated educational thinker, strategist and manager. Most importantly, he has an amazing rapport with students that gives him the credibility essential to effective collective and individual mentorship. In short, the kids love him and most have come to admire him and do not want to let him down. But they are kids, and when they do, he is there to help them get back on their feet and make better choices in the future.
It is the context of his collective and individual mentorship at LBHS that he evokes respect for tradition to make students feel that they are valued members of a learning community that cares about them, just as it has cared for students in the past, and will care for students in the future. That makes students realize that they are part of something bigger than themselves, and that there are standards and a tradition that they are part of and should want to uphold, not only in sports or drama, scholarship and fine arts, but in personal character, devotion to family and service to community. Understanding our heritage helps students wake up to the world around them and think beyond themselves, at a time in life when that is important for personal growth.
Under his leadership the faculty and the community have rediscovered the simple truth that knowledge of the school’s legacy and the experience of students in the past is a valuable source of ideas and information that contribute to the intellectual and character development of LBHS students. We are deeply gratified that honoring tradition at the school is part of Dr. Austin’s educational philosophy, because the primary mission of the Alumni Association is to sustain a cohesive alumni community to celebrate our past, and in so doing to make students of today and tomorrow aware that they are part of a noble tradition, a legacy of caring for each other, our school and our community.
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Annual All Class Alumni Picnic
A great time was had by all at one of our best attended All Class Reunion Picnics. More to come in the newsletter - you need to send in a membership form and dues to get one.
Register to see the photos from this year's picnic.
Registering only takes a few minutes, so register and please tell all your alumni friends about this website. You may get reunion updates or leave a phone message at our Alumni Hotline 949-497-1983 or you may send us an email at: LagunaBeachHighSchoolAlumni@gmail.com.
Enjoy the benefits of membership. Send us an email request for a membership form at Join the Alumni Association!
THANK YOU! to Wally Wethe '64 and Lynn Williams Smith '64 for their donations designated to keeping this site running. You can do the same if you have a PayPal account or wish to mail a check to the Alumni Association. If you mail a check to the Alumni Association be sure to indicate you wish it to help pay for the website.
Reminder: When you register, be sure you choose the correct class year.
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