EL SEGUNDO HERALD May 14, 2020 Page 3
Morgan Wood is Thankful
in So Many Ways
By Gregg McMullin
At first glance, Morgan Wood looks to be like
most teenage girls preparing for graduation and
into the next phase of her life. She is a bright,
athletic, and outgoing and has plenty of friends.
There’s also the Morgan, who has a plan for her
future, and a pathway planned to prepare herself.
On the verge of graduating from high school,
many seniors have interests that steer them in
many different directions. For Morgan, she is
focused on the big picture, and with a 4.0 GPA,
she is on plenty of Academic Honor Rolls.
Morgan admits that staying in touch with
her teachers and classmates during this time
of uncertainty has been a challenge. But she
says, everyone adapts to their surroundings.
She does miss the personal interaction but
stays connected with social media outlets. “I’ve
been doing my schoolwork each day online and
staying connected with my teachers to make
sure I make the most out of online school.”
Morgan says that her high school experience
has been special and she’s met life-long friends
along the way. Over her four years, she has
enjoyed a successful academic career. She says
there isn’t one particular class she likes more
than another because they’ve all been great. “I
couldn’t choose a favorite class because all of
my classes and teachers this year have been
incredible! Each class is great in its own way.”
Presently her immediate goals are applying
her success in the classroom and working on
her scholarship awards for college. As for her
future goals, it is to maintain her stellar grades
through the end of the school year. She’d like
to transition her success to college in the fall
and get the most out of her college experience.
“Academically, I’ve been on the honor roll each
year since middle school and push myself in
my classes every year.”
Morgan will be attending Liberty University
in Lynchburg, Virginia, a highly respected
Division 1 University. She will be majoring
in Business Administration with an emphasis
in Digital Marketing and Advertising. She
intends to play lacrosse and will have the
opportunity to play women’s lacrosse for the
Flames. She could be an impact player for a
program on the rise.
Morgan is not only accomplished in the
classroom, but she’s one of the school’s top
athletes too. She was a standout on the soccer
team but excelled in lacrosse. She’s been playing
lacrosse since she was a little girl thanks in
part to her father. “My family has always been
very invested in the lacrosse community here.”
She recalled, “I started playing when I was around
six and have loved it ever since. I’ve played
on a club lacrosse team since 7th grade, and that
grew my love and skill for lacrosse even more!”
Her dad Steve, who goes by Woody, is
responsible for introducing lacrosse to El
Segundo and the high school. Woody’s lacrosse
credentials are impressive. He was an
All-American lacrosse player at West Point
and the head coach at Pepperdine and Loyola
Marymount universities before starting boys
and girl’s lacrosse in the South Bay in 2005.
He is on the city’s Youth Sports Council as
President of the lacrosse association.
Morgan says her sister Kelsey was a big
influence and made her a better player over
the years. Kelsey won the Jackie Pitts Award
Experienced Construction Trial Attorney
Helping homeowners get projects completed.
Helping contractors get paid.
Ryan@Baldino.Law (310) 300-1511
ESUSD
Morgan Wood will take her scholastic and athletic talents to Liberty
University in the fall
School Spotlight
Morgan Wood was a two-time Ocean League Offensive Player of the Year for the Eagles.
ESUSD Honored as Distinguished
District for Exemplary
STEM Education
The El Segundo Unified School District
(ESUSD) was recently named one of only
two Project Lead the Way (PLTW) Distinguished
Districts for 2019-2020 in the
state of California, and one of 24 in the
country. PLTW provides transformative
learning experiences for PreK-12 students
and teachers through innovative Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
(STEM) curriculum.
PLTW supports an engaging, hands-on
classroom environment that empowers students
to develop in-demand knowledge and
skills they need to thrive. The curriculum’s
instructional design centers on hands-on, realworld
activities, projects, and problems that
help students understand how the knowledge
and skills they develop in the classroom may
be applied in everyday life.
“I would like to extend a tremendous
thank you to Chevron and the El Segundo
Education Foundation for their generous
support over the years, through grants and
funding for Project Lead the Way curriculum,
to help ESUSD continue to offer this
vital educational program districtwide,” said
ESUSD Superintendent Melissa Moore.
ESUSD introduced PLTW in 2011 with
engineering curriculum for middle and high
school and PLTW biomedical science curriculum
for the high school in 2012. In fall
2014, the elementary curriculum, “Project
Lead the Way Launch,” was introduced for
the fourth and fifth grades at Richmond and
Center Street Schools. Supported by a grant
from Chevron USA, it built on the PLTW
Engineering Program at El Segundo’s middle
school and high school. With the launch of
the program for kindergarten through third
grade in 2015-2016, all grade levels at ESUSD
have access to the prestigious science
and technology curriculum.
PLTW’s recognition program honors districts
and schools committed to increasing
student access, engagement, and achievement
in their PLTW programs. The schools
and districts are recognized for empowering
students to thrive in an evolving world
and achieving exemplary results from their
PLTW programs.
As students progress through grades PreK-
12, they are empowered by PLTW curriculum
to engage in problem solving and process
thinking, develop technical knowledge and
skills, build communication skills, and explore
career opportunities. Studies show students
exposed to challenging scientific and mathematical
concepts before the fourth grade
maintain an increased interest and passion for
STEM coursework, which ultimately ties into
career choices later in life in the engineering,
technology, science, and math fields.
– Provided by El Segundo
Unified School District. •
See Morgan Wood, page 9
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