FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 15, 2002

Orange County Scholastic Foundation Announces 2002 Winners

Students in grades 4 - 12 compete for $50,000 in awards.

IRVINE, CA-The Orange County Scholastic Foundation (OCSF) has announced its winners of the OCSF Fourth Annual Academic Contest that was held April 27 and 28 at sites throughout Orange County. Over 500 students in grades four through 12 took tests in Math, Science, Geography, History, Mythology, Poetry, and other disciplines. Winners will receive prizes totaling more than $50,000, including opera tickets and passes to museums, professional sporting events and amusement parks. More than 100 local schools participated.

The OSCF awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, May 19 at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo. Orange County Supervisor, Thomas Wilson, will be the keynote speaker at the ceremony, which will be held in the Saddleback College Stadium beginning at 2 p.m. Saddleback College and Irvine Valley College make up the South Orange County Community College District, which has hosted the competition each year. Saddleback College is located at 28000 Marguerite Parkway, Mission Viejo, CA 92692.

The competition was held at 13 Orange County venues: Irvine Valley College, Saddleback College, Montessori of Brea, Santa Margarita High School, Fountain Valley High School, Loara High School, Yorba Linda Public Library, Cypress College, Fullerton College, Santiago Canyon College, Santa Ana College, Orange Coast College, and the Huntington Beach Library.

Students competed in Algebra, Calculus, Geography, Geometry, Greek Mythology, Math, Poetry Writing, Science, Spelling, Trigonometry, U.S. History, and Vocabulary.

Winners will receive tickets to Opera Pacific, the Pacific Symphony Orchestra; passes to Angels Baseball, Disneyland, Adventure City, the Museum of Latin American Arts, the Bowers Museum, the Orange County Museum of Art, the Laguna Art Museum, the Riverside Art Museum, the Orange County Museum of Natural History, the Skirball Center, the Muckenthaler Cultural Center; and others. Prize donors include Thomas Brothers Guides, and Barnes & Noble. Winners of the Poetry Writing competition will have their pieces published in The Ear, a creative writing journal published by the School of Humanities and Languages at Irvine Valley College.

For ceremony information and a list of winners, contact Howard Gensler at (949) 451-5336 or (909) 640-4590. For information about the Orange County Scholastic Foundation, write to P.O. Box 2099, Costa Mesa, CA 92628-2009, or call (714) 540-6036.