Daily Breeze: Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will give Lawndale graduation address

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will give Lawndale graduation address
By Douglas Morino Staff Writer
Posted: 05/11/2010 07:14:11 PM PDT

US Labor Secretary Hilda Solis speaks during a press conference with other foriegn labor ministers at the conclusion of the G20 Labor and Employment Minister's Meeting in Washington, DC, April 21, 2010. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)
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It's not the leader of the free world, but a cabinet secretary will certainly do.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis will deliver the commencement address in June at Lawndale's Environmental Charter High School, White House officials announced Tuesday.

The announcement comes about a week after a winner was named in the inaugural Race to the Top Commencement Challenge. President Barack Obama will deliver the commencement address later this spring at the winning school, Kalamazoo Central High School in Michigan.

Solis, the daughter of immigrant parents, is a Los Angeles native and a former member of the House of Representatives. She was selected by Obama in December 2008 to lead the Department of Labor.

Solis will also deliver the commencement address at Long Beach City College later this month, sources at the college said Tuesday. Last year, she was the commencement speaker at California State University, Dominguez Hills.

Officials from Environmental Charter said Tuesday the secretary of labor is a good match for their school.

"We're thrilled to have Hilda Solis because of who she is and what she represents," said Executive Director Alison Suffet-Diaz. "Our students can identify with her experience and her pursuit of the American Dream."

The school's graduation ceremonies will be held June 25 at Marsee Auditorium on the campus of El Camino College near Torrance. About 76 seniors are expected to graduate

from the 450-student campus. Nearly 87 percent of enrollment is made up of minority students.

More than 1,000 schools submitted applications in late February to compete in the Race to the Top Commencement Challenge, hoping to land the president as their keynote speaker.

Schools were encouraged to demonstrate how students are challenged to excel in academics, take personal responsibility for their education and graduate from high school ready for college and future careers.

With a university acceptance rate topping 95 percent and a environmentally focused, project-based curriculum model, Environmental Charter was among the six finalists announced in April.

Senior Jordan Howard, 18, submitted the school's application with a group of classmates, including Rudy Sanchez, 16; Shavontae Simpson, 18; Tyler Garber, 17; and Genesis Godoy, 17.

With help from MTV producers, the students made a video about their educational experience which was later posted on the White House website. The public was invited to rate videos from each campus on a 1-to-5 scale during a three-day period in late April.

Howard said that after the final results were announced, students from each school exchanged congratulatory phone calls.

"It was cool to see that we were so much alike," Howard said, adding that the attention her school has received in the wake of the competition has been substantial.

"We have seen a lot of schools reaching out to us, saying they want to do what we are doing," Howard said. "That's when we said, "We won."'

White House officials lauded the school for applying concepts and skills gained in class to problem-solve local civic and environmental issues.

"Environmental Charter High School empowers students to succeed in both academics and life by becoming stewards of their own community. As such, this remarkable school is shaping a better future for all of us - one young person at a time," Solis said in a statement issued through the White House. "I look forward to congratulating the students and faculty and to celebrating their hard work as their 2010 commencement speaker."

And as graduation day looms, Jordan said the anticipation on campus is palpable.

"I'm excited," Howard said. "I feel good about graduation, I feel prepared for college and the future."

douglas.morino@dailybreeze.com