Honoring its local Latino community, the UCLA-LAUSD partnership school fetes milestone with tradition and hope.
In Latin American culture, the quinceañera or 15th birthday celebrates a rite of passage into adulthood. On March 27, the UCLA Community School, a partnership between the University and LAUSD, honored its local Latino community and a milestone of 15 years as an innovative teaching and learning environment for students, educators, and families.
UCLA Community School opened in 2009, one of six schools that make up the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools campus on the former site of the Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard.
The afternoon festivities included a Biliteracy Fair showcasing the school’s commitment to multilingual learning, and a reception welcoming UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk and the school’s community partners, including leaders from UCLA, LAUSD, local government and philanthropic organizations. A banner to be placed prominently on the UCLA Community School campus heralded the partnerships that continue to support the school’s mission and was presented to Chancellor Frenk and the school’s leadership and community.
Queena Kim, principal and founding teacher, welcomed everyone to the celebration.
“Like a young person stepping confidently into adulthood at 15, our school today stands proud of its rich past and looks eagerly toward a promising future,” she said. “I am deeply honored to celebrate this occasion with all of you who have been part of our journey.”
The Biliteracy Fair welcomed guests to visit classrooms and view student’s multilingual projects, along with family biliteracy workshops, learning stations, and other activities led by students. The Fair also featured programs from across UCLA, including the Teacher Education Program, UCLA Unicamp, Bruincorps, UCLA College Interns, Design for Sharing, the Early Education Outreach Program, and the UCLA Immigrant Family Legal Clinic.
Musical performances included the Grammy Award-winning Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band and a mariachi band. A Korean drumming ensemble of UCLA Community School alumni was led by founding math teacher and UCLA TEP and PLI alumna Janet Lee-Ortiz, who was honored in 2024 as a LAUSD Teacher of the Year.
Chancellor Frenk congratulated UCLA Community School and its achievements of the last 15 years.
“I’m really inspired by everything I’ve seen and heard this afternoon,” he said. “It is an incredible milestone, especially considering all that you have achieved in this period. I am getting to know this community – this is why I wanted to be here, because I had heard of what an extraordinary treasure this school is.
“The UCLA Community School is also a model of one of our dearest values, which is the value of inclusive excellence,” said Chancellor Frenk. “Today, we are facing debates that try to pit the idea of excellence against the idea of inclusivity and diversity, and that is a false dichotomy.
“Actually, diversity, inclusivity, and excellence reinforce each other,” he said. “A piece of evidence that we have is that organizations thrive when diverse voices and perspectives come together to understand reality and to transform reality for the better.”
The quinceañera also provided an opportunity to unveil “UCLA Community School: Creating the Conditions for Thriving,” a documentary project created by photographer Isadora Kosofsky/CatchLight for the Stuart Foundation. The project highlights three high school students that Kosofsky followed last spring as they attended classes, hung out with friends, interacted with younger students, and participated in co-curricular activities. Developed through a partnership with CatchLight, a visual-first media organization that uses visual storytelling to inform, connect, and transform communities, the photo project provides a look at the impact that student-centered practices and structures has on the everyday lives of adolescents.
Sophie Fanelli, president of the Stuart Foundation, introduced the photo project and urged everyone to view it.
“At the Stuart Foundation, we are dedicated to transforming school systems so that … thriving is the norm, not the exception,” she said. “We know it’s a high bar, but it is a goal we recommit ourselves to, every day. We think that part of reaching that goal is to share examples … of what thriving schools look like; stories that inform and inspire, and stories that show us what is possible when a school is designed with the wellbeing of young people at the center. We hope that this essay will bring the school and the students to life. I know it inspires me, and I hope that it will inspire young people and adults throughout the state.”
The partner reception in the historic Cocoanut Grove auditorium featured a panel of UCLA Community School alumni, moderated by Assistant Principal Rebekah Kang. Sharing their perspectives were Alan Antonio (’18); Victoria Amador (’16); Rubi Gonzales (’24); Joselyne Franco (’16); Leslie Roman (’17); and Edwin Cruz (’23).
Principal Kim recalled the founding mission of the school, highlighting the achievements of its graduates.
“We envisioned a school where language, culture, and community would not only coexist but flourish, nurturing students from every background to become self-directed leaders and critical participants in society,” she said. “Today, that vision is dynamic and powerful. We have watched students grow through their entire kindergarten to 12th grade journey, and into adulthood. It is not only an honor and a privilege but also a profound responsibility to create a space where young people thrive and where educators continue to learn and improve.”
Antonio, who graduated from Santa Monica College and is now deputy of constituent services, Latino relations, and housing for the L.A. City Council District 10, said that his career was shaped significantly by UCLA Community School.
“I was very blessed to have the support of our wonderful teachers… and programs at UCLA Community School that helped me find my voice but also encouraged me to be an advocate of my community,” said Antonio. “It also encouraged me to practice my Spanish and develop it. For housing, it’s super important to know the language. When I help families that are going through eviction or facing injustice in the city, it feels really good to know that the work that I do right now is directly impacted by my time at UCLA Community School.”
Amador is a student affairs coordinator at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, and graduated from CSU Los Angeles. As a student at UCLA Community School, she assisted founding teacher and counselor Beth Trinchero in working with students to apply for college.
“One afternoon, I had some doubts and I shared with Dr. Trinchero that I wasn’t sure I was qualified for a scholarship, and she said what stuck with me to this day: ‘If you try, there’s a chance you’ll get it. If you don’t try, there’s a 100 percent chance you won’t,’” said Amador. “So, I applied. Thankfully, I got the scholarship. Given the experience of … learning to believe in yourself and support others is what really impacted me, beginning here at this school.”
Gonzales, who majors in economics and Spanish at Kalamazoo College in Michigan, said that the College and Career class, “… really helped me and my peers and supported us in applying to colleges and figuring out any opportunities like scholarship[s] and visiting the colleges as well.”
“Another thing that really helped me was the leadership portion of UCLA Community School,” said Gonzales. “I got to college through the Posse Foundation scholarship, which is a leadership-based merit scholarship. UCLA Community School helped promote my leadership skills which I think ultimately [led] to me getting the scholarship, as well as being able to thrive at Kalamazoo College.”
A triple Bruin, Franco earned her BA in Spanish language and literature with a minor in the history of science, technology, and medicine, as well as her MHA from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Now working as senior fund manager at Fielding, Franco said that having the support of Karen Hunter Quartz, director of the UCLA Center for Community Schools, for the past 13 years has provided her with, “my academic mentor and at this point, a friend.”
“During undergrad, I was the first one in my family to go to school,” said Franco. “Every month, she would check in on me, how my mental health was doing, if I knew what I had accomplished, if I had any issues. When I thought about grad school, she was the first one to review the program with me. She reviewed my application material and when I graduated and had issues with accepting that I had been the first one in my family to go to grad school, she was there.”
“We continue the monthly check-in,” said Franco. “Now that I deal with a lot of training and center grants, where I am financially responsible for the pipeline programs at the Fielding School of Public Health, I’ve been able to advance, with her advice. It’s been remarkable that now I get to help the next generation of public health scientists to just be wonderful at their work.”
Roman, who graduated from CSU Chico, is and interior architect and designer for a hospitality brand. She said that the warm support of the school’s community, including Agnes Cesare, college counselor, Grace Maddox, former art teacher, and Jason Torres-Rangel, former English teacher, propelled her to hone her talents and pursue her goals. A broadcasting studio internship and the Summer Arts Program at UCLA also encouraged her to aim higher.
“I remember looking at the campus and seeing all these people [who] looked so put together … they looked confident,” said Roman. “I knew I wanted that for myself too, and that’s when I realized that higher education wasn’t only a dream, it was something that I could actually pursue, and so I went for it.
“UCLA Community School wasn’t only a high school to me,” said Roman. “It was a community that helped me … it pushed me out of my comfort zone and gave me a lot more than I thought I could get for myself.”
Cruz is a second-year undergrad at UCLA, majoring in statistics and data science. He said that having been at UCLA Community School from kindergarten to 12th grade provided him with teachers who, “… were very helpful in terms of shaping who I was and who I am today.” He also values the experiences of learning how to teach a class and presenting student research at AERA in Philadelphia last year.
“The bilingual program we have at this school is really helpful,” said Cruz. “I think it really helped me develop my skills in English too, because I’m a native Spanish speaker.
“It was the community that really helped me out. I had the same friends I had since elementary school,” he said. “Like our motto says, ‘Where we grow together,’ we all grew together.”
UCLA Community School was honored with commendations and recognition from the Los Angeles City Council and Conrado Terrazas Cross, district representative from the Office of Senator Maria Elena Durazo; Crystal Meza from the Office of Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez; and UCLA Community School alumnus Alan Antonio, who also represented the Office of Councilmember Heather Hutt.
UCLA partners also offered their remarks, including Shanti Tharayil, senior staff attorney, Immigrant Family Legal Clinic; Jamie Garner, afterschool program director, Community Youth Programs; and Justyn Patterson, director, UCLA Early Academic Outreach Program.
LAUSD board member Karla Griego was a classroom teacher for 20 years and served as a community school coordinator in Echo Park. She commended UCLA Community School for its model of, “… the right way to do teaching [so] that it’s connected to humans, it’s connected to building relationships, so that children feel like they belong; so that every teacher knows every student; so that everybody has that hope of the possibility because they’ve received that at their school. I know that has happened here at UCLA Community School and especially when you honor all that students come with: their languages, their heritage, their stories.”
There are currently 70 community schools in LAUSD. Griego urged the audience to continue their support of this model so that the district’s goal of having 100 percent of its schools as community schools, could be reached.
“This is what all children deserve,” said Griego.
Chancellor Frenk noted that UCLA Community School fulfills the University’s three-fold mission of education, research, and service. UCLA faculty, staff and students have contributed more than 200,000 hours over the last 15 years, including contributions by 174 student teachers, 170 teaching artists, 131 law students, and 104 BruinCorps tutors.
“I have discovered something that is very important, and that is that UCLA is not just a university in Los Angeles; it’s a university of Los Angeles,” he said. “We work closely to support, to uplift our communities. This benefits not just our fellow Angelenos – it strengthens UCLA itself because it allows it to fulfill its function and its duty to society as a public institution of higher learning. The UCLA Community School, born of a partnership between our University and LAUSD, and the communities of Koreatown and Pico-Union, is truly a wonderful example.”