The gift of science

NEWPORT BEACH — Eastbluff Elementary School officially opened its new state-of-the-art science classroom Wednesday, becoming the first site in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District to do so. At the same time, the district celebrated one of its largest gifts in recent years, as the Irvine Co. presented administrators with $2.5 million to hire science teachers over the next decade.

With the recently passed Measure F school bond allocating funds for science classrooms, Wednesday’s ceremony was a double celebration. In the coming years, Newport-Mesa’s elementary science programs, which have suffered from a lack of staff and funding, will have modern equipment and specially trained faculty.

“I am so proud to be superintendent of this amazing school district, and this is another reason why,” Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard told the crowd of more than 100 students, teachers, school board members and community leaders who gathered under a tent on the Eastbluff campus.

As Hubbard spoke, a red carpet extended up the ramp of the portable science classroom, with a blue ribbon tied to the rails in front. Three paper banners on the wall proclaimed “Our future scientists want to thank the Irvine Company.”

Over the next half-hour, City Councilwoman Leslie Daigle, Eastbluff Principal Charlene Metoyer and Irvine Co. Senior Vice President Dan Miller were among those taking turns at the microphone.

“We’re investing not just in the future of our children, but also in the future of the community,” said Miller, shortly before two Eastbluff girls carried a massive check onto the stage and presented it to Hubbard.

When the speeches were done, Metoyer cut the ribbon with a giant pair of scissors and the crowd ventured into the new science facility. The classroom featured laptop connections, microscopes, a projection screen and other equipment — and with television cameras hovering around and filming students at work, it looked even more crowded.

Newport-Mesa funded a new science classroom at Eastbluff last year to help boost the school’s enrollment, which had tapered off in recent years. With Measure F passed, Hubbard said the classroom would serve as a prototype for other schools. Under the bond measure, every elementary school in Newport-Mesa expects to install a science classroom.

The $2.5-million gift from the Irvine Co. will allow Newport-Mesa to retain four specialized science teachers to work with fourth- through sixth-graders around the district. Newport-Mesa plans to hire four additional science teachers with its own money.

On Wednesday, the newly appointed teachers — Mike Hurley, Brent Bordelon, Summer Keller and Trisha Jenssen — met with students in the science room after the ribbon-cutting and led them in experiments.

“I’m just really looking forward to learning about it,” said fifth-grader Lauren Hartog, 10, doing a project on the water cycle. “I love science.”

Her classmate, Blake Schneekluth, said the new classroom would make studying science much more efficient. Eastbluff had a science classroom last year but only limited equipment, which left students to do most of their work on paper.

“We would have to work on the book and wait for a month to do the hands-on stuff,” said Blake, 10.