LION DANCERS at GGUSD board meeting (OC Tribune photo).

By Jim Tortolano/Garden Grove Journal

First came the lions, then the laurels.

Tuesday’s meeting of the Garden Grove Unified School District Board of Education started with a visit from two “lion dancers” performing rousing routines heralding the arrival of the Tet lunar new year.

After the applause concluded and the “lions” – students from the Vietnamese Students Association at Bolsa Grande High School departed, the honoring of district employees of the month for January was conducted.

Feted with a laudatory video and a certificate were Jason Parra, plant supervisor at La Quinta High School and Ann Wood, teacher at Garden Park Elementary School.

Also honored were the “Athletes of Character,” who are students who excel in academics, leadership and as role models. They are: Zusana Jardon Figueroa, water polo (Bolsa Grande); Drue Anzai, basketball (Garden Grove); Brayden Allen, basketball, flag football (Hare); Lesly Perez, soccer, track and volleyball (La Quinta); Alexander Pineda Gonzalez, cross country (Los Amigos); Tyler Lewis, football and track (Pacifica); Christina Trinh, volleyball (Rancho Alamitos) and America Hernandez, flag football, softball, soccer and volleyball (Santiago).

The GGUSD serves most of Garden Grove and parts of Anaheim, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Santa Ana, Stanton and Westminster.