EDUCATION Roadtrippers get their motor running, head...

EDUCATION

Roadtrippers get their motor running, head out on the highway

Three local men and nine students took off in nine RVs this week

on the third installment of the PBS series “Roadtrip Nation.”

Newport Beach resident Brian McAllister and Laguna Beach natives

Nathan Gebhard and Mike Marriner made their original cross-country

odyssey three years ago, interviewing people including the chairman

of Starbucks, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and

“Manny the Lobsterman” of Maine about their careers and life paths.

Students from three colleges are taking part in the latest trip and

have their interviews lined up for each stop.

* Newport-Mesa Unified School District officials this week

reviewed recommendations for their next five-year strategic plan.

Goals for the plan remain largely the same as the first one

drafted in 1999 -- arts education, technology and educational access

for every child. The school board will likely vote on the plan in

October after more review and community input.

* Students will need higher GPAs to get into University of

California schools in 2006 if regents accept a plan to tighten

academic standards for high school seniors hoping to attend the

system’s campuses.

The Academic Senate of the University of California this week

voted unanimously to recommend increasing eligibility requirements

for entering freshmen starting in 2005, including raising the minimum

GPA from a 2.8 to 3.1. That comes after a report earlier this year

that found the number of UC-eligible students is exceeding

recommended levels by nearly 2%.

-- Marisa O’Neil