SVUSD honors student athletes, Congressional Award recipient and four distinguished elementary schools

The Saddleback Valley Unified School District dedicated the opening portion of its May 1 meeting to honoring student achievement. Administrators and coaches introduced and celebrated CIF Southern Section academic team awards for varsity teams across the district’s comprehensive high schools; the district reported an overall qualifying athletic-program GPA of about 3.47.

James Newton and site administrators from El Toro, Laguna Hills, Mission Viejo and Trabuco Hills highlighted team winners including boys tennis (El Toro) and girls golf, and introduced individual scholar-athlete honorees such as Jack McKelvey (El Toro, highest male athletic GPA at his site), Cameron Bradshaw (El Toro, highest athletic GPA and Princeton-bound), and Maddie Lascano (Laguna Hills, highest female athletic GPA at her site, Stanford-bound).

The board also recognized Charu (Charo/Charu) Tripathi from El Toro High School on earning the Congressional Award Gold Medal, noting she completed the program’s four criteria including more than 400 hours of volunteer public service, personal development, physical fitness and a five-day expedition. Superintendent and site principals congratulated Charu and other individual honorees.

District leaders announced that four SVUSD elementary schools — De Portola, Robinson, Rancho Canada and Santiago STEAM Magnet — were named 2025 California Distinguished Schools. Principals from those campuses presented highlights about academic gains, PBIS and inclusion efforts; principals cited improvements on the California dashboard and subgroup gains for English learners and students with disabilities.

The recognitions concluded before the public comment period. No board action was required for these presentations.