Southdown’s Glittering Stars of the Month

Who doesn’t like a pat of the back for a job well done? It certainly isn’t Southdown Primary School students. Just like everyone else, these youngsters enjoy being recognized for their achievements. The Stars of the Month for November have earned their moment in the spotlight.

Southdown’s first students flooded into the building in September 1954. Since then a conservative estimate is that more than 32,000 boys and girls have graced its classrooms. The property was carved out of what were once the spacious grounds the huge estate belonging George McKesson Brown.

The district paid $38,000 for the land, which once formed a large tract surrounding Mr. Brown’s 40-room mansion at Coindre Hall. Mr. Brown made his millions in the pharmaceutical industry. He lost much of it when the stock market crashed in 1929.

Southdown honors its Stars of the Month with Splash Awards, which is entirely fitting and proper since the school’s mascot is a dolphin. Students are recognized for their overall effort and performance in classrooms and all around the building and grounds

November’s Splash Award recipients include:

Universal Pre-Kindergarten: Darwin Cabrera Zavala, Ariella Alvarado

Kindergarten: Jacob Calix Galeano, Vanessa Flores Alfaro, Henry Hughes

First Grade: Christian Carollo, Alondra Velasquez Vasquez, Valerie Flores Alfaro, Edvin Contreras de Leon

Second Grade: Cayla Serrano, Adrian Jimenez, David Aparicio Saravia, Matthew Sabino

Third Grade: Kylie Araujo Hernandez, Nathaniel Weston, Vivian Golden, Bridgette Rosales Lopez

As Southdown students enter the home stretch before the holidays and turning the page to 2025, the youngsters are working harder than ever. They are all striving to be recognized in the next round of Stars of the Month honorees.