Arcadia Unified’s First Avenue Middle School Celebrates its 110th Anniversary

First Avenue Middle School is celebrating 110 years. – Courtesy photo

Arcadia Unified School District’s First Avenue Middle School, which originated as the City of Arcadia’s first school, will celebrate its 110th Anniversary this Saturday, Dec.9.

Partnering with Downtown Arcadia’s annual Holiday Market, First Avenue will celebrate its 110 years by taking part in the day’s family-friendly fun. Spartan contributions to the day will include student-led tours of First Avenue, which school was recently ranked in the top 1percent of public middle schools in the Los Angeles area according to Niche’s 2018 Best Public Middle Schools lists. Tours will showcase the school’s historical highlights as well as unique class projects from many of First Avenue’s core classes and cross-curricular pairings, including a 1,000-piece Rubik’s Cube math mural project of the Spartan logo.

“We are very excited to partner with Downtown Arcadia and share with the Arcadia community all that First Avenue’s creative and innovative students and staff do to make concepts come to life in our classrooms,” shared First Avenue Principal Dr. Semeen Issa. “It’s humbling to be a part of First Avenue’s expansive history and to celebrate the school’s modest beginning from one classroom to today’s middle school program that offers our students over 30 electives to choose from that include Industrial Technology, Food Science, Art, Music, Broadcast Journalism, and many other courses that allow our students to discover what they are passionate about.”

The Spartan music and dance programs will also conduct special performances, including a show by the First Avenue Rock Band and Spartan student and staff dancers going “Footloose” to the musical stylings of the First Avenue Marching Band.

Here is a schedule of the 110th anniversary celebratory events set to take place at First Avenue:

– 1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.: First Avenue student-led tours

– 2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.: Spartan Marching Band and Color Guard performance to open the

ceremonies, speeches from community dignitaries, and “Footloose” performance

– 3:30 p.m. – 4 p.m.: First Avenue student-led tours

– 4 p.m.: Spartan Rock Band performance

– 5 p.m.: Downtown Arcadia Big Giveaway

The First Avenue street, between Diamond Street and Huntington, will be closed to vehicle traffic beginning Friday evening, Dec. 8, through the evening of Saturday, Dec. 9, with Downtown Arcadia’s Holiday Market running from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information about First Avenue Middle School, please visit fa.ausd.net, and for more information about Arcadia Unified School District, please visit www.ausd.net.

More from Arcadia Weekly