Home Care In Woodbridge, CA

Woodbridge High School earned a top-10 finish in this weekend’s California Academic Decathlon, placing eighth overall.

The team from the Irvine Unified School District improved its ranking from last year when it finished 13th. This year’s competition featured 68 teams from across the state, including a total of five from Orange County.

Granada Hills Charter School from Los Angeles took first place and will represent California in the national competition next month.

Woodbridge had won the 2019 Orange County Academic Decathlon earlier this year. University High, also from Irvine Unified, finished in 17th place overall. The other local teams that competed came from Westminster High, Valencia High and Trabuco Hills High.

“Our Orange County decathletes had a fantastic time and represented our county well,” said OCDE Coordinator Kristin Rigby.

“I am incredibly proud of all five of our teams, and I’m extra impressed when we have a team in the top 10 since California has an exceptionally competitive Academic Decathlon program, with the national champion coming from California for the past 16 years,” she said.

Most of the teams have been studying since last May or June, so they have worked really hard on some very challenging material for a long time.

“In addition the development of critical thinking, communication and collaboration skills, I also love seeing the social emotional impact of the academic decathlon experience on our student participants,” Rigby said. “And at the state competition, it is inspiring to see all five of our teams bond as if they are one big Orange County team..

This marks the 51st year of the Academic Decathlon, created by former Orange County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Peterson.

Student teams compete for the highest scores on multiple-choice exams, speeches, interviews, essay assignments and the Super Quiz Relay, a gameshow-style event that takes place in front of a live audience.

Academic Decathlons are staged at the local, county, state and national levels with nine-member student teams. Each squad is to include three “Honor” students (those with GPAs of 3.75 or above), three “Scholastic” students (GPAs of 3.00 to 3.74) and three “Varsity” students (GPAs of 2.99 or below).

This year’s theme was “The 1960s: A Transformational Decade.”

After three years of planning, work has finally begun to restore the historic Woodbridge Grange Hall on Lower Sacramento Road.

Once work is completed, by the end of the year or sooner, the Woodbridge community will have a new place to conduct meetings, dances, dinners, weddings and other events.

Mid-Cal Constructors, which recently completed the renovation of a 19th-century schoolhouse in Lockeford, is now tearing out the interior of the Woodbridge Grange Hall and bringing the building into compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act. The floor will be replaced, and the restrooms are being remodeled. Other improvements include new windows and electrical system.

The cost is an estimated $165,000, but the Grange received a $2,000 grant from San Joaquin County and $25,000 in federal money for ADA improvements.

The interior contains an old piano, donated by Addie Benedict according to a 1939 newspaper clipping.

The Woodbridge Municipal Advisory Council has discussed the possibility of moving its meetings to the Grange building from the Lodi Elks Lodge once the Grange Hall is repaired. The building will seat 75.

The Woodbridge Grange was formed in 1932. Its treasurer, Sharon Stokes of Thornton, comes from a long tradition of Grange members. Stokes' grandparents were members and may have been charter members.

The historic Woodbridge Grange Hall on Lower Sacramento Road is being completely remodeled so that it can be used by the Grange and community events. The restoration is due to be completed by December. (Courtesy photo)

"The goal was to save the building, and we did," said Grange treasurer Sharon Stokes. "It is an important part of Woodbridge's history as well as Galt's history"

Stokes' grandparents, Bill and Ramona Stokes, were active in the

Woodbridge Grange, having joined the organization in the mid-1930s.

An organization for 133 years in California and 138 years nationwide, the Grange today has about 12,000 members in 200 community Granges throughout the United States.

The Woodbridge chapter disbanded in 2004, but the club has since been resurrected with help from the Elk Grove and California Granges.

The building on Lower Sacramento Road was originally a one-room schoolhouse near Borden and Clay Station roads in Herald when it was built in about 1918.

In 1932, the school was closed down due to lack of attendance, sold to the Woodbridge Women's Club and moved to Academy Street and Lower Sacramento Road, across from the Woodbridge Masonic Cemetery.

Source: Galt Area Historical Society

The dog has quickly become a vital part of the Irvine assisted living facility, attending staff meetings and checking in on residents.

Patch Staff

|Updated Fri, Jun 3, 2022 at 5:26 pm PT

IRVINE, CA — During his daily rounds at Woodbridge Terrace, Francisco makes sure to take his time visiting residents at the assisted living facility — always stopping by to say "hi" and going in for the occasional pat on the head.

The 8-year-old 10-pound Maltipoo has been in the Irvine community only for eight months but has quickly become an indispensable part of life for residents and staff members.

Jaye Silva, the human resources director at Woodbridge Terrace and Francisco's owner, said she brings the dog with her every day to work, and he even attends the occasional staff meeting.

Francisco used to be owned by a woman living at an independent living facility Silva worked at in La Mirada. The woman suffered from medical issues, and they became so severe over time that she could no longer look after the dog.

Care for Francisco eventually fell to Silva, and they've been inseparable ever since. Silva said the dog is always by her side, like a "little shadow," following her wherever she goes.

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Once at Woodbridge Terrace, Francisco became a hit with people at the facility, brightening the day of anyone he encounters, Silva said.

"Residents fell in love with him," Silva said. "He’ll go to residents to say 'hi,' sniff them and let them pet him."

Francisco is so popular among the residents and co-workers that Silva said she gets "daily, hourly" visits to her office from people who want to see him.

Woodbridge Terrace even adopted Francisco as its mascot, featuring the dog in its monthly newsletters.

The dog became such a big part of the community that, during Silva's recent two-week vacation, residents and employees bemoaned how "it wasn't the same without him," she said.

Silva said it made her realize how important it was to have pets in an environment like Woodbridge Terrace.

"They really realized what a vital role he has in our community — I love that," she said.

News-Sentinel Staff Writer

WOODBRIDGE — A popular pizzeria will be reopening its doors this winter, but with a new look, new menu and new name.

Noah Almager said when he purchased the Woodbridge Pizzeria, located at 18879 N. Lower Sacramento Road, the intent was to simply renovate the decades-old building and bring in new furniture.

But once crews started peeling the walls back, it soon became clear a simple remodel was not going to be enough.

“There was just dry rot everywhere,” he said. “The materials that existed in the old building... there was no way we could just go back into (the building), and then we figured we would have had to continually remodel things.”

As a result, the portion of the pizzeria that served as a lobby, bar and restaurant was torn down Wednesday.

It was the first step in the demolition and remodel process, Almager said.

Once the new building is complete, Almager said it will look a lot like the former structure. The room’s layout will be identical to the old one, he said, but the ceilings will be higher, and the furniture will be new.

The building’s roof will be extended to provide covered patio dining on both Augusta Street and Lower Sacramento Road, as well, something the former pizzeria did not have.

“We’ll have heaters, fans and lighting so you’ll get the full experience of outdoor, or open air seating,” Almager said. “It will kind of have the open feeling concept that West Oak Nosh or Oxford Kitchen have Downtown.”

Almager is hoping to open doors by the end of December or early January, and with a new name: Pi Bar.

The restaurant will still focus on pizza, he said, but the old menu will be replaced with new recipes, and new additions such as wings, fries and other snacks.

The bar will serve a variety of beer and wine, as well as offer up a selection of cocktails not seen in Lodi or Woodbridge, before, Almager said.

There are also plans to offer a brunch menu in the future, but Almager said he wanted to see how well Pi Bar did before adding that amenity to the kitchen.

Noah and his wife own Dry Creek Liquors, next door to the pizzeria on Augusta Street.

He said they wanted to revamp the menu to offer a ‘casual dining’ experience for families, as well as a place people could stop in at lunch or after work.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun once it’s done,” he said. “We also want to focus on keeping the cost of things down. We know times are tough, and we want to make this a spot where you can bring the family or go on a date, not once a month, but once a week or more.”

With months of academic decathlon preparation in the books, Orange County students reached new heights, placing among the top scorers at the 44th annual California Academic Decathlon on March 25.

After winning its sixth Orange County Academic Decathlon championship in seven years, Irvine’s Woodbridge High School clinched yet another third-place title at the state contest, where students showcased their knowledge in subjects like science, art, economics and mathematics. Also earning distinction were teams from Valencia, University, Kennedy and Westminster high schools, as well as Fairmont Preparatory Academy.

This year’s event — themed “The American Revolution and the New Nation” — invited student teams from 59 high school campuses to compete for the best scores in each division and a spot in the national competition. Throughout the 10-event decathlon, students participated individually and with their teammates by completing multiple-choice exams, essays, speeches and interviews.

The nine-student team from Woodbridge took third place in Division 1 with a total of 46,378.4 points, topping its first-place score at the county decathlon in February. Placentia’s Valencia High finished in 11th place in the same division, with University High in Irvine just two spots behind in 13th.

In Division 2, students from Kennedy High in La Palma racked up 44,225.8 points, which placed them first in their division and fifth overall. In fact, their score was more than 10,000 points higher than their total from the county decathlon. Fairmont Preparatory Academy in Anaheim and Westminster High also distinguished themselves as the top two teams in Division 3. A complete list of the decathlon’s winners can be found on the California Academic Decathlon website.

“It was very exciting to see so many of our Orange County students up on the big screens at the state awards ceremony and to see our schools win an impressive total of 84 individual medals and six team award trophies,” said Orange County Department of Education Coordinator Kristin Rigby. “This is one of the most successful competitions our county has ever had.”

Woodbridge’s academic decathlon coach Mike Nakaue said his students were “ecstatic and overjoyed” to be recognized with third place in both overall team scores and the high-energy Super Quiz event.

“The mantras ‘Keep improving’ and ‘Never enough’ kept them driving on to the end,” Nakaue said.

El Camino Real Charter High School in Los Angeles, which finished in second place last year, won the 2023 competition with 52,384.7 points, while last year’s champion, Granada Hills Charter High School, scored just 363 fewer points to place second. As the state champion, El Camino Real will travel to Texas in April to complete in the U.S. Academic Decathlon Nationals.

Hosted in Santa Clara, this year’s event returned to an in-person format that was both fast-paced and high-stakes.

“Like a March Madness basketball game, you see the ups and downs of emotion in students with the in-person academic competition,” Nakaue said. “The journey for this team has come to an end but the work ethic and self-discipline they developed I am certain will carry over into other aspects of their lives.”

The Academic Decathlon was founded and created by former Orange County Superintendent Dr. Robert Peterson in 1968, who envisioned a “decathlon of studies” as a prisoner during World War II. Ever since, high school teams made up of nine students have competed at the county, state and national levels in scholastic competitions based on an annual theme.

Each team must be made up of three “Honor” students (those with GPAs of 3.80 and above), along with three “Scholastic” students (GPAs of 3.20 to 3.79) and three “Varsity” students (GPAs of 3.199 and below).