I’m not sure if I’ve been in Gardena before. It’s a small city off of the 110 south of Los Angeles. It’s bordered by Hawthorne, Compton and Harbor City. Although the streets that run east to west (Manhattan Beach Boulevard and Redondo Beach Boulevard) suggest that it’s near the beach. It’s not.

I’m in Gardena for most of this week as part of a “visiting committee” that is reviewing Junipero Serra High School. Serra is a Catholic high school that is part of the diocese of Los Angeles education department. The school has transitioned from an all boys school to a coed school with a mostly minority and low-income student population of 600 kids. The school shrank to about half of its current size a few years back, but, a dedicated faculty and administration partnered with parents to bring it back. And the results are impressive. Last year 100% of Serra graduates were admitted to college, and the majority were admitted to four-year colleges and universities.

A couple of cultural notes: This hotel we’re put up in is along a strip of Gardena that is “Fusion” Asian. What I mean is that there are a lot of signs designating Korean businesses and restaurants. And there are a number of Chinese restaurants. The hotel is Japanese. The staff speaks Japanese and there are Japanese businessmen around the entrance smoking. I was given an option of having either an American or Japanese breakfast tomorrow morning. (I will have the Japanese breakfast.)