Congressman Huffman congratulates local CA Gold Ribbon School

June 08, 2016

Congressman Jared Huffman is on the north coast and Monday morning he paid a special visit to a Eureka elementary.

Alice Birney students gathered in the school’s courtyard to greet Huffman, as he was there to congratulate them. The elementary was recently named a California Gold Ribbon School. To win the honor a school must display outstanding educational programs and practices. Huffman and the students discussed everything from the Golden State Warriors to why he became a congressman. Huffman also added to the moment of pride by presenting the school’s principal with a Certificate of Special Recognition from congress. 

“California has over 6,000 elementary schools. Only a few get this very prestigious award. Also, for what it represents, it's not just about student achievement although that's a big part of it, it's about the teachers, the staff, the school board, the governance, the community support, all of that has to be firing in all cylinders in order to get the gold ribbon,” said Huffman. “So when you see that kind of outstanding achievement, I like to recognize it and help be part of the good news.”

“I just loved the humanity that came to our door today. His genuine concern, the way he looked at children and the way they looked at him. The give and take was so natural and he talked about things that they care about. He talked about the environment, he talked about good schools, and he talked about how lucky they were to have such good teachers. He worked the crowd well and they were a great crowd. I was really proud of them and for the first time it really felt like we were a gold ribbon school,” said Alice Birney Principal, Georgeanne Fulstone-Pucillo.

Huffman also took a tour of Recology Humboldt. Plus, he went to Humboldt Bay to look at shoaling and the need for dredging.