From Yorba Linda to the sea: A sailor’s path to a Navy warship
Ensign Christopher Li, a native of Yorba Linda, serves aboard the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Boxer, currently operating out of San Diego.
Li graduated from Yorba Linda High School in 2020. He joined the Navy one year ago. Today, he serves as the combat electronics division officer.
“I joined the Navy because I’m a first-generation American and the first to graduate from college, and I wanted to do something meaningful after I earned my degree,” Li said. “The founder of Cornell University, Ezra Cornell, gave the school an unofficial motto of ‘Do the greatest good,’ and I wanted to do what I could to give back to a country that gave my family and me so much.”
The Boxer plays a crucial role in projecting power and maintaining presence for naval forces. It serves as the cornerstone of amphibious operations, capable of carrying Marines, their equipment and aircraft to execute a wide range of missions, from humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to full-scale amphibious assaults.
It resembles a small aircraft carrier. Its crew is made up of approximately 1,200 officers and enlisted personnel and can accommodate up to 1,800 Marines.
“My proudest accomplishment in the Navy so far is commissioning as an officer,” Li said. “Serving in the Navy means to do the greatest good, and that is why I chose to be an officer where I have the positional authority to positively affect other people’s lives.”
– Submitted by Senior Chief Mass Communication Spec. John Osborne, Navy Office of Community Outreach
Students shine the spotlight on U.S. with success at Aramco STEM Racing World Finals
Team SW1FT – a self-taught, student-led team of three local high schoolers – represented the U.S. at the Aramco STEM Racing World Finals 2025 in Singapore. After four days of intense competition against 82 of the world’s best student teams, the group celebrated its success.
Team SW1FT, with students from Arnold O. Beckman High School in Irvine and La Cañada High School in La Cañada Flintridge, won the Sponsorship & Marketing Award supported by the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team and was nominated for the Enterprise Portfolio, Sustainability and Digital Media Awards.
In addition to the prestigious trophy – custom-made by the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team – the student team was given a behind-the-scenes MoneyGram Haas F1 Team garage tour during an exclusive STEM Racing pit lane walk.
Over four days, teams competed under the scrutiny of a 90-strong panel of expert judges from the worlds of STEM, motorsport, marketing, education and industry. Judging criteria spanned across engineering, design, project management, enterprise, teamwork, verbal presentations and racing performance.
Team SW1FT was the only team from the United States to advance into the Knockout Round among the top 32 teams in the world.
STEM Racing challenges student teams to design, engineer and race a 22 cm-long scale model Formula 1 car, powered by compressed air and manufactured from the official STEM Racing model block.
Beyond the racetrack, teams are assessed by expert judges on their performance in areas such as design, innovation, project management and enterprise, making it a true test of all-round STEM excellence.
The STEM Racing World Finals 2025 involved 672 competitors across 83 teams from 34 countries. More than 1.8 million students have participated since the start of the 2025 competition season.
– Submitted by Team SW1FT
Estancia High seniors help restore a Costa Mesa holiday treasure
On a far corner of the Estancia High School campus, a Christmas miracle took shape as seniors in the Building Industry Technology Academy put the finishing touches on redesigned pieces of a beloved Costa Mesa tradition.
Thanks to a partnership with the city, the students connected hands-on craftsmanship with civic pride by rebuilding cherished pieces of the Snoopy House holiday display.
Started as a labor of love by former Costa Mesa Mayor Willard Jordan and his family in 1966, the Snoopy House display moved from its original location on Santa Ana Avenue to the front lawn of Costa Mesa City Hall in 2011, when the city was entrusted with the handcrafted holiday-themed scenes and cutouts paying homage to Charles Schulz’s “Peanuts.”
Through the years, many pieces began to fade, crack or warp. The city needed help, and Estancia students were ready.
The collaboration grew from conversations between Newport-Mesa Unified School District and Costa Mesa city leaders about creating meaningful, real-world opportunities for students.
After a tour with city staff of the yard where the Snoopy House collection is stored, pieces of the display were identified for BITA students to rebuild ahead of this most recent holiday season: Snoopy’s doghouse, Santa’s sleigh, a three-tier stack of presents, a pair of Christmas stocking cutouts, a couple of Christmas tree cutouts and two skinny house facades.
EHS seniors were divided into teams to rebuild each of the selected Snoopy House items. Students analyzed the aging structures, studied how they were built and sketched redesigns.
“We wanted the stack of presents to look more Christmas-y,” said EHS student Rosselyn, who helped reimagine the towering trio of gifts. “The stack is the same size as the old one, but it has more details now. We made the bottom box taller and the top box shorter. We wanted to make it so kids could lean comfortably against them and parents could easily sit with their kids on the bottom box.”
The students were encouraged to add embellishments of their own. Soon, the list of projects grew, adding two more house facades, more trees and a cutout of Lucy selling hot cocoa that’s designed for kids to pose with.
The team that crafted the house facades also infused them with new charm. The flat-looking structures now feel more three-dimensional thanks to their redesign.
As the students finalized their projects, former EHS student and now Costa Mesa Mayor Pro Tem Manuel Chavez visited the site and reflected on what the seniors had achieved.
“It’s incredible what you’ve done,” he told them. “This project is adding to the joy of Costa Mesa children.”
– Submitted by Newport-Mesa Unified School District
The Bravo! section highlights achievements of our residents and groups. Send news of achievements for consideration to ocrbravo@gmail.com.