Preuss School honored for top academics The Preuss School UCSD — a charter middle and high school on the campus of UC San Diego for motivated, low-income students whose parents have not graduated from college — has been named in two publications as one of the top-performing schools in San Diego. Newsweek magazine once again named Preuss as the top transformative school in the country. Preuss was also listed in the Washington Post’s list of America’s Most Challenging High Schools. Newsweek took the scores from its top 1,000 schools and factored in the percentage of students who qualified for free or reduced-price lunches — the most reliable measure of socio-economic status in American high schools, according to the publication. Eight other area high schools made the Washington Post’s list, with Preuss joining two San Diego High schools (International Studies, and Science and Technology), Point Loma, Scripps Ranch, University City, Mira Mesa, Serra, Crawford CHAMPS and Clairemont high schools. The newspaper ranks schools based on the number of advanced placement, International Baccalaureate and dvanced International Certificate of Education tests taken by its students, compared to the number of students at the school. School staff must also complete a survey with the information to be included on the list. Scripps Prebys Institute nears completion Construction on the new Scripps Prebys Cardiovascular Institute got its finishing touches on May 30 with a celebratory placement of the final steel beam on the $456 million facility, located on the Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla campus. The 383,000-square-foot building will house 108 inpatient beds in private rooms, 60 intensive-care beds, six state-of-the-art operating rooms, and six cardiac catheterizations labs stocked with the most advanced medical technology available. “Scripps Cardiovascular Institute will be a catalyst for collaboration, drawing on the clinical expertise of some of the nation’s most brilliant physicians and scientists, the most advanced technology, and ground-breaking clinical research,” said Scripps President and CEO Chris Van Gorder. The center is slated to open for patient care in 2015. For more information, visit www.scripps.org. Student organizes AIDS?awareness fundraiser UCSD undergraduate Micaela Pierce is heading up a charity benefit on June 3 to raise awareness about the global spread of HIV/AIDS, mobilize the UCSD and San Diego community to help fight the stigma surrounding the disease, and raise funds for children in India who are affected by HIV/AIDS. Pierce, working in collaboration with student-run organizations UCSD Health Corp and Face AIDS, will put on a formal “red tie, red dress” event from 6 to 9 p.m. at UCSD’s Price Center with a variety of lectures, live performances, raffle prizes, refreshments and light hors d’oeuvres. All donations from the event will go to DESIRE Society, an orphanage in Hyderbad, India where Pierce worked for six months while studying abroad. Tickets are free for UCSD students with a suggested $6 donation and $11 for general admission. For tickets or more information email [email protected]. Tickets may also be purchased at the door at Price Center’s Ballroom East, located at 9500 Gilman Drive.