From the futuristic architecture to the colorful classrooms decorated with student projects written in both Spanish and English, it is clear that the UCLA Community School is not an average L.A. public school. Read more...

Photo: Principal Georgia Ann Lazo sits in her office at the UCLA Community School, a new public elementary school in Koreatown on the site of the old Ambassador Hotel. The school uses a dual-language approach to education.

Looking down from the hilltop of her family's San Diego home, Monica Hernandez can see the sweep of the Tijuana skyline. Read more...

Photo: Second-year political science and Chicana and Chicano studies student Soraya Ramos (left) and third-year history and Chicana and Chicano studies student Monica Hernandez both have connections to the Mexican regions known for drug-related violence and view the area differently than is portrayed by the mainstream media.