Will Rogers Elementary is a SmART and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) focus school located…More on 14th St., a block and a half north of Ocean Park Blvd.</p> <p>The school's motto is "we never met a kid we didn't like." Half the student body at Will Rogers Elementary is Latino.</p> <p>Its "pathway schools" are John Adams Middle School and Santa Monica High School. Two of the last three Santa Monica High School Valedictorians are alumni of Will Rogers.</p> <p>All classrooms at Will Rogers are equipped with Macintosh computers; its fourth-grade classrooms use SMARTBoards. The school library has more than 12,000 volumes.</p> <p>School programs include Gardening Angels (plant-science curriculum); Gifted and Talented Education (GATE); the Instrumental and Vocal Music Program (in which all fourth- and fifth-grade students participate); Reading Counts (a computer-based reading-incentive program); Students and Teachers at Rogers in Nurturing Groups for Success (STRINGS); and Vocal Music.</p> <p>Will Rogers' after-school programs include After Class Enrichment (classes include art, cooking, computer science, dance, drama, magic, music and Spanish); Child Care, Recreation, Enrichment, Sports Together (CREST); Cub Scouts; Girl Scouts; Playground Access (offered by CREST); Summer Adventure; the Summer Enrichment Program; and Summer Reading.</p> <p>The school also has artists, poets and scientists in residence; an Astronomy Night; excursions to Mission San Juan Capistrano (fourth grade), the Malibu Mountains (fifth grade) and a local planetarium; a Read-a-Thon; a Science Expo; STEM Career Day; and a STEM Trip. </p> <p>In its 2009 City Talent Search, Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth placed Will Rogers on its list of Top 10 schools in California. </p>