WATSONVILLE—Hundreds of students, staff and parents gathered at Ann Soldo Elementary School on Feb. 20 to celebrate the school’s 20th anniversary.
Principal Elaine Parker said the celebration came in the same year that the school’s namesake would have turned 100.
Ann Soldo taught fifth through eighth grades at Hall District School, Pajaro School, MacQuiddy School, H. A. Hyde School and Radcliff School. She was a school bus driver and an after-school sports teacher. She also was principal at Radcliff, Mintie White and MacQuiddy elementary schools, Linscott School and Aptos Junior High School. She retired from the Pajaro Valley Unified School District in 1978.
She was elected to the Watsonville City Council in 1979, and in 1983 became Watsonville’s first female Mayor.
Soldo was on campus helping out when students first set foot on campus on Jan. 3, 2000, Parker said.
Parker, who has been principal for five years, said that the 20th anniversary celebration was a way to highlight the school’s past and present, and to bring together the tight-knit community of families, students and staff.
“It was a walk down memory lane,” she said.
