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Childhood friends, youth in law enforcement, school web sites, college workshops

Education Roundup

The Sonoma Police Department offers an Explorer program for young men and women ages 14 to 21 interested in exploring a career in law enforcement. Explorers get a combination of classroom training and hands-on experience that teaches them about the rigorous and challenging field of law enforcement. The program is co-sponsored by the sheriff’s office and the Boy Scouts. Students learn about laws of arrest, arrest techniques, defensive tactics, firearms, crime scene management, fingerprinting, traffic control, using two-way radios and report writing. Applicants must pass a mandatory background investigation, maintain a C average or better and have a history of good conduct in school. Stop by the police department for a flyer or contact officers Howard or Regan at 996-3602.

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Congratulations to Jennifer Maldonado of Altimira Middle School who was chosen as Support Services and Security 2012 Employee of the Year for all of Sonoma County (classified school employee). Maldonado’s name will now be submitted to the state Department of Education to be considered for the statewide 2012 CSEY award.

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This week, my college planning workshops begin for high school juniors, including “Preparing for SAT and ACT” on March 6; “Exploring Your College Options: Building a List and Researching Four-Year Colleges” on March 8; and “What to do Today To Improve Your Chances of Getting into the Your Top-Choice Colleges” on March 13, all at 11:40 a.m. As a Teachers Support Network volunteer, I have conducted (free) workshops like these for the past four years at the high school.

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Almost 200 people came out to hear Dr. Michael Thompson speak at Presentation School on the socialization of children. His main points that resonated with me:

1. Let small children choose their own friends; every other aspect of their life is controlled by you.

2. Don’t get emotionally invested in the idea of “best” friends. Only about a quarter of children have one.

3. Recognize that the school day for students is long, boring and exhausting. Allow them free play after school. Thompson made a lot of other great points that are in his books, but those are the ones I took away.

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So happy to hear that the Sonoma Education Foundation’s road race fundraiser, Hit the Road Jack, is returning. Save the date of June 3. I gather that Michael Sebastiani and Paul Giusto, from Highway 12 Winery, helped make it happen.

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Adele Harrison and Altimira have both completely revamped their websites and both sites are great sources for current information on the schools. Parents Megan Kaplan, Britta Johnson, Megan Segre, Heidi Stovall, Allison O’Donnell, Joanna Greenslade and Alison Pimentel were instrumental in the process, as were many staff members who supported them with information and/or photos. “Leading the Pack” is the theme of Altimira’s site (visit altimiramiddleschool.org) and “Building Our Future Together” is the theme of the Adele site (adeleharrison.org).

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Teens interested in law enforcement, fire technology, emergency medical care, park ranger and corrections, should try to attend the “Public Safety Career Day” at Santa Rosa Junior College Public Safety Training Center in Windsor, on Saturday, March 10, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The day is free but participants must pre-register by contacting Cheryl Cole at 836-2908 or ccole@santarosa.edu.

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SVHS Booster Bash change. The SVHS Booster Bash scheduled for early March has had a snag in the plans. The new date for the event is Saturday,
May 5.

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Books, books, books … Prestwood is hosting a Scholastic Book Fair, open to the community, today through Thursday, March 8 (8 a.m. to 3 p.m.)
 and Friday, March 9 (8 a.m. to 2 p.m.).
 The profits will be used to purchase books for students, families and teachers.

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I subscribe to the Sonoma County Library’s Teen Space blog where area teens review new books. If you have trouble finding book ideas for your teen, visit sonomalibrary.org/blogs/ya/ to subscribe, and your teen can also volunteer to review new books.

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Textbook publishers plan to go entirely digital by 2020. Right now, publishers make most of their money during the first year a new textbook is on the market. They release new editions every two to three years because used books make money for bookstores, not publishers. As a result, publishers are eager to eliminate the used textbook market.

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Presentation School announced last week that the current director, Nancy Waarich-Fischman, is retiring at the end of the next school year and a nationwide search will soon be under way for a new one. The school also reorganized its governance and August Sebastiani took over as the new chair of the board of trustees.

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The Steve Silver Foundation and Beach Blanket Babylon’s “Scholarship for the Arts” is open to Bay Area high school seniors. Students submit a short singing, dancing or acting performance online.  Nine finalists perform at Club Fugazi in June in front of celebrity judges. Each category winner gets a $10,000 scholarship. The competition is based entirely on talent; grades and financial needs are not factors. Entries are due Friday, April 27. (beachblanketbabylon.com/scholarship).

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Speaking of college planning, check out Mytonomy’s library of student created videos on college applications, college essays, and college reviews. These videos are also in Spanish (mytonomy.com).

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What is the second language that every child needs to learn? Many experts say JavaScript. Computer programming isn’t a core subject in American schools, but perhaps it should be. Java is the main language in developing web pages and mobile apps. The United States is now way behind other countries when it comes to training computer scientists. Most spots at U.S. universities with top science and engineering programs are filled by foreign students. Doug Rushkoff, author of “Program or Be Programmed,” argues that our schools should incorporate computer programming into the core curriculum.

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Do you know of a teen who would like to be a volunteer Challenge Sonoma Ropes Course Leader? Their training will take place on Saturday, March 10, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Thursday, March 15, from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.; and Friday and Saturday, March 16 and 18, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information and an application, visit challengesonoma.com or contact Diana Rhoten at 484-7759 or diana@rhotenproductions.com.

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Santa Rosa Junior College’s College for Kids program has been cancelled for summer 2012 due to budget cuts. For many years, SRJC has offered a full slate of courses for children in grades 3 to 10 every June. They are hoping to reinstate it in 2013.

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Correction: At the “Sip & Support Sassarini” event with the Valley Wine Shack on Thursday, March 8, 15 percent of sales from the day will be donated, no flyer necessary. Sonoma Market is donating snacks to be enjoyed while shopping.

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