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Pathways, Cornell notes, CSUs, senior projects, La Luz

Education Roundup

There is an important meeting for all parents of freshman at Sonoma Valley High School at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 29, in the pavilion.  Principal Dino Battaglini will discuss the selected pathway theme, centered around engineering, that will be launched at Sonoma High next year. All interested parents are welcome. I’ll be writing more about this new high school program in the coming weeks.

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Altimira Middle School will be offering Spanish as an elective next year. It will be a two-year course, Spanish 1A in seventh grade and Spanish 1B in eighth grade, allowing a student to enter the high school in Spanish 2. It will be offered next year to the school’s seventh graders.

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Altimira students will use the Cornell note-taking system in all classes next year. Altimira staff is working with the county on school-wide implementation and will provide the training to the students. Most Sonoma Valley High School students are also now also using Cornell Notes and most teachers have received training. This method provides a systematic format for condensing and organizing notes that is gaining popularity and acclaim in school districts nationwide.

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California State Universities (CSU) will not be accepting any students for the spring semester as part of a fast, cost-cutting strategy to reduce enrollment by 16,000 students. It is estimated that another 20,000-plus qualified students will be barred from attending CSU in 2013 if voters reject a proposed tax measure. If the measure fails, CSU funding will be cut by $200 million, on top of the $750 million budget hit that CSU already took this year.

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Sonoma Valley High School senior (and basketball star) Gene Truong won Sonoma’s Youth of the Year competition at our Boys & Girls Club earlier this year.  He was then chosen as one of only 12 students (from 45 BGC organizations) to advance to the next round.  At that event, in the Apple headquarters last week, he was further honored to be selected as the alternate to represent Northern California at the state level. The Youth of the Year initiative is designed to promote and recognize teens who have developed sound character, leadership abilities and the willingness to give back to their community. Congrats to Truong and the entire BGC staff.

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Claron Werner, Intel Computer Clubhouse director at the Boys & Girls Clubs, recently returned from training at the Museum of Science in Boston where he met with Intel Computer Clubhouse directors from around the globe. He toured the Learning Lab at MIT and also toured Harvard. He learned about innovative projects and new technologies and said he is excited to bring the creative ideas back to Sonoma.

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El Verano School’s eighth annual Face of Change Golf Tournament at the Sonoma Golf Club is Monday, April 2.  Contact Principal Maite Iturri at miturri@sonomavly.k12.ca.us to participate in this fundraiser to benefit the school.

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To celebrate “March into Literacy Month,” the Flowery School library held a Titlewish fundraiser to raise $2,000 for new English and Spanish books for the school library. Valley of the Moon Rotary made the first contribution, of $1,000. Donations are welcomed at floweryschool.org.

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Have you seen our new and improved public library? Stop by and take a look; it reopened on West Napa Street on March 20.

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A big congrats to Delaney Gold-Diamond, the first-ever sophomore captain of the Sonoma Valley High School forensics team, on her advancement to the next level of the Lion’s Club speech competition. This year’s topic is, “What the America of the future can learn from the America of the past.” Delaney won the local club level with her speech focusing on revitalizing America’s infrastructure. A strong second-place contender was Buster LaHaye, who spoke about the importance of the space program. Since January, Delaney has won a zone competition in American Canyon and the region contest in Santa Rosa. She earned cash prizes at each level, which will help pay for her Napa Junior Symphony concert tour this summer. At the district level event in April, Delaney will compete for a $4,500 scholarship and the chance to proceed to state and national competitions.

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This year, all Sonoma Valley High School senior project board presentations will take place on one night: Tuesday, May 15, from 4 to 7 p.m., and will include an open house-type evening for the community. Senior culinary students will prepare food for all, starting at 3:30 p.m. Holly Kyle, the TSN volunteer who coordinates the judging, seeks additional volunteers.  Please email her at holly@sckyle.com.

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El Verano is hosting a garage sale on Saturday and Sunday, April 14 and 15. They need donations and help working the event. If you are interested in donating items, bring them to school the week of April 9. In other garage sale news, The Kenwood School is hosting its own garage sale on Saturday, April 21.

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La Luz Soup Kitchen seeks teen volunteers on the following Fridays:  March 30, April 6, April 13 and April 20, from 3:30 to 7 p.m. Please see the College & Career Center for details. 

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The Sonoma Valley High School music department’s third annual pasta dinner fundraiser, “A Penne for a Song,” is Saturday, April 14, at the Moose Lodge. They are asking for donations from restaurants, hotel stays and trips for silent auction baskets. To donate, contact Diane Crawford at eyedobooks@comcast.net.

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Fifth grade students and parents are invited to attend the Adele Harrison open house on Wednesday, April 11 at 6 p.m. and the Altimira open house on Thursday, April 12 at 7 p.m.

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Circle of 6, winner of the White House “Apps Against Abuse” technology challenge, is a mobile phone application designed to prevent sexual assault and dating violence among young adults. With only two taps, Circle of 6 connects users threatened with possible sexual assault and abuse to a network of friends who have offered to help, using GPS technology. Go to circleof6app.com.

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More than 60 percent of new jobs in the last year have gone to college grads, even though they make up only about one third of the workforce.

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I was interested to read that a new study found that children 6 and under learn about prejudice by direct instruction while by age 10, children begin to rely on their own experiences rather than what people tell them (sciencedaily.com).

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Thanks to a grant from Plein Air, Creekside High School recently held a logo design contest. Sarah Alsip, an 11th-grade student who has since transferred out of Creekside and is working for Pets Lifeline, won the contest. With the help of Sonoma Valley High School senior Evan Felt, the logo has been painted on the side of the school. For the first time, Creekside now has logo T-shirts and sweatshirts.

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Two great book recommendations for teens who loved “The Hunger Games.”  “Ashfall” by Mike Mullins and “The House of Tomorrow” by Peter Bognanni.

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I really enjoy watching the Scripps National Spelling Bee on TV every May. This year the youngest competitor ever, a 6-year-old girl, has qualified to compete.

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Human geography, Chinese and environmental science are the three fastest growing Advanced Placement (AP) classes among high schoolers in America.  None of these are yet offered in Sonoma, but perhaps they will be in the future.

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Congratulations to the cast and crew of “Bye Bye Birdie” at the Presentation School.  It was a lively and impressive staging of the show.

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I am working on a story about local summer day camps. Email ourschools@sonomanews.com if you run a camp and your summer line-up is available.