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Senior awards, male teachers, SVMA, summer programs

Education Roundup

The recent senior awards ceremony at Sonoma Valley High School was really inspiring. If you haven’t attended, you should try to come one year to get a sense of the tremendous support the community provides to our students. We’ll run a complete list of award recipients but I wanted to mention a few things I learned that morning. Did you know that the Boys & Girls Club, which just started their College Bound initiative two years ago, now has 85 students participating? I also didn’t know that the Mentoring Alliance has 500 students currently matched with a mentor and 150 more on a waiting list. More than 100 scholarships and awards were given out that morning, and it was announced that 23 students received substantial scholarships from their college of choice, ranging from $20,000 to $207,000 (over four years).

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Anna Stewart was named valedictorian and Corrine Labitke was named salutarian at Sonoma Valley High School. Congratulations to both and to all our graduates.

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The number of male teachers in America is down every year. Only 2.3 percent of pre-school and kindergarten teachers are male; in elementary and middle school classrooms it is 18.3 percent; and in high school classrooms it is 42 percent (according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2011). These numbers are down from 2007, a fact attributed to the poor economy and pressure to be the family breadwinner.

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A recent study about careers and employment reported on in the May 22 Wall Street Journal found that 37 percent of recent grads wished they had been more careful in selecting their major or had chosen a different major; 29 percent wish they had done more internships; 24 percent would have started looking for work much sooner while still in college; and 20 percent would have taken more classes to prepare for a career.  Food for thought!

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The Sonoma Valley Museum of Art is hosting a Young Writers & Artists Workshop Monday, June 25 to Friday, June 29 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for ages 10 to 15. This workshop will blend creative writing and visual arts, using a synergistic, cross-curricular approach under the direction of Kate Williams and Walt Williams. The cost is $345. Email mmaynard@svma.org for more information.

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The Sonoma Valley Education is raffling off a car – a new, bright red Fiat Pop, valued at $17,750. The winning ticket will be drawn at their Red and White Ball.  Tickets are $20. 

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All freshman at the high school were split into four teams this year. Congratulations to freshman Alejandra and Ryan Willbanks for being named Team Fuji Students of the Year.

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The Teacher’s Support Network, the offshoot of the Sonoma Education Foundation that places community members in specific classrooms at Sonoma Valley High, is having a cocktail party to thank its volunteers on Thursday, June 14 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. If you are interested in getting involved with TSN, please email Sallie Moore at shkmoore@gmail.com.

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The community center’s summer programs for kids start Monday, June 11. The first week is puppetry, the second week is cartooning, the third week is culinary adventures, the fourth week is clay, the fifth week is a teen performance class and the final program, Monday and Tuesday, July 30 and 31, is Camp Millionaire, a two-day financial literacy workshop for teens. www.sonomacommunitycenter.org.

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ArtEscape is offering a series of terrific “Children Exploring Art” classes for children and the next one is for ages 3 to 7 on Wednesday, June 13 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Kids will be sand casting plaster tiles. The cost is $10, space is limited. Email classes@artscape.com or call 938-5551 to register.

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Presentation School recently wrapped up its Scholastic Book Fair where almost $5,000 was raised. Also announced were the results of its reading contest in which students read 330 hours in primary grades (K through 2) and 54,100 pages in the intermediate and middle school grades. The grade level winners were: first, Gabriella Sebastiani; second, Heather Coneybeer; third, Natalie Sandoval; fourth, Justine Broadman; fifth, Tessa Freudenberger; sixth, Layla McDermott; seventh, Renee Serota; and eighth grade, Isabel Garon. Sandoval, the overall contest winner, received a new Kindle Fire.

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Don’t forget the next barn sale of household items, furniture, lamps and more on Saturday, June 2 at 9 a.m. at Field of Greens, 1777 W. Watmaugh. All proceeds benefit the Sonoma Education Foundation.

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I have heard of more and more schools ditching their electronic newsletters in favor of communicating via a school Facebook page. If you have ever been in charge of a school newsletter, you’ll understand the allure.  My guess is, give us five years and that will be the case here in Sonoma.

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US News & World Report has some good ideas for preventing summer learning loss in teens. • Use these last weeks of school to get suggestions from your child’s teacher. Ask, “What do you suggest my student be doing over the summer? Are there online resources that you can recommend, or are there free or affordable activities … that my student should do over the summer?” • Help your teen find a job: Virtually every single work experience involves reading or reading comprehension. Parents and high school students should be open to internships and volunteer opportunities, too. • Choose fun learning activities:  Help your teen to find learning opportunities that relate to their interests. If the teen likes children and sports, for example, he or she could become a camp counselor or even a coach – fun jobs that build skills in communication and organization.

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If you haven’t already, it is time to sign up for the 25th anniversary Hit The Road, Jack road race on Sunday, June 3, to benefit the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation. www.hittheroadjack.com. The race begins at 8 a.m. and an entire day of festivities follows.

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Here is some good news … In a recently released Department of Education list of 200 bankrupt and almost bankrupt school districts in California, Sonoma Valley is nowhere to be found. There are four districts in the county that do appear, however: Cotati-Rohnert Park, Geyserville, Sebastapol and West Sonoma County Union (cde.ca.gov).

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Summer camps and workshops continue to roll in. Is your child interested in modeling or singing/dancing/acting? Sonoma Valley High School grad Abbey Lee will be offering Triple Threat Workshops at En-er-gy Fitness for kids, teens and adults in June and July. Email starqualityplayers@gmail.com for more information. Also in the acting category, Silver Moon Theater is offering a summer workshop for young actors ages 10 and up on July 31 and Aug. 1, 7 and 8 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., plus a performance Aug. 8. The cost is $165 and the teachers are Nellie Cravens and Sue Martin. Email silvermoontheatre@gmail.com or call 483-5582.

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Fact of the day: in 2010, about 50.1 percent of California children under 18 lived in families with one or more foreign-born parents. This is the first time that number has exceeded 50 percent. In Sonoma County, however, the number is 36.4 percent.