Holmes Elementary Students Raise $26,000 on the Run

For the sixth straight year, Holmes Elementary students relied on their strength and endurance to raise more than $26,000 for their school. The sixth annual Holmes H.E.R.O. (Holmes Educational Run Off) Jog-a-Thon, sponsored by the school’s PTA, was held last month. More than 300 volunteers, parents and community members cheered the 530 students as they rounded the track to raise money for completed laps. The money raised will help fund the school’s VAPA program, which includes a choral music teacher and Arts Attack supplies; ongoing technology needs; and the Mileage Club.
What's next for the Clairemont neighborhood school? Celebrating its 50^th birthday on Saturday, May 12, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the annual Spring Fling. Festivities include a silent auction, cake decorating contest and activities for the entire family. For more information, visit www.sandi.net/holmes or contact Principal Jonathan Saipe at jsaipe@sandi.net

14 Teachers Selected for Science, Technology, Engineering, Math Program

Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) will be the focus for 18 district teachers over the next five years as they'll be part of the prestigious Noyce Master Teacher Fellowship at UC San Diego.

The teachers are: Theodore Meckstroth, Bell Middle School; Julie Garcia, Innovation Middle School; Patricia Huntington, Farb Middle School; Erica Heinzman and Maitrayee Sahi, Kearny High School of International Business; Olivia Allison, Lewis Middle School, Anna Weaver at Mann Middle School, Caroline Morse at Montgomery Middle School, Joseph Hyun at Morse High School; Lori Pina, Shelley Rannikko and Kimberly Frank, Standley Middle School; Margaret Atkisson and Maureen Quessenberry at University City High School.

Teachers from two district charter schools have also been selected: Julia Gordon and Jade Mohr from High Tech High, and Shea Phillips and Alexandra Martinez at The Preuss School UCSD

This professional development program is sponsored by the UC San Diego Department of Education Studies and the Division of Physical Sciences. Supported through a $3.2 million grant from the Robert Noyce Foundation and the National Science Foundation, the program supports 42 teachers from across the county for five years of professional development.

Master Teacher Fellows will receive salary supplements of $10,000 per year, iPad tablets for mobile computing, up to six graduate units for summer institutes, up to eight graduate units for online courses, and classroom mini-grants to support change and growth within their own classrooms.

The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program seeks to encourage talented science, technology, engineering and mathematics majors and professionals to become K-12 mathematics and science teachers. The Noyce Scholarship Track provides funds to institutions of higher education to support scholarships, stipends and academic programs for undergraduate STEM majors and post-baccalaureate students holding STEM degrees who earn a teaching credential and commit to teaching in high-need K-12 school districts.

 

The NSF Teaching Fellowship/Master Teaching Fellowship Track supports STEM professionals who enroll as NSF Teaching Fellows in master’s degree programs leading to teacher certification by providing academic courses, professional development, and salary supplements while they are fulfilling a four-year teaching commitment in a high need school district. This track also supports the development of NSF Master Teaching Fellows by providing professional development and salary supplements for exemplary mathematics and science teachers to become Master Teachers in high-need school districts.
 

For more information on the UCSD program, contact Dr. Chris Halter at 858-534-8186.

SD High Academy of Finance Awarded Again

The Academy of Finance at the San Diego High School of Business has again been recognized again as a Distinguished Academy by the National Academy Foundation, a program that brings businesses and educators together to put students on a career path leading to Wall Street.

This is the second consecutive year that the program has been recognized by the Foundation. San Diego High's program is the only high school awarded west of Raleigh, NC.

"This award shows the continued commitment of our students, teachers, advisory board and business partners to the learning going on at the Academy of Finance," said Principal Consuelo Manriquez. "National recognition of the Academy certainly will help our students as they apply for admission to America's best universities."

The San Diego High program involves the local business community in the school. Students take internships at a variety of businesses. In addition, the academy's Advisory Board members mentor students as they become part of the business community.

San Diego's Omni Hotel, developer LWP Group, the San Diego Humane Society, the Boys and Girls Club of San Diego and skateboard lifestyle company Tum Yeto are just a few of the companies that have interns from the Academy. While there, students can visit multiple departments; for example, at the Omni, students have had tours in the accounting, room services, housekeeping and security departments.

One of the particular features of the San Diego High program praised by the National Academy Foundation is its Advisory Board, which includes many local business people, ranging from chair Jim Fitzgerald, a retired San Diego State University finance professor, to Cliff Schmidt, a Morgan Stanley Smith Barney official who has served since the Board was formed in 1998.

The Class of 2012 graduates will be heading off to four-year colleges, including UC Berkeley, San Francisco State University and San Jose State University. Previous graduates are now at San Diego State University, University of San Diego, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, UC Irvine and Cal Poly.

Academies affiliated with the National Academy Foundation educate more than 60,000 students around the nation in fields that include finance, hospitality and tourism, and engineering.

If you'd like to get your business involved in the San Diego High School of Business's Academy of Finance, call Kelly Granfield at (619) 525-7461 or kgranfield@sandi.net.

Date Change: Tiger Teams to Meet May 12

The Operations and Efficiency Ad Hoc Committee has scheduled a status update meeting Saturday, May 12, for all new Tiger Team members and anyone interested in serving on the committee. The meeting will be held from 10 a.m. to noon at the Ballard Parent Center, 2375 Congress St., San Diego, CA 92110. Breakout sessions will be held after a brief group meeting.

Board of Education Vice President Scott Barnett and Trustee Kevin Beiser lead the Operations and Efficiency Committee, which supervises the Tiger Teams.  The goal of the teams is to generate efficiencies and savings, minimizing administrative costs to help with the ongoing budget crisis.

If you are not already volunteering on a Tiger Team, feel free to attend.  If you have any other budget efficiency suggestions or ideas, please send them to efficiency@sandi.net. Related documents and minutes for all Tiger Teams can be reviewed at www.sandi.net/efficiency.

Gates Millennium Scholarship Goes to 10 Students

Congratulations to 10 graduating seniors who have been named Gates Millennium Scholars.

The program selects 1,000 students each year to receive a good-through-graduation scholarship to use at any college or university of their choice. Scholars also receive personal and professional development, through leadership programs, along with academic support throughout their college career.

"I congratulate each one of these students on their accomplishment," said Superintendent Bill Kowba. "They have received a very rare and special gift as a Gates Millennium Scholar and I hope they use it well."

Five of the students -- Diego Ceron, Karla Cruz, Bertin Solis and Alan Bong -- are part of the Reality Changers program, which helps students with disadvantaged backgrounds.

“Education continues to be the best pathway to opportunity, and we believe that college costs should not be an obstacle along that path,” said Jim Larimore the deputy director for student success at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“That’swhy scholarships like the Gates Millennium Scholars Program and others are so important," he said. "Scholarships provide students who have the will to get a post-secondary education with a way to get one, thereby securing a better future for themselves, their families and their communities.”

The Gates Millennium Scholars Program, funded by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was established in 1999 to provide outstanding low income African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian Pacific Islander American, and Hispanic American students with an opportunity to complete an undergraduate college education in any discipline they choose.

Continuing Gates Scholars may request funding for a graduate degree program in one of the following discipline areas: computer science, education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health or science. The goal of program is to promote academic excellence by providing thousands of outstanding students, who have significant financial need, the opportunity to reach their full potential.

For more information on the program, go to http://www.gmsp.org.

Scholarship Recipients

• Anita Agoh, San Diego High School of Science and Technology, UC Berkeley
  
• Eden Aklile, Serra
• Karla Cruz, San Diego Met, UC Berkeley
  
• Pedro Mota, Lincoln, Brown
  
• Teresa Ramos, Kearny High Science Connections and Technology School, San Diego State University
  
• Bertin Solis, Mission Bay, UC Santa Barbara
  
• Alan Vong, Madison, UC Santa Barbara
  

Charter Schools

• Diego Ceron, Preuss School UCSD, Villanova
  
• Elayne Tram Nguyen, Preuss UCSD
• Reyna Pacheco Rios, Preuss School UCSD

IN THE NEWS: Register early for kindergarten says Jefferson Elementary Principal

The Jefferson Elementary School principal is talking about registering your child early for kindergarten (en Español). Courtesy KBNT-TV

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Vista Grande Third Graders Ace Elks Poster Contest

Vista Grande Elementary School third graders Madison Wood and Brooklyn Greer have placed in the Elks Drug Awareness Poster Contest, with Wood's poster going to the national competition.

The two, members of Marilyn Posella's class, were honored by visits of two Elks, Kathleen Kuttler and Doti Mock, of San Diego Elks Lodge No. 168. They brought third-place honors and $300 for Wood, and Honorable Mention for Greer. With the third-place finish in California, Wood's poster is now being considered for a national award.

The students' work was judged on teh development of theme, originality, neatness and mechanics.

"Always Love and Take Care of Yourself and Never, Never Use Drugs!" was the theme of Wood's poster.

About the school

Vista Grande Elementary School, located in the Tierrasanta community, is a California Distinguished School, offering grades K-5. Vista Grande offers a strong literacy, mathematics, and science curriculum, a full-time science teacher, and a science laboratory, a Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) program in grades 3–5, music exploration, and extra support in literacy and math. For more information, contact Principal Cathy Calcagno at 858-496-8290.