Titan Talk
Henry M Gunn High School
About us
Email: mgordon@pausd.org
Website: https://gunn.pausd.org/
Location: 780 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA, USA
Phone: (650) 354-8200
October 18, 2020: Vol 4 Issue 9
Upcoming Events
Gunn Together: Period 6:
9th - 12th Grades: SEC & Wellness Unity Day Presentation.
Students should check into their 6th-period class for attendance and receive links. Students who have a 6th-period prep should check Schoology after Gunn Together starts.
Notable Dates:
November 6, 2020, The second progress/warning notice period ends. Deadline for dropping a class and not having it appear on a transcript.
Titan Talk and Gunn Together Times
Did you miss our previous editions of Titan Talk or Principal Stratton's Gunn Together Times? You can access previous editions on the Communications Link on the Gunn Website, or navigate there by clicking on the Connecting menu and then click on Communications.
SELF (Social Emotional Learning and Functionality)
This coming week in SELF, all grades will have different lessons according to our grade-level themes:
- 9th--Rethinking Stress
- 10th--Exploring Pathways, Careers, and Majors
- 11th--Envisioning Your Future
- 12th--Alumni Guest Speakers: Pathways from Gunn
For more information about the SELF program, please visit our website to explore more about our mission, our unit themes, our curriculum, and the data that informs our work. Please also feel free to reach out to the program coordinators, Courtney Carlomagno and Tara Firenzi, with any suggestions, questions, or feedback about the program at ccarlomagno@pausd.org and/or tfirenzi@pausd.org. And, as always, we encourage parents and teachers to always reach out to mentors if there is information that might be helpful for a mentor to know or something that might be helpful to talk to the student about.
The Wellness Center:
Gunn Wellness Center
This week, the Gunn Wellness Center is celebrating Unity Day!! Unity Day was created by PACER's National Bullying Prevention Center to spread hope and awareness around issues of bullying. Students will participate in a webinar during Gunn Together to learn about the importance of this day and why we should all be striving to be agents of change in our community. Find out more about this national event on the PACERs website.
Coming Soon
Children's Health Council- Webinar: Coping with Constant Change and Uncertainty
October 20th @ 6:30pm
In this time of constant change, it's important to develop some coping strategies so that you can stay resilient during these anxiety-filled times. Attend this webinar to learn some valuable strategies that you can use as you cope with the constant change and anxiety in your life right now. Presented by Patrice Crisostomo, Ph.D., Clinical Program Manager, and Licensed Psychologist at CHC and Cara DiClemente, MA, Doctoral Psychology Intern at CHC.
To register and find out more info click HERE!
Mindful Minute
When you discover your child is being bullied, you may feel a variety of emotions, from anger to fear to sadness. These reactions and emotional responses are natural for parents who want their child to feel valued, protected, and loved. To become an effective advocate for your child, it is important to acknowledge your emotions and then focus on developing an action plan to help your child.
Click HERE to be taken to PACER's National Bullying Prevention page for parents and read more about how to help your child in these situations.
Gunn Counseling
Seniors,
Over the coming weeks, Gunn Counseling will be holding “App Chats” to help you with any questions or challenges you may be having with college applications. These events will take place during lunch, so feel free to stop by if you could use any extra help or guidance! Zoom links will be made available through Schoology in advance of each event.
- October 22 - College Essays
- October 29 - Common Application
- November 5 - UC Application
- November 12 - CSU Application
Support for Gunn Families
If you are experiencing financial hardship as a result of COVID-19, please let your Gunn student's counselor know. If you are struggling to pay for college application fees or other college-related costs, please contact Linda Kirsch at lkirsch@pausd.org and Leighton Lang at llang@pausd.org. This is a very challenging time for some Gunn families, and the PTSA would like you to know that our community is here for you! We are all in this together and together we will make it through.
- Gunn’s Counseling Department
Sources of Strength
Sources of Strength is a national strength-building suicide prevention program designed to help students spread messages of Hope, Help, and Strength. Past and new participants are welcome. Check out our Gunn Sources of Strength video: tinyurl.com/GSOSvideo
If you would like to get Remind notices of coming events, text @hmghs to 81010. Look forward to a late fall training and following activities, TBD.
ROCK (Reach Out Care Know)
Check out a one-minute video highlighting some of what ROCK does.
ROCK has a few exciting projects in the works.
- socially distanced yoga
- painting rocks
- social media campaigns
- SELF class presentations
- thank you campaign
e-mail: rockatgunn@gmail.com
web: rockatgunn.com
Instagram: @rockatgunn
Student Activities
The SEC proudly presents - HalloWeek! Check out the 2020 Check out the HalloWeek Theme Reveal video and see the SEC present this year's themes! HalloWeek is less a week away! Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkG9bGoBX3c&feature=youtu.be
Get ready for Unity Day next Wednesday, October 21! To help raise awareness about Unity Day, Submit a poem, art work, song, or short story to be entered in a drawing! The topic is "What does Unity Day mean to you?", and submissions should have themes of kindness, inclusion, and a stance against bullying. The winner of the drawing will get a care package with cool prizes! Stay tuned for a virtual gallery of all submissions during Gunn Together! Note: Submissions can be anonymous! Link to Submission Form: https://forms.gle/cNMMxCHL2RfuGsFXA
College and Career
SENIORS: CSU is ready to get your application through DEC 4, UC: November is two weeks away so polish those essays and get that application in early in the month while readers are fresh. COMMON APP— has been open since August so those with ED /EA dates need to move forward getting all info requested in on time or before. Both the UC and CSU provided admission folks to Gunn to help you fill out applications accurately—Check out NAVIANCE. Counselors will be providing APP CHATS: on 10/22 for essay questions,
10/29 for Common App and 11/5 for UC help. Naviance is your source for college visits and college events. Need to talk with a Gunn Alum about a college: contact llang@pausd.org.
JUNIORS: November junior appts are filling fast, please make contact with me as the goal for that month is to see 100 of you so you are well prepared for semester two of this year to round out your college planning. For those planning for the military, gap, CC or work after Gunn I will want to fill you in on options. Reading is relevant….if you are exploring possible majors…there is no substitute for reading in your area of interest. Know the journals connected with your major or area of interest. Science majors should use some viewing time to visit science shows or lectures.
General Info:
Berklee School of Music and the Boston Conservatory are running events on Saturdays during this month. This collection will include, music, drama, and dance elements. Check out Bostonconservatory@Berklee.edu or conservatoryadmissions@berklee.edu.
Cal TECH in Medicine is running a speaker series that will cover many areas of interest to bio and health science majors. HTTPS:// wwwcaltechmedlife.org/caltech-tech-in-medicine First topic: Immunotherapy: CAR T-Cells
Ten Ways to have a Better Conversation with Celeste Headless is on OCT 20 at 4 PM—this is a Common Ground event costing $20. ( a parent-focused event )
Think Big—( a 12 college event ) WED Oct 22 6-7:30 register for this event: https://OSU.zoom /webinar/register/WN_F9VBSfuhSZStVQ4youp7qQ
Collegewise will sponsor a keynote speaker from the book The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process on Oct 26th from 4 pm.
Did you know??
Ohio Wesleyan will be cutting 18 majors and consolidating other departments
U of Miami will offer Marine and Atmospheric Science and may allow for a masters degree with one year more added to the undergrad: This area includes 6 areas of study, so cue out the site and females can sign up for Women exploration of Science on November 14.
CSU Stanislaus: #5 in the country for most transformative #35 best public colleges. The only impacted major is nursing there.
CSU LA: College of Ethnic Studies is new $$ available for diversity film production
NEW COLLEGE PLANNING COURSES & TOOLS FOR SECONDARY STUDENTS
As part of our ongoing commitment to ensure PAUSD families have multiple points of access to timely information, Collegewise has provided a free series of college planning programs and resources, called “Runway.” This series provides carefully structured resources to give students and parents the tips, tools, and timelines they need to reach their college goals in 2020. Program offerings are specific to high school grade levels.
When students sign up for “Runway,” they will have access to content and videos designed for you and your family that cover topics including:
- College list building
- Finding good value colleges
- Overview of types of colleges
- Personal statement brainstorming and writing
- Effective Common App completion
- Financial aid applications
- Fee waivers overview
- UC application guidance
Students in grades 9-11: You’ll have access to an on-demand video library, access to a monthly newsletter, and a variety of guides covering everything from STEM programs to understanding the demands of The Common App. Sign up for the program here.
“Runway” provides a valuable supplement to the more specific information available from counselors and college advisors at each high school. Here are the links to the resources available at Gunn. For more information, please review the counseling/guidance web pages, under Campus Life, on the schools’ websites: https://gunn.pausd.org/.
Gunn Affiliated Associations
PTSA
The Gunn PTSA supports Gunn high school in many ways such as teacher grants, student activities, fundraising, and organizing volunteers. Please visit the Gunn PTSA website for more information.
Palo Alto Partners in Education
Partners in Education (PiE): PiE raises money from parents and the community to provide all Palo Alto Unified School District students an educational experience beyond what is possible with public funding. The 2020-2021 fundraising campaign has begun. See here what PiE funds for Gunn.
Gunn Foundation
The Gunn Foundation grants need-based scholarships to graduating Gunn seniors in our community. Scholarships fund college expenses like deposits, textbooks, fees, and technology needed for distanced learning. Gunn Foundation scholarships can make a huge difference in the future of a Gunn student.