#TeamPUSD
Sharing the Good News and Good Work of Students and Staff
May 2018 Edition
Superintendent's Message
Dear Team PUSD,
With graduation right around the corner, I wanted to reflect on college and career readiness in PUSD. Above is a picture with some members of my Superintendent's Student Advisory Council, made up of student leaders from across the District. During our final meeting of the year, several of the seniors shared their plans after high school. What struck me was the variety of career and college paths they were pursuing, with passions ranging from aerospace engineering to biomedical science, from athletics to the performing arts.
In two weeks, over 2,700 PUSD graduates will proudly walk across the stage to accept their hard-earned diplomas. This is my absolute favorite time of year. It is hard not to feel emotional, as if they were my own children. It is at this moment when we all should realize the impact of our hard work as Team PUSD: the teachers, staff, administrators, parents, volunteers, and business and community partners who helped make our students' achievements and dreams possible.
We know that graduation is the culmination of work that started long before their senior year. That is why, as a K-12 district, we need to continue to work as an entire system to create personalized pathways for our students. This will be key to our continued success in creating future-ready graduates, as we adapt to college and career readiness in the 21st century. We are addressing this in our Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). After gathering stakeholder input at our many forums, PUSD staff will present our LCAP and budget on June 5th, which will guide our programs and priorities moving forward. After June 5th, you will find the LCAP posted on our website for review. The final plan will be adopted at the June 28, 2018, board meeting.
In the meantime, please enjoy all of the final concerts, exhibitions, gatherings, and performances as our students show off their many talents and hard work. And congratulations to ALL of our students, whether graduating, promoting, or moving on to the next grade level. I am so proud of you!
Sincerely,
Marian Kim-Phelps, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Student, School, and Staff Achievements
National Merit Scholars
Congratulations to the following PUSD students:
• Allison Bao (Westview High School)
• Steven F. Chen (Westview High School)
• Samuel Y. Hunter (Rancho Bernardo High School)
• Robert C. Ozturk (Rancho Bernardo High School)
• Andre A. Yin (Westview High School)
• Kevin Yu (Westview High School)
You can read more about this prestigious award here.
Odyssey of the Mind World Finals
Black Mountain Middle School's Odyssey of the Mind "Problem 3" team placed 3rd in the World Finals in Iowa! It was a huge event with 875 teams of 5-7 students from all over the world. Kudos to the "Problem 3" team: Brianna Vargas, Sydney Hubbard, Casey Good, Annabelle Reyes-Pangilinan, Bryanne Reyes-Pangilinan, Katie Jacques, and Rumi Chadwick, under the direction of Coach Lisa Vargas. Black Mountain was one of only two teams from California that earned a trophy at the World Finals awards ceremony.
Scripps National Spelling Bee
California Distinguished Schools
California Honor Roll Schools
Canyon View Elementary, Garden Road Elementary, Los Penasquitos Elementary, Midland Elementary, Rolling Hills Elementary, Sundance Elementary, Sunset Hills Elementary, Westwood Elementary, Mesa Verde Middle, Mt. Carmel High, and Rancho Bernardo High, have all been named Honor Roll schools for the 2017-18 California Honor Roll presented by Educational Results Partnership (ERP) and the Campaign for Business and Education Excellence (CBEE).
Niche.com 2018 Best Public Elementary Schools
13th Annual Excellence in Special Education Awards
The Community Advisory Committee and the PUSD Special Education Foundation hosted the 13th Annual Excellence in Special Education Awards on May 17, 2018. These outstanding PUSD staff members were nominated by parents for going above and beyond for their students.
Matthew Grindstaff, Instructional Assistant II, Oak Valley Middle SchoolGloria Guerrero, Bus Aide, Transportation Department
Sunny Jerome, Teacher, Westview High School
Heather Key, Teacher, Canyon View Elementary School
Christopher Koreerat, Teacher, Garden Road Elementary School
Dana McArthur, Teacher, Rancho Bernardo High School
Maggie McCutchen, Teacher, Deer Canyon Elementary School
Sue Scheffers, Vision Specialist, Special Education Department
Character & Ethics Film Festival
Elementary
2nd Place: "Mute" Park Village Elementary School (Kevin Girod, Teacher; David Jang, Leona Gerdji, Rushika Raghuwanshi, Trevor Atchley, Ian Lai, Zach Martinez, and Elizabeth Hamilton, Students)
3rd Place: "Pay it Forward" Park Village Elementary School (Kevin Girod, Teacher; Christian Ochoa, Ismail Bas, Isabella West, Sonya Yasuda, Ellie Kim, Millie barker, Miles McIver, and Dylan O'Donahue, Students)
Middle
2nd place: "Character Counts" Meadowbrook Middle School
(Joe Ismay, Teacher; David Hulterstrom, Ilya Shimanskiy, and Blake Shuta, Students)
3rd Place: "A Few Works of Kindness" Meadowbrook Middle School (Joe Ismay, Teacher; Zara Khan and Lauren Wilson, Students)
High
2nd Place: "Live Life" Rancho Bernardo School
(Toshko Andreev and Agni Herur, Students)
3rd Place: "Kander Man" Rancho Bernardo High School
(Ross Kallen, Teacher; Will Hoxie, Student)
Top-Ranked High Schools
Padres High School All-Star Game
On June 6th, the Padres will honor the top high school baseball players in the CIF San Diego Section at the new Padres High School All-Star Night presented by Fox Sports San Diego. The event will feature a High School Home Run Derby and All-Star Game following the Braves vs. Padres game at 12:40 p.m. The nine-inning All-Star Game will include the CIF San Diego Section's best high school players in an East vs. West format, including the following players and coaches from PUSD:
Kevin Lyons | Westview | Sr. | RHP | UC Santa Barbara
Dayton Dooney | Poway | Sr. | SS | Arizona
Deron Johnson | Poway. | Sr. | C
Kevin Van Linge | Poway | Sr. | 2B
Mason Pelio | RB | Sr. | RHP-OF | Boston College
Nick Seamons | RB | Sr. | RHP-OF | Nevada
Coaches: Rielly Embrey (Del Norte), Bob Parry (Poway)
For more information and ticket prices go here.
Everyday Hero Award
Ray Strahan
Kristine Song
Kathy Linch
David Olivia
Gale Ching
Team PUSD Recognition
Gene Nelson & Ken Wall
RBHS & Facilities Staff
AVID Standouts
8th Grade Standouts
Molly Silvernail
Kyndal Cloud-Winslow
Fernanda Fabian
Kira Patrick
Savonna Andrews
Chelsea Vizcarra
High School Standouts
Jessica Legault
John Sedrak
SaMya Griffin
Samuel Collins
Camila De Hoyos
Photography Award
Future Problem Solvers
RBHS Golf Champs
Northrop Grumman Internship
Focus on Literacy
The San Diego County Office of Education recognized Itzy Haumschilt and Valley Elementary School for their exemplary Focus on Literacy through their ASES Comic-Con and Chalk Festival. The students got to read their favorite books in the "Bat Cave," highlighted their STEAM projects, showcased their coding skills, and created chalk art focused on their favorite super heroes. The SDCOE and ABDO Publishing Company awarded the ASES library with over 100 hard backed comic books. Watch the video here.
Meadowbrook ASB Service Award
Immigration Essay Contest Winner!
Park Village 5th grader Kiara Schray who won 1st place in the American Immigration Council’s essay contest! Fourteen finalists from SD County were chosen including 2 from PUSD (Kiara & Mitra Lushani). Kiara’s essay now competes at the state level. Good luck Kiara!
RBHS Softball
DNHS Lacrosse
RBHS Track & Field
BHMS Theater Program
Mesa Verde Middle School Select Ensemble
Congratulations to the Mesa Verde Middle School Select Ensemble on their first place award and overall highest instrumental score! Music in the Parks, San Francisco.
Valley ES Olympic Hopeful!
Congratulations to Valley 4th Grader Valentina M. She was selected to be part of the USA Junior Olympic Team. She recently participated in the Region 1 Annual Competition for California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Nevada, and placed second out of 63 competitors! Valentina is a student in Valley ES’s Dual Language Program and our local Olympic hopeful! Her trainer is Masha Weitz, a two-time Russian National. Way to represent #TeamPUSD!
North County Film Festival Winners
MTS/Coca-Cola Essay Contest Winners
The Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) introduced the 40 winners of their annual MTS and Coca-Cola Laptop Scholarship Contest. MTS received entries from a record 400 students from 90 different high schools. Among the winners were Alyssa Chavez & Nicole Wang - Westview High School, Caroline Soderstjerna - Mt. Carmel High School & Kyra Warshaw - Rancho Bernardo High School.
Students were awarded a Touch-Screen laptop and a Storm Contender laptop backpack. Students in grades 9-12 were required to submit a persuasive essay between 750 and 1,200 words to present why people should choose public transit instead of driving a personal vehicle.
Invest Writing Award
Biliteracy Award
As a high school counselor at Westview, Stephanie Cruz has tirelessly worked to ensure that every student who qualifies for the Biliteracy Seal at her school, has the opportunity to apply and receive the Seal. Each year Stephanie challenges herself to increase awareness around the importance of Biliteracy.
Rotary Scholarship
Ford Salute to Education Scholarships
• Del Norte High School — Rose Hong, Sunwoo Kim, Maddie Oppeltz, and Zach Turman
• Mt. Carmel High School — Carson Alfonzo
• Poway High School — Maria Cullen and Ernesto Guanuna
• Rancho Bernardo High School — Mira Chokshi, Montana Denton, and Chase Kornacki
• Westview High School — Lauren Jennings, Shreya Padmanabhn, and Lin Vuong
The list of all recipients is at SaluteToEducation.com.
2018 Innovation in Education Awards
America Prize National Music Competition Finalists
Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year Award
PUSD Podcast Episode 8: Jake Schwartz, Student Board Member
Fun Photo Gallery
Memorial Day Patriotic Performance
D39C Means Business
D39C students hard at work developing mission statements for their companies.
Chinese Youth Arts Festival
Adobe Bluffs ES students performed at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts at the Chinese Youth Arts Festival
History in a Trunk
Teachers Take Over Petco Park
History Faire
Del Sur Heritage Night
Staffulty Recognition
Eye on Art 2018
School Nutrition Employees Week
10 Year Anniversary
Thank A Teacher Day
Tree Planting
Principal Appreciation Day
Pomerado Math Night
Classified Employees Week
VAPA Strategic Plan
Valley ES Mayday Festival
Valley ES students participated in the Mayday Festival. The festival was sponsored by Poway Woman’s club and the Poway Historical and Memorial Society. Thanks to Mrs. Emma Sarmiento who choreographed the dance with Valley students and their parents!!
6th Grade Camp
Chelsea's Light Foundation
The Chelsea's Light Foundation hosted a lunch for the Poway High School students who participated in Chelsea’s Run. PHS had the most people for a high school team with over 200 participants! Twin peaks MS and Morning Creek ES also had the most participants in their school categories! Sea World supports Chelsea’s Run and brought 2 special guests to surprise the students during lunch.
College and Career Readiness
Festival of the Arts
Ancient Civilizations
College Signing Day
It was College Signing Day and Westview and Poway High schools' AVID students showed off their chosen colleges and universities! Congratulations!
National School Nurse Day
RBHS Ribbon Cutting
10News Profiles CyberAegis
Bike to School Day
Seed the Need
May the 4th Be With You
Coding Fun
Love on a Leash
New Ag Van
Colonial Day
Adobe Bluffs Gold Rush!
What I Wish My Parents Knew
Stone Ranch Locks of Love
Nearly a dozen young ladies (and a mom!) from Stone Ranch Elementary School stepped up and donated a portion of their long hair to benefit Locks of Love, an organization which provides hairpieces to children suffering from long-term medical hair loss. Way to make PUSD proud!
PTA Volunteer Hours
6th Grade Olympics
Palomar College Rancho Bernardo Campus Ribbon Cutting
Graduation and Promotion Schedules:
HIGH SCHOOLS:
Abraxas – Wednesday, June 20, 2018
(6:00 p.m. @ Abraxas High School)
Del Norte – Thursday, June 14
(3:00 p.m. @ Nighthawk Stadium)
Mt. Carmel – Thursday, June 14
(5:45 p.m. @ Sundevil Stadium)
Poway –Thursday, June 14
(5:30 p.m. @ Titan Stadium)
Rancho Bernardo –Thursday, June 14
(5:30 p.m. @RBHS Stadium)
Westview –Thursday, June 14
(3:00 p.m. @ Westview Wolverine Stadium)
MIDDLE SCHOOLS: (all held on Thursdsay, June 14)
Bernardo Heights - quad (9:00 a.m.)
Black Mountain - quad (8:30 a.m.)
D39C - Showcase @D39C (9:30 a.m.)
Meadowbrook - quad (8:00 a.m.)
Mesa Verde - lower field (9:00 a.m.)
Oak Valley – quad (9:00 a.m.)
Twin Peaks – quad Area (8:30 a.m.)
ADDITIONAL GRADUATION CEREMONIES:
Poway Adult School Graduation Ceremony
Tuesday, August 7, 2018 at 6:00 PM @ Del Norte HS, Performing Arts Center
Rehearsal: Monday, August 6, 2018 4:00pm @ Del Norte HS, Performing Arts Center
Summer Graduation Ceremony
Tuesday, August 7, 2018 at 6:00 PM @ Del Norte HS, Performing Arts Center
Rehearsal: Monday, August 6, 2018 4:00pm @ Del Norte HS, Performing Arts Center
Register by June 13th!
Apply by June 30th!
News Minute
- News Minute 5-24-18
- News Minute 5-18-18
- News Minute 5-11-18
- News Minute 5-4-18
- News Minute 4-27-18
- News Minute 4-19-18
- News Minute 4-6-18
Poway Unified School District
Email: cpaik@powayusd.com
Website: www.powayusd.com
Location: 15250 Avenue of Science, San Diego, CA, United States
Phone: (858) 521-2700
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PowayUSD
Twitter: @PowayUSD