#TeamPUSD
Sharing the Good News and Good Work of Students and Staff
April 2017 Edition
Sincerely,
Christine Paik, Director of Communications
Message from Superintendent
It has been a whirlwind first month, during which I have been able to visit several campuses and meet with staff, parents, and students, as well as meet with local media stations and tour the Twin Peaks Center and District Offices. I also had an opportunity to attend the wonderful Poway Music Festival and meet with some of our PTA leaders at the Palomar Council Meeting. Thank you for your kindness and warm welcome. If I haven’t seen or met you yet, I hope to soon. My listening and learning tour will continue throughout the school year. I want to hear from you about all the things that are going well, as well as your input on ways that we can continue to improve our District.
Many people have asked me how I am feeling about taking on this role. I am excited and ready to begin our work together. I know that I am the kind of leader that can move our great District forward to the next level. Many have also asked me why I took the job. I see it as a challenge and a calling. It is time to refocus our efforts and attention on PUSD’s mission of ensuring college and career readiness for all students. We have to keep our eyes on the prize, and continue to make our children the priority. In this way, PUSD can continue to offer a world class education as well as innovative programs.
As you are aware, the District does have some obstacles and challenges that we will have to face together. The budget situation remains uncertain as we await the Governor’s May budget revision. We need to ensure the District is fiscally stable enough to sustain the demands of our high-performing District while ensuring that we can retain the highest quality employees. I am committed to providing open and transparent communication as we build the trust and integrity of our team and District.
I am proud to be the newest member of Team PUSD. I hope you had a restful Spring Break, and I look forward to working with you.
Sincerely,
Marian Kim-Phelps, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Student, School, and Staff Achievements
Gold Ribbon Schools
Del Norte High School, Mt. Carmel High School, Oak Valley Middle School, and Rancho Bernardo High School have all been selected under the California Department of Education’s Gold Ribbon Schools Awards Program. Poway Unified Superintendent Marian Kim-Phelps said, “These schools are an excellent example of PUSD’s mission of ensuring college and career readiness for all students. Through dedicated staff and innovative programs, they are creating 21st century learners, ready for future success.” Read more here.
Honor Roll Schools
Adobe Bluffs Elementary, Chaparral Elementary, Creekside Elementary, Deer Canyon Elementary, Del Sur Elementary, Design 39 Campus, Los Penasquitos Elementary, Mesa Verde Middle, Midland Elementary, Monterey Ridge Elementary, Mt. Carmel High, Painted Rock Elementary, Park Village Elementary, Pomerado Elementary, Rancho Bernardo High, Stone Ranch Elementary, Westview High, Willow Grove Elementary have all been named Honor Roll schools for the 2016-17 California Honor Roll presented by Educational Results Partnership (ERP) and the Campaign for Business and Education Excellence (CBEE). Please view the press release for more information.
Science Olympiad Champions
Oak Valley's Science Olympiad Team is headed to Nationals! They are the first Poway Unified team to ever qualify! The National Team members are eighth graders Jason Chang, Arjun Ghoshal, Eagan Kaminetz, Kate Liu, Barath Raj, Kiersten Russ, Arul Salaniwal, Luya Wei, Ian Xu and Jason Zhuang; seventh graders Tanmay Marwah, Aashi Mittal, Kaavya Raamkumar, Devam Shrivastava; and sixth grader Connor Wang. The alternates are seventh grader Vihan Jayaraman and sixth graders Noor Grewal, Ishan Kapoor and Hetvi Trivedi. Read more about the team and their journey to Nationals here.
PHS Robotics Chairman's Award
National Merit Finalists
The following PUSD students are National Merit Scholarship finalists. Each finalist submits a detailed scholarship application, which includes essays and information about extracurricular achievement, awards, and leadership positions. Finalists must also have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a school official, and earn SAT scores that confirm their qualifying PSAT test performance. A select number of students will be chosen to receive the prestigious National Merit Scholarship.
Del Norte High School: Lillian Bu, Sayan Chatterjee, Ethan M. Chung, Matthew G. Earney, Kaumron K. Eidgahy, Jessica Ho, Brian Sanyu Huo, Katie H. Lam, Albert J. Lee, Hyunjae Lee, Nicholas Li, Angela Ma, Francis T Nguyen, Flora S. Park, Elizabeth Pegg, Archana Penumudi, Daniel Shevchuk, Catherine Xi, April L. Xie, Michael S. Yoon
Mt. Carmel High School: Katherine Asaro, Lili Chen, Rucha Deshpande, Chloe Jiang, Zoe Li, Grace Lin, Maia McNeil, Ryan Storgard, Christina Tan, Bryan Yang
Poway High School: Piper Langer Weida, Parth Nobel, Amy E. Walker
Rancho Bernardo High School: Emma J. Groves, Bryant Huang, Sung Hoon Kang, James D. Lee
Theodore C. Lee, Christine Y. Peng, Allen Tsai
Westview High School: Kathryn L. Chan, Jefferson T. Duan, Matthew R. Duston, Robert Montgomery Furth, Colby E. Hester, Yue Liu, Zhengyu Liu, David Mao, Shivank Nayak, Erwin M. Ni, Shibangi Pal, William Carrigan Pope, Leo Ryu, Anish V. Sathe, Meilynn Shi, Jacob Tao, Irene R. Wang, Allyson Xie, Angela B. Yan, Andrew Zhang, Kevin Zhang, Yuchen Zhang
Esther Lapite
Megan Power
Honor Orchestra
The California Music Educators Honor Orchestra guest conductor, Ulli Reiner, featured here with two PUSD Bernardo Heights Orchestra students, Sally Kang and Juliette Fogarty performed at Shiley Hall at the University of San Diego on Saturday, April 22nd. Students from San Diego area school districts auditioned to be part of the honor orchestra sponsored each year through CMEA. Sally served as the Concertmaster of the honor orchestra concert performing solos in Capriccio Espagnol.
Kriscia Cabral
Ed Sandstrom
Los Penasquitos teacher Ed Sandstrom, was chosen to be honored for KSON’s "Teachers are Heroes" program. This is a teacher recognition program sponsored by Azusa Pacific University and KSON and coordinated by the San Diego County Office of Education. Each school year, twelve teachers are selected by a panel of station and sponsor representatives to be recognized by the program. Ed received the award at a special assembly at his school.
Danielle Reyes
Black Mountain Middle School teacher Danielle Reyes has been awarded the AVID Teacher Advocacy Award. The award comes with $10,000 for the classroom. Awardees were chosen because they either demonstrated an exceptional role in student advocacy; assisted in addressing the needs of a student, while in pursuit of higher education, or emerged as an exceptional leader in support of the AVID mission in a school, district, or community. AVID will honor the five winners from California in Sacramento on July 11th.
Cartoon Contest
Poway High sophomores Brittany Almanza and Kayla Kressin, were named as runners-up in the Sacramento State Legischool's Editorial Cartoon Contest. Brittany and Kayla will each receive a $100 prize, and their cartoons are published on Legischool's website.
Essay Contest
Valley Elementary students Teya White and Guadalupe Chavez were among the final four finalists for the American Immigration Lawyers Association's writing contest "Why I am Glad America is a Country of Immigrants." Teya (left) won an honorable mention and Guadalupe (second from left) won 1st place! Her essay will now compete at the national level.
Academic League Champs
Cheer Champs
Newest NEU
Hats Off to Volunteers
Hats off to our volunteers! Rancho Bernardo honored 67 people who dedicate their time to improving the community during the annual Hats Off to Volunteers recognition ceremony. Dr. Phelps served as a presenter for our school volunteers. Our schools would not be what they are without them! Photo courtesy: Steve Dreyer
Excellence in Education: Apple Distinguished School
Fun Photo Gallery
Produce Donations
What I Wish My Parents knew
College Road Trip
Egg Drop
Kind Crew
Kudos to Mesa Verde's Kind Crew! About 40 students visited Sunshine Care, a memory care facility in Poway. The Kind Crew worked hard to fill the garden beds with mulch and plant vegetables. They were also able to interact with the residents.
Safety Fair
Gold Rush Day
There's gold in these hills! Park Village Elementary School hosted California Gold Rush activities with the Julian Mining Company. Students got to pan for gold, do laundry the old fashioned way, throw tomahawks, and more!
School Library Month
Music Festival
Wellness Day
Awesome Wellness Day and Health Expo at Deer Canyon Elementary. From football workouts and yoga, to dental hygiene tips from the tooth fairies, to drinking healthy smoothies, the kiddos learned how to take care of their bodies.
Job Skills
A valuable job skills training conference at Abraxas High today. Transition students learned how to dress for success, conduct themselves professionally, and went through mock interviews.
Arcadia Invitational
An exciting meet at the Arcadia Invitational, one of the most prestigious high school track and field meets in the country! Thanks to Arcadia High for hosting and sending these great pics of some Poway High athletes.
Science Standards
Autism Month
National FInalist for TOY
Battle of the Fans
Computer Giveaway
Engineering Xploration
Earth Day
Bus Driver Breakfast
Facebook post from Marian Kim Phelps: "Had a great time at the annual Bus Driver Appreciation Day breakfast. Enjoyed meeting so many members of #TeamPUSD in the Transportation Department. Thank you to all who organized, cooked, and served. And thank you to our bus drivers and mechanics who make sure our kids get to and from school safely every day!"
Future NOW
Peter's Big Night
District Art Display
Every month we showcase a school by bringing students’ work to the board meeting. The glass showcase in the District Office lobby currently features some of the award-winning pieces of Joe Gizzo and Janice Teixeira’s students at Meadowbrook Middle School.
Admin. Assistants Day
Where would we be without our #TeamPUSD administrative assistants? Thank you for keeping our schools and District offices going for our students, staff, and families.
After School Staff Week
ESS and ASES staff are appreciated for all that they do to enhance education, promote physical and emotional health, provide a safe environment, extend learning through extra-curricular projects and homework clubs, and expose youth to new experiences.
Early Literacy
Spring Break Adventures
Haiti
Belize
D.C.
Ride Across CA
Band Trip
10th Annual Golf Classic
Announcing the PUSD Foundation 10th Annual Golf Classic on Friday, May 5, 2017 at Maderas Golf Club.
Join other education, business, and community leaders at this special event that will include lunch on the golf course, $100,000 Shootout, Helicopter Ball Drop, a post-golf reception, and an auction and awards dinner. Since this falls on Cinco De May, we will have a Mexican celebration with a dinner included for the players and sponsors.
Don’t play golf, but still want to help? You can:
Participate in the ball drop fundraiser (you do not need to be present to win)
- Join us for a Cinco de Mayo dinner celebration only
Character & Ethics Film Festival
Don't miss the Character and Ethics Film Festival next week. 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 3rd, at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts. The students will feel like stars, with a walk down the red carpet and on camera interviews. Click this article for a list of the finalists.
Foreign Language in Elementary School
Hurry! Space is limited. Parents with children TK - 5th interested in attending the Mandarin Foreign Language in Elementary School Program at Adobe Bluffs should fill out the Intradistrict Transfer Application for the 2017-2018 School Year. All students at ABES enjoy two weekly session of Mandarin language and Chinese cultural lessons in addition to existing elementary school curriculum.
Youth Enrichment Programs for Summer 2017
Registration is now open for PUSD's Youth Enrichment Programs for the summer. From art and foreign language to computer science and theater, there's something for everyone. Click for the catalogue of classes. All classes will be held at Mt. Carmel High School, unless otherwise noted.
Notice: Board Meeting Date Changes
This is the revised schedule for PUSD Board meetings for the remainder of 2017:
Tuesday, May 16 Special Board Workshop
Tuesday, May 30
Thursday, June 29
Thursday, July 13
Thursday, August 10
Thursday, September 14
Thursday, October 12
Thursday, November 9
Thursday, December 14
Poway Unified in the News
- New Superintendent Takes Charge at Poway schools
- PUSD Honors its Classified Employees of the Year
- Four Schools Awarded Gold Ribbon Honors
- Oak Valley Science Olympiad Champs
- Oak Valley Students Headed to National Science Olympiad
- Big Moment for Westview student on volleyball court
- D39C's Innovative Human-Centered Approach
- Athletic Trainers Honored for Saving Life
- BMX Riders Share Anti-Bullying Message
- Fight Against Hunger Club Food-Packing Event
- A Crash Course in Sobriety
- Garden Road TV Teaching Students About Broadcasting
- World of Work Video featuring D39C
- Del Norte Honors Students for Good Character
- Energy Storage Case Study: How Poway Will Save $1.6M
- Rancho Bernardo to Honor Volunteers
- Lawsuit Aims to Ban Processed Meat in Schools
- Coats named new head football coach at Poway High
- Girls Lacrosse: Titans Surge to Top 15 Ranked in the Nation
- Broncos' Sugimoto Can't Wait to Start Playing College Golf
- Broncos Baseball Armed for Success
- Track and Field: Baker Sets PR in Hurdles
- Steele Blossoms into Superstar for Poway High Softball
- Meyers vaults to No. 1 height in section
- Nighthawks' Evans Scoring at Blistering Pace
- Nighthawks Thinking Three-peat as Swimming Season Winds Down
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