The Bellflower Beat 11.21.22

Our Bellflower Football Team has had an incredible season so far! On November 11th, our victorious Bellflower Buccaneers took on Chino Hills High School as part of the 2nd round of playoffs. This past Friday (November 18th), our team beat South Pasadena High School.

Now, it's time for the CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH! We would like to invite everyone to watch our Bellflower Football Team battle against Walnut High School, on Friday, November 25th at 7pm at our BHS stadium! The cost is FREE to all BHS students with their ID card or Minga app. Tickets are $12 for General Admission, and $5 for kids ages 3 through 13. Tickets are purchased online at the GoFan website by clicking here: https://gofan.co/app/events/803259?schoolId=CA18732

This is the FIRST TIME in our school's history that we have made it to a football championship game, and we want to pack the stands! So, spread the word! Come watch our team become VICTORIOUS!

BHS Families,

Please enjoy the time this week with your families! Listed below are just a few reminders:

1. Bellflower Middle/High School does not permit any drop-offs or deliveries of food or other items. Please ensure that your student is prepared for the day when coming to school in the morning with their lunch, supplies, money, etc.
2. Dress Code. Please be sure that your student follows the dress code and wears appropriate clothing and accessories. Bellflower hats are also the only school approved hat that can be worn at school. Also, students may not bring blankets to campus.
3. No returning back to campus. If a student has an early release (7th or 8th period), once the student leaves campus, they may not return to campus. Parents - please ensure that your students are going home early if they have the early release.

For a full list of student policies on attendance and dress code, please click here.

In today's newsletter, Bellflower Middle/High School wanted to highlight one of our Spanish classes, led by Ms. Silvia Clarin. One of our newer instructors, Ms. Clarin, has developed a great rapport with students within the short amount of time that she has been on our campus. Below, we see students participating in one of the class's activities, which involved students having to get up and go outside as they completed a worksheet with a partner.

“November is Native American Heritage Month, or as it is commonly referred to, American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month. The month is a time to celebrate rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories and to acknowledge the important contributions of Native people,” according to the National Congress of American Indians. To observe National Native American Heritage Month, consider learning about Native Americans, visit museums, or watch documentaries about the rich cultural groups that are part of the Native American identity. Click here to access information and articles regarding Native American Heritage Month from The Library of Congress. You can also click here to visit the Native Hope website to learn more about Native American history, life, and culture.

7th and 8th Grade AVID students went on their first college field trip of the school year to USC on Wednesday, November 9th. This was the first time most of the students have ever been on a college campus.

9th Grade AVID students went on a field trip to UCLA on Tuesday, November 8th to learn about the admission requirements, majors, clubs, and activities on campus.

Mikey is our first "therapy animal" on campus. He is potty trained and vetted through WAGS pet adoption. Students in the "Counseling and Mental Health Services" classes learn about the research that has shown the presence of a beloved pet or therapy animal and how it can help a person control daily anxiety, regulate emotional arousals, and improve mood. Since therapy animals are trained to be attentive to a person's needs and offer unconditional love, they can often stabilize intense emotions.

Bellflower High School wants to thank Cerritos College for hosting our senior Financial Aid Night on Wednesday, November 17th. We had many families in attendance. Below are some of the photos from this event.

The California Junior Scholarship Federation club members are preparing for the annual DiGiovanna Award.

DIGIOVANNA MEMORIAL AWARD

In memory of long-time CJSF adviser / CSF-CJSF Board Member Joanna DiGiovanna, we are pleased to offer this award for CJSF students again this year.

ABOUT JOANNA DIGIOIVANNA
Mrs. DiGiovanna was a very dedicated teacher and CJSF adviser at Piute Middle School in Lancaster who was passionate about the CJSF members in her chapter as well as throughout California. She later served as a volunteer on the State Board of Directors for eight years as CJSF Vice President (South Central) and CJSF Registrar until her passing in June 2016.

• Students must write an essay
• Submissions will be accepted beginning: November 1st every year.
• Application deadline: January 13th every year.

If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Veronica Reynolds

Kaiser Hippocrates Circle Program applications are due no later than December 2nd. Open to all 7th & 8th graders. Please watch the 4 - minute video for details. An application and flyer are also posted below the video.

Our Bellflower High School Ensemble was invited to perform at Ernie Pyle Elementary School for their Veterans Memorial Ceremony on Monday, October 7th.

On November 9th, 2022, the group was invited to the City of Bellflower Veterans Memorial Event to sing the National Anthem. The Bellflower City Council were there. Bellflower Ensemble is honored to participate in several city community events. We are proud of our students.

Just a reminder that there is NO SCHOOL for students from Friday, December 23rd through Tuesday, January 10th in observance of Winter Break. Teachers have a Professional Development day on campus on Tuesday, January 10th.

Ahoy Class of 2023!!! Classic Image is our vendor for your senior pictures! If you have not taken your senior pictures yet, please make an appointment with Classic Image to do so ASAP!

Their hours are 9-5 Monday-Friday, so plan accordingly! The information about the packages is on the image attached to this message, listed below. Please contact Ms. Jass (Room 202) if you have questions, but you need to contact Classic Image for scheduling and questions about picture packages. You have until the end of November to take your senior photo (excluding the week of Thanksgiving). Click here to access their flyer with their contact information.

Starting in the 2nd Semester, Mr. Harrison (Room 704) will be offering an after school enrichment opportunity for all ELD students. It will be offered on Maroon days from 3:45 to 4:30. There is no set time. Students may come for 5 minutes or 45 minutes. This opportunity is available to help ELD students with simple questions, making up missed work in ELD, help on current ELD assignments, or having a safe and quiet place to do assignments. It is completely voluntary and is a drop by, informal approach. What it is not is a hangout place to socialize or play computer games.

In Los Angeles County, overdose deaths among teenagers doubled from 2019 to 2020 (during the covid pandemic), and in 2021, fentanyl was identified in about 77% of adolescent overdose deaths nationally. We are experiencing the worst overdose crisis in Los Angeles County history. Recent local tragedies include three Los Angeles County youth that had overdosed from MDMA that had been contaminated with fentanyl in May 2022. On September 13, 2022, a 15-year-old Bernstein HS student was found dead on campus in Hollywood after ingesting a pill containing fentanyl. There have been at least other 7 reported overdoses of other Los Angeles County youth.

Please check out the following flyer, attached below, which contains information about what to say to youth about fentanyl and overdoses, and how parents can talk to their children about the dangers of fentanyl and drugs.

Hey Bellflower Bucs! Curious to know what the final exam week schedule is going to look light? Well, here it is! Finals Week will take place from December 19 through December 22. Monday will have an Anchor Day Schedule. Tuesday and Wednesday will have modified Minimum Day Schedules, and Thursday will be a modified anchor + minimum day schedule with an extended snack. No school on Friday, December 23rd.

Start planning ahead of time, work with your teachers to get your grades up, and study well! Make it a good first semester!

Did you know that free online tutoring is being provided by the BUSD district?

PAPER Online Tutoring isavailable for all students in 4th-12th grade through their Clever account. Students may ask tutors questions through the chat feature using the PAPER APP to get help with homework, feedback on their writing, or support with studying for assessments. The APP can be found in the Google Play and Apple APP store.

Click here to register for a free parent webinar (provided in English and Spanish). If your child needs more information about how to use PAPER, they can watch the following videos for more information:

Click here to watch the video titled "How Do Students Access 24/7 Live Help on PAPER?"

Click here to watch the video titled "How Do Students Use PAPER's Essay Review?"

Every Californian can now access free online tutoring at any hour of the day, thanks to a new initiative offering educational resources to K-12 students and adult learners. The resource is part of an investment in public libraries announced Sept. 12 by California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Real-time homework help is now available "on the websites of any of the 1,130 local public libraries around the state," and here. The HelpNow pilot program currently offers help in math and language arts, in English and Spanish, at any time of the day or night. Help for "other core K-12 subjects" is available between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. in English, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog, with no age limit to who can take advantage of the resource.

Support Bellflower High School on Friday, December 2! You can order at any Panda Express that permits order pick-up or delivery. All orders must go through the Panda Express website or Panda Express app; all orders must be ordered via the internet (not valid for orders placed inside the restaurant itself). Be sure to use the Online Order Code 909263

Thank you for your support! :)

Feel free to distribute the following flyer as well.

Reminder to all seniors: UC applications opened in August (can only be submitted in November). CSU applications are open in October (due dates vary, with most having due dates in November). Community College applications can be submitted usually starting in December or January. We ask that students use the California Colleges website to submit their UC application, CSU applications, and FAFSA or DACA application. The California Colleges website enables students to automatically have their Aeries information and grades automatically transfer into their application! Mrs. Tripp (the senior counselor) visited senior classrooms to discuss college applications and FAFSA in more detail.

All seniors should work on their 2023-2024 FAFSA application (US citizens or eligible non-citizens) or California Dream Act application (for undocumented students), both of which open in October, and whose priority deadline is March 2nd. This is how community colleges, trade schools, and four-year universities will know how much financial aid you will be able to receive. Yes, it is possible to submit the FAFSA past the application's priority deadline, but you are not guaranteed the same amount of free money that you could have received (so don't procrastinate!). Even if you are unsure about attending a college/university after high school, you should at least submit the FAFSA, to keep your options open. What if you change your mind?

To work on completing the FAFSA or CADAA application online, it is helpful if you already have the information that is listed on the attached guide:

Should you need assistance completing a university application, or to complete your FAFSA, you can go to the College & Career Center (Room 401) during the times that it is open.

In addition, should have have the time, you can also review Dr. Tehrani's 2022 College Workshops, that were presented to students in March of 2022. Click here to access a Google Folder that contains slides and a 1-hour video recording of the following workshops:

College Workshop #1: Degrees, Resources, & Dormitories

College Workshop #2: Costs, Financial Aid, & Scholarships

College Workshop #3: Internships, Safety, Study Abroad, & Jobs

Parents and Guardians: Please join us on Wednesday, November 30, at 8:45am for our 2nd official ELAC Meeting for the 2022-2023 school year. The meeting will take place in Room 413 (meeting location may change). We will have a Spanish interpreter at the meeting as well. ELAC (English Learner Advisory Committee) invites any parent or guardian, but we especially would like to see parents of students who are English Language Learners.

Please click here to be redirected to the ELAC website to learn more about the committee, and to find the agenda and/or minutes of meetings as well.

Please read the following information regarding the High School Yearbook. The current cost is $85, but that will increase after Winter Break. In addition, we also sell pages in the high school yearbook as well. The costs are listed on the attached flyer, posted below, that you can download. If you have any questions regarding the high school yearbook, please contact Ms. Lisa Jass, in Room 202. If you have questions regarding payments, please contact the ASB Office.

Bellflower Middle/High School's Family Resource Center is proud to host a series of weekly workshops, starting Thursday, October, 6th through Thursday, December 15th. Different topics will be covered each week by the organization Parent Education Bridge for Student Achievement Foundation. These workshops will occur every Thursday at 9am in Spanish on campus in the Buc Family Resource Center, and 6pm in English (virtually) via a Zoom link, which is emailed out to parents. See the attached fliers below for further dates and information.

We would like to invite all of our students to participate in College Wednesdays, by wearing their favorite college t-shirts and sweaters! We want to show our support for those that have a desire to go to college.

The following information is based upon the most recent K-12 Protocols. You may view the updated protocols on the BUSD website, along with additional resources relating to COVID, which include isolation and vaccine information.

The College & Career Center (Room 401) is here to assist students with college applications, scholarships, financial aid, resumes, work permits, and other college and career information. Office hours are Monday: 10am-1pm, and Tuesday-Friday: 8:30am-11:30am.

Need assistance? Students can contact Ms. Ochoa at alejandraochoa@s.busd.k12.ca.us

Parents! We want you to get involved! Our PTSA (Parent Teacher Student Association) has done an outstanding job on helping our students and staff in the past, and we want that positive relationship to grow!

SENIOR STUDENTS! Did you know that several PTSA groups in our community offer scholarships? But, you can only qualify to receive a PTSA scholarship if you are a member! So, join today!

Click here to be redirected to TOTEM, the website that our PTSA uses for online membership payments. Or, you can also go to the front office to pick up a membership envelope as well, if you prefer to pay with cash or check.

Thank you in advance for joining our Bellflower Middle/High School PTSA!

Instagram: @wearebellflower

YouTube: @wearebellflower

Email: bhsprincipal@busd.k12.ca.us
Website: www.bellflowerhigh.org
Location: 15301 McNab Avenue, Bellflower, CA, USA
Phone: 562-920-1801
Facebook: facebook.com/wearebellflower
Twitter: @wearebellflower