The Celebration Corner will be used to highlight and celebrate our students, staff, and positive ideas at any opportunity that we can! If you would like your student acknowledged for something we may not be aware of, please feel free to contact me (include a picture if possible): alexander.salazar-arbelaez@sweetwaterschools.org

Take a couple of minutes to celebrate our winning team of students and staff at BVM! You won't regret taking the time to read the following section!

On May 6, Laurie Mansfield competed in a solo color guard competition sponsored by West Coast Winter Guard at Eastlake High School. She earned 1st place (she was the only middle school student). Yet, she scored the 3rd highest out of 60 high school performances, and they announced that she attends Bonita Vista Middle School. Big kudos to Laurie Mansfield for representing our school! At BVM our students thrive!!! Let's Go!!!

This past week, we started off our student celebrations by recognizing all of our Spring Sports Student Athletes! On Wednesday, May 17th, students were honored and recognized by our Athletic Director Coach Quijas. Our Spring Sports featured 8th Grade Girls Volleyball, 7th Grade Girls Volleyball, Boys Volleyball, Girls Track, Boys Track, Field Hockey, and Coed Flag Football (Girls Flag Football will become a CIF sport next year in High School). All student-athletes were treated to catered tacos, chips and salsa, and some horchata! Students also received a certificate of participation while certain students were recognized for their individual performances. Our Coed Flag Football Team was recognized for winning the 2023 Mesa League Championship! Students posed for pictures that you can see below.

7th Graders, make sure to become involved in a sport of your choice for next year. Please see Coach Quijas if you are interested!

Each year we have the opportunity to recognize students who have excelled in our AVID Program. This year the following students were our award winners: David Contreras Curiel, Ximena Martin, and Sergio Robles! Thank you for representing BVM!

Last Friday, Parents were treated to presentations about the impact of scientific development and design and engineering projects from their Dual Language Immersion classes. Although this year the conferences were voluntary, next year we will require all students in our Dual Immersion Program to participate. We want to thank all of our students and families that participated:

Hailey Nelson

Shilah Coco

Nicholas Ornelas

Landon Gonzalez

Adriana Calderon

Bobbie Bonilla

Brooklyn Bennett

Noah James

Elias de Anda

Lauren Williams

Thank you for representing BVM!

This year our awesome ASB Students teamed up with our neighbor school Rancho Del Rey and took their annual trip to Disneyland! Thank you ASB for always putting on quality student events that always include all students! In case you forgot, one of the most recent events that our awesome ASB put on was the Spring Dance!

This week, our ASB is excited to host our 8th Grade Awards Ceremony this Wednesday, May 24th beginning at 5 pm in our School Cafeteria!

The one time a year that Ms. Funk makes an exception to the no food in the library rule is when she treats her awesome Library Club to an end-of-the-year celebration Pizza Party! Having toddlers at home, I couldn't help but think of Adam Rubin's "Secret Pizza Party" but this was no secret! Thank you to our awesome library club who are always promoting literacy and to Ms. Funk for being such an awesome librarian!

Last week, Mr. Dougherty, our International Baccalaureate Coordinator paid a visit to Hazel Cook Elementary to check out the 6th Grader's put on IB Student-Led-Presentations! We had a chance to see the quality of research and presentation skills that were on full display at Hazel Cook Elementary! Principal, Ms. Garza, spoke to us about how IB is part of their every day at Hazel Cook Elementary!

Mr. Dougherty also presented our 4-year implementation plan to our staff this week at our last faculty meeting for the 22-23 academic school year. Next year, we will continue to send staff members to training and we will also launch 5 IB units in various classes. All 8th graders will be exposed to the IB curriculum as we begin to lay down the infrastructure to become an International Baccalaureate School by the 25-26 Academic School Year. Thank you Mr. Dougherty and to all of our staff for your willingness to engage in this endeavor!

May is Asian Pacific Heritage Month. Efforts in Congress to celebrate the contributions of Asian Pacific Americans began in 1977 but in 1992 President George H. W. Bush formally designated May as the month to publicly recognized the efforts and contributions of Asian Pacific Americans to America. One Filipino whose contributions to organized labor groups have often been shadowed by the great Cesar Chavez is Larry Itliong who immigrated to the United States in 1929 and at the age of 15, he began as a laborer up and down the west coast. His efforts to gain higher wages began in 1930 when he joined the striking lettuce pickers in Washington. This began decades of working as a labor organizer and eventually formed the Filipino Farm Labor Union in 1956. In 1965, along with his union members, Itliong organized the Delano Grape Strike where 1,500 Filipino grape-pickers walked out and demanded higher wages and improved working conditions.

This was the initial grassroots movement that compelled Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez of the National Farm Workers Association to join Itliong which led the two union groups to form the United Farm Workers. In 1970, the strike that began with Itliong ended 1970; this led to the first efforts to improve agricultural practices regardless of race; this included higher wages, clinics, daycare, medical plans for workers, and a school for their children. Yes, it took that long! Falcons, as you finish out the year, it is important to look at efforts by Itliong, Huerta, and Chavez and learn from how they persevered and fought for a better life. As we finish out the year, let's remind our students to not give up. Use the perseverance and persistence of the work of Itliong, Huerta, and Chavez to demonstrate how they stayed the course to see their goals through the hardships they endured. Itliong was our students' ages when he began working the fields in the San Joaquin Valley of California. He saw injustice and sought to seek solutions to make life better for his fellow farm workers. The strike alone continued for five years. Let's remind our students to never give up when they are experiencing helplessness in their situations. Teach them to stay in the fight and stay the course. That is where you and I became mentally strong. Let's teach our students to do just that.

This month, we celebrate the enduring heritage of Jewish Americans, whose values, culture, and contributions have shaped our character as a Nation. For generations, the story of the Jewish people — one of resilience, faith, and hope in the face of adversity, prejudice, and persecution — has been woven into the fabric of our Nation’s story. It has driven us forward in our ongoing march for justice, equality, and freedom as we recommit to upholding the principles of our Nation’s founding and realizing the promise of America for all Americans.

For centuries, Jewish refugees fleeing oppression and discrimination abroad have sailed to our shores in search of sanctuary. Early on, they fought for religious freedom, helping define one of the bedrock principles upon which America was built. Union soldiers celebrated Passover in the midst of the Civil War. Jewish suffragists fought to expand freedom and justice. And Jewish faith leaders linked arms with giants of the Civil Rights Movement to demand equal rights for all.

Jewish Americans continue to enrich every part of American life as educators and entrepreneurs, athletes and artists, scientists and entertainers, public officials and activists, labor and community leaders, diplomats and military service members, public health heroes, and more. Last year, I was proud to host the White House’s first-ever Jewish New Year reception. During our Hanukkah celebration, I was also proud to unveil the first-ever permanent menorah at the White House — reinforcing the permanency of Jewish culture in America. In my own life, the Jewish community has been a tremendous source of friendship, guidance, and strength through seasons of pain and seasons of joy.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AeZjD2aRaESF_5QEcYxDDE42jK5hDcdp0lgTISqOLCA/edit?usp=sharing

BVM Community,

Good morning BVM Community! We are down to our last 9 Days of the School Year! Tomorrow, May 23, and Wednesday, May 24th we will be kicking off our End of Course Exams for all of our 8th-grade students. If there ever was a time to Be Present, Be Positive, and Be Persistent --now is the time! Please make sure to review the link below with your students and let us know if you have any questions! Let's finish strong BVM!

Please, please make sure to click on the following link:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AeZjD2aRaESF_5QEcYxDDE42jK5hDcdp0lgTISqOLCA/edit?usp=sharing

The 8th-grade promotion is right around the corner--May 31st at 3:30 pm and 5:30 pm at Bonita Vista High School. You should have received a save-the-date flyer via Jupiter Grades announcing our 8th-grade promotion. Students with last names A-L will promote at 3:30 pm, while students with last names M-Z will promote at 5:30 pm. As of now, there have been no changes to the participation requirement. Remember 8th graders, you will have to pass all of your classes this semester to participate in 8th-grade graduation. To clarify, passing all of your classes means earning either an A, B, C, or D in all of your 6 classes this semester.

Lastly, please remember to review the 4 Essential Rules at Bonita Vista Middle School that allow us to not only promote our safety on campus, but it allows us to ensure that our students are fully present and ready to learn:

1. No Cell Phones on Campus: We ask that all students placed their cell phones in their backpacks once they are at school and on our campus. We not only enforce this rule during class time but especially during nutrition breaks and lunchtime. We want our students to interact with each other as much as possible as opposed to being on their screens/phones.

2. No IPAD Misuse: Every student is issued an IPAD for educational purposes only. We ask students to use their devices strictly as implements of learning.

3. No Earbuds: Similar to our cell phone rule, we ask that once students are at school and on our campus, they place their earbuds in their backpacks. We have noticed that students are less distracted in class and engage more with each other when they are not using earbuds.

4. No Hoodie (worn on head): Students can wear hooded sweatshirts but in order to be able to identify our students at all times, we ask students not to wear their hoods over their heads. This rule is in place for student safety. Should a non-student sneak onto our campus, we would want to identify them immediately. Also, we need to ensure during class and outside of class that students do not have their earbuds. We prioritize making sure that students are paying attention in class and our fully engaged with each other at all times.

If you ever need to report a disciplinary or safety concern, please make sure to report any and all concerns to our administrative team. Our assistant principal, Mr. Robert Bonilla roberto.bonilla@sweetwaterschools.org oversees students with last names between A-L and Ms. Estephany Conlon Estephany.conlon@sweetwaterschools.org oversees all students between M-Z. Please visit this link to contact any other staff you wish to communicate with: https://bvm.sweetwaterschools.org/staff-directory-2/.

Thank you

Dr. Salazar

At BVM we have made it easy by allowing parents to clear attendance using the following link: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScNUTCCLYdAXHyCVPQqoWHDBmBIfFJsVKOhFfB1ep0Qm5iKXg/viewform

You have access to your student's attendance through Infinite Campus. Please log in and check your student's attendance. We have a number of students with uncleared absences. After a time period, those absences roll over into Absent Unexcused (red). When students are marked absent you receive a call at the end of the day to inform you.

Thank you. Have a good day.

Ms. Ugarte

Please click on the following link to view this week's Week-at-a-Glance:

Below you will find valuable information about our school!

The Sweetwater Union High School District will hold its 7th Annual Solar Sprint Competition on Saturday, May 27 at Otay Ranch High School. This is a program that promotes science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM). Students work in teams to design, build and test solar-powered model cars. A car race is the culmination of the student’s work. At the competition, students race their solar-powered inventions against other teams for the fastest, more reliable, and good-looking car titles!

If you are interested in participating stop by room IA1 and let Mrs. Velosa know.