City College and EVMCHS Partnership Align Students to Earn College Units While in High School

East Village Middle College High School (EVMCHS) is San Diego’s best kept secret. Formerly known as San Diego Early/Middle College, EVMCHS is a small, middle college high school located on the campus of San Diego City College (SDCC). As part of the Middle College National Consortium, EVMCHS benefits from a unique partnership with SDCC. Eligible EVMCHS students are dual enrolled at the college, earning weighted college units while still in high school. This partnership provides students with a challenging, non-traditional high school experience in a college learning environment. 

“East Village Middle College High School gives its students a unique opportunity to earn their high school diploma and earn college units at the same time,” said Dr. Ricky Shabazz, president of San Diego City College. “And having EVMCHS on our campus, students have direct access to our comprehensive student support services, excellent faculty, and state-of-the-art facilities.” 

Once enrolled, EVMCHS students have the opportunity to earn in excess of 45+ college units at no cost, with all courses, books, materials, and fees paid for through specific state funding. These units fulfill high school graduation requirements, are directly transferable to all University and California State University systems, and afford students an extremely competitive academic résumé. As an atypical school of choice, EVMCHS is able to enroll students from all over San Diego County at any time during the school year. Total enrollment does not exceed 160 students, which helps our staff focus on the needs of individual learners. The average student to teacher ratio per class is roughly 20:1. EVMCHS leverages available resources and utilize the small school environment to provide eligible students with a distinct advantage in the financially and socially challenging world of higher education.

Kindergarteners, Cows, and STEAM Learning on the Farm!

Mrs. Husted and the Carson STEAM Magnet Kindergarten team brought inquiry to the farm. “Oma’s Farm was the perfect end to our STEAM Unit on living and non-living things,” Mrs. Husted explained. Kindergarteners spent their day learning about how we take care of dairy cows and about how their milk is shipped out to stores so that we can drink it to take care of our own bodies. “Every time I drink milk at school, I’m going to thank a cow and a farmer!” exclaimed Luxe. But students didn’t stop learning there. They got a chance to visit a pumpkin field and to learn how we grow, harvest, and prepare pumpkins. So much to discover on a farm!

Painting from the Inside Out!

“Listen to this wall, the world needs who you were meant to be.” Those are the words above the newest art installation created by students at Montgomery Middle STEAM Magnet. The exhibit is titled “Inside Out,” and refers to the way we as humans have an outer shell that protects and hides our inner workings. The imagery remind us of the many ways we are all the same. Our skeletons are not different colors. They do not operate or look differently depending on race. 

WE have so many things in common. The student’s artwork incorporates symbolism and icons that give deeper meaning to the subject matter. Flowers that surround and enlace themselves in the skeletal frames represent our personalities. The overlapping petals illustrate the parts of ourselves we are comfortable letting people see. The petals that recede to the background represent the aspects of ourselves that we don’t always reveal. 

On the inside we are all the same. Twenty-four ribs, two hundred thirty-one bones, thirty-three vertebrae and one heart!

Students visit Raytheon’s Innovation Lab

Raytheon is a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with military and commercial electronics, and a valued partner to San Diego Unified.

Have you ever wondered how Sonar navigation works? San Diego Unified Middle Schoolers can explain how!

Each year Raytheon hosts students from across the district to their Innovation Lab at their Kearny Mesa campus to learn directly from engineers while simulating real world scenarios.

The Innovation Lab is designed for 8th grade students to learn about engineering and participate in robotics experiments to promote the importance of STEM skills and opportunities for all. Students gain a unique perspective of how Raytheon is supporting humanitarian efforts around the globe. Students work together and utilize 21st century skills to manipulate code that allows a robot to navigate multiple scenarios.

During the 2019-2020 school year students from Wilson MS, Riley K-8, Mt. Everest Academy, Farb MS, Mann MS, Bethune K-8, Monroe Clark MS, and the Language Academy will be participating!

Shore Buddies: Changing the World One Stuffed Animal at a Time

Malte Niebelschütz, founder and CEO of Shore Buddies, a progressive company that creates stuffed animals out of recycled water bottles, is teaming up with SDUSD to raise awareness about human impact for students at an early age. 

Malte visited the STEAM first grade training to share his company’s story and goals. Shore Buddies mission is simple: “save marine life and keep plastics out of the oceans.” They’re inspiring children to help with stories that highlight the amount of single-use plastic items such as plastic straws that people use once and then throw away. Shore Buddies invites students to ask for paper, bamboo, or steel straws instead of plastic and to swap their toothbrushes from plastic to an eco-friendly bamboo brush.

Shore Buddies has created five stuffed animals to help remind students of the dangers plastic can cause in our oceans. If you would like to purchase Shelly the Sea Turtle, Emma the Whale, or find out more about Shore Buddies’ mission and process visit https://shore-buddies.com/.

Alumni Day

What can you learn from different generations? This is the essential question that Morse asked their student body as they kicked off their inaugural "Alumni Day." On October 23rd, instead of attending their regularly scheduled classes, Morse students got to experience something entirely innovative.

Seventy-six alumni returned to campus as guest speakers and conducted workshops discuss their life post Morse graduation. Weeks before the event students read about the alumni and their backgrounds and self-selected four workshops that they felt would be meaningful to them. On Alumni Day students picked up their lanyards with their schedules during 1st period and attending workshops during 2nd-5th periods. Finally, during 6th period they had a debrief with their teachers and discussed what they learned throughout the day.

When asked what they learned and what they enjoyed student responses showed that this was a truly meaningful experience. Students said:

• "Everyone was so engaging and shared their stories and it was overall an incredibly helpful day."
• "I learned the mistakes you make can be a lesson, and you can come back and be better at it."
• "I already know my potential but I think one thing I learned today is that if they can do it, then so can I...and maybe even 100 times better. I can achieve so much and make a bigger impact."
• "I learned that once a tiger, you are always a tiger."

The entire event was catered by Morse's very own Hungry Tiger that is a CCTE culinary pathway. Morse is grateful to each alumni that gave their time to give back to the community, especially Liki Porotesano who generated this idea as part of his fellowship project with RISE San Diego. It was a powerful day that Morse students will remember forever.

Discover Your Purpose

In 2018, Kearny High School created and piloted an Education to Employment Lab (E2E) for teachers and students to come together and reflect on the designing principles of agility, collaboration, connectedness, and transparency in order to develop agency in an environment that welcomes creativity and critical thinking. This lab was first featured by KUSI at that time, and is now moving onto an even larger stage. The curriculum will now receive global recognition through a partnership with Community Alliance for Youth Success (CAYS).

Recently, Kearny was presented with the opportunity to partner with New York Times best-selling author, Stedman Graham, and President of the Quantum Learning Network, Bobbi DePorter in order to share the work that they are doing on a broader scale. Stedman and Bobbi were at Kearny last week for a Youth Success Week (YSW) launch along with KUSI.

For this program, students gathered in the auditorium and shared with professionals the process they are going through to work on discovering their purpose--a concept that is difficult for many adults to articulate. However, Kearny students shined as they have been practicing these skills throughout the curriculum. At Kearny, student work culminates in mid-year interviews and end-of-year formal defenses of learning that showcase not only academic achievement but also personal learning successes and challenges. Through this model, students are able to discover their purpose and articulate their journey to their teachers in a way that builds trust and elevates learning.

Youth Success Week is a movement that brings communities together in support of youth as a part of Stedman and Bobbi's foundation: Community Alliance for Youth Success (CAYS). Curriculum writer Daina Weber wrote on her Facebook page: "Their vision is very similar to my reason for teaching: to empower students to discover their purpose in life." The free curriculum, available on the website, inspires youth to discover their purpose, explore their success, and engage with professionals through an annual celebration. For more information about this movement please visit youthsuccessweeek.org.

Kearny's annual celebration, “Success in Adulthood,” will take place in June as a professional development conference for students. At this event, industry professionals and alumni will present in classrooms as guest speakers, while students select workshops to attend that align with their purpose, strengths, interests, and values. This year, Kearny will be celebrating 5 years of this innovative approach to education with its 2020 conference.

CBS Innovate 8 Partners with STEAM Innovation

Kindergarten students from Lafayette Elementary School had a special opportunity to visit CBS News 8 Meteorologist Heather Myers for “Heather with the Weather” as an extension of their “Wild About Weather” STEAM project.

The CBS Innovate 8 program introduced students to Heather and her work as a meteorologist. In this interactive program, students got an inside look into how meteorologists help us prepare for the weather and got to be meteorologists and forecast the weather. Students learned how Heather gathers data from multiple satellites and weather stations. Heather shared the magic behind the scenes by showing how the green screen effects work and students got to experience what it’s like behind the camera.

This experience really resonated with the goals of the San Diego Unified STEAM Initiative which aims to prepare students for college, career, and life readiness and inspire them by sparking curiosity and career awareness at a young age.

Kindergarteners are Lucky to be in SDUSD!

Want to know what causes the weather? Ask a kindergarten student from Jones Elementary and you’ll find out. Meteorologist Jodi Kodesh visited Jones Elementary to kick off their Wild About Weather STEAM project. Kindergarteners will observe the weather throughout their school year and look for patterns in the data they collect. They may come to find patterns of the weather being cooler in the morning and warmer in the afternoon, and they’ll be sure to find that we are lucky to live in San Diego, where we have a mild climate and the weather is often sunny.

Not only are students in SDUSD lucky for living in a city with amazing weather, but they’re also lucky to have direct contact with weather scientist, Meteorologist Jodi Kodesh. Through her sponsorship with San Diego County Credit Union, she is able to visit two elementary schools a month to share her knowledge about the weather and the story that inspired her to become a meteorologist. Jodi will be visiting Clay Elementary and Sunset View Elementary in the month of November. If you’d like to follow Jodi and her activities around San Diego, connect with her via Facebook.com/JodiKodesh or Instagram.com/JodiKodesh. There, you can find her weather reports and you may even find out what causes the weather.

Kearny DMD STEM Stories (Continued from last week)

After completing their mock interviews last week, this week, 11th grade students from Kearny Digital Media and Design interviewed underrepresented STEM professionals in the Education to Employment Lab as the next step in their interdisciplinary project. 

In teams of 4-5, students gathered information for their biography by conducting personal interviews. Students and professionals engaged in meaningful conversations about their backgrounds and experiences, how they see themselves in the STEM field, who they admire, and what inspires them.

 Students said they valued this experience greatly as the personal interviews gave them an accurate picture of who their interviewee was; an experience that could only be achieved through hands-on learning. After this interaction, students feel confident accurately telling another's story through print media and written narrative. We will continue to follow this story at the production process continues.

From Small Beginnings

A labor of love is sprouting in the Emalyn Leppard Community Garden in Linda Vista! Supported by the San Diego River Park Foundation and the Forestry Dept., Montgomery Middle STEAM Magnet 6th graders planted acorns in their school garden to counteract a blight that is devastating our local oaks. The gold-spotted oak borer is an invasive pest contributing to the on-going oak tree mortality occurring in many areas of San Diego County. Isolated areas of infestation have been confirmed in Riverside, Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties in Southern California. The goal of this project is to raise saplings from seeds that will eventually be planted in the mountains of San Diego. Our entire 6th grade class is determined to help save our oaks from this dreaded pest! We will do this! Our 6th graders are determined and committed. “An Oak tree is a daily reminder that great things often have small beginnings.” ― Matshona Dhliwayo

Discover Your Passion

On October 4th, SDUSD’s CCTE Child Development pathway students attended a “Discover Your Passion” event hosted by San Diego Miramar College. The school’s Child Development program offers certificates and degrees to those interested in the field of Child Development and Early Childhood Education (ECE). By attending this event, high school students learned about the various career possibilities within the field of ECE as well as educational pathways to help students become qualified for future careers. 

High school students spent time interacting with Miramar students and faculty and were also able to experience what it is like to be a child development student at Miramar College. Students toured the on-campus child development center where college students complete field hours for their degrees by planning preschool curriculum, conducting observations of children, and implement their curriculum. Through this near-peer mentoring experience both groups of students grew academically and socially.

Click here to view a highlight video of the event.

32 CCTE Students Earn OSHA 10 Certification!

The Office of College, Career, and Technical Education partnered with a Business and Community Partner, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), to host a two day Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) certification training for SDUSD students. 

Upon completion of the 10 hour training workshop, CCTE Building and Construction students from Twain and the Hoover SABE academy will receive a lifelong certification. These students will then have the ability to access construction job sites, and have an advantage when entering the workforce. Way to go students!

WD-40 Company Tour

On Wednesday, October 9th students from Clairemont’s Academy of Business were given the unique opportunity to tour WD-40’s corporate offices in the Scripps Ranch Business Park. In addition to a tour of various departments, students interacted with a panel of employees from the legal, supply chain, and marketing departments. 

 Employees talked about the 6 core values of the company with the first being: “We value doing the right thing." Employees emphasized the terrific family-like environment that they work in. 

WD-40 employs 130 people in San Diego and has 500 employees globally. They sell their products into 176 countries and have plants in Missouri that can fill 300 cans per minute with automation. They also are proud supporters of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by not using cancer causing agents in their products. They specifically focus on goal #3 Good Health and Well-Being, and goal #12 Responsible Consumption and Production.

Back to School Night is a Community Event!

As a writer, I am curious. I wonder what will I write on my next page,” said Kelleigh, a Carson STEAM Magnet fourth grader. At Back-to-School Night on October 9th, third and fourth graders in Mrs. Oakes Brooks class shared personal narratives with their families. Kelleigh had written about the arrival of her new baby sister--she knew right down to the minute how old her new sister was!

While classrooms buzzed with students, families, and teachers connecting over their shared STEAM learning goals for the year, the playground was alive with booths and activities hosted by some of our Carson STEAM Magnet partners: Montgomery STEAM Magnet Middle School, Treobytes, Food Corps, Bayside Community Center, Office Depot, SDUSD Food & Nutrition Services, and the SD County Health & Human Services Department.


We are grateful for the support of our newest partner, our Mission Valley Office Depot branch, who’s customers donated $1,600 in school supplies to our students through a back-to-school supply drive this September!

E2E Incubator Round Two Microgrant Recipients

The Jacobs Institute for Innovation in Education (JI) is proud to announce Round 2 microgrant funding of eight STEAM-based projects that are a collaboration between USD faculty and students and San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) teachers and students at the E2E Incubator at Kearny High School. As a part of USD's Envision 2024 Strategic Investment Fund, the JI is funding two rounds of microgrants for collaborative projects between USD students/faculty and SDUSD students/teachers that utilize the innovative E2E Incubator space. 

After a competitive application process, eight projects taking place during June through December 2019 were selected for the second round of microgrant funding (up to $3,500 awarded per project). The winning project titles are below.

• Technology: Developing Your Superpower, Shirley Miranda (Kearny High School)
• Conservation Collaborative, Janel Ortiz and Maisy Feeley (USD)
• Success in Adulthood 4.0, Candice Fee (SDUSD Youth Advocacy)
• Building a STEM Foundation One Block at a Time, Laura Gingras (Marie Curie Elementary)
• Marie Curie Elementary Family Science Nights, Rachel Duron (Marie Curie Elementary)
• STEAM and Maker Lab, Shira Maltz + Amber Redmerski (Jonas Salk Elementary)
• Kindergarten Interactive Playground Music Wall, Janelle Rusch (Silver Gate Elementary)
• Ocean Pollution Solutions - Do you know where your plastic is?, Angela Hummel and Elizabeth Lonnecker (Hoover High School) + Hoover HS students

Ambitious Science Teachers

San Diego Unified District science, STEAM, and special education resource teachers and Program Managers from the Instructional Innovations and STEAM Innovations offices attended the Region 9 Science Community of Practice, a convening of educators in the San Diego, Orange and Imperial counties, for the first of a series of meetings to plan actions that encourage educators to question: “What kinds of talk, tasks, and tools do students need in order to fully engage in meaningful forms of science learning?”

According to Ambitious Science Teaching, written by Mark Windschitl, Jessica Thompson, and Melissa Braaten:

“Ambitious teaching is supported by four sets of core practices that work together throughout every unit of study. These practices start with designing units of instruction (Planning for engagement with important science ideas); they then focus on making visible what students currently know about the science being taught (Eliciting students’ ideas); they help the teacher guide sense-making talk around investigations and other kinds of lab activities or readings (Supporting on-going changes in thinking); and finally they help the teacher scaffold students’ efforts to put everything together near the end of a unit (Pressing for evidence-based explanations).” (Source: https://ambitiousscienceteaching.org)

San Diego Unified took away helpful tools and resources that they hope to share with their science, STEAM and special education teachers in order to engage students in more meaningful discourse and get teachers excited to be more ambitious facilitators of science instruction.


“Ambition is enthusiasm with a purpose” – Frank Tyger, Editorial Cartoonist

Visit Tacos ¡Libertad! during the month of October to support our students!

The League of Extraordinary Scientists and Engineers (LXS) have partnered with the J.Craig Venter Institute, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Birch Aquarium to bring students from Encanto ES, Jefferson ES, Johnson ES, Washington ES, and Webster ES to visit the La Jolla Tide pools between November 2019 and February 2020.

The King Tide Experience will allow students to explore tide pools alongside oceanographers, microbiologists, and other scientists. Students will collect a test tube of ocean water to examine in the J.Craig Venter Mobile lab under high powered microscopes!

¡Tacos Libertad! is generously donating all profits during the month of October to support the costs of transportation for our students to participate in the King Tide Experience this year for FREE!

Please stop by Tacos ¡Libertad! (1023 University Ave. San Diego, CA 92103) during the month of October to enjoy delicious tacos and support our students! No coupon or flyer is needed.

Rockin' Science

Rockin' Science kicked off this week as second grade students engaged in learning about oil spills and ways to engineer solutions that address cleaning up pollution in our oceans. They began the investigation by examining different materials that might be used to remove oil from the surface of water. After several attempts, students determined which materials were most effective at cleaning up the simulated oil spill. A discussion about the effectiveness of each solution followed the experiments. The goal of the activity was to teach students the importance of testing claims and seeking solutions that can make a difference in real world issues. 

Rockin' Science is a program that has been offered at the school for over 4 years. The program teaches students to employ the scientific method when addressing problem solving while learning the principles of science. Rockin'
Science is the creation of Dr. Marian Plunkett, a cancer researcher, and Savi Madan, a biochemist. Both volunteer their time to support science inquiry at Linda Vista STEAM Magnet School.

The Best Part of Me

Ms. Mejia’s class started the year by acknowledging what they perceive to be the best part of themselves. Millennial Tech’s eighth grade English Language Arts (ELA) teacher continues to make learning meaningful by giving fun assignments that directly connect to students. The Best Part of Me assignment gave students the opportunity to practice claims, evidence, and reasoning (CER). Students were charged to write a paragraph using CER to describe best part of themselves and provide a visual representation. The display of this assignment is a daily reminder to students that each and every one of them is great.

Facing History and Making Connections to Today

If you walked into the Facing History workshop, filled with History and Social Science Teachers from middle and high schools around the district, it would definitely NOT be quiet! Teachers were busy talking about how best to teach the Holocaust by reading primary source documents, examining photos, and making interactive posters. Facilitators from Facing History, Facing Ourselves shared texts and strategies for not only learning about the past, but for students to learn about themselves and their own identity. It was evident from the buzz in the room that these teachers were passionate about the topic and how best to teach it to their students. There is no doubt that the same buzz will fill many History Social Science classrooms in the weeks to come!

High School Math Teachers Get Innovative!

High school math teachers from across the district came together to learn all about the awesome new changes happening in SDUSD classes. Teachers reformatted outdated tests, learned about Illustrative Mathematics and the San Diego Enhanced Math pilot, and had a chance to dig deep into Canvas – the latest and highly innovative Learning Management System that is widely used at universities. These teachers are off to a fantastic start in supporting the learning of each and every student in their classrooms, and we can’t wait to see what amazing shifts they make!

Using Camera Angles to Analyze a Story

Building and refining skills for literacy analysis and preparing students with academic language is a common goal among English Language Arts teachers. The process to achieve that goal will vary among teachers and classroom environments. 

Students in Sarah Murray’s 9th grade English class at the Kearny School of Digital Media and Design have taken an interdisciplinary approach to this concept and are using a short story to make decisions about camera angles based upon the analysis of what a particular scene portrays. As a culminating task, they worked as a group to build their claim for the camera angles and presented their findings to the class. Through this learning they are increasing their literacy skills while building context and understanding for this year’s digital media project entitled "Seeds of Sustainability" with Strategic Energy Innovations. 

This unit of study not only refined their skills for literary analysis, but it also prepared them to make intentional decisions based on audience and purpose. This is just one example of ways that the Kearny teachers integrate student experience to align and build skills across content area.

VAPA Department Holds 4th Annual Elementary Liaison Day

VAPA Liaisons from elementary schools all over San Diego Unified gathered in Balboa Park on September 19th for a powerful day of learning about the arts. Each VAPA Liaison was selected by their principal to receive all VAPA Department communications and communicate the information to their site staff, as well as benefit from this annual VAPA professional development day. (If you are interested in becoming the VAPA Liaison at your school, please talk to your principal.)

During this year's VAPA Liaison Day, the VAPA Liaisons (most of whom are classroom teachers) gained new insights as to how arts education effectively transforms the lives of students. First, the VAPA Department presented a district arts informational session, held in the Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA). Topics included arts programs offered to elementary schools, district initiatives like “Unified Sings” and the “One Book, One VAPA” book club with Becky Bellingham, and general tips for advocacy.

Next, the Liaisons walked down to the Museum of Art (SDMArt) to meet with San Diego County VAPA Coordinator Pauline Crooks. In the SDMArt theater, arts organizations from around the county were set up at tables. During this “AERO Fair” (AERO is the Arts Education Resource Organization, a collective of arts organizations managed by the County Office of Education), VAPA Liaisons had the opportunity to engage with arts organizations of their choice. Then, Liaisons were grouped by neighborhoods to discuss the arts offerings in their cluster and strategize for expanding opportunities.

After lunch, breakout sessions allowed attendees to engage in professional development workshops. Liaisons could choose from sessions on connecting the community, singing in your classroom (arts integration), funding resources, and using the arts for self-care and mindfulness. While the VAPA Liaisons may have learned tools to use in their classrooms immediately, they are also responsible for sharing their learning with their colleagues.

Thank you to the community arts education partners that supported this event:
• Arts for Learning San Diego
• Guitars in the Classroom
• Museum of Photographic Arts
• San Diego Museum of Art
• Arts Education Resource Organization
• San Diego County Office of Education

Bridges Across Borders: 9th Grade Experiences

9th grade students in Bridges Across Borders, a new educational pathway at San Diego High School, have been getting out and about. 

With the support of the Center for U.S.-Mexican Students at the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy, students attended the “Diplomacy Begins Here Regional Summit” where they discussed binational and cross border issues, solutions, and ideas. 

Students were also provided the opportunity to travel to the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve. The reserve is Southern California's largest coastal wetland, encompassing Border Field State Park and the Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge. This trip was the kickoff to their project-based learning project that focuses on understanding energy, water, and cross-border shared resources. Former State Senator Denise Ducheny, a major supporter of the Bridges Across Borders pathway, greeted the students and shared how the governments of US, Mexico, California, and SD County work together in the border region. Students then broke off to learn about the history of the region and the natural environment in the reserve. 

This is just the beginning for 9th graders in the Bridges Across Borders pathway at San Diego High School. It’s exciting to think about the impact these experiences will have on this class of 9th graders this year and what impact they will have on cross-border issues and more in the coming years.

Kearny DMD 11th Grade STEM Stories

As educators, empirical research shows us that individuals who are a part of underrepresented populations and have a mentor of similar gender/ethnic background tend to seek higher level education in STEM fields, which then allows for access to higher level STEM jobs. Therefore, Kearny Digital Media and Design teachers in the 11th grade decided to develop a project to provide their students with opportunities to develop relationships with women and other minorities in STEM with the hopes that they will ultimately be more apt to consider STEM careers.

The interdisciplinary project entitled: “STEM Stories: The Power of the Influencer” is designed for student teams to learn about and share the stories of underrepresented populations in STEM professions. Students will use this information to create a Literary Science Symposium, targeting the Linda Vista Community, in which they will showcase interdisciplinary pieces that incorporate science, art (poetry, multimedia) and history products. Each biography will profile one individual from an underrepresented group in the field of STEM through video and print media. The content will feature his or her inspiration and motivation to work in STEM and his or her struggles and/or the highlights of being part of an underrepresented group in a STEM profession.

During the week of October 14th, STEM professionals from around San Diego will come to the Kearny Education to Employment Lab to be interviewed by the 11th grade student teams. Students prepared for their interviews by doing “Mock Interviews” where they practiced interviewing techniques such creating followup questions, rephrasing questions, body language, and maintaining eye contact. We are very excited to see what our amazing student produce! More to come...!

STEAMing Up Curriculum: Creating Career Awareness in Kindergarten

When you were 5, what did you want to be when you grew up?

STEAM Architects, Lacy Szuwalski and Zoë Randall, asked participants at the Regional Work-Based Learning Summit to channel their five-year-old self as they briefed attendees on the STEAM curriculum pilot. Participants learned about the STEAM curriculum kindergarteners and first graders are engaging with in SDUSD.

The Regional WBL Summit brought educators from all backgrounds together to think about preparing students for their life after school. Szuwalski and Randall presented the work they’re doing to create career awareness in kindergarten.

Through the STEAM curriculum, students are engaging with professionals such as meteorologists, zookeepers, and health nutritionists. Jodi Kodesh, voted San Diego’s Best Meteorologist by the Union Tribune, engages with kindergarteners through a platform called Flipgrid. Kindergarteners send their questions about weather and weather forecasting and a week later they have a response from a professional meteorologist.

Opportunities to connect with professionals outside of the school environment opens students’ minds to possibilities for their future. The world of work for our future kindergartners is unknown. What is known is that they will have a multitude of ideas for what they can do and that they are being inspired to dream big!

Students Mentored by Northrop Grumman

Congratulations to the four students from Hoover High School that have been selected to participate in year one of the Northrop Grumman High School Involvement Partnership (HIP) mentoring program. Northrop Grumman believes in inspiring and preparing high school students to pursue STEM pathways and supporting their development to become innovative leaders. Northrop Grumman hopes to accomplish these goals through webinars, facility visits, and collaboration with mentors.

Education to Employment at Kearny High School

Every 10th grade student at the Kearny High Educational Complex experienced their first workshop in the Educational to Employment Lab (E2E) on their campus. Students signed up and used their College Board accounts to explore possible careers related to their interests and passions. 

Through this process, they were able to explore salaries and education levels needed to obtain careers that were a match. This process showed students the educational journey they can take from high school diploma to masters degree and beyond.

Students also learned that the PSAT they will take on October 16th can be the first step in their educational journey that leads to a rewarding career. The E2E curriculum will be delivered monthly and is aimed at inspiring and preparing students for college AND career after high school!

Engineer your Future

On October 1st, 140 students from Morse, San Diego High, Lincoln and Twain attended an “Engineer Your Future” event at Biocom Headquarters in La Jolla, sponsored by the School of Innovation CCTE and STEAM teams.

The purpose of the event was to create awareness of engineering related careers and introduce students to the Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (SEAP), which offers an opportunity for high school students to participate in paid internship during the summer of 2020 while conducting research at the Department of Navy laboratory during the summer.

Students experienced several informative workshops as well as hands-on activities lead by NAVWAR engineers, including designing a Virtual Reality experience for the classroom and designing a new innovative backpack for the night hours.

All Students are encouraged to apply for these internships by starting a new application here, http://seap.asee.org/apply. Visit seap.asee.org for more information.

PB Middle Launches into Project S.A.V.E.

A personal tour of the USS Midway?! Pacific Beach Middle School 8th graders will experience that and much more this year through their participation in Project S.A.V.E. (Serve and Volunteer Everyday). 

USS Midway Volunteers kicked off the project at PB Middle by explaining the history of the Midway and the significant role volunteers play in sharing the story of the USS Midway everyday with visitors from all over the world. PB Middle teachers explained how through the partnership, students would have the opportunity to honor the service of the USS Midway Museum Volunteers by creating posters and a book to highlight their stories of service. 

Students can’t wait for their first visit to the USS Midway in October.

Kearny Digital Media and Design Captures Taft Garden Installation

On Thursday, September 26th, seniors from Kearny Digital Media and Design filmed the Taft student collaboration with volunteers from Brummitt Energy Associates and the San Diego Green Building Council in a Green Apple Day of Service. Approximately 40 6-8 graders were matched with 10 volunteers to pull weeds from the existing garden, fill a vertical garden wall in the lunch area with strawberries, lettuce, herbs, and more, and prepare a raised garden in one of the open spaces on campus--all in an effort to build community and engage Taft students in campus beautification. The Kearny students captured the experience on film, interviewing students and volunteers, and will eventually create a documentary that tells the story of this year’s Taft garden project.