Staff Spotlight: Andreanna Murphy- CCTE Head Counselor

Hello! My name is Andreanna Murphy and I am a Head Counselor with the CCTE department. I am excited to be working with your students this school year as they explore the many post-secondary options available to them. Did you know that many of our middle schools & high schools offer pathway themed courses that align with the most in-demand career sectors in our county? Did you know that your high school student can earn college credit from the San Diego Community College District while in high school? Please follow me on twitter at: @CcteMrs as I post weekly lots of student opportunities, ranging from scholarships, career searches, college virtual visits, student internship opportunities & more! You can also reach me at amurphy@sandi.net if you have questions or student opportunities you would like me to share with our SDUSD community.

CCTE Biotechnology Students at Mira Mesa High School Participate in Online Internship Interviews

The students in Lisa Yoneda's CCTE Biotechnology class at Mira Mesa H.S. will be moving their internship interviews online this year. All students in the biotechnology classes take part each year in an internship with ScienceBridge. As part of that process, the students interview with industry members for specific teams within the internship such as lab managers, customer service, solutions and aliquots, and quality assurance. Through this experience, each student gets a real interview experience while applying to be part of a year-long internship team or team manager. Although limited this year on what team activities each internship group will be able to do, typically they then run a non-profit laboratory kit business. This year students will still participate in some of these internship activities starting with interviews with biotechnology industry members through zoom

VAPA Holds Visual Art Supply Drive

In order to ensure students’ access to visual art across the district during distance learning, the VAPA Department and the VAPA Foundation have partnered to co-host an art supply drive to benefit students of SDUSD. Teachers across the district are invited to submit a request for art supplies (materials will be distributed equitably based on need and available resources).

An in-person drop-off of visual art supplies was held at Madison High School on Saturday, October 3. Supporters may still donate to the VAPA Foundation at https://vapafoundation.org/ or purchase requested items from the Amazon Wish List at https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2VC5UXTNDNYKU

Food Kits for Culinary!

In a pilot to be replicated at all the schools with culinary programs, Hoover's Chef Tina Luu began distributing food kits for culinary students to experience food labs at home. CCTE provided the food items and Chef Luu prepared the items for distribution. Following COVID-19 guidelines, the food kits weredistributed to students. The food provided is aligned with the curriculum of the Culinary Arts and Management course. Chef Luu is already providing the video content for students to create their own dishes.

With the pilot's success, CCTE and the culinary teachers will be providing students essential kitchen tools as well as the food kits to make sure the online experience students have is as hands on as possible. We are working with SDUSD's Food Services to make the distribution as smooth as possible. Congrats to Chef Luu!

Change Your Community, Change the World - Climate Action Competition

During the summer, San Diego Unified partnered with the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA) to encourage students to identify ways they are changing their local community’s response to climate change. We asked students to share their ideas to prevent the changing rain patters, forest fires, rising seas, and other consequences of the changing climate.

Participation in this competition gave students from all grade levels an opportunity to have their voices heard and to empower others to make change. The winners of the competition earned $500 gift cards from NSLA and received letters of recognition from Representative Scott Peters. The TK-5 winners were from Girl Scout Troop 4343 representing Tierrasanta Elementary. The eight students joined together to produce the video "No Matter our Size, We Can Still Combat Climate Change." We are very proud of Blair B., Grace M., Ava B., Emilia M., Julia M., Emma P., Grace B., Eva B., and Madison B. Olivia Murphy from de Portola Middle School won the Middle School Competition with her video, "Keep Our Beaches Clean". She demonstrated what one individual can do to limit the impacts of climate change and influence others to take action. Daphnie Tseng won the High School Competition with the video, "Our Earth," promoting recycling and sustainable practices. Tatum Buffington’s video: "You Can Be the Change," was the runner up for grades 9-12. Daphnie and Tatum are students from La Jolla High School. San Diego Unified is very proud to have a community of "Changemakers!"