SAN DIEGO ASSOCIATION OF BLACK JOURNALISTS (SDABJ) SCHOLARSHIP

SAN DIEGO ASSOCIATION OF BLACK JOURNALISTS (SDABJ Scholarship) Deadline : March 31, 2021 https://sdabj.org/archives/3753 In the 21 years since SDABJ was formed we have disbursed over $60,000 in scholarships to deserving students with ties to the San Diego community. Students with qualifying transcripts and a body of work that indicates a high level of interest in journalism will be considered for scholarships ranging from $300 to $1500. The application deadline is Wednesday March 31, 2021.

VAPA Honor Theater Project Returns!

 

SDUSD VAPA Honor Theatre Project is making a comeback after a multi-year hiatus. This project brings together high school theatre students from across the district to create a unique piece of theatre. In an example of the partnership between VAPA and CCTE, 30+ theatre and technical theatre students from Hoover, La Jolla, Mira Mesa, Morse, Patrick Henry, Point Loma, SDSCPA, Scripps Ranch, and University City are working on creating a devised piece of theatre.

Devised theatre is created entirely by the students. The writing and technical elements are all student driven and will be completed entirely on Zoom. This "Zoom Theatre" format is new in this Covid-19 era and these students are on the cutting edge of exploring all theatre can be in this environment. This project is also providing an opportunity for students to connect with their craft, meet new people, and build community in our virtual world.

This work is being led by teaching artist Joshua Streeter, professor at James Madison University, who specializes in educational and devised theatre. Much of the work is explored through a social justice lens, allowing students to understand and express what is important to them in these difficult times. Partnerships with La Jolla Playhouse and San Diego State University make this student opportunity even more valuable. La Jolla Playhouse is providing panel discussions with expert technical theatre professionals. SDSU is matching technical theatre students with SDSU mentors to help guide their creative process. Additional support is being provided by Stephanie Steiner (CTE Technical Theatre Teacher, SDSCPA), Patrick Garcia (Theatre Teacher, SRHS), Ethan Morgan (VAPA Facilities Manager) and Marjorie Treger (Theatre Resource Teacher). This project is partially funded by the VAPA Foundation.

Work on the project continues through mid-March, at which time it is hoped to have a virtual "drive-in movie" premier. The final piece will be edited together and available on a streaming platform. Stay tuned for more details. Questions? Contact Marjorie Treger at mtreger1@sandi.net. #theartsaretheanswer #transforminglives

The VAPA Foundation Announces 2020 VAPA Enhancement Program Recipients

Nineteen San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) teachers will receive awards to underwrite Visual And Performing Arts (VAPA)-related activities and purchases funded by the VAPA Foundation’s 2020-2021 VAPA Enhancement Program. The VAPA Enhancement Program, or VEP, enables any San Diego Unified teacher to apply for funds to enhance the quality of and access to arts education in the classroom or school. The VAPA Foundation funds arts enhancements not covered by a school’s budget. This year, the VAPA Enhancement Program will fund artist residencies in dance, theatre, and music. Funding for arts equipment includes MIDI keyboards, ukuleles, and clarinets. Each successful applicant linked the request to ongoing curriculum goals. Requests for funding ranged from $400 to $2,500. For example, Mission Bay High School teacher Jean-Paul Balmat received a $2,500 award to purchase USB microphones that will allow students to produce quality solo recordings and “virtual ensemble” performances. His students will learn fundamental skills including microphone placement, audio input setup, acoustic problems, and utilize sound engineering apps like GarageBand or Audacity. Workshops over Zoom will connect these students into the professional world of audio engineering with a focus on current music industry needs, while giving these students the opportunity to create original music they can share with their community. Michael Camacho, Executive Director of the VAPA Foundation, is “excited to see applications with greater emphasis in meeting California Arts Standards for students and the unique partnerships with local arts and culture organizations including Guitars in the Classroom, Arts for Learning, The Rosin Box Project, Ballet Folklorico en Aztlan, San Diego Creative Arts Project, and Transcendance.” “Students spanning elementary, middle and high school throughout the district will directly benefit from VEP projects with additional impact expected to school communities through culminating student performances, art exhibitions and participation in state and national festivals. Plus, there is reach that extends to future years with the purchase of new equipment," added Camacho. This year, the VAPA Foundation has awarded a total of more than $26,000 and nearly $100,000 in VEP awards since its inception in 2017. This funding was made possible in part by a sponsorship from UC San Diego. In addition, donors from the community have recognized the link in-depth arts learning has on gains in school attendance, graduation rates, college readiness, civic pride and cultural awareness.  

To view the list of awardees, please visit https://sites.google.com/sandi.net/vapanews/12121 

WACAC’s Annual College Fairs - Starting March 3, 2021

WACAC’s Annual College Fairs provides students with the opportunity to meet representatives from colleges and universities from all over the country and beyond. We are excited to announce that Western Association for College Admission Counseling will be partnering with StriveScan to host multiple virtual fairs in place of our in-person events this fall. This virtual format exposes students to a wide range of colleges, while still being time- and cost-efficient for our Member Colleges and Universities!

FRESHMAN FAIRS: Wednesday, March 3, 2021 5:00 – 7:45pm Pacific Time Pre-Sessions begin at 4:00pm Sunday, March 14, 2021 1:00 – 3:45pm Pacific Time Pre-Sessions begin at 12 noon Monday, April 19, 2021 5:00 – 7:45pm Pacific Time Pre-Sessions begin at 4:00pm You will be assigned one 45-minute time slot at each fair STUDENTS Students can register for a session in each 45-minute time-block. To do so, click the Student Registration link for each session of interest. If students are interested in attending sessions that are running concurrently, please continue to register for both sessions so colleges are receiving your information. Once registered, students will receive a confirmation email with a unique link to join the Zoom webinar. Students also receive a barcode in the confirmation email; however, please note the barcode is not necessary for this virtual event. When students register, they are sharing their registration information only with colleges presenting on that particular session. StriveScan does not sell or share personally identifiable student information with any other third parties. Students are encouraged to attend these sessions live. Sessions will be recorded and accessible at a later date. PARENTS Register now! Sessions vary from Navigating the UC & Cal State Applications, How to Approach your Personal Statement (Essay), FAFSA, CSS & Financial Aid & More! Sign up today! https://strivescan.com/wacac

Lincoln High School Students Selected for Genomatica Paid Summer Internship Program

CCTE has partnered with Genomatica to provide eight Lincoln High School students paid summer internships in the field of biotechnology. These students will be given the opportunity to work alongside scientists in the lab to gain experience capturing and analyzing relevant experimental data to derive valid conclusions, weighing precisely and pipetting properly to attain real results, and implementing sterile technique to avoid contamination when growing microbial culture. Students applied for these positions by submitting applications that included personal essays and then went through the formal interview process. Genomatica is a leader in bioengineering, developing biobased processes to make widely used chemicals that enable better, more sustainable everyday products.

MBHS CTE Engineering Students Design Improvements for the Campus Fence

Students in David West’s CTE Honors Engineering Design and Development class at Mission Bay High School recently participated in a school fence beautification project. The students worked in collaborative groups to create an original design that would improve the aesthetics of the tall metal fencing that currently surrounds the school, while at the same time promote school spirit. Considerations had to be given for safety, ease of installation and removal, environmental sustainability, durability and cost. Students prepared presentations in which they shared design drawings, justified their choice of materials and discussed their build schedules and budgets. These presentations were given before a panel of judges consisting of school and district staff, senior students, parents and community members. The winning project will be built and installed on the school fencing by the students.

 

Patrick Henry High's Benjamin Broudy Receives 2020 Congressional App Challenge Award

 Patrick Henry sophomore Benjamin Broudy was awarded top honors for the 2020 Congressional App Challenge hosted by the House of Representatives for the purpose of encouraging students to learn to code and inspire them to pursue careers in computer science. Ben represented District 53 which was under Susan Davis and now represented by Sarah Jacobs for his submission. Middle and High School students from all over the US submitted over 3,000 functioning apps representing 308 members of Congress making the competition extremely competitive. Ben’s app called “Train A Brain” dealt with neural networks that used artificial intelligence that takes arbitrary data and converts it to linear data. Ben will be invited to an Awards Ceremony hosted by the House of Representatives on April 8th. In addition to being in the Engineering/Computer Science pathways at Patrick Henry, he also is a member of Henry’s FIRST Robotics team where he likes to contribute by helping with coding the robot. When Ben is not doing his school work he enjoys gardening both inside and out and developing codes for automatic watering systems. Let’s congratulate Ben for his amazing accomplishments and success!

Meet Our SDUSD CCTE Counselors

Did you know that SDUSD school counselors provide services to students & families in three domains? They are: academic, social-emotional & career counseling. Our SDUSD College & Career Technical Education Department (CCTE) currently has two school counselors that help students & families plan & prepare for the world of work. Both Alissa Tuter & Andreanna Murphy have been meeting with many students & families via Zoom this school year. The focus of these meetings is to support students with their CCTE class pathway sequences and completion. In addition, support has been provided to students & families in the College & Career Access Pathway Program (CCAP) and Credit By Exam Program (CBE). This school year alone, over 5,000 high school students have participated in either of these program, which award college credit from our partnership agreement with the San Diego Community College District. For more information about either of these programs, please contact Andreanna Murphy (amurphy@sandi.net) and/or Alissa Tuter (Atuter@sandi.net).

CTE Biomedical Students Present Innovative Emergency Department Designs

 University City High School students in Janellel Aleksic’s CTE Biomedical Innovations course recently participated in the second round of Emergency Department Design Presentations. During the past several weeks, these students worked in groups to research a variety of emergency department facilities and identify existing challenges. The students then developed innovations to address one or more of these issues and designed their own emergency departments that incorporated their innovations. The students addressed physical layout, staffing considerations and patient care, including safety and privacy, in their designs. Each group then presented their final projects to a panel of local healthcare professionals and district educators. Biomedical Innovations is a capstone course within the CTE Health Science and Medical Technology Industry Sector Patient Care Career Pathway.

Five SDUSD Students Among 2021 YoungArts Award Winners

National YoungArts Foundation (YoungArts) announces the 2021 YoungArts award winners—659 of the most accomplished young visual, literary and performing artists from across the country. Selected through the organization’s prestigious competition, YoungArts award winners are chosen for their caliber of artistic achievement by esteemed discipline-specific panels of artists through a rigorous blind adjudication process. Students must be 15–18 years old or in grades 10–12 to be eligible for the program, and compete within artistic disciplines of Classical Music, Dance, Design Arts, Film, Jazz, Photography, Theater, Visual Arts, Voice and Writing.

Of the 659 national awards winners, five are from San Diego Unified. YoungArts awards are given in three categories: Finalist, Honorable Mention and Merit. Finalists from SDUSD: • Malvyn Lai, Classical Music/Piano-Mount Everest Academy • Luc Simpson, Dance/Modern-Contemporary-San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts • John Murray, Jazz/Double Bass-San Diego School of Creative & Performing Arts (iHigh Virtual Academy) Honorable Mentions from SDUSD: • Nick Caldwell, Jazz/Saxophone Tenor-San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts • Brenda Greggio, Jazz.Composition-San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts YoungArts award winners gain access to one of the most comprehensive programs for artists in the United States in which they will have opportunities for financial, creative and professional development support throughout their entire careers. This year, YoungArts award winners at all levels will receive: • Cash prizes between $100 and $10,000 • Opportunities to learn from leading artists such as Debbie Allen, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Frank Gehry, Wynton Marsalis, Salman Rushdie and Mickalene Thomas. • Exclusive creative and professional development support including a wide range of fellowships, residencies and awards • Access to YoungArts Post, a free, private digital network for YoungArts artists to connect, collaborate and learn about additional opportunities. YoungArts award winners at the Finalist level are invited to participate in National YoungArts Week + in January 2021 featuring virtual classes, workshops and mentorship from leading artists in their fields as well as virtual performances and an exhibition for the public. In addition, every year YoungArts nominates 60 artists to the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars. The Commission then selects the 20 U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts, one of the highest honors given high school seniors bestowed by the President of the United States. Published at https://sites.google.com/sandi.net/vapanews/12820

Arts Integration Residencies at Ibarra and Sequoia Elementary

VAPA is happy to continue supporting arts integration residencies at both Ibarra and Sequoia Elementary schools in 2020-21. This work is an outgrowth of the collaboration between VAPA and professional arts organizations in our community. These partnerships between the San Diego Unified and Guitars in the Classroom and Arts for Learning, San Diego have their roots in SDUSD’s pioneering Title I initiative, Learning Through the Arts (LTA), launched in 2015.

Arts integration is a research based strategy that supports the achievement of Title I goals targeting both academic achievement and school climate, as well as student and parent engagement. In an arts-integrated lesson, students learn both arts and non-arts content simultaneously. LTA’s approach to arts integration was unique in SDUSD in that the curriculum was co-created and co-taught in collaboration between professional teaching artists and classroom teachers. One of the goals of this collaboration was the pedagogical growth of the artists reciprocated by the arts content growth of the classroom teachers. VAPA continues to innovate new approaches to meeting Title I goals through the arts. As a vehicle for both accessing and expressing learning in any content, the arts are a universal language that support multi-literacy and engage students in new, personal and creative ways. Originally published at https://sites.google.com/sandi.net/vapanews/12220

Social Entrepreneurship Challenge and Career Conference

“Challenging, awesome, amazing, and fun experience!” “Great opportunity to learn design thinking!” “Enjoyed meeting and working with new people”. “Excited to use this knowledge!” These were some of the words San Diego Unified High School students used to describe their experience as participants in Entrepreneurship Week. The event was designed in partnership by SDUSD College & Career Technical Education and Intuit, designers of Turbotax, Quickbooks, and Mint. Over three days 500+ SDUSD students participated in a Social Entrepreneurship Challenge and a Career Readiness Conference. The Social Entrepreneurship Challenge on November 17th and 18th connected students across all of the SDUSD high schools. During the two-day challenge, students selected a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) to focus on, learned Intuit's own design thinking process, and worked together with a team to think of possible solutions to global and local needs. Through this real-world experience students' use of the skills companies believe are essential were on full display. Students were assigned to random breakout rooms. They had to communicate and get their team organized. Using Intuit’s Design for Delight design thinking process, and Mural, the application they would collaborate in, was all new to the students. They adapted to using this new process and tool quickly which allowed them to dive into researching their SDG and use critical thinking skills to identify the global and local needs. Students then brainstormed potential solutions, narrowed their focus and moved to consensus on a specific idea for which they created a solution. They then designed a plan and test. The last step was presenting their idea and plan. Students were asked to submit a video in which they pitched their solution. In the end, all 81 teams made the submission deadline. The Career Readiness Conference hosted by Intuit on November 19th was the culminating event. The conference began with the announcement of the teams recognized by the Intuit Innovation Catalysts as the top three finalists (see below) from the Social Entrepreneurship Challenge. The audience watched each of their videos and was asked to vote for their top design solution. This event featured keynote speaker, Daymond John, the Star of ABC’s Shark Tank. He spoke honestly and shared stories of success and failure as he discussed his SHARK Points, Set a Goal, Homework - do yours, Amor (love) what you do, Remember, you are the brand, and Keep swimming. Sessions gave the students an opportunity to learn about finding their why and they had an opportunity to choose career sessions and meet Intuit young professionals in the career. After the keynote, students attended a session on “Find My Why”. The Intuit Innovation Catalyst guided students through questions to help them land on a career to explore. During the last segment of the conference, students chose to learn more about marketing/web design/social media, project management, product design, software engineer/programming, business/finance analyst, or sales. After the career focused sessions, all participants were invited for the closing announcements and to learn which student team would be recognized as the winner of the Social Entrepreneurship Challenge. And the winner was … Team 5 from SDG 3 Good Health and Well Being, whose solution was to address the need of youth and family undernourishment. Their plan was to work with farms to acquire food that might go unused due to grocery stores not accepting it due to appearance, not quality of taste. In addition they created a system to distribute the food to youth and families in need. This was definitely an experience students, educators, and Intuit team members will remember. For students it was resume worthy, offered an opportunity to gain essential skills, and something they may want to share on future college applications or job interviews. For educators, it was reenergizing to see students voluntarily participating in a real world experience. For the Intuit team, it was a large scale experiment that was a success and impacted 500+ students.

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Pop Artist Alumni Visit Dingeman Class

In Garner Saguil’s 4th grade Seminar class at Dingeman Elementary, music is part of the curriculum. In just the first two weeks of school this year, the students had learned to tune their ukuleles and play three chords. Recently, the students of Room B9 have had some special visitors that inspired their music-making: two recording artists who are alumni of Dingeman Elementary. In fact, during their time at Dingeman, the two were Seminar students of Mr. Saguil’s, performing in classroom musicals as well as the Dingeman Choir.

The first alum to visit virtually was Daniel Jay Woods, who also attended SDSCPA. He has been releasing music on Spotify since 2016. A few weeks later, the class had a second guest - Elyssa Camerino, who Zoomed in all the way from Germany. Her first mini-album was in 2019 under the name Elyssa Isaac. Both artists played guitar and sang for the class. Bringing in the guest artists was integral to ‘motivate my kids to keep practicing their music through distance learning,’ says teacher Garner Saguil, also noting that ‘both have incredible voices and are passionate with their music.’ He looks forward to having others musicians come in - not necessarily just those who have produced albums, but former students who are just enjoying music for fun.