Campus Connections
January 2017 / Volume 1, Issue 1

Superintendent's Message
Welcome to our inaugural edition of the Milpitas Unified School District (MUSD)  Campus Connections newsletter!  As a means to keep you informed and engaged, we will publish the newsletter bi-weekly, filled with stories, events and Board updates. In this issue we bring you highlights of our Spelling Bee, Sinnott Project Based Learning, student accomplishments, and the district tree-planting project.

We want you to feel connected to our school community, and this is one way to do just that!  We are striving to weave together a powerfully tight network of staff and parents so that our students will flourish knowing that they live and learn in a city that values them.   

Together we will realize our MUSD Vision : We prepare students to go out into the world to make a difference as responsible citizens who are passionate about life and learning!
Events
MUSD Crab Feed & Auction February 10
The Kiwanis Club of Milpitas will host the 13th annual MUSD Crab Feed and Auction 5-9 p.m. Friday, February 10 at the Milpitas Community Center, located at 457 E. Calaveras Blvd. 

Sales end February 3, and there are only 20 tickets left! To register or for more information, click here.
District buzzes with excitement for inaugural Spelling Bee; two students advance to SCCOE
Milpitas Unified was buzzing with excitement this week, as 21 students from across the school district participated in the first annual Spelling Bee Tuesday night at Rose Elementary School.  Brianna Nguyen, a fourth grader from the school, climbed to the top with the winning word: pertinacity. Brianna not only spelled the winning word correctly, but dictated the bonus word - castellated - perfectly.

Ari George Philip, a fourth grader from Sinnott, earned second place while Eshan Farooque, a sixth grader from Spangler, earned third place. Both Brianna and Ari will represent Milpitas at the Santa Clara County Office of Education Spelling Bee on February 4. 

Read the article here
Sinnott students break ground on tiny home
Students at John Sinnott Elementary School traded their backpacks and books for hard hats and shovels last Friday, as they literally broke ground on the next phase of their tiny home Project Based Learning during a community celebration.

“To come this far and for this day to be the beginning of our reality means a lot,” Rita Maultsby, lead teacher of the project, said to event attendees, including students, staff, parents, community supporters, and dignitaries Milpitas Vice Mayor Marsha Grilli, Board Vice President Danny Lau, Board Member Robert Jung, and Superintendent Cheryl Jordan.

Maultsby explained that last fall six third through sixth grade classes kicked off the project, posed to answer the driving question: “How will we, as members of a tiny home company, design, build, and promote a tiny home that will best fulfill our client’s needs?”

In an attempt to respond to the question, students worked together - with job titles ranging from CEO to CFO to HR Director - to lay the groundwork of building a 200 square foot tiny home on site. They created a website, documentary, and floor plans for the house that, once complete, will include a mini museum of PBL projects past, present, and future, as well as a work space for students to draw on their creativity. They are scheduled to complete the floor plan in early spring.
Read the article here
Student Recognitions
Milpitas High School senior earns fifth place during BMX Silver Dollar National
Milpitas High School senior  Kenny Cross earned fifth place out of 18 other racers in the "17-20 cruiser" category of the Silver Dollar National, which took place January 13-15 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Seventeen-year-old Cross has been racing BMX bicycles since he was 6 years old, and won the National Cruiser title in 2014.

“Throughout this whole journey, I have recently slowed down on racing and have started to focus more on school; I have recently enrolled in visual communications at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in San Francisco,” Kenny said. “Being that I have my college situation on track, I have started racing the new BMX season of 2017.”

Kenny will be honored during the next Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, January 24.
Community Involvement
Tree planting at Zanker Elementary
The heavy rain on January 12 didn't dampen the determination of more than 100 volunteers from  Our City Forest  and Southwest Airlines to beautify Pearl Zanker Elementary School. A huge thanks to those who branched out and spent three hours in the rain to plant 25 new trees that day! 

See more pictures here