Learn ♦ Experience ♦ Thrive
Spring 2020-21 | Eagles #32
April • May • June
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For the first time ever...
CSD held two graduation ceremonies on the same day!
Congratulations to the classes of 2020 & 2021
You can click on the links above to see all of the beautiful graduation photos and events, or scroll down to see some photo highlights from the two ceremonies (in this newsletter).
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Message from the Superintendent |
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Greetings from the land
of ORANGE and BLACK!
For the first time ever, CSD held two graduation ceremonies on the same day! From what we see and hear, everyone who attended the ceremonies was very pleased with how the graduation was safely planned out. I would like to thank the graduates of the Class of 2020 for joining us, and commend the Class of 2021 on their important milestone.
Up until this year, we have hosted the graduation in our main gym; but in order to ensure the safety of everyone’s health, we held this year’s ceremony at our magnificent football field instead. (We followed graduation guidance published by the Alameda County Public Health Department.) The graduation committee and volunteers are to be appreciated for all of their efforts in making this possible!
As always, CSD aims to provide our students with learning opportunities, whether it is done in-person or virtually. We reopened for our day students, on April 27, with about 80 students attending school in their physical classrooms. The rest of the student body remained at home and continued their education through our Distance Learning program. It was a very complicated experience for everyone involved in the reopening planning.
In this newsletter, there are many exciting news items, so please do take the time to appreciate the accomplishments that our students and staff achieved as we continued through the last part of the school year. It is without question that everyone put forth their best effort to close out the academic year, considering the challenges we faced together!
Once again, I want to personally thank our division directors, supervisors, teaching staff, student life staff, and support staff for working together throughout the year in preparation for this unique reopening. Our planning experience will definitely assist us with the full reopening of CSD in the fall.
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Clark Brooke, Ed.S.
Superintendent
California School for the Deaf, Fremont
39350 Gallaudet Drive
Fremont, CA 94538
510-344-6010 Videophone
510-823-6071 Spanish Callers
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First day back spring semester
Photos courtesy of Joey Baer & Lisa Nunez
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Even our Eagle mascot wears a mask on our first day back for in-person learning. |
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Director of Instruction Len Gonzales and Superintendent Clark Brooke lead the assembly.
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Elementary Principal Joey Baer describes the elementary school program at California School for the Deaf during a tour for visitors from the California Department of Education.
Dr. Robin Zane, Director of the State Special Schools and Services Division at California Department of Education; Shelby Helms, Staff Interpreter (ASL/English) at California Department of Education; Dr. Stephanie Gregson, Chief Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction; and Clark Brooke, California School for the Deaf Superintendent.
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d'Estrella ASL Festival went virtual this year |
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Below are a few screen shots, just to give you an idea of the beautiful and artistic virtual website that our students and staff created in celebration of American Sign Language and Deaf Culture. Elementary, Middle School and High School students developed accompanying videos for their section of the virtual site this year. |
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Click on each video link below to see samples of the students’ stories: |
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Congratulations to the classes of 2020 & 2021 |
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Courtney Bronson and Amy Ngo present the valedictorian address at the outdoor commencement Class of 2021 ceremony on June 4.
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Kenasia Brown and Emma Oshio present the Class of 2020 valedictorian address on June 4.
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Clark Brooke presents the superintendent's address.
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All CSD alumni are encouraged to participate in the Alumni Survey
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This Class of 2020 graduate has hashtags to share. |
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Four flags honoring diversity at CSD’s stomping ground of the Eagles including:
- Flag of the United States
- Bear Flag of California
- Black Lives Matter Flag
- Rainbow Flag (LGBTQ)
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Transgender Day of Visibility
By Barbara White | Pupil Personnel Services Director
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President Biden took action to recognize March 31 as Transgender Day of Visibility. California School for the Deaf strives to create a place for our students to be who they really are in a safe haven. Trans students are at higher risk of being bullied and having suicidal thoughts and actual plans.
The poster above illustrates some of the many challenges Trans face that non trans take for granted. This is not acceptable. We must continue to celebrate and embrace our Trans community. We must continue to recognize their struggles; their journeys; and their pride. We must continue to listen and validate.
If you are looking for more resources and information, you are welcome to contact our Gender Inclusive Community. We have a fabulous team ready to provide resources upon request (or to seek answers if the information is not immediately available).
Additional resources while I have your attention:
- How to support Trans communities on TDOV and every day
- What is TDOV?
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Battle of the Books Reflections |
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Carrie Howard | Battle of the Books Coordinator
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Congratulations to team members Gabriella Bibb, Sevan Ikeda, Lelan Gonzales, and chaperone Charlene Kuyrkendall for their championship win in the Buff Division of Battle of the Books!
Lelan, Gaby, and Sevan practiced almost every day through texts and Zoom, re-reading four books: Every Falling Star, Find Layla, I Am Alfonso Jones, and It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime. They came up with questions for each other to answer and worked very hard on their presentation challenges. Dedication to hard work paid off big time for Sevan, Lelan, and Gaby. Their chaperone, Charlene Kuyrkendall, believed in them; and most importantly, they believed in each other and in themselves that they could do this. We are so excited and very happy to have earned the Battle of the Books 2021 championship.
Special congratulations goes to Sevan Ikeda for All-Star recognition; and Gabriella Bibb for Most Outstanding Reader! Also, in the Green division, Jaden Dingel received All‑Star recognition! Congrats to all of you, and to all three of our Middle School teams and chaperones (Green, Blue, and Buff) for their dedication to this competition. Go Eagles!
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At first, Battle of the Books was a very fun and light experience to read and participate in; later on, it got harder as we made it into the quarterfinals, semifinals, and championship. The experience of reading, uniting, and compromising with teammates was truly surreal. My most favorite thing about our BOTB team was our positivity, because my teammates and chaperone really showed it to us.
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Battle of the Books was an amazing opportunity to cultivate my reading skills, and to gain so much experience playing, learning! I loved how we had to really put ourselves out there and compete for the championship. The opportunities that came during the competition were invigorating, full of fun enthusiasm. I enjoyed competing with other players. Even though we didn't actually see them, I could feel myself trying even harder to rise above others and prove myself worthy. I enjoyed working with my team—supporting each other during matches and practices. I truly believe I improved so much after all of that hard work.
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This year, Battle of the Books was strange and different compared to my last two BOTB competitions, but I still had fun. I feel it was crazy that my teammates and I made it through to the championship! It was a wonderful experience. We worked, read and studied together, along with our chaperone supporting us the whole time. |
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2021 National Academic Bowl Champions
By Andrew Phillips | Academic Bowl Coach & High School Teacher
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Our 2020-2021 Academic Bowl season was one for the ages and will be long remembered in the annals of CSD history. After coming up short last year with a second-place finish at the Nationals, our team returned all four players: Naomi Brock, Courtney Bronson, Donovan Holmes, and Chang-May Tan, and successfully brought home the National Championship for the first time since 1999. While CSD had been an early Academic Bowl powerhouse, winning the second and third National Academic Bowl championships in 1998 and 1999, we had not won at the big dance since repeating 22 years ago.
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This year’s Academic Bowl season began with the inaugural Gallaudet Trivia Cup, last fall, where over a hundred students competed individually against each other, weekly, answering knowledge-based questions within specific categories. The Trivia Cup categories were Entertainment, Geography, Science & Technology, Mathematics, Language and Literature, U.S Government and the 2020 Election, and Sports.
Our players excelled in these Trivia Cup competitions. CSD senior Donovan Holmes won the overall Trivia Cup championship, while sophomore Chang-May Tan placed 3rd. Moreover, seniors Naomi Brock and Courtney Bronson placed 7th and 10th. No other school in the country did nearly as well as CSD in the Trivia Cup, and amazingly, our entire Academic Bowl team placed in the top ten nationwide!
In addition to the Trivia Cup, our students participated in the independent Academic Bowl League (WABL) where they played Academic Bowl matches against nine other schools in the western United States. Our team went undefeated in the WABL and beat the New Mexico School for the Deaf 82-55 to win our second WABL championship in three years.
Our success in the Trivia Cup and WABL positioned us for another run at the National Academic Bowl Championship. In the West Region Academic Bowl tournament last March, our Eagles secured the #1 seed and then went on to beat Downey High School 75-5; the Oregon School for the Deaf 87-21; and the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind 79-40. In the Championship match against our rival school, the California School for the Deaf at Riverside, we won by 31 points, beating the Cubs 93-62 to repeat as the West Region Champions. While we were thrilled to win the west again, our ultimate goal of winning the Nationals was never far from our minds.
The Academic Bowl Nationals began April 19 with a ranking test for all 20 participating schools, in order to determine the tournament seeding. Our Eagles once again secured the #1 seed, as well as an Opening Round bye. Our first match was against St. Mary’s School for the Deaf in Buffalo, New York in the Round of 16. The Nationals followed the new online match format: gone were the buzzers. Our players worked together to answer questions as a team, as well as bonus questions, in the first round. Then they answered individually in the second round, and once more as a team in the third round. We beat St. Mary’s 80-37 and had the highest match score of the day.
CSD advanced to the quarterfinals (Round of 8) where we played against the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf who finished second in the Central Region tournament. Our Eagles soared to victory, winning 83‑66 and once again had the highest match score of the day.
In the semifinals, we played against the East Region champions, the Marie Philip School from Framingham, Massachusetts. Our team again had the highest match score and won 92‑66 to advance to the Championship match.
In the Championship match, we once more faced our rival and sister-school, the California School for the Deaf at Riverside. The Battle of California had gone national and the whole country would be watching to see which California school would be crowned National Academic Bowl Champion. The Riverside Cubs were eager to avenge their loss in the West Region Championship match; and two years earlier, they placed second at the Nationals. The two California schools, both 2020 and 2019 Nationals second-place finishers, were matched up for the biggest prize of all.
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The match was livestreamed on the Gallaudet Youth Programs’ Facebook page, and is still available for viewing. (While both teams played the match separately with the Gallaudet officers, Gallaudet edited the videos to make it look as if we played each other in real-time.) In the first round, the two schools started out neck-and-neck, and the score was tied 14-14 at the end of the 7th question. However, starting with the 8th question, which was a math question, the Eagles began to show our superior knowledge as well as teamwork, and started pulling ahead. We finished the first round with a comfortable 14-point lead and were up 46-32 going into the second round.
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In the second round, where individual players took turns answering questions, we showed why we were not only the strongest but also deepest team in the tournament. We answered an incredible 12 out of the 20 second round questions correctly, while Riverside answered 6 correctly. The Eagles led the Cubs by a nearly insurmountable 24 points at the end of the second round, with a score of 70‑44. In the third round, teams once again worked together to answer the final 15 questions. Our Eagles answered 10 out of the 15 questions correctly while the Cubs got 8 out of 15. The final score was 100 to 68 and CSD broke through the 99-point barrier and scored the most points ever in a Nationals match!
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Following our championship victory, Gallaudet awarded CSD the Sportsmanship award based on our excellent teamwork and positive rapport during matches. Moreover, sophomore Chang-May Tan was named a Nationals All-Star and senior Donovan Holmes was named Most Outstanding Player of the Nationals tournament. The Gallaudet Youth Programs Specialist who facilitated the awards ceremony mentioned that the Academic Bowl Executive Committee had never before seen a team with four very strong players. She explained how amazing it was to see all four players writing the same correct answers for different questions.
In the post-match interview, the coaches as well as players commented on the beautiful teamwork and how each of the four players brought an incredible amount of knowledge to the matches. Following our second-place finish last year, the players were super motivated to win this year and put in hours of hard work preparing for their matches. This preparation and commitment showed in their teamwork, high match scores, and in the West Region competition where for the first time in Academic Bowl history, all four players on a team won individual awards—All Stars: Naomi Brock, Courtney Bronson, Chang-May Tan; and Most Outstanding Player: Donovan Holmes.
CSD and their coaches, Allison Gibbons and Andrew Phillips, are incredibly proud of our players and their historic accomplishment. We will dearly miss our three graduating seniors: Naomi Brock, Courtney Bronson, and Donovan Holmes, and wish them our best. We know they will continue making CSD proud. We look forward to next year with Chang-May Tan and the upcoming players who will carry on the legacy. It was truly a special season that now belongs to the history books.
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Museum Donation
By Frank Lester | Career Center Supervisor (Parodi Trustee)
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The CSD Museum just received a beautiful work of art that three California School for the Deaf graduates had a hand in: Melody Stein, Ron Trumble and Linda Ponce de Leon-Martinez.
You may be asking: “How did this happen?” Melody Stein, a CSD alumna, and her husband founded Mozzeria, a local San Francisco pizzeria. When they opened their restaurant in 2011, they wanted to decorate the walls by showcasing art created by Deaf artists.
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At that time, Linda Ponce de Leon was a student at John O’Connell High School, in San Francisco. Her teacher, Katie Cue, took Linda to visit Mozzeria where they met Melody. During their conversation, Katie mentioned that Linda was a talented artist. Melody immediately asked Linda if Mozzeria could commission her to create artwork that they could hang on their restaurant wall. With assistance from Linda’s art teacher at her San Francisco high school, Elahe Shahideh, Linda created an art piece that was 5’5.5” wide by 3’9” tall, using black paper and white charcoal pencil to create an image that was based on the Stefano Ferrara oven, wall scones and chandelier hanging in the restaurant. At the age of 16, Linda was the youngest artist among the Deaf artists who were commissioned by Mozzeria. When Linda finished her artwork, Melody had it framed by fellow CSD alumnus Ron Trumble who graduated from the Berkeley campus.
Because of Linda’s talent, she was encouraged to enroll at CSD, so that she could learn from David Call, a well-known De’Via artist and CSD visual arts teacher. Linda graduated from CSD in 2013.
Fast forwarding to today finds the San Francisco Mozzeria restaurant closed, with just their trolley business continuing locally; and Melody and her husband opening a Mozzeria restaurant in Washington D.C., near the Gallaudet University campus.
Melody decided to donate Linda’s artwork to the CSD Museum where you can see it. The Parodi Charitable Trust, which is the major sponsor of the museum, expresses its gratitude to Melody and Mozzeria for their generosity.
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Our website has a new look |
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CSD recently launched our new and improved website, with many enhanced features. Some highlights include:
- Video on our homepage
- Contemporary design
- Enhanced mobile experience
- Visually captivating to Deaf eyes
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For those of you who regularly use the CSD website, it should be a seamless transition, as the new site follows the same navigation that it had before. The appearance is different, and there are some added features.
Please take a few moments to peruse the website at www.csdeagles.com. Be sure to scroll down the homepage, clicking on everything so you can become familiar with navigating the new design while enjoying the new features.
If you are on your mobile phone, you can access links by clicking on the "hamburger icon" (three lines in top right corner). Or scroll down for the link selections inside of the pictures. Some of the quick links can now be found at the bottom of the homepage, so please make sure to scroll all the way down.
Since the website is newly upgraded, we are looking for ways to make it more useful to families, staff and community. If you have any comments or suggestions on how to improve the user experience, please email Meta Metal who maintains the website for the school. (Yes that is her real name)
Special thanks to Community Resources Coordinator JAC Cook for her role in selecting a Deaf-friendly design that would provide the best fit for our school; thanks also goes to the team at Edlio for providing us with this opportunity, and for being willing to work with us so that we could get it right.
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Congratulations to Friluftsliv for their well-deserved first place; The Double Duo for placing second; and Step Counters for placing third!
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From April 25 - May 15, California School for the Deaf chapter of the Junior National Association of the Deaf exceeded their goal by fundraising $1,601. The money they earned will be used for three purposes:
- SCHOLARSHIPS - Award scholarships to graduating seniors
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LEADERSHIP - Send Jr. NAD members to retreats and Jr. NAD conferences
- CITIZENSHIP - Give back to school and community by organizing events
This event would not have happened without those who donated, created videos, took pictures, reposted, cheered on the teams, and supported Deaf Youth so thank you!!
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We had participants and donors from 13 different states: |
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- California
- District of Columbia
- Indiana
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- New Jersey
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- New York
- Rhode Island
- Texas
- Virginia
- Washington
- Wisconsin
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We would also like to recognize all 25 teams for participating in this event: |
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- SJKL DAEBAK!
- The Double Duo
- Funky Feet
- Team 4
- Walking Beauty
- Together We Can!
- Wonder Walkers
- Super Steppers
- Siberian Pact Rocks!
- SL Strong
- The Joggin’ J’s
- Don’t Step Me Now!
- Step Counters
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- Blazing Glory
- HAPPY FEET
- Friluftsliv
- Speedsters
- Team 18
- Team 19
- The A-Team
- Team 21
- Step Sisters
- Team 23
- Team 24
- Blue Sea Turtles
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The fundraiser was a huge success, and CSD Jr. NAD plans to host STEPS for Deaf Youth again next year, so keep stepping!
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Dedicated staff make testing centers happen
From Barbara White | Pupil Personnel Services Director
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On May 4, the first day CSD opened for in-person learning last spring, COVID‑19 testing centers for students and staff went into full operation. The testing centers were run by CSD staff from the Division of Instruction, Pupil Personnel Services, Student Health Unit and Human Resources. The centers first operated three days a week, and later went down to two days a week, as we found that two days sufficed.
Participants registered through Primary Health in order to be tested with the Binex rapid testing kits. After checking in and picking up their kits and swabs, the participants headed over to the testers’ tables and followed instructions from staff. They presented their kits and stood back with their swabs, getting samples from their nostrils (15 seconds each side), then gave the swabs to the testers. The testers put drops with the swabs into the testing kits and made notation of start and end times. Then, two Human Resources staff took the cards to do a reading after waiting for 15 minutes. Staff fed the results into a data platform which automatically sent emails to the recipients or their families with their results. Providing the testing enabled CSD to catch anyone early who might have been exposed to (or actually have) COVID, so they could be sent home immediately for quarantining and treatment, if indicated.
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The students were extremely cooperative and pleasant about doing this process. One student indicated she wanted to learn more about how this worked as she aims to become a nurse when she grows up. |
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Early Childhood Education had their own testing center operated by ECE staff and Student Health Unit’s Carly Elgin.
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This writer—Barbara White (PPS)—who is responsible for the testing operations, is very grateful for Kevin Blackmer (TSD), Michele Berke (ECE), Matilda Bibb (ECE), Katie Canfield (Supt's Office), Carly Elgin (SHU), Jane Fair (HR), Kim Jennery (SHU), Paul Thao (TSD) and Yi‑Cheng Kasheta (HR) for their dedicated time and service on each testing day during all the operation hours.
Staff who made the testing centers run smoothly while taking time away from their other many tasks are to be recognized, as well:
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Julie Baer (PPS)
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Ethan Bernstein (SL)
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Lilly Benedict (CORE)
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Katryna Baldiviez (PPS)
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Clark Brooke (Supt)
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Karen Brungess (SHU)
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Maureen Buggy (SHU)
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Ron Bye (CORE)
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Brenda Call (CORE)
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Kiara Chapple (PPS)
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Natasha Chirkin (SL)
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Bex Clark (SHU)
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Gina Cavallini (PPS)
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David Eberwein (CORE)
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Stuart Ikeda (CORE)
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Noah Kessler (SL)
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Margaret Mills-Kohler (PPS)
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Kathleen Mockus (CORE)
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Bonnie Jo Morrison (PPS)
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Sarah Novotny (PPS)
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Scott O'Donnell (PE)
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Jessica Olsen (PPS)
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Laura T. Petersen (CORE)
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Ted Rossini (SHU)
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Douglas Slaunwhite (PPS)
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Jayne Spaeth (PPS)
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Cathy Wilson (SHU)
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This elaborate collaboration and teamwork among CSD staff, in order to run a newly developed "department", demonstrates how committed we are to ensuring student and staff safety as we return to the world of in-person learning. Please be sure to thank these great folks when you see them! |
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Congratulations to Our Retirees ( VIDEO)
From Clark Brooke | Superintendent
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CSD collects more history |
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Special thanks to Lisa Jacobs and the Jacobs family for donating this Douglas Tilden artwork to the CSD Museum; Dwight Benedict for bringing it all the way from Washington, DC to Fremont, CA; and Mel Pedersen for accepting the artwork on behalf of California School for the Deaf.
CSD alumnus Douglas Tilden became a famous sculptor, and Leo Jacobs taught for many years at CSD.
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Kudos to our brilliant Eagles! |
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Reprinted from TriCity Voice
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We are so touched to have this beautiful article about our school, and proud of our students.
Photo captions have been corrected from the original printing.
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Celebrating Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month |
“Monsoon”
Signed by Sinju Engineer
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“Unspoken”
Signed by Joann Ikeda
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“Moonbear's Shadow”
Signed by Joann Ikeda
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California School for the Deaf
39350 Gallaudet Drive,
Fremont, CA 94538
(510) 794-3666
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