If this email is clipped—or photos are not displayed—click the "View entire message" link at the bottom of the email. Campus Connections is the newsletter of the Milpitas Unified School District. If you have stories for our next issue, please send them to  Shannon Carr .

Cultural advocacy strengthens school community

What is “culture?” Google “definition of culture” and you’ll find various nuances of the meaning, i.e. work place, society, historical, customs, and traditions. A Culture of We is all of this and more. How we build it together for Milpitas Unified School District is through advocating, sharing traditions, learning about our histories, celebrating one another’s holidays, and valuing every one of us. 

February is rich with family and historic cultural events and traditions. It is the month of the  Lunar New Year ,  Têt , and  Chinese New Year  where for two weeks rich reds, yellows, and blues are worn by many of our students and their families to mark the beginning of new hope and fortune. It is a time for families to come together to celebrate and honor their ancestors. At our schools and in our city we were able to delight in the joy of the celebration through dance, art, and food.  

African American History Month  reminds us of the importance of history in shaping who we are as individuals and as a community. We strive for cultural awareness and ensuring that our students see themselves in what they are learning throughout the year. And February is a month for us to remember Americans of African ancestry who made essential contributions in all facets of life in America. To usher in the month, students from throughout the District were recognized during the Flame Keeper's Annual Black History Month celebration. A group of parents and staff members at Zanker Elementary School collaborated on daily activities as did students at Rancho Milpitas Middle School, and Milpitas High School.  These posters  prepared by the Zanker leaders are on our website and were shared with all schools. While the children in the pictures depict a historical figure, our students can see future possibilities for themselves. MHS Librarian LeighAnn McCready created a slideshow presentation of  Milpitas African American leaders  who have contributed greatly to the culture of Milpitas. On Tuesday, our African Ancestry Success Community provided a showing of the movie Black Panther, which has many  historical connections to Africa .  

There will be more opportunities for us to learn about each other so that we can add vibrancy to the tapestry that envelops our Milpitas school community. When WE do this we create a learning culture that lifts up each of us, and especially our students.

Sincerely,

Cheryl Jordan

Superintendent

Superintendent Blog

Calaveras Hills High School named Model Continuation High School for 2019

by Shannon Carr, Board Support and Communications Specialist

Calaveras Hills High School was named one of 31 continuation high schools in the state newly designated as a Model Continuation High School for 2019, according to a News Release that was issued by the California Department of Education on February 13. More than 51,000 students attended the state’s 435 continuation high school during the 2017-2018 school year. 

“These schools have created exemplary programs and strategies that provide students with a second chance at academic success,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond stated in the release. “The commitment demonstrated by the teachers and administrative staff, combined with a culture of caring that focuses on the emotional and education needs of the unique populations they serve, are what make these continuation high schools the best examples of how to help kids strive and reach their full potential.”

The schools were selected based on a rigorous application process that included a peer review panel and on-site visit. Cal Hills’ visit was held last December.

"We are very proud of the designation of being a Model Continuation High School in the state,” said Cal Hills Principal Carl Stice. “It brings positive attention to the great things that alternative high schools like Cal Hills are doing to help students who have experienced challenges and have overcome them with the right supportive educational environment. I would especially like to thank our teachers and staff, because without them working hard every day, this designation would not have happened!"

Read the full article here.

Join the Milpitas community in honoring three inductees for upcoming Hall of Fame event

by Shannon Carr, Board Support and Communications Specialist

The Milpitas community will come together to honor three of the newest additions to the Milpitas/Samuel Ayer High School Hall of Fame on Friday, March 15. Seats are still available for the 12th annual event that will kick off at 6:15 p.m. preceded by a reception with a no-host bar starting at 5:30 p.m.

Jeff Lamb, chairperson of the Milpitas High School Hall of Fame Committee, said the event was founded when teacher Dennis Gori suggested it since a building couldn’t be named after deceased counselor Ned McIver. He said the committee, which consisted of 13 people this year, is usually looking for a former teacher, classified employee, and a former student. 

This year he said was the most nominations he has seen since being on the board, particularly in the student category. Inductees are chosen after the person who nominates them sends in a writeup justifying their reasoning and the committee sits down and goes through the candidates.

“We recognize people for a lot of different reasons,” he said.

This year’s inductees are:

Sign up for the event and read the full article here .

Rancho 8th grade boys basketball team earns first championship since 2009

by Frank Castro, Rancho Social Studies teacher and basketball coach

The 2019 Rancho 8th Grade Boys Basketball team made a commitment early on to play man to man defense and the results were outstanding. Over the course of the season the Dons allowed only 27 points per game. 

On the offensive side they played an exciting brand of basketball running the fast break and hitting an average of 6 3s per game. It was very common for there to be three or four players scoring in double figures. In the defensive game of the season Rancho faced an unbeaten Chaboya squad for 1st place and shut the Colts out in the 1st quarter and went on to easily win the game 53-27 and win the Northern Division. In the annual battle with Russell, Rancho led throughout and won going away 56-39. In the league semi-finals Rancho had 13 3s. An amazing accomplishment at any level. 

In the finals Rancho had a rematch with Chaboya. This game was not anything like the first one. Chaboya jumped out to a quick lead and held it for most of the first half but the Dons slowly chipped away and by halftime they were up 26-20. In the second half the Dons continued to build on the lead and tightened their grip on defense. Rancho ended up prevailing 53-40. The Dons finished with an undefeated season (14-0 & 25-2 over both seasons) This is Rancho's first basketball section championship since 2009 and their first 8th grade championship since 1990. Special thanks to assistant coaches David Le (MHS '98) Alex Lagman (Rancho '06) and Matthew Vazquez (MHS '13) for all their input & support. Also to our AD Tina Lee for all her efforts as well.  

46 students honored at African American Student Achievement Award Ceremony

by Shannon Carr, Board Support and Communications Specialist

Families, Board Members, Superintendent Cheryl Jordan, Principals, and school administrators came together for an evening of celebration during the African American Student Achievement Award Ceremony on February 7 in the Milpitas High School theater.

There were two awards that students were nominated for: the outstanding academic achievement award and the outstanding accomplishment award. Students who excel in at least one academic area received the outstanding academic award and students who have had a specific accomplishment, demonstrated social and emotional maturity, and/or demonstrated resiliency in the face of adversity were awarded for outstanding accomplishments.

Board Members, Superintendent Jordan, Assistant Superintendents, school principals, and assistant principals formed a receiving line to shake hands with the 46 total students who were recognized that evening, from the elementary to adult education level throughout the district.

MHS student wins first place at Rotary District Contest

Amy Stanley of Milpitas High School won first place at the Rotary District Contest in Santa Clara on February 28. Her winning speech qualifies her for Regionals, and if Amy wins that contest, she will go on to the Rotary District Assembly on April 6.

Stanley's topic was "The importance of Face to Face In person Conversation" in an increasingly digital world. Her example was of a mother who communicated with her daughter in college mainly by texts and emojis, asked her daughter how she wa,s and she responded "fine with smiling emojis." The mother received the news that her daughter committed suicide later that evening. In a face to face conversation the mother may have realized that even it the daughter said she was fine, obviously she was not. It is much easier to communicate emotions in a face to face meeting. A lot is LOST in a purely digital world.

15 elementary students participate in district spelling bee

Article and photos by Vivek Chotai, MUSD Student Board Representative

Ari Philip from Sinnott won this year's district spelling bee against 14 other elementary students with the final word "pectoral" on January 15 at Rose Elementary School. Katie Yu from Weller followed for second place and Jadon Tran from Rose placed third. Philip and Yu are advancing to the Santa Clara County Office of Education's fourth annual County Spelling Bee on March 16.

Other participants included Aditi Nair (Pomeroy), Abhay Raghavendra (Pomeroy), Surabhi Kar (Pomeroy), Brianna Nguyen (Rose), Amruta Joshi (Rose), Manav Rana (Sinnott), Parnika Sadhu (Sinnott), Namit Jain (Weller), Pauline Quebengco (Weller), Joshua Chang (Zanker), Daksh Sharma (Zanker), and Daniel Xu (Zanker).

Overall, the students had an impressive vocabulary, with over 300 words tested.

Here’s a feel of some of the words the students were able to spell correctly:

Here are some of the words that eliminated this year’s contestants:

View more pictures online here .

Cal Hills students taking strides to combat cancer

by Shannon Carr, Board Support and Communications Specialist

Students and staff from Calaveras Hills High School are quite literally taking strides to combat cancer during this year’s Relay for Life on April 27-28 at Townsend Field in Santa Clara. The group of 15 students and multiple staff members has already raised $500, as of February 13.

The team is led by Cal Hills Principal Carl Stice as Team Captain and 2018 Relay alumni Destiny Peterson, Shaleah Taylor, and Flora Herrera as Teen Captains.

Fundraising kicked off with a community dinner, where the students explained what and why they are participating in the cause, and has also included speaking in front of the district’s administrators, selling luminarias , asking for donations from District Office employees, staff emails, and personal asks.

According to Tabitha Kappeler-Hurley, Cal Hills teacher and Relay coordinator, each team member is expected to raise at least $100 “so students will need to do some independent fundraising as well, which is a skill they are learning as part of the process.”

“We are proud of our students’ drive in supporting the work of cancer research; they are our leaders today and tomorrow,” said Superintendent Cheryl Jordan.

Read the full article here.

Los Dichos increasing parent engagement at Randall

by Olivia Contreras, Randall Elementary Assistant Principal

Project Cornerstone's mission is to engage adults and youth to change our schools and communities into environments where all youth develop essential skills for social and academic success. This year at Robert Randall Elementary School, we wanted to increase parent engagement by bringing Project Cornerstone's Los Dichos to our school. It is proving to be a very exciting endeavor and our parent engagement is growing by leaps and bounds! 

Parent volunteers enter transitional kindergarten through sixth grade classrooms and spend about an hour, once a month, reading a specially selected bilingual book, each containing a valuable developmental asset. After reading and engaging students in discussions, parent volunteers lead students in an art project that connects to the story. Parent volunteers spend countless hours prepping and adorning our school with student work. 

The entire Randall community is thoroughly enjoying the experience. When students see our Los Dichos parent volunteers, they are quick to ask when their next visit will be  and  our parent volunteers are full of pride and joy to know their presence is truly valued!

View more pictures online here .

Milpitas High School's Xtreme Robotics club wins Sportsmanship Award at VEX Robotics Competition

The Milpitas Xtreme Robotics (MXR) club at Milpitas High School represented the community on February 16 during the VEX Robotics Competition, becoming semifinalists and winning the Sportsmanship Award at the event.

"It was our first year competing in VEX, and we are incredibly proud to have earned this victory," said Chloe Wang, President of Milpitax Xtreme Robotics. "Even though it may not be a first place trophy, we were able to learn, do well, and give our members and others an unforgettable experience - therefore, it was definitely a victory for us."

View more pictures online here.

Milpitas High teachers, students visit Chabot Space Center on NASA's Day of Remembrance

Milpitas High School teachers David Carter and Roy Huong chaperoned E-Tech Sophomores who aced the Mission to Mars Simulation February 7 at Chabot Space Center on the official Day of Remembrance. Today, NASA recognizes astronauts who lost their lives in the pursuit of spaceflight. "It was a gripping, fascinating experience," Carter said.

View a video online here.

Zanker Elementary School hosts first ever Black History Month ceremony

Pearl Zanker Elementary School celebrated the first day of Black History Month on February 1 by holding an inaugural assembly, organized by the Parent Teacher Association. Reverand Jethroe Moore, President of the San Jose/Silicon Valley National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), talked to students about black history. The event featured gumboot dancing performances by Kele Nitoto and Marcus Marshall from Oakland Hand Drums. The gumboot dance is a South African dance performed by dancers wearing wellington boots, commonly referred to as gumboots, embellished with bells so they ring while dancers stomp the ground.

Read an article about the ceremony online here.

View more pictures and a video online here.

In addition to the ceremony, Zanker has pictures in a monthlong album that showcases the following events:

MHS students host welcome event for the Class of 2023

by PaulJunver Soriano, MHS student

Current Milpitas High School Trojans welcomed the newest members of their family, the Class of 2023 on January 30. Students volunteered to tour the upcoming freshmen around the MHS campus in order to familiarize them with their future home for the next four years. They also hosted presentations to provide insight on the life of a high school student, and games to break the ice. In the end, both volunteers and eight-grade students had fun and a chance to bond with each other, providing unity between students of Russell and Rancho middle schools and MHS.

View more pictures online here .

MHS Model UN team students earn Reporter Award

by Lesel Manson, Milpitas High School English teacher and Model UN Adviser

Congratulations to the Milpitas High School (MHS) Model UN team which attended the annual Santa Teresa High School conference for the second time at the end of January.

Representing the delegations of Finland and Croatia, MHS students collaborated on global topics within various United Nations committees and drafted resolutions to improve world-wide issues.

Jenny Pham and Sean Nguyen received the coveted Reporter Award in their committee, and consequently, spoke about their accomplishments in front of nearly 1,000 delegates during closing ceremonies.

We are incredibly proud of our enthusiastic, hard-working MHS MUNers, and we are looking forward to attending our sixth conference in May at UC Davis!

83 people attend Burnett's Family Engineering Night

by Brenda LeBeck, Burnett Elementary STEM teacher

On January 24, William Burnett Elementary families gathered for its fourth annual Family Engineering Night. Eighty-three people, comprised of 28 Bulldog families, joined together for an interactive evening of learning, collaborating, and engineering. Their challenge was to design and build a boat that could travel and carry cargo. We cheered on families as they followed the Engineering Design Process to tinker with their designs, trying to increase their boat’s speed and the amount of cargo it could carry. Our administrators and extended MUSD family joined in enthusiastically, working together to design and test boats of their own, building community across both school and district.

View more pictures online here .

Pomeroy second graders host SEAL Gallery Walk

Pomeroy Elementary’s 2nd Grade Team SEAL Gallery Walk on January 17 was based on the culmination of their 6 week thematic unit, “Ecosystems.” There was a huge parent turnout and the students enjoyed performing their chants and showing them the strategies used to gain knowledge about ecosystems.

View more pictures online here .

Seventh graders win first place at Solar System Event

Beating 30 other teams and long-time champion Kennedy Middle School of Cupertino, seventh graders Arjun Shrivastava and Natashia Prabhakaran of Thomas Russell Middle School won first place in the Solar System event in this season's first Science Olympics Competition in Sacramento on January 12.

Seed Survivor trailer visits Sinnott Elementary School

by Jeannie Lam, Sinnott Elementary third grade teacher

Sinnott Elementary was in for a treat on January 9 and 10. The Seed Survivor Trailer, by Nutrien, came and presented to third, fourth, and fifth grade classes. Seed Survivor is a free curriculum-based program that teaches elementary children about plants and the importance of agriculture. Seed Survivor was designed to teach youth that plants need water, light, healthy soil and nutrients to survive. They do this by conducting a mini presentation to classes about the importance of nutrients in our soil. Then, students get to experience an exhibit area which includes a fossil find, discovering what lives in soil, and planting a sunflower. In the trailer, students got to play interactive games, experience more exhibits, and a lucky few got to try out the Virtual Reality game.

Why is this important? As our world population keeps growing, there is more pressure on farmers to grow healthy food to feed us all. Nutrients ensure that the soil can continue to support increased food growth, they prevent the soil from becoming tired. Nitrogen, Phosphate, and Potassium are considered the primary nutrients.

Seed Survivor educates the next generation about the importance of agriculture and where food comes from. It is a FREE program. For more information, visit their website at www.seedsurvivor.com .

View more pictures online here .

Upcoming Events

Milpitas Unified School District invites you to its Parent University 6-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 27 at the District Office, located at 1331 E. Calaveras Blvd. Topics will include Developing a Balanced Mental Health Approach for our students and families, Positive Parenting, Pathways to College, Personal and Cyber Safety, Dealing with ADHD at home, Adult Education Options, and more. There will be interactive childcare for three to five year olds, crafts and face painting for kindergarten to eighth graders, snacks and drinks, and many powerful workshops. Give us your opinion about what additional subject you would like to have in a workshop by taking this online survey. For more information about the event, contact Gerry Lopez at [email protected].