The Vine May 19, 2017 From the desk of Superintendent Chris Williams

Celebrating Dance in PRJUSD

We celebrated dance in PRJUSD this week. It started with the first-ever middle school dance show featuring students from both Flamson and Lewis Middle Schools. At our elementary schools, students in each grade level, TK-5, performed dance numbers for parents. The dances were from different genres such as jazz, hip hop, and even Hawaiian. The events were well attended – especially at Pat Butler Elementary where 447 people checked into the office that day! We love our parent support! Thank you to our teachers and para-educators who worked so hard to organize and choreograph.

PRHS Eagle Scouts Recognized at Rotary Members of Boy Scout Troop 60 were honored at the most recent Rotary Club luncheon for achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. These are outstanding young gentlemen who have excelled academically and we are thrilled to share their future plans. Listed below are the PRHS Eagle Scouts and where they will be headed after graduation:

Iver Hansen - Welding Apprenticeship with Boneso Brothers Construction Jacob Cagliero - Cal Poly, Kinesiology Brandon Halebsky - Cal Poly, Mechanical Engineering Garrett Wilson - Cuesta, then transfer to a CSU for Computer Science Grant Scheiffele - Cal Poly, Biology Ethan Athey - UC Santa Barbara, Cell and Developmental Biology Sam Collins - UC Santa Cruz, Computer Engineering Graham Farrell - UCLA, Theater Arts Matthew Olsen - US Air Force Academy, Astronautical Engineering

VAPA Signing Day Paso Robles High School held its first-ever VAPA signing day in recognition of four PRHS seniors and their acceptance into some of the most prestigious theatre arts programs in the country. Congratulations to our outstanding members of the Paso High Theatre Company:

Casey Galli: New York University (NYU). Casey appeared in nine shows at PRHS with her most recent role as Ursula in “The Little Mermaid”. She served as Drama Club Vice President this past year.

Graham Farrell: UCLA. Graham was involved in eight shows at PRHS. Graham appeared as Robert Martin in “The Drowsy Chaperone” and served as the Drama Club Treasurer.

Jacob Bausch: Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at the New School in New York. Jacob recently appeared as King Triton in “The Little Mermaid”, one of nine shows that he was involved with, and served as the Drama Club Dramaturge.

Maycee Ham: Southern Utah University. Maycee was the Drama Club President this past year and appeared in nine shows including as Sebastian in “The Little Mermaid.”

Preschool Ribbon Cutting Our PRJUSD preschool, the Early Learning Academy, held a ribbon cutting ceremony and open house this past week. The preschool is celebrating the opening of its new facilities at both the Arts Academy at Bauer Speck and Winifred Pifer Elementary. Attendees had the opportunity to view a slideshow of the students at work, explore activities in a facilitated environment, learn about alignment of lesson planning and targeted objectives to the Preschool Learning Foundations and Kinder Common Core, and simply enjoy the beautiful facility and outdoor classroom. If interested in any of our preschool programs, please contact Lauren Handley, lmhandley@pasoschools.org. Spaces are limited and are filling fast for both the 2017-18 school year and the summer!

Cougar Mural Going Up Advanced Art students at Flamson Middle School have been working on a cougar mural with professional artist, Steve Kalar. Steve is a Bearcat alum who refurbished the existing mural in the gym (that he originally painted) and helped student to paint a new gym mural. This cougar mural will be hanging in the Flamson Middle School lobby very soon!

PRHS Mentors Teach Growth Mindset What started out as a conversation at STEM night about teaching robotics and how students can learn from their mistakes, turned into a wonderful mentoring opportunity for PRHS and Kermit King Elementary students. Earlier this week, PRHS robotics students traveled to Kermit King to work with a group of students as part of a growth mindset project. The elementary students are striving to improve their belief in their ability to succeed. The students shared how to program and make a spherobot roll. Once they had that goal accomplished, the Bearcats posed an engineering challenge: How can you create a chariot for your spherobot out of Legos? The students were working through the engineering design process as they modified their Lego structures to improve their designs. They also discussed that making a plan and following that plan sometimes meant you had to work through

failures to achieve success. The students were so engrossed in the activity. They did not give up or show frustration when their designs did not work; they simply created a new plan. It was a fun and enriching opportunity for students to be partnered with same-age peers from their classes and also be mentored by the Bearcats. There was tremendous engagement and positive behavior interactions were present throughout. Thank you to Alisha Bredensteiner, Jon-Paul Ewing, Stacey Halebsky, Trina Nicklas, Ronalee Andersen, Kelly Ward, and Laura Eras for making this activity happen.

All Pro Dads at Winifred Pifer Earlier this week, Winifred Pifer Elementary held its final All Pro Dad's Day of the school year. The topic was “renewal”. The dads played family-friendly games and learned the importance of making intentional memories with their children. The number of participants has grown dramatically since the very first All Pro Dad's Day of the school year. And All Pro Dads is not just for dads! Grandfathers, uncles, older brothers, and moms attend the monthly meetings. Next year, the group looks to host several school and family events to help families make connections and build strong relationships with each other.

Saturday School Enrichment 50 students came to Saturday School at the Arts Academy at Bauer Speck last weekend! Saturday School has been a very popular place for the Bobcats. And it’s no wonder why - during a rotation, students worked in the garden and enjoyed making and eating lettuce wraps!

One Cool Earth Corner Look at these beautiful edible art projects families at Georgia Brown Elementary School made this week for our family cooking night! In partnership with One Cool Earth, The Kids Cook Monday Campaign, and FoodCorps, Georgia Brown Elementary hosted this event to promote family meals and cooking with kids. Participants made healthy Mediterranean hummus pizzas with garden herbs. When kids pitch in making meals, they’re empowered to consider the portions, the vitamins and the nutrients of what they’re eating!

Also pictured here is the Kermit King Garden Club. They are making a kale salad with fresh produce from their garden. Looking for fun and meaningful ways to engage in your school community? Volunteers can help One Cool Earth during garden lunch clubs, class time, and programs like Library on the Lawn to get students learning in the garden and trying new healthy foods. RSVP at

action@onecoolearth.org to get involved or get more info! From planting to painting signs, there’s an activity for everyone! Also remember to check out One Cool Earth online: www.facebook.com/onecoolearth or www.onecoolearth.org.

Muffins for Moms Winifred Pifer Elementary held its annual Muffins for Moms event last week. Moms and Grandmothers were treated to muffins and coffee or juice and were able to have their pictures taken. It was a fantastic event and several All Pro Dad's helped serve the mothers and their children.

ST Math Students throughout PRJUSD are still going strong with ST Math. Congratulations to Mrs. Goldbach’s kindergarten/1st grade class at Virginia Peterson Elementary for earning their 60% postcard for their class average! They now have over 45 students at 100% completion! And also getting into the GiGi spirit is a 5th grade class from Pat Butler Elementary. These rock stars got to enjoy a GiGi cookie-making party because they met the progress benchmark. Way to go!

Fruits with Family As part of the PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) efforts at the Arts Academy at Bauer Speck, staff is working on parent involvement and building community. This morning was their first Fruits with Family event. Parents and their children were invited for a healthy treat of fruits along with some fun activities. They decorated a leaf about their families that went into our community tree. They also engaged in conversation such as what ROAR means and what their favorite part of school was. The families where provided with recipe books for some quality fun cooking time at home. Over 40 families attended and they hope to start up the next school year with another one!

Graduation Leis The PRHS Floral Club is selling graduation leis. Order forms are due by June 1st. Reminder: Leis cannot be worn DURING the graduation ceremony. For more information, contact Theresa Clark at tclark@pasoschools.org.

Battle of the Books Students throughout PRJUSD are gearing up for the annual Battle of the Books! The district-wide contest will be held on June 2nd beginning at 9:00 AM at Centennial Park and ending with the Grand Battle at about 12:45 at the PRHS Performing Arts Center. Pictured here are students from Kermit King Elementary. #battleofthebooks

PRHS Athletics Update Congratulations to PRHS Bearcat Baseball who travelled down to Southern California to defeat Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary (Montebello) in a CIF Division III 1st round playoff game by a score of 7-1. The Bearcats move on to the 2nd round of CIF playoffs and will HOST the winner of Citrus Valley or Poly of Riverside on Tuesday, May 23. This game will take place on the PRHS varsity diamond and the first pitch is set for 3:15. The Bearcats took 14 of their top track & field athletes to Moorpark last Saturday to compete in Division II Preliminaries. Of the 100 schools in DII, here is how the Bearcats stacked up:

Dante Colleta and Cade England finished 47th and 10th respectively. Cade England hit a new PR of 42' 8". Clay Wilshusen also had a huge PR of 13' 00" in the pole vault grabbing the 21st spot in the division. Javier Solis finished 37th in 400m and boys’ relay team of Coletta, Solis, Kaden Gallant, and Jordan Summer finished 37th overall. Madison Mitchell finished 17th in the 100m hurdles and 13th in the 300m hurdles for the Bearcats. Madison Wineman finished 29th overall in the 800m. Key Mabien grabbed 12th for the Bearcats in the 400m and the girls’ 4x100m relay including Wineman, Mitchell, Mabien and Kayla McDonald finished 20th overall. Moving on to CIF Finals will include Codie Wilshusen in the pole vault currently ranked #2 in the Division behind the 2016 State Champ and National Record Holder, Rachel Baxter from Canyon. Jacob Franklin had an 11th place finish in the discus but will advance in the shot put. Annie Meeder and Trad Berti had two great distance races and both will advance in the 1600m and 3200m. Complete results from Prelims can be found here. CIF Divisional Finals this Saturday at Cerritos Community College.

In swim & dive, varsity girls finish 3rd and varsity boys finish 4th at the PAC 8 swim and dive final championships in SLO. JV girls and boys both finished 5th. The Bearcats qualified 11 CIF events, and earned 10 All-League Honors. PRHS swim & dive team finished out the season at the CIF Southern Section Division 2 prelims and finals in Riverside last weekend. This prestigious meet had 78 teams and more than 600 athletes in attendance. Representing the Bearcats in the dive portion of the meet was sophomore Cori Southward, for boys swimming it

was Gavin Hughes, and on the girls side it was Audrey Hughes, Mackenzie Raymond, Cecelia Ramirez, Shannen Dodds, Gabriella Clayton, and Emily Christian swimming for PRHS. Cori Southward finished 18th in the 1 meter springboard event and Gavin Hughes was 29th in the 200 Freestyle and 35th in the 500 Freestyle. Audrey Hughes swam in the 50 Freestyle (21st), the 500 Freestyle (27th) the 4 x 50 Free Relay (29th) and the 4 x 100 Free Relay (31st). Hughes was joined by teammates Raymond, Ramirez, and Dodds on the 4 x 50 free relay and on the 4 x 100 free relay it was Hughes, Raymond, Clayton, and Christian. Says Coach Jen Brown, "This Bearcat team is extremely young and has shown marked improvements throughout the season. I am so proud of all the accomplishments by the team this year, across the board, at all levels we had an amazing season. The years ahead look to be very promising for Bearcat aquatics!"

ALL-LEAGUE BEARCATS Audrey Hughes; 50 Free-2nd team, 500 free-1st team Mackenzie Raymond; 200 free-2nd team, 500 free-2nd team Gavin Hughes; 500 free-2nd team Cori Southward; 1 meter springboard-2nd team Audrey Hughes, Gabriella Clayton, Cece Ramirez, Mackenzie Raymond; 4 x 50 freestyle-2nd team

Elementary Athletics The elementary athletic season is nearing the end with the last of our sports – boys’ and girls’ soccer. Games continue each Friday from now through June 2nd with the championships being played on Friday, June 9th. Best of luck to all of our teams!