EGUSD Participates in National Speak Up Survey
The Elk Grove Unified School District is seeking input from students, staff and parents about technology use and education through the national "Speak Up" survey administered by Project Tomorrow, a non-profit education organization. EGUSD stakeholders are asked to take the survey online here and select whether you fall under the category of parents, students or teachers and administrators. The website asks for the user to enter the state and name of the school. Survey takers will then need to enter the "secret word" elkgrove to access the survey. Individual responses are anonymous. They are associated with a school but not tied to the individual. The survey will close on December 17, 2010. The survey results will inform EGUSD about how participants feel about their education and the use of technology. Survey results may be used for planning and community discussion. The survey and subsequent results are free of charge to both the people taking the survey and EGUSD. |
Voluntary Athletic Contributions
As the state budget continues to have a negative impact on school districts, Elk Grove Unified has looked for creative ways to continue to offer programs for kids. One of these is the Voluntary Athletic Contribution (VAC) implemented this year.
The VAC was put in place to assist the district in sustaining its current programs for the 2011-2012 school year and even possibly reinstate some portion of the $900,000 in athletic programs that were cut for the 2010-2011 school year. The VAC was a recommendation that came out of a Parent Advisory Committee that was asked to look at creative solutions to maintain athletics in EGUSD.
Student-athletes are encouraged to contribute to the maintenance of their athletic programs through the VAC. However, it is not the intent of the VAC to create a financial hardship. VAC contributions are not mandatory. While a student will not be adversely affected in terms of her/his participation in the district's athletic programs should a family choose not to make financial contributions, neither will VAC contributions ensure a student's inclusion on a team or guarantee playing time. Families who wish to contribute more or less than the suggested amount or choose not to make a contribution may indicate so on the VAC form. All VAC contributions are tax-deductible.
Fifteen percent of all VAC contributions will go directly to the school's athletic programs. The remaining 85 percent will go towards maintaining athletic programs at all high schools. For more information, visit the EGUSD Athletics webpage.
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Sheldon High School receives $100,000 grant for animation program
Sheldon High School (SHS) has been selected to receive a $100,000 Tech Prep Demonstration Grant from the California Department of Education. The grant will be used to enhance Sheldon's Animation Career Pathway program by strengthening the pipeline that connects high school, post-secondary education and career opportunities.
The SHS Animation program has built a consortium of high school teachers, community college professors and industry professionals. This consortium will create a pool of well-prepared and highly-skilled individuals who will enter high-demand digital arts and media professions. The consortium includes Sheldon's Animation Career Pathway program, Sacramento City College, Pixar Animation Studios, Cartoon Network and Disney.
"The Tech Prep Demonstration Grant will allow our Animation program to continue to expand on opportunities for our students beyond high school," said Paula Duncan, principal at Sheldon. "Directly connecting our students with contacts in both the educational and professional sectors will better prepare them for what lies ahead. We look forward to continuing to expand our consortium with more schools and studios in the future."
SHS Animation Career Pathway students have won numerous awards for their work, including an Emmy. Graduates of the program have attended some of the top art schools in the country and work for Pixar, Cartoon Network and Disney. To view the latest animation project, click here.
For more information about the Tech Prep Demonstration Grant, click here. |
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Welcome to eguNews, an EGUSD email newsletter published every two weeks. If you have questions about eguNews, you can email communication@egusd.net or call (916) 686-7732.
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Elk Grove Elementary School receives $10,000 of school supplies from Avery Dennison
A mountain of free school supplies greeted the staff and students at Elk Grove Elementary School as they arrived at a special assembly in their multipurpose room on November 4. Elk Grove Elementary was one of 15 schools nationwide to be awarded $10,000 in school supplies from Avery Dennison, an office supply company.
More than 55,000 schools from across the country participated in Avery Dennison's online voting contest. Avery Dennison launched the contest earlier this year in celebration of their 75th anniversary. Originally, the top ten schools were supposed to win the grand prize. In response to an overwhelming 900,000 votes cast, Avery Dennison expanded the donations to the top fifteen schools. Elk Grove Elementary received 17,897 votes online, earning the fourteenth ranking.
"We are truly grateful to Avery Dennison for giving this generous donation to our school," said Dave Neves, principal at Elk Grove. "But this would not have been possible without the support of our greater school community as well as other schools in our district who voted for us. We appreciated all of the assistance we received throughout this process. These school supplies will definitely be put to good use."
For a listing of the top fifteen schools and for more information about the program, visit www.averydennisongivebacktoschools.com.
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Laguna Creek High School students
groom future leaders at
Elitha Donner Elementary School
Associated Student Body (ASB) leadership students from Laguna Creek High School (LCHS) are enthusiastically grooming the next generation of young leaders through leadership seminars geared towards elementary school students.
The leadership seminars are the brainchild of a discussion among teachers at the Laguna Creek Regional Feeder Pattern K-12 Community Forum. The group wanted to change the community's perception of LCHS and thus the idea of leadership seminars was born.
"We found the program was beneficial to both the high school students and the elementary school students," said Jerry Haynes, activities director at Laguna Creek. "It's extremely important that our students at Laguna Creek connect with the students at our feeder schools."
The second of four leadership seminars took place on October 27 at Elitha Donner Elementary School. LCHS ASB students took time to work with approximately 43 Donner leadership students on public speaking skills, strategies to combat negative peer pressure and positive self-image.
"It was great to have the older kids interacting with their younger counterparts as positive role models," said Michelle Jenkins, principal at Donner. "It's also wonderful to see Donner alumni giving back to their alma mater by volunteering their time to help our students."
The next leadership seminar by LCHS ASB students is at Foulks Ranch Elementary School on December 9.
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Culinary Camp at COHS
Class has only just begun and already the atmosphere in kitchen at the Cosumnes Oaks High School (COHS) Culinary Arts Institute is teeming with electric excitement.
"It might look like absolute chaos in here, but I can assure you - it's a controlled chaos," said Kerri Hock, culinary arts teacher at COHS, with a smile.
On Thursdays for the past three weeks, the packed kitchen has been the site of COHS' first Culinary Camp, geared towards students in grades K-8. Throughout the camp, students will learn how to make breakfast, lunch and dinner food, as well as dessert. Each week features a new course. During the last week, students will make dessert and serve their parents in the restaurant area.
"We have 52 students enrolled and about 15-20 high school students who serve as instructors," said Hock. "We can also include special needs students as we have high school volunteers who are specifically trained to fully include these students in all aspects of the class."
The culinary camp has raised about $3,000 for the Culinary Arts Academy at COHS. The monies raised will go directly to funding other events at the Culinary Arts Institute to help build the program.
There are plans to hold a second Culinary Camp in March/April 2011 and adult classes will be offered soon as well. The cost for the class is $75 per student. For more information about the culinary camp or other activities at the COHS Culinary Arts Institute, contact Kerri Hock at KHock@egusd.net or 916-683-7670.
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Breakfast Club @ Kirchgater Elementary
Since April 2009, volunteers from the community have joined students on the first Wednesday of each month for breakfast treats and fun activities through Anna Kirchgater Elementary School's Breakfast Club.
"Our Breakfast Club truly is a fun and informal way community members can make a difference in the lives of our students," said Maggie Wade, prevention and intervention specialist at Kirchgater. "As you might imagine, the students really love it and the adults come back because they have found the experience to be highly rewarding. Breakfast Club allows busy professionals the opportunity to touch the life of a child without a huge time commitment."
Breakfast Club was created out of the need for positive adult mentors and role models for students. During the Breakfast Club, approximately 22-24 adult volunteers are each paired up with a student buddy to have breakfast and participate in activities. Adult buddies are paired with students for the entire school year.
Activities at Breakfast Club sometimes center around Kirchgater's "Student of the Month" themes. During "Be A Good Friend" month, buddy pairs made friendship cubes. Pairs wrote their top six friendly behaviors on their own cube and took turns rolling their own cubes, sharing examples of a time they used the friendly behavior they rolled. The program is sponsored by Frontier Communications and First Baptist Church of Elk Grove.
The Breakfast Club is always looking for volunteers. For more information or to volunteer, contact Maggie Wade at (916) 689-9150 or at mwade@egusd.net
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