| Snapshot from the Ridge | |
Each week, Pacific Ridge School invites you to enjoy a spontaneous view of school life.
Here's to a delicious start: AP Chinese and Chinese 4 students cook and enjoy dumplings to celebrate Chinese New Year!
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| Bulletin Board |
Ki's Cafe Now Open
With the opening of Ki's Cafe in the Arts and Technology Center, students are now able to purchase food and beverages throughout the day! Students must have a Ki's account to purchase items at the kiosk; cash will not be accepted. Students can pay for their food by swiping the barcode on their student ID, and the money will be directly deducted from their Ki's account. Each time your child makes a purchase, you will receive an email with details and an updated account balance. Please reference the emails sent by Mr. Bray over break for more information on how to open a Ki's account or add money to an existing account for charging purposes.
Curriculum Night on March 4th
Current sophomores and juniors, along with their parents, are invited to hear faculty discuss course offerings and students reflect on their experiences crafting junior and senior class schedules. Questions? Contact Tim Betzala at tbetzala@pacificridge.org.
Date: Wednesday, March 4th
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Place: East Reading Room
NO SCHOOL on Monday, March 9th - Staff Day
March 10th Benjamin Zander Event Full
On Tuesday evening, March 10th, Benjamin Zander, founder and conductor of the Boston Philharmonic, will present to the Pacific Ridge community on "The Art of Possibility." This event is currently full. More information will be emailed to ticket holders soon. Students will see the presentation earlier in the day.
Date: Tuesday, March 10th
Time: Presentation begins promptly at 7:00 p.m.; please plan on arriving by 6:30 p.m. to accommodate off-site parking
Place: Athletic Center
Parking: Off-site information TBD, shuttles available
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| New & Noteworthy |
Student Entrepreneurship Is Open For Business
From lemonade to logistics, student entrepreneurs are hard at work finding lucrative solutions to the Pacific Ridge community's needs. The 17 students enrolled in this year's new Entrepreneurship elective, co-taught by Mr. El Alam and Ms. Schmidt, selected three business models to pursue. "The App Group" hopes to design an application to streamline all Pacific Ridge events into one, user-friendly schedule, "Quench" seeks to establish a permanent, on-campus beverage stand, and "Firebird Feed" plans to serve as an intermediary connecting students with local eateries for lunch. The groups are currently writing business plans, beta testing, and fundraising for their ventures. Upon completion of the various projects, the class will discuss future modifications, scalability, and sustainability of their pursuits.
"Quench" sells flavored lemonade, iced tea, and other refreshments
during a lunchtime beverage stand.
"The Smacklty," a team of intrepid teachers, competes in a dodgeball
tournament fundraiser hosted by "The App Group."
Patrick Henry Visits Pacific Ridge
On Tuesday, February 24th, middle school students enjoyed a unique Community Life when founding father Patrick Henry came by for a visit. A representative of Colonial Williamsburg, where 8th graders will visit during their global travel program in June, Mr. Henry spoke to students about his role in the American Revolution and his belief in self-governance, best summarized by his famous words "Give me liberty or give me death!" Mr. Henry also engaged with students in American History classes throughout the day.
Science Olympiad
Pacific Ridge's Division 'C' Science Olympiad team had an impressive showing at the 2014-2015 San Diego County Regional Science Olympiad, held at University City High School last weekend. Several Pacific Ridge students came away with awards, including:
Zafar Rustamkulov and Noah Kuo: 12th in Wright Stuff
Khalid Abudawas and Ian Hogenkamp: 17th in Wright Stuff
Zafar Rustamkulov: 10th in Astronomy
Congratulations to the Science Olympiad team members in both divisions on a successful competition!
Division 'C' Competitors:
| Khalid Abudawas | Anurag Aiyer | Derek Albosta
| | Bailey Bjornstad | Dana Carney | Brett Edwards | | Adam Fekini | Ian Hogenkamp | Josh Kahn | | Noah Kuo | Hannah Lange | Joe McGuire | | Ethan Printz | Bareen Rafiq | Zafar Rustamkulov | | Powell Sheagren | Meg Thode | Vincent Wang | | Travis Wilson | Connie Yu |
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Division 'B' Competitors:
| Agnes Chong | Zoe Erturk | Mary Fangman | | Sarah Freeman | Kiana Harnish | Rachel Kanevsky | | Roxane Martin | Rankin Poage | Nate Price | | Emily Regnery | Sanjai Subramanian | Oliver Thode | | Alex Trubey | Amelia Whitworth | Dustin Wu |
Preparing for flight in the Science Olympiad's Wright Stuff competition
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| Curricular Adventures |
7th Graders Get Eyewitness View of Justice System
On Tuesday, February 24th, 7th graders visited the Vista Courthouse to observe the justice system at work. Students spoke to Superior Court Judge Harry M. Elias and several prosecutors and public defenders before watching a prospective juror video and visiting courtrooms to observe trials in progress. The courthouse visit touches on students' current reading of To Kill a Mockingbird in English class, as well as their examination of the Civil Rights movement in Social and Community Studies. Thanks to parents Sherry and Bill Stone for organizing this informative trip.
Packing the Court: 7th graders learn about the legal system
Middle School Students Caught 'Acting Out' Students in Mrs. Brady's Spanish B class celebrated the completion of their second trimester Spanish language novel,
El Viaje de su Vida, by acting out the final scene of the book en espaņol. The story follows 16-year-old Carlos Ayala on a cruise with his family from the U.S. to Yucatan, where he is the only witness to the theft of an object of great value. Students enjoyed testing their vocabulary with a spirited and goofy interpretation of the mystery's dramatic final act.
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Service Learning In The Field
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ActivCare Seniors Visit Campus, Middle School Students
Almost every week, a group of middle school students travel up the hill to visit with seniors at ActivCare. This week, a group of seniors came to visit students on campus. The seniors enjoyed a snack prepared by the students, toured the school, peeked in on a few classes, and took in a dance and theatre performance. The students loved showing off the school and the seniors loved seeing it!
Freshman Runs Hockey League for Special Needs Youth
Last week, Isaiah Granet '18 made local and national headlines for his work founding and managing The Chill, a hockey league for developmentally disabled youth. The league, which Isaiah created two years ago as a bar mitzvah charity project, currently boasts 30 players and a near equal number of dedicated volunteers. Isaiah found a law firm to help register The Chill as a 501(C)(3), successfully applied for a grant from USA Hockey, and negotiated for ice time. During the season, September through May, The Chill meets weekly at UTC Ice for lessons, drills, and intra-squad scrimmages. Isaiah plans to continue running the league as an Independent Service Learning Project.
Founder and manager of The Chill
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| Parents Association |
Parents Association General Meeting on March 26th
Mark your calendar now for the Parents Association General Meeting. The main goal of this meeting is to share data and reflections on the Freedom from Chemical Dependency survey recently taken by students in grades 8-12.
Date: Thursday, March 26th
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Place: East Reading Room
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Sports on the Ridge
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Girls Soccer, Boys Basketball Win First Playoff Rounds
It's playoff time for winter sports, and our Boys Varsity Basketball Team and Girls Varsity Soccer Team are in the hunt for CIF glory! Boys Basketball defeated Santana High School Tuesday evening in the first round. On Friday, February 27th, they will face Mission Vista at 7 p.m. on our home court. Girls Soccer defeated San Ysidro in dramatic fashion Wednesday, winning a shootout that went down to the final save. The girls will now take on 2nd-seeded Mission Hills at 5 p.m. on Saturday, February 28th at Mission Hills High School. We hope to see plenty of Firebird fans cheering on our student-athletes this weekend both home and away!
7:00 p.m. on Friday, February 27th
Boys Varsity Basketball (#2) vs. Mission Vista High School (#7)
5:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 28th
Girls Varsity Soccer (#7) at Mission Hills High School (#2)
Upper School Winter Sports Celebration on March 11th
Families of Upper School winter sports athletes are invited to the end-of-season Sports Celebration on Wednesday, March 11th. The event will feature a slide show, awards ceremony and breakout sessions for individual team awards and dessert. Dinner will not be served.
Date: Wednesday, March 12th
Time: 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Scores:
Boys Varsity Basketball
2/17/15 Escondido Charter 52 44 W
2/20/15 Maranatha Christian 70 62 W
Boys Junior Varsity Basketball
2/17/15 Escondido Charter 34 32 W
2/17/15 Foothills Christian High School 61 32 W
2/20/15 Francis Parker School 49 54 L
Boys Varsity Soccer
2/18/15 Francis Parker School 2 3 L
2/20/15 Escondido Charter 5 1 W
Girls Varsity Soccer
2/17/15 La Jolla Country Day School 4 3 W
2/18/15 Escondido Charter 2 3 L
2/20/15 Francis Parker School 0 2 L
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| Class Notes |
Seniors Honored as National Merit Finalists
Seniors Tyler Chen, Nathan Cheng, Sebastian Green, Ethan Kuo, Dashiell Tan and Bianca Yang have been named Finalists in the 2014 National Merit Scholarship Program. The distinction of Finalist is bestowed upon less than 1% of applicants nationwide, and is based on students' performance on the PSAT and a detailed scholarship application. Scholarship awards totaling over $37 million are given each year. Congratulations, seniors!
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| San Diego Happenings | |
Ambassador Jeremy Kinsman To Speak on Russia
On Wednesday, March 4th, Jeremy Kinsman, former Canadian Ambassador to Russia, the European Union and numerous European countries, will speak at the Village Church in Rancho Santa Fe. An expert on world affairs, Ambassador Kinsman will provide insight into current affairs in Russia and neighboring countries. Ambassador Kinsman's presentation begins at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $35 for adults, $10 for students. For more information, visit villageviewpoints.com or call 858-381-8070.
San Diego Festival of Science and Engineering
On Saturday, March 14th, San Diego State University's College of Sciences and Engineering will open its doors to K-12 students and families to showcase nearly 30 interactive exhibits including: planetarium showings, laser demonstrations, aerospace, robotics, Electron Microscope facility, and more. The free event runs from 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m, and there is no charge for parking. Visit the event website for more information.
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In a community that fosters academic excellence, ethical responsibility, and global engagement, Pacific Ridge School prepares students for college and a purposeful life.
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A View From The Ridge
