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Academic Update
Debra Sakowski
Asst. Principal of Academic Affairs
All School Test Day- October 14, 2015
9th -11th grade students will attend school from 8:00AM-11: 30 AM and will take the PSAT, a practice SAT test. It is important that your student sit for this practice test as the PSAT is great practice for the SAT as both tests require students to use critical thinking skills to answer multiple-choice questions within a fixed amount of time. The testing experience also helps to reduce anxiety and increase student's comfort levels when they sit for the SAT. The PSAT scores also provide students with a general idea of how they'll do on the SAT. All students are required to be in uniform. Seniors do not attend school on this day.
October 8, 2015- ADD/DROP Date
This is the last day a student may add a new class or drop a class in which they are currently enrolled e.g. moving from prep to honors or honors to prep class. If you have concerns about your student's progress in a class, please check their grades on net classroom and contact your student's teacher and/or counselor.
October 8, 2015- Quarter Ends: Eligibility Determined
The first quarter ends and grades are posted on October 12th. Progress reports will be mailed home the following week so please, if you have moved or changed your address, notify the office. These quarter grades determine a student's eligibility for participating in sports and extra-curricular activities. A letter will be sent home notifying you if your student is ineligible for activities or sports within two weeks of grades being posted. Please contact Mrs. Sakowski for questions regarding eligibility
New UC Approved Courses
This is a great time to update you on the new course additions to our UC approved Garces course list.
We now have four new classes which will receive CSU and UC credit on student's college applications. They are Dance II, Publications Journalism (previously listed as Yearbook), Introduction to Design, which will count for credit toward the Visual and Performing Arts elective, and Introduction to Engineering Design which will count for credit as a College-prep elective. To view all Garces UC approved courses visit: https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist#/list/search/all
One Book, One Bakersfield
The One Book Project is a community wide reading & discussion project inviting everyone to read The International Bank of Bob by Bob Harris. The One Book Project is sponsored by Kern County Library and California State University, Bakersfield. For more information, visit KCLonebook.org
Good News Apps
After reading a recent article in the Bakersfield Californian about teachers throughout the state being trained on technology, I realized that many of our parents, perhaps, aren't aware of the fact that our teachers and students at Garces have been using the iPads for instruction for the past three years. While we continue to educate our staff on new technology, I wanted to share with you some of the apps that our teachers use with our students here at Garces.
Kahoot, Socrative, Quizlet, and Notability are a few that if you hear the word, please know it's an app! I had the pleasure of observing a class when the students were using Kahoot and I wanted to join the class. It was a great example of how technology at Garces is being used in our classrooms to enhance your student's education.
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Football Tonight
Friday, October 2nd
Tonight we host St. Bonaventura on Sam Tobias Field. The freshman game starts at 5 PM and the varsity game kicks off at 7:30 PM.
ASB Tailgate starts at 6 PM. The Herd will meet in the quad and get game ready!
Next week we play BHS at home on Friday, Oct 9th. The freshman game will start of 5 PM and the varsity game at 7:30 PM. During halftime of the varsity game we will honor
Dr. Chris Hamilton for his years of service with the
Bob Carroll Award.
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No School
Teacher In-Service
Garces faculty will be attending an in-service for the Fresno Diocese on Friday. There will be no classes on Friday but the office will be open. The football games and practices will proceed as scheduled.
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Fall Awards
On Wednesday, September 30th, we handed out our Fall Awards in recognition of outstanding achievements last school year. Next week, we will provide a complete list of the awards and winners.
Pictured are the students with the top GPA's for their class for the 2014-2015 school year. From left to right are
Danielle Echeverria, Class of 2016;
Anastasia Drulias, Class of 2017; and
Julie Anna Rinaldi, Class of 2018.
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Jockey Club
The Bakersfield Jockey Club honored three Garces student athletes on Monday during a luncheon at Hodel's. They were selected to be honored by their coaches for attributes displayed as both an athlete and a scholar.
Pictured from left to right are Garces Volleyball player Hannah Merjil,
Garces Boys Water Polo player
Carter Kerwin
, and Garces Girls Water Polo player Caroline Kerwin,
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Congratulations to Meg Blaine!
1st Place at KC Fair
Garces Memorial Sophomore Meg Blaine, competed in the Kern County Fair this week in the Junior Division Horse Show. She won High Point (1st Place) in the Western Classes for 14 & Over. She also took 1st Place in the Open Junior Stakes Show. She has been competing in the Fair Horse Division since the 3rd Grade.
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Social Justice Club
Pope Francis Week
 Last week, the Social Justice Club led the week long celebration of Pope Francis' visit to the US. Thank you to those students who asked us to take a moment each day to reflect on Pope Francis and his message of compassion, respect, and love for others. As Pope Francis so simply put it - live your life by the golden rule - "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". Amen Pope Francis.
Pictured are two of the leaders of the Social Justice Club: Chase Hoffman and Mikey Vibal. |
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Ag Club
Congratulations to the Graces Ag Club. They won the competition for "Best Display" at the Open House held last Sunday. As you can see - they went all out!
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Kern Dance Alliance
Master Classes at Garces
Friday, October 16th
Kern Dance Alliance is pleased to present two ballet master classes with Bay Pointe Ballet Artistic Director, Bruce Steivel. Bruce Steivel is an internationally recognized choreographer and teacher and has trained and worked under some of dance's most famous teachers and choreographers including George Balanchine, Jiri Kylian, Roland Petit, Anton Dolin, Ben Stevenson, Andre Eglevsky, Andexandra Danilova, David Howard and Heinz Spoerli. Previously, Mr. Steivel served as the Artistic Director of Bern Stadt Theatre in Switzerland, the Hong Kong Ballet, the Universal Ballet of Korea and Nevada Ballet Theatre, where he served as artistic director for over a decade.
Friday, October 16, 2015
at Garces Memorial High School Dance Studio
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Academic Corner
Message from
Debra Sakowski
Assistant Principal of Academic Affairs
Dear Garces Parents,
Yogi Berra, a Catholic, passed away last week, so I thought, in recognition of his passing, I would share with you, one of his famous quotes. He stated, "If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else." This quote eloquently states what we at Garces try to do for our students from the time they enter our school until they graduate. We help them get to where they want to go. We work together to instill in them the need and desire to work toward achieving their goals. Our mission statement is a daily reminder to our students that our goal is to "educate our youth to fulfill the mission of Christ by developing students spiritually, academically, and socially. " It serves to remind our students that in order to fulfill this mission they too, must continue to achieve and think about where they want to go. We, at Garces will continue to embrace the needs of all our students and assist them as they figure out where they are going in life.
I have included below, some important dates and information to help keep you abreast of upcoming activities and academic deadlines. Please feel free to contact me at 327-2578 ext. 110 if you have any questions or concerns regarding your student. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Debra Sakowski
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Week of October 5th
Monday, Oct. 5th
Water Polo vs Tulare Union
Tuesday, Oct. 6th
Volleyball vs. BHS
JV G Tennis vs. Liberty
Varsity G Tennis at Liberty
Wednesday, Oct. 7th
X Country SWYL Meet
Water Polo vs. Tulare Union
Thursday, Oct. 8th
JV G Tennis at Frontier
Varsity G Tennis vs. Frontier
Volleyball at Centennial
Frosh Football vs. BHS
Friday, Oct. 9th
No Classes Today
Teacher In-Service
Varsity Football vs. BHS
Bob Carroll Award Night
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Ram for A Day
Tuesday, October 13th
8:30 - 9:00 Registration
9:00 - 12:30 Ram for a Day
All 8th graders are invited to spend the day at Garces. Please let families you know who have 8th grade students about Ram for a Day. It is a wonderful opportunity for them to experience what makes our school unique and special. There will also be a parent social for 8th grade parents from 8:30 - 10 AM.
For more information, please contact our Director of Admissions,
Kim Harper at 327-2578 ext. 122.
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Download the
2015-2016 Garces Parent Directory
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Iceland Trip
Registration Deadline
The deadline to register for the trip to Iceland is Tuesday, October 13th. For more information, please contact Garces teacher and trip advisor
Ms. Mandee Dees
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In our prayers
Karen Phillips, wife of Rick Phillips '73 and mother of Kristy Phillips '06 and Ricky Phillips '09, passed away on September 14th.
Mrs. Bobbie (O'Day) Adams, Class of 1953, is recovering from a fall where she broke her hip. She is recovering at Health South.
Garces teacher Alyssa Church has asked we all pray for her cousin's husband, Jose, who has been diagnosed with end-stage liver failure. Please keep him, his wife Lyndsey, and his son Titus in your prayers.
If you know of a family we should keep in our prayers, please contact us at [email protected]
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Upcoming Class Reunions
Class of 1975
Please contact
Cindy (Summers) Anspach
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