We need your talent and creativity! The contest to create a new kindness-themed logo for the 2016-17 school year is open now.  

  

YOUR ARTWORK COULD BE OUR NEXT KINDNESS LOGO! The theme for the school year 2016-17 is "Be a Superhero" and we are inviting the students, to create a logo.  The logo may be used on school banners, posters, and news articles as well as advertising on social media.
 
The contest will end Friday, April. 29 at 3 p.m.  The winner of the "Be a Superhero" logo contest will be announced Friday, May 6 and will receive four tickets to a Sacramento River Cats game of the winner's choice during the month of May.

  

Click here to see contest rules and submission information. 

On Monday, April 18, roughly 500 high school seniors from all over Sacramento County congregated at the Folsom High School Theatre to be recognized for their linguistic accomplishment of attaining a high level of proficiency in English and another language during the State Seal of Biliteracy Recognition Ceremony.

The event brought together students, parents, school staff and community members to show pride and to highlight the importance of being bilingual in a highly diverse community and to meet the demands of a globalized economy.

  
In order to earn the state Seal of Biliteracy, students must demonstrate English competency by scoring proficient on the California Standards Test in English Language Arts, excel in high school English classes, and meet all high school graduation requirements. In addition, students demonstrate competency in another language by taking four years of a world language or passing a language test such as the Advanced Placement exam.

This year, recipients in Sacramento County are proficient in 14 other languages including: Arabic, Farsi, French, German, Hebrew, Hmong, Japanese, Latin, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese. Some of the students earned Seals in multiple languages.

Cathy Rodriguez, President of the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and keynote speaker at the event, talked about the many ways being bilingual has become a key for a person's social, professional and economic success.

"Being bilingual has opened doors for me to feel inclusive and welcomed into multiple cultural settings, bringing opportunities and connections I didn't even expect"  Rodriguez said.

  

She also pointed out from her personal traveling experiences, the fact that even we embrace and welcome different cultures, the acquisition of another language in United States is not highly encouraged, while for other countries all over the world it's a lifestyle.  

  

Congratulations to all of our FCUSD state Seal of Biliteracy recipients!

During the workshop, Board members will discuss long-term financing options, bonding capacity, and project priorities as they determine how many school improvements ultimately can be funded during the 8-10 year life of Measure G.

  

Due in part to the strengthening economy, bids from contractors for potential construction projects are exceeding initial projections. Additionally, future growth in property valuations are not meeting projections - potentially reducing the overall amount of money available for future improvements. During its April 21 workshop, Board members will discuss whether any potential Measure G projects must be reduced or eliminated.

  

The Board has previously approved a Facilities Master Plan to help identify and prioritize upgrades, and the Board has authorized the issuance of the first $100 million to plan and construct several initial projects, including:

The April 21 Board workshop will be held in the Education Services Center Board Room, 1965 Birkmont Drive in Rancho Cordova.

Folsom High School Music Director Curtis Gaesser has been named local business leaders as the 2016 Educator of the Year during the Chamber of Commerce's Annual Business Awards.

Gaesser, who has been teaching at Folsom High since 1984 and has been twice honored as a District Teacher of the Year, is most well-known for leading the school's nationally recognized jazz program.

VIDEO:  Watch this video, produced by the Chamber of Commerce, to hear personal testimonials about the impact this teacher's music programs have had on students and the community.

	Natalie Robinson is in the far left and Professor Maya is last to the right

Walnutwood High School student Natalie Robinson was invited to mix and mingle with President Obama's younger half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, during her recent visit to Sacramento.

  

Natalie, who is a sophomore, has been enrolled in the Independent Study program at Walnutwood HS since the spring of 2015. She has maintained a 4.0 grade point average through this year's third quarter progress reporting period. She is currently learning Japanese as a foreign language.

Natalie was invited to the presentation on Feb. 25 and attended a private reception at the home of Soetoro-Ng's friend who lives in Sacramento and chairs the ethnic studies department at CSUS.

The President's sister Maya, a former high school history teacher, received her master's degree in secondary education from NYU and her PhD. in multicultural education from the University of Hawaii. She grew up with her brother Barack Obama in Indonesia and Hawaii. Their families still spend holidays together.

Professor Maya's mission is teaching young people how to live peacefully in their own communities. Below are a few quotes from her on how each of us can start building peace in our communities:

"Peace begins with everyday leadership," she said. "Everyone has a role we can certainly begin to impact peace in a small way ... We see peace as action."  

She added: "I am trying to promote social and emotional learning that will help reduce violence, looking how we can build empathy by looking at history from multiple perspectives." 

Congratulations to the 19 students from Vista and Folsom High schools who recently became the first graduating class of the Folsom Teen CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) program. To earn this recognition, the students completed 24 hours of training in emergency response, learning about triage, search and rescue, fire suppression, emergency medicine, disaster preparedness, disaster psychology, and terrorism.

  

On March 14, these Teen CERT students visited Folsom Firehouse 535 to get hands-on experience and learn how to respond and what to do in emergency situations. The students were taken around the perimeter of the firehouse where many different scenarios where previously set up for the students to arrive at the scene, analyze the situation, and decide what to do from there.

  

These live disaster exercises were hosted by the Folsom Fire Department. At the conclusion, Folsom Fire Chief Ron Phillips presented the Teen CERT graduates with their certificates.

  

PHOTOS: Click this link to see more photos of the students in action! (Photos by Johnny Callen, FCUSD Communication Internship Program)

  

See more pictures of the TEEN CERT Training....

Hundreds of Folsom Middle students and families swarmed the school last week for its first-ever STEAM Convention, offering interactive, educational and hands-on activities in the fields of science, technology, engineering, arts, and math.

Businesses, museums, local agencies, nonprofits, clubs, and other experts showcased student ingenuity and helped families learn more about how what kids are learning in the classroom can be connected to their college and career aspirations.

 
PHOTOS:  Click here for photos from the successful evening on our Facebook page!

Kudos to the students who represented Vista at the 29th annual state Health Occupations Students of America conference in Anaheim:  Rohit Duda, Teja Dusanapudi, Gehena Girish, Puja Madgula, Tanay Nunna, Shilpa Reddy, and Param Shah.   One student from Folsom High also attended: Saniya Mohuiddin. 

  

HOSA is an organization dedicated to deliver knowledge, technical skills and leadership development to health science education students.

 
The Cal HOSA conference was attended by over 2800 HOSA students who competed in various events.  Most of these HOSA chapters have established health career CTE pathways and tremendous staff support to help prepare them for this annual event.

  

Teja Dusanapudi took second place in Extemporaneous Writing, with Rohit Duda and Param Shah placing as finalists. Tanay Nunna and Shilpa Reddy were finalists in Forensic Medicine.  All of the students did outstanding work and FCUSD is very proud of them, especially considering that this was their first state conference.  Way to go, Vista!