THANKSGIVING MESSAGE

Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on the important things in life and to thank those in our lives who have made a difference. I am grateful that I have been given the opportunity to serve as principal of this incredible high school.  I am grateful for the value that this community places on our children's education and the financial support that has maintained the quality of our programs.  Peninsula High School could not exist without our amazing students, outstanding teachers & staff, and supportive parents & community.  I wish each of you a heartfelt Thanksgiving full of joy and wonderful memories with family and friends.

 

PLUS LEADERSHIP THANK YOU PROJECT DEADLINE EXTENDED

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, the PLUS staff committee wants to show the Peninsula staff how much we appreciate them with Thank You letters! Students should come by the Hawthorne office to fill out an appreciation card for your favorite staff member!  Fill out cards on Monday!

 

PEN STUDENT ATTENDANCE ON NOVEMBER 23

Last year on the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving (minimum day), PVPHS lost approximately $10,000 of State funding on that day alone due to student absences! Student absences, whether for illness, religious reasons, vacation, or personal days reduce our revenue. ADA (Average Daily Attendance revenue $49.00 a day) is only paid if a student is present for at least 1 period per day or on an approved Independent Study.

If you would like to make a $49.00 ADA reimbursement donation for each day your child is absent, please turn your check in to the Main Office. This donation will help ensure that PVPHS can continue to deliver the quality education that students and parents rightly deserve and expect.  Your donation is used for instructional needs, special programs, and classroom supplies at PVPHS.

Thank you for considering the option above and thank you for your continued support of Palos Verdes Peninsula High School!

LINK CREW PIE DAY

On Friday, Link Crew invited all freshmen and transfers to the 3rd Annual Pie Day Friday! Held every Friday before Thanksgiving, this event brings Link Crew Leaders back together with their crews for fun, food, and most importantly, PIE! Freshmen also got to "pie" their leaders in the face with whipped cream. Thanks to the 350 freshmen who attended as well as all of the hard-working Link Crew Leaders who helped make this event a memorable success.  

LINK CREW PIE DAY

SCHOOL SITE COUNCIL UPDATE

Thank you to the staff, students, parents, and community members who serve on School Site Council (SSC).  The members on SSC represent the Palos Verdes Peninsula High School community. Recently, SSC reviewed and approved the Single Plan for Student Achievement and drafted a new vision statement. Our focus will remain on our Western Associate of School and Colleges (WASC) visit that will occur during Spring 2018, as well as the following:

 1.    Measure effectiveness of improvement strategies at the school

 2.    Seek input from school advisory committees

 3.    Reaffirm or revise school goals

 4.    Revise improvement strategies and expenditures

 5.    Recommend the approved Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA) to the governing board

 6.    Monitor implementation of the SPSA

The next SSC meeting is on January 31, 2017 from 8:00 a.m.to 12:00 p.m. in the PVPHS School Library. All are welcome to attend.

SSC Meeting

MOCK TRIAL HAS AN AWARD WINNING SEASON

Congratulations to the Peninsula High Mock Trial Program for a great competition season. HERE is a list of the individual awards.  Peninsula High is honored to have earned three awards in a program that includes over 1000 students:

Outstanding Prosecution Pre-Trial Attorney - Shreya Agrawal

Courtroom Artist - 1st Place - Adeline Wang

Courtroom Journalist - 2nd Place Connor Tumelty

 

Thank you to our volunteer coaches, Judith Daar, Jabe Kahnke, Michael Ooley, John Torelli, and Woody Woodland for your dedication to the Mock Trial program.  Special thanks to the administrative volunteer coach, Joanie Gale, who makes sure the team always gets where it needs to be. Congratulations to all those who participated in Mock Trial this year, and a special "shout out" to the Ridgecrest Program who performed magnificently.

MOMS IN PRAYER THANKSGIVING LUNCH

Thank you to Moms In Prayer for the wonderful luncheon prepared and served for the entire Peninsula High staff on Friday.  Special thanks to Janet Louie and Cathy Liu for organizing the event, and all those who made it possible.

Flyers Design - Grace Liu

Corporate Donations from Bristol Farms, Ralphs, Sprouts, Trader Joe's, and Penta Water (Michael Dunn)

Cash Donations: Anonymous, Ling Whelchel, Robin Brown, and Mabel Yu for A1 Chinese food

Food donations and help: Mukarabe and the Joyful Music and Arts, Dr. Kent  and Janet Nozaki, Angela Quon (alumni), Kathy McGinn, Reyna Ballinger, Christina Ko, Judy Tang, Janet Louie, Cindy Akiyama, Joyce Yeh, Irene Lee, Cathy Liu, Coco Mueller, Cathy Monroy, Charlotte Loseke, Catherine Wakefield-Carl, Kako Silvestre, Rita Lui, and  Diana Wu.

Thank you Moms in Prayer

The entire staff extends their deep appreciation for all the love and support that Moms in Prayer shows our staff throughout the year.

 

CAREER FAIR

This past Wednesday Peninsula High School hosted the Annual Career Fair in the Kelly Johnson Fieldhouse with over 40 participants. We had professionals representing all areas of Engineering, those who serve and protect our communities and nation, medical and healthcare professionals, a diverse group of business and finance professionals, fashion designers, authors, actresses and even a film producer. It was an energetic atmosphere with lots of discussions filling the Fieldhouse. Thank you to all the teachers who brought students through the Career Fair during class time and to the students who came on their own during lunch. We hope this event helped spark an interest in new career POSSIBILITIES for everyone who attended.  

A BIG thanks you to all of our amazing presenters who shared their interesting careers with our students:

Katie Traxler Abele Tracy Ahn Dr. Debra Alexander Gina Ann Sarah An Dr. Paige Asawa Christine Becker Dr. Jeff Bogosian John Cruikshank Kelsey Curtis Veronica Davies Michelle Dunlap Ani Garabedian Dr. Paula Gonella Jim Hathaway

Melissa Hill Michelle Horeczko Bryan Hori Eileen Hupp Bing Jiang Shannon Jeddi Russell Lai Richard Lin SGT Ryan Lunsford Nick Macko SSG Alonzo Martinez SFC Kenneth McCreary Stephanie Morton Heidi Gransar-Nisar Renee O'Conner

Dale Parker SGT Casey Peterson Michael Phillip Lt. Colin Ruane Padmashree Rida Audrey Stempel SFC John Trevino Paul Tetrault Rita Tong Scott Willoughby Hilary Wilson Dr. Henry Yang Roxi Zilmer

Thank you to Julie Arico & Terri Lewallen for organizing the Career Fair

Thank you to all the volunteers who helped the day run so smoothly, especially our wonderful parent volunteers who always answer the call for help: Erica Hashimoto, Shari Shigenaga, Parvin Jensen, Carol Ferdows, Kako Silvestre, Kazuyo Hara, Kazuki Ishikawa and Kyoko Dane. Thank you to our student volunteers who helped with setting up the event, unloading cars for the presenters, and cleaning up at the end of the day. We also want to give a big thank you to our custodial, security, and groundskeeping staff for their help with this event. It was a special day that could not have happened without the collective effort of so many.

PENINSULA MUN TAKES ON UCLA

On November 11th and 12th, delegates from PVPHS MUN attended a highly competitive conference at the University of California, Los Angeles. There, they competed with other delegates from around Southern California. Head advisor Sam Shafiee was assisted by newly elected co-advisors Samal Senaratna and Ben Zuercher. 

 

Bruin MUN offered a range of different committees, each debating unique and pertinent issues. Delegates discussed a nuclear North Korea and nuclear energy expansion in IAEA while the UNDP discussed access to clean water and developing infrastructure. UCLA also offered unique crisis committees, where delegates could participate in Fidel Castro's cabinet, working with the chair who dressed as Fidel to put down rebellions in the year of 1959. 

Offering a mix of novice and advanced committees, the delegates from Peninsula performed well and took home a number of awards, novice,  advanced, and research. 

 

The following students won awards:

Research Awards:

John Zuercher

Kai Kato

Lucie Abele
Roopsha Chatterjee

Commendation Awards:

John Zuercher

Kai Kato

Ethan Hample
Josh Kahen

Outstanding Delegates:

Julianna Yonis

Best Delegates Awards/Gavel Winners:

Jina Hyun

Cameryn Chan

Alisa Hathaway
Nisha Nirmal

PEN GIRL SCOUTS WILL PARTICIPATE IN THE ROSE PARADE

Kaitlyn Tang, Keilyn Yuzuki, Gigi Wargin, Sabrina Lee, and Annie Benedict , all Ambassador Girl Scouts, were selected to be members of the 2017 Tournament of Roses Troop, who march in the Tournament of Roses Parade every year. Each year a new Troop is formed by selected Eagle Scouts from the Greater LA Area Council and selected Gold Awardees (Girl Scouts) from the Girl Scouts of Greater LA. Together, these Scouts join to form the "Tournament Troop" and are entrusted with leading the opening Flag Ceremony and carrying the banners announcing the award-winning float entries in the annual parade. The 2017 (128th annual) Rose Parade, themed "Echoes of Success", will take place on Monday, January 2, 2017 at 8:00am.  

Pen Girl Scouts Participating in Rose Parade

MUSIC DEPARTMENT UPDATE

With the football season behind us the Music Department is looking forward to the winter concerts and the RHE Holiday Parade.

 

Mr. Doctor is gearing up for Sounds of the Season Concert. They will give 3 performances, Dec. 2nd and 3rd at the Rolling Hills United Methodist Church

 

• Mr. Steiner and the Marching Band will join PVHS Marching Band in the RHE Holiday Parade, Saturday Dec. 3rd.
• Both Orchestras will perform at the Winter Orchestra Concert, Friday Dec. 9th at 7 PM.  
• On Wednesday, Dec. 14th the Concert Band will perform a FREE Holiday Concert in the PAC at 7:00 PM.  

GENE WHANG EARNS NATIONAL YOUNGARTS 2017 RECOGNITION

Pen Senior Gene Tae Whang has been named a 2017 National YoungArts Foundation  Merit Winner in Visual Arts. Selected from the largest pool of applicants to date, Gene Whang has been recognized for his outstanding artistic achievements and joins 691 of the nation's most promising young artists from 40 states across the literary, visual, design and performing arts. Winners receive awards, opportunities to participate in YoungArts programs nationwide and engage with renowned mentors, and guidance in taking important steps toward achieving their artistic goals. The complete list of the 2017 Winners can be viewed at  here

 

PTSA  MEETING  - NOVEMBER 22

Everyone is invited to attend the Tuesday, November 22, PTSA Meeting.

8:45 am (social)

9:00 am (meeting)

PVPHS Community Room    Agenda HERE

Learn about a New Palos Verdes Library District Program for Students and Let's "Celebrate Reflections!"

 

The PTSA meeting will feature Michael Barb of the Palos Verdes Library District who will introduce an upcoming library program called "Information Power!  Core Skills for College Success".  The new program will focus on how students can boost their research capabilities for college and career readiness.  It will be a free PVLD-sponsored program and will commence early 2017.  In addition, join us as we "Celebrate Reflections!"  We will hear from some of our award-winning students and will enjoy a video that highlights all 70 submissions.  Please join us, breakfast goodies will be served!  

 

OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE APPLICATIONS 

The Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District has extended the period to apply to the Citizens' Oversight Committee for Measure M (Parcel Tax) to Friday, January 6, 2017 

 

The Committee was established in 2012 after Measure M was passed in 2011 with nearly 69 percent of the vote.  The Committee is tasked with duties including reviewing how the parcel tax revenue is spent, communicating with the community on approved expenditures, and reporting to the PVPUSD Board of Education on how Measure M funds are spent.  The Committee is comprised of seven to nine members with a term that runs four years.  Members attend four meetings per school year at the District administrative offices in Malaga Cove.

If you are interested in serving on the Citizens' Oversight Committee, the mission statement, purpose of the Committee, membership, terms of office, and an application form are available on the PVPUSD website www.pvpusd.net or by calling the Malaga Cove Administration Center, Business Services Office, at (310) 378-9966, Extension 418.  Applications must be received by the PVPUSD Superintendent's Office, 375 Via Almar, Palos Verdes Estates, CA 90274-1261, on or before 4:00 p.m. Friday, January 6, 2017.

A PEF THANK YOU

PEF extends  a thank you to everyone who has supported PEF so far this year and they are please to announce the  new PEF video that was produced by PVHS student Dilan Mistrythat will be released via social media on Giving Tuesday (11/29/16). 

THANK YOU TO THE FOLLOWING PEN HIGH FAMILIES

 FOR THEIR DONATIONS TO PEF

Anonymous (58 families) The Abele Family The Achatz Family The David Aikens Family Dave and Cindy Akiyama The Al-Hosri Family The Allyn Family The Almonguera Family The Ambler Family The An Family The An Family The Anand Family The Andrus Family The Antolos Family The Arata Family The Arregoces Family The Atout Family The Avery-Mbomeda Family The Aviel Family Meg Vaughn and Robert Bacon Mr. and Mrs. Steve Badour The Bae Family The Baeza Family The Baik Family Christ and Christine Ball The Barez Family The Barnes Family The Beaudoin Family Robert and Jodi Belke The Belofsky Family The Bengston-Novak  Family The Bethune Family The Bobb Family The Bogosian Family Paula and Allen Boothe The Jim Brennan Family The Briles Family The Bronson Family The Brown Family Lori Brunn The Brunnenmeyer Family The Calvignac Family James and Jeanette Chae The Chan Family Winston and Cathy Chang The Chase Family The Chen Family The  Cherry Family The Thayer Chew Family The Chien Family Young and Joseph Cho The Christie Family The Chu Family The Colin Family Tim and Dana Conlon The Coronado Family Jennifer King and Steve Cox The Croasdale Family The Cruikshank Family The Daar Family The Dee Family The Deley Family The Der Family Jeff and Patti Dollinger The Due Family Joan Adams and David Eaton The Edwards/Shepperd Family The Falstrup Family Micah and Jennifer Farrell The Feng Family Linda and Everett Fong The Frasso Family The Fukazawa Family Susan Bower and Javier Gago The Gallo Family The Gazdik Family The Genato Family The Kurt George Family Paul and Noelle Giuliano Mike and Renee Goldstein The Graves Family The Grenda Family The Griffin Family The Grimes Family The Guo Family The Ham Family The Hara Family The Hara Family The Harris Family The Haruyama Family The Hathaway Family The Hauschildt Family Laurie Hawver Chantiles The Hay Family The Hazard Family The Hebert Family Judy Krehbiel and Jeff Henry The Hirokawa Family Paul and Lydia Ho The Hong Family Stephanie Hooper The Hopkins Family Ms. Michelle Horeczko The Hornbuckle Family The Hsu Family The Hu Family The Huang Family The Hughes Family The Hunter Family The Hur Family The Ide Family Rod and Lynn Ige The Ikeda Family The Ikegami Family The Ishikawa Family Takeshi Izuma The Izuno Family The Jankowski Family Parvin and Steven Jensen The Jobes Family The Johnson and Li Family The Juarez Pena Family The Jung Family The Jung Family The Kalantar Family The Kane Family Wynn and Lance Kaneshiro Franklin and Dian Kang The Kaplan Family The Kawana Family Mr. and Mrs. Makoto Kawashima The Kelly Family The Keough Family John Khoe The Jenna Kim Family Christopher and Sarah Kim The Kim Family The King Family The Kishimoto Family The Ko Family The Korotzer Family The Koyama Family The Krambeer Family Junko and Jin Kuboshima Keiko and Hiroyuki Kuratani The Kuyper Family The Lanes Family Mr. and Mrs. Steven Lazarus The Leach Family The Lee Family The Lee Family The Lee Family The Lee Family The Lee Family The Kenneth Lee Family The Legaspi Family Lindsey and Kim Levine Tom and Vallerie Light The Limberg Family The Lin Family The Litchfield Family Brent and Grace Liu The Liu Family Charlie and Susan Liu Lian and Tony Liu Sirenia and Alex Liu The Loomba Family Eric and Janet Louie The Lu Family

David and Michelle Lu The Lucas Family The Luce Family The Luna Family The Mahoney Family The Majcher Family The Martinez Family The Martz Family Mark Maruyama Kelly and Monica Masuda The Matharu Family Dave and Anita Matharu The Mathiesen Family Mr. Jack Mayesh and Ms. Milagros     Mayesh The McPhaul Family The McVickar Family The Mehta Family The Mendez Family The Meskin Family Sameer and Roma Mistry David and Terri Mitani The Molino Family Bill and Mary Moore The Mora Family The Moshfeghi Family The Munn Family The Murakawa Family The Nagasaki Family The Nagoshi Family JCS Naya The Neumann Family The Ni Family The Nicolls Family The Nishioka Family The Nye Family The Oehler Family Yuichi and Mayumi Ogawa Derek and Wendy Okada Toyoto Ono The Oschman Family The Pace Family The Pack Family The Panfil Family The Park Family The Patay Family The Patman Family The Peltekov Family The Phillips Family Allison and Rick Phillips Mr. and Mrs. Steve Phillips The Pilger Family Kathy and Joe Platnick The Porter Family The Potvin Family The Pranke Family The Prince Family The Privett Family The Qiu Family The Quinn Family The Ramsey Family The Rastegar Family The Rehrig Family The Reveche Family Julie and John Reynolds The Riaz Family The Rietdyk Family Ivo Rijadi and Ester Handoyo Robert Ro and Sharon Chang The Robinson Family Gladys and Russell Rodeghero The Roditis Family The Ryu Family S.T.A.R. Lai Family The Saif Family The Sakamoto Family The Sakimura Family Karen and Dennis Sakoda The Salfelder Family Mr. and Mrs. Gus Sampras The Sams Family The Sancirardi Family Tatsuo Sato Bert and Patricia Schluper Rebekah Segal The Semenjuk Family Luke Serhan The Shane Family The Sharp Family The Shayan Family The Sheps Family The Shigenaga Family The Shimamura Family The Shimizu Family Chang Goon Shin Ronald and Kako Silvestre The Sims Family The Skefich Family The Sklow Family Ben Smith and Judy Adams-Smith The Spanjol Family The Stam Family The Stellges Family The Su Family Jihyun and Sun Cheun Suh The Suppelsa Family The Sura Family Toshi and Akemi Suzuki The Szieff Family The Szilagyi Family The Takai Family The Tan Family Mr. and Mrs. Guofu Tan The Tanaka Family Randy and Wan Ping Tang The Taylor Family Korry and Tim Taylor Steve and Debby Tomlinson The Torcasso Family The Torok Family The Torres Family T. Brooks Townsend Family Terri Tsuchida The Uchida Family The Uetrecht Family The Ungaro Family The Uyesugi Family Rose and Alexander Vargas Mr. and Mrs. Gustavo Velasco The Ventura Family R3M2 Robert and Catherine Wakefield-Carl The Wakugawa Family Bill and Teri Walsh The E. Wang Family Jack Wang and  Family Ceci and Steve Watts The Weber/Shaw Family Wade and Marla Weiman The Weston Family Brian Whitten and Apalla Chopra The Wiebe Family Dr. Chanel Wiederkehr Phyllis Willard Kammy and Charles Wong Alexandria and Lowell Wong The Wesley Wong Family The Woodland Family The Jason Yamada Family The Yamashita Family The Yamauchi Family The Yamaura Family The Yang Family The Henry & Jenny Yang Family Marietta Yap The Yazdi Family The Yohannan Family The Dennis Yokoyama Family The Yoo Family The Yook Family The Yoshida Family Mr. and Mrs. Mitsuaki Yoshino Candace Young Larry and Susan Yuzuki Scott and Karyn Zafran Mr. and Mrs. Nader Zeighami Zhai and Zhang Family Ting Lu and Yaming Zhang The Zuercher Family

Peninsula High is grateful for the Chuck Miller Grants they have received this year and in past years.

Mrs. Tootell received Concierge Service from the administration for her support of the Skechers Walk. The student Concierge Service winners will have their special day in December

Pen Avid students celebrate a great Thanksgiving Lunch on Friday

Pen Sophomore Maverick Doherty fenced in USA Fencing Association's November North American Cup in Milwaukee last weekend and earned a medal for her 6th place finish, out of 169 in her age category. Congratulations!

PEN HIGH VEX TEAM QUALIFIES FOR STATE

Yesterday, the Peninsula High VEX Team 3050A spent the day competing in Hesperia, California against 30 other teams.  The team performed extremely well and earned the "Excellence Award."  This is the highest award presented in a VEX competition, and guarantees qualification for State.  Thank you to Mr. Twiet, our SMERT Department Chair, and our parent volunteers for supporting the team.  Congratulations to our amazing Panthers whose hard work and dedication was rewarded with impressive recognition.  Go Panthers!

SOCIETY FOR PROGRESSIVE ENGINEERS SPEAKER

On November 3, the Society of Progressive Engineers club hosted Neeraj Agrawal, biomedical engineer at OSI Optoelectronics, as a guest speaker. Mr. Agrawal holds 2 patents and brought 3D samples of the products that he has worked on with Homeland Security and the FDA. He talked about important items to consider when choosing engineering as a career, the crucial aspects of the engineering process, performance elements of any product, and also gave students advice on how to balance their home and work life. During the question and answer discussion period, Mr. Agrawal shared what he thought companies are looking for in a young intern and how students can pursue a career in various engineering disciplines. The students were very lucky to listen to such an experienced professional and they appreciate the time and effort he put into his presentation.