SOCIAL MEDIA ALERT FOR PANTHERS
It has been brought to my attention that Peninsula High students may have been contacted through social media about an app called "poolparty". Messaging about this app has been targeted to students at Peninsula HS and PVHS, but for clarification, this app is not associated with or sponsored by our high schools or the PVPUSD.
While it appears to be a group chat app, it is important that parents and students completely understand the privacy and terms when downloading this and any other app.
Language includes:
If you create an account, you will provide us with certain information that can be used to identify you, such as your name, email address, and phone number ("Personally Identifiable Information" or "PII"). We may also collect non-identifying demographic information (such as your gender or date of birth), zip code, school, grade level, and other information.
Poolparty does not have usernames. Instead, we use phone numbers for finding friends. To do this, you give us authorization to access and store your contacts information from your address book on your mobile device("Contacts"). We will use your Contacts in order to identify other Users that you may know or your Contacts may know and to provide you with suggestions for other Users with whom you may want to connect.
In addition to profile information, we may access your location by converting your IP address into a rough geolocation or by accessing your mobile device's GPS coordinates or coarse location.
GOOD LUCK ON FINALS
BACCALAUREATE TODAY 
Seniors and family members of seniors are invited to attend Baccalaureate today. Seniors should wear their gowns but not their caps. Seniors are asked to meet in the amphitheater at 4PM to line up, and the ceremony begins at 4:30 PM in the gym. Family members and guests do not need tickets to attend.
GRADUATION INFORMATION
On Thursday, June 8th the graduation ceremony will begin promptly at 6 pm.
Seniors meet at 5:15 PM in the amphitheater. Guests must have a ticket to attend. Additional details regarding graduation can be found in the senior mailer on pages 8 and 9.
The mandatory graduation rehearsal, which all seniors must attend, is this Wednesday June 7th at 1 PM.
Seniors meet in the amphitheater for the rehearsal. At the conclusion of the rehearsal, seniors will pick up their graduation tickets and their memory lane posters.
RETIREMENTS AT PVPHS
Several months ago, our district offered classified and certificated employees a retirement incentive. Last week, we learned that several teachers at Peninsula High have decided to retire. It is always sad to say good-bye to such valuable members of our school community, but we do wish them all the best in their retirement. Following is the list of Peninsula High staff who are retiring:
Michael Liebig
James Small
Peter Starodub
Katina Tzetzos
Bonnie Baggett
Edward Hamlin
Ayesha Hassanuddin
Marie Crossen
Kathleen Fitzgerald
Terri Lewallen
ELENA FROM "BORN THAT WAY" VISITS PENINSULA HIGH
Peninsula High Alumna Elena Ashmore and current star of "Born This Way," visited Ms. Dohren's fifth and sixth period classes on Friday. It was a great opportunity for students to learn how Elena has progressed since high school and how she became a part of a TV series.
Elena has a vivacious personality and enjoyed her visit as much as the students, who enjoyed hearing about Elena's life. Diversity is Peninsula High's greatest strength, so I applaud Ms. Dohren's efforts in providing this unique opportunity for her students. Elena answered student questions and shared her love of music and free form dance. We are so proud of Elena's accomplishments and her ability to succeed, regardless of disabilities. She is beautiful, talented, articulate, and successful.
HONORS AND AWARDS NIGHT
On Tuesday, May 30, Peninsula High celebrated and acknowledged student accomplishments at the 26th Annual Peninsula High Honors and Awards Night ceremony. A very special thank you to Terri Lewallen our College Career Center Director, and Julie Arico our Scholarship and Financial Aid Director, for their hours of work and dedication that made the evening possible. We were grateful for the teachers and community presenters who joined us for the evening to present awards. Once again, our amazing PTSA helped with refreshments. Thank you to Associate Principals Michael Wanmer, Micah Farrell, and Lea Toombs for their assistance in making the evening special. Thank you to Mary Fournier and Adam Wolven for their help in organizing and presenting the awards. And finally, a thank you to parents for entrusting Peninsula High with such outstanding young people.
INTERNATIONAL LUNCHEON
Wednesday's International Luncheon was a huge success, thanks to the organizers;
Leslie Scow, Stefani Goldenberg, and Laura Beaudoin,
along with all of the terrific members of the Korean Parent Group, Chinese Parent Group, Japanese Parent Group, Filipino Parent Group and all of the wonderful parents who donated international food dishes. The Peninsula High staff wishes to express their most sincere gratitude for this wonderful year-end event. We appreciate the opportunity to gather together each year and visit over lunch before we head in different directions over the summer.
SUNSET BON FIRE
On Thursday evening, seniors gathered for their annual "Sunset" celebration and bonfire. A fabulous dinner was served, music played, frisbees were thrown, marshmallows were toasted, and most importantly, rejection letters were burned. This symbolic gesture enforced the Pen High belief that there is a perfect college fit for every student and your college choice does not define your success. You define your success!
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| Burning Those College Rejections Letters |
PVP COUNCIL OF PTA HONORARY SERVICE AWARDS
On Friday, June 2, the PVP Council of PTAs celebrated those who have made a difference at a morning breakfast.
Two Peninsula parents, Beth Meyerhoff and Selina Lai were among those that were honored. Beth was acknowledged for serving as the PVP Council of PTA President, and Selina Lai was acknowledged for the great work she has done as 6th VP of Ways and Means and stepping up to serve as Council President next fall.
In addition, Peninsula High senior Nadia Maher was acknowledged for winning the scholarship essay. Her topic was, "In What Way Has the PTA Influenced my Life."
LA PANTERA YEARBOOK - THIS IS WHAT WE CAME FOR
Congratulations to the La Pantera staff on the publication of the 2017 yearbook! Special recognition goes to the three Editors-in-Chief: Nicole Suppelsa, Claire Kim Narita, and Anna Ashai. Their brilliant leadership and talent, supported by the diligent efforts of their amazing staff, created inspired, meaningful, thorough and essential coverage of "This is What They Came For." Your talent is unparalleled. Thank you for memorializing this year at Peninsula High! Thank you also to Anna for this YouTube video that supplements the yearbook.
BEARD FULL OF BUTTERFLIES LITERARY MAGAZINE
The award winning literary magazine (Beard Full of Butterflies) of PVPHS is on sale NOW! Come to H65 (Mrs. Okamoto's room) anytime to pick up a copy for ONLY $10! THANK YOU so much for supporting our literary magazine. It is a wonderful piece of artistic magic! It has amazing photos, drawings, doodles, poems, and short stories. This year's magazine is truly unique so get yours today!
WHITNEY MODEL UN CONFERENCE
On Saturday, May 20th, Peninsula High's Model United Nations participated in the Whitney High Invitational MUN conference in Cerritos. This was a special conference where all Ridgecrest students won awards as well! This was Peninsula's 18th Conference of the year!
Student advisors were: Olivia Mathiesen, Lydia Chang, and Charles Liu.
Committees covered topics from the situation in South Sudan, to the situation in the Middle East, the Gulf War and the Antibiotic Crisis. Novice and Middle school committees discussed the weaponization and militarization of DPRK and child labor in the Americas. Advanced Peninsula students represented the Russian Federation, Bangladesh, Estonia, Bolivia, Panama, Grenada, Venezuela, Brazil, and Canada. Novice and Middle school students represented China and Sweden.
Peninsula delegates performed very well with 15 Awards along with the 8 Awards for Ridgecrest!
Best Delegates Awards:
Jocelyn Ma,Irene Zhen, Ameen Shaheen, Raza Khan, Adrian Tai, Natalie Lim, Lenuka Senaratna, and Ryan Kim
Outstanding Delegate:
Christina An
Commendation Awards:
Sean Chang, Zeke Dee, Alisa Hathaway, Nisha Nirmal, Lailie Kahsai, and Ryan MacGowen
Following the conference, our MUN has been conducting MUN Simulations in all World History Classes! Award winners are invited to join next year along with additional students coming to tryouts. Others are invited to come to after school tryouts and our MUN Summer Training Camp!
ANNIE BENEDICT EARNS NHS SCHOLARSHIP
Anna Benedict is a semi-finalist for the National Honor Society Scholarship Program, and will receive $2,325! Approximately 300 students in the nation receive this award. Every state in the U.S. is represented among the winners, along with the District of Columbia and our overseas chapters. These students, all members of the class of 2017, were chosen from among thousands of applicants. Congratulations Annie!
PTSA NEEDS YOUR HELP WITH REGISTRATION
Registration Volunteer sign-ups are now available! Follow the link below to sign up for your favorite registration job. Never volunteered to help with registration?? Welcome, we would love to have your help. Over 100 panther parents volunteer each fall!
Click HERE
to sign up.
Make sure to include your first and last name and click SAVE after you have chosen your spot.
Junior and senior registration times are in the morning and sophomore and freshmen registration time is in the afternoon.
When you sign up to volunteer, your child will receive a wristband to enter the Registration Day Fast Pass line.
If you are a PVPUSD employee and would like to volunteer, please email Nancy Shafer at
[email protected]
. We have spots at registration that can only be filled by district personnel and we would love your help!
Registration Day is Monday, August 21 and Late Registration is Monday, August 28 (the first day of school).
SUMMER SCHOOL INFORMATION
Attention all students who are signed up to take an online summer school history class through PVPSS there is a mandatory meeting at PVHS on June 6th at 1pm. All students must attend. If you have any questions please contact PVPSS at
[email protected]
SPEECH AND DEBATE END OF THE YEAR SUCCESS
Palos Verdes Peninsula is the winner of the 2017 William B. Tate Tournament of Champions Team Excellence Award! Peninsula won the award by having the highest cumulative rank from its best performing entry in the four debate events--policy debate, Lincoln-Douglas (LD) debate, public forum debate, and congressional debate. Peninsula was only represented in two of the events--and only had three entries total--but still outperformed the other two-hundred and sixty-seven schools (and every school in the nation who didn't qualify for the TOC). Peninsula had the number one seed in policy debate and number four seed in LD.
JULIANNA YONIS AND AUSTIN KELLY HONORED
Musical Theatre West's Footlighters presented scholarships to 11 Los Angeles county and Orange county students, including Julianna Yonis and Austin Kelly, at its annual awards ceremony. Julianna was awarded the inaugural Don Knabe Scholarship, and Austin received the Ken and Dottie Reiner Scholarship. Each student performed a musical theatre song for the audience in attendance at the awards ceremony and at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach. In the fall, Julianna will be attending Stanford University, and Austin will be attending North Texas to study theatre performance. Break a leg!
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| Austin and Julianna with PVPHS Drama Director Seth Cohen |
JULIANNA YONIS EARNS GOLD BY RENOVATING DRAMA PROPS STORAGE
Julianna Yonis has been awarded the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award offered by the Girl Scouts of USA, for her efforts in renovating Pen High Drama Department's prop room. She dedicated over 100 hours of service to plan, coordinate and execute the renovation, with the aid of several students in the Drama Department. Since the completion of the project, the students have used many of the props in class scenes, for a fundraising performance, the spring musical and other productions.
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The Before and After
Thanks Julianna |
Peninsula High is always grateful for our Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts who do their projects at Pen High. If you have an idea for a project at Pen, please see Mr. Wanmer.
MUSIC UPDATE
The final Music Department performance for the 2016-2017 school year will be the entire department performing at the Graduation Ceremony for the Class of 2017.
We are looking forward to an exciting 2017 football season, Mr. Steiner has already researched music and is planning the show for the Marching Band and Color Guard.
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| Choir Spring Pop Concert was a huge hit! |
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