TUSD Weekly Update
"Every kid is just one caring adult away from being a success story." ~Josh Shipp
Turlock Downtown Christmas Parade
TUSD Celebrates the Season
Self-Care During the Holidays
Jennifer Carlsen, Student Support Clinician
Keep self-care on your list this holiday season! As we all work hard to make this time of year special for our students as well as our own families it’s easy to get stressed. Here are some tips to help with those times you may feel overwhelmed: 

  1. Take time for yourself. Make plans that are meaningful to you, and find time to take a break! Even if just for a few moments, find a calm, quiet space where you can take some deep breaths, collect your thoughts and unwind. Get enough sleep, and continue to making time for exercise and healthy activity.
  2. Stay mindful about food and drinks. Holiday parties and celebrations make it easy to overdo the celebrating, and you may feel pressure to participate in extra treats and drinks. Plan ahead, pick a personal limit that feels healthy, and pay attention to your body’s cues of when you’ve had enough.
  3. Plan for difficult interactions with family. Sometimes holiday gatherings bring together people who you would otherwise avoid because of past hurts. Building a support team of friends or family who you can check in with either in-person or over text to talk about how you are feeling can help you get through those tough interactions.
  4. Make room for grief and sadness if you are missing loved ones. Sometimes thinking about past holiday celebrations can bring up feelings of sadness and grief during the holidays. Allowing yourself to be sad about past losses is okay, it’s not realistic to expect yourself to be happy every moment. Creating rituals to honor loved ones who are missed during the holiday season can sometimes be soothing and create new meaning. Counting blessings- or listing what we are grateful for, can also help protect you from stress and depression.
  5. Remember that holiday stress is temporary. One thing that makes holidays special is that they are passing moments in time. So while they may be joyful, fun, stressful or overwhelming, they will pass soon.
Focus On a Photographer
Pitman High School
Our Pitman Photographer of the month is Antoni Isaiah Macias 12th grade!

What is your favorite thing to photograph? Personally my most favorite thing to photograph is sports. Sports involves so much action and gives out a lot of emotion from individuals that would act quietly in any normal day life.

How would you describe your style? I try and get a person out of the blue doing something emotional—doesn’t have to be joyful or happy emotions. I also try and focus on an individual and get some background in the photo to explain the photo itself.

How long have you been into photography? I have always had a fascination on photography ever since I started high school.

Do you feel more comfortable behind the camera or behind the computer? I feel great behind both, but I do feel more comfortable behind the camera.

What are your plans after high school? I would like to either join the Marines to be a PAO (Public Affairs Officer) to take pictures of the life of a marine or to go into a community college and then transfer to a 4 year college to get a degree in law or criminal justice.

What advice would you give a beginner? Even if you are a beginner, you can still be an expert in many ways. You just have to find that one thing you are naturally good at and, if you work hard enough, you can even be great!
TUSD History Moment
Facebook Memories of Growing Up in Turlock
Did you know there used to be a shallow "swim area" in the canal that gave Canal Drive its name? Check out the notation on the above map. When this map was drawn in the 1920's, Canal Drive was located on the south side of the canal and it was a two-way street. There was no Berkeley Avenue at the time that this map was created so Canal Drive dead-ended in front of Turlock High School. Colorado Avenue that runs along the west side of THS ended at Canal Drive. It was later extended across the canal and ran north on what was then Ninth Avenue to connect with that portion of Colorado Avenue that ran north of East Main Street. Ninth Avenue then became Colorado Avenue.

As far as that swimming area, former THS Science Department Chair Eric Julien shared, "The extended area by Crane Park was actually a casting pond. It was paid for by a local resident who was a casting champion so he had a place to practice."

Fun fact: Notice that there used to be a road, Park Drive, which wound through Crane Park. It was a loop street than ran from E. Main Street, through Crane Park, and then north to connect with E. Main Street again. If you look for the Berkeley side of the park today you can see where the road originally ran based on where the trees line up!
CTE in the Community
Pitman High School
Trevor Black is a senior currently enrolled in Mr. Toste’s Business Occupations course at Pitman High School. This course gives students the opportunity to intern with local business partners where they gain work experience and soft skills. Elise Sardina, manager of Walgreens where Trevor is interning, shared that the CTE programs are great learning experience for students and allow them to acquire communication and customer service techniques. She shared that Trevor has been “amazing” and has already improved his communication skills. Thank you, Turlock Walgreens, for partnering with TUSD! 
Catching Up with . . . Hannah Salafia
Pitman High School
What schools did you attend in TUSD? Dennis Earl Elementary from 1st - 3rd grade, home school from 4th - 8th grade, and Pitman High School from 9th - 12th grade. 

What year did you graduate? 2012
 
What schools did you attend after high school? Major? Fresno State and studied Civil Engineering.
What are your career goals? Or your career? My goal is to get my professional engineering license.  When I graduated college I earned a degree in Civil Engineering, the job that I took required me to be well versed in not only Civil Engineering, but Electrical Engineering as well. For the past two years I have been working towards obtaining my professional Electrical Engineering license which will allow me to work for myself and stamp designs. Most entities require that a design (for a building or electrical system) is stamped by a professional engineer. If you don't have your license you have to ask other engineers to review and stamp your design. 

What teachers/classes made an impact on you? In high school the teachers that had the biggest impact on me were Colleen Humphres, Laura Brem, and Renate Staley. These three women all pushed me to be excellent both in and out of the classroom.
  • Mrs. Humphres is an incredible teacher who had a knack for being able to get everyone interested and involved in the conversations about topics that were difficult and challenging while still pushing us towards excellence. She was even able to engage students that I had never seen speak up in other classes. I really admired her ability to do that. Plus she was just really fun and nice to be around.
  • Mrs. Brem had a huge impact in my life, I learned a lot from her both in and our of the classroom. I remember going out to the garden with her and making jam with her, those are two things that I never thought I'd be good at or would be able to do. She set a great example for students to be tenacious with your interests and to not be scared of failure. I am extremely thankful for her...still make jam to this day.
  • Last, but certainly not least is Mrs. Staley. Mrs. Staley is one of the most incredible women I have ever met. She was one of my math teachers and fueled my fire to push for greatness in difficult classes. I remember sitting in my college calculus classes and remembering things Mrs. Staley had said in high school. That really helped motivate me and push me to excel on a higher level. She set a high bar and understood that even though we were young we needed structure, encouragement, honesty, and a high standard. I really appreciated that. 
Any advice for students? When you are considering what to do for your future, make sure that whatever you pursue you can make a living doing that thing. Do not be intimidated by things that seem hard. Try hard, ask for help, make use of your resources and PLEASE take your resumes or applications to your teachers or advisors to get their opinion on it. That teacher that you feel is being too hard on you, be thankful for them because that is what real life is like. Become self-motivated and learn how to communicate effectively with others. Make an effort to be well-rounded, if you have other interests, embrace them. Practice public speaking. Say thank you. Make eye contact and have a good handshake. 

Hobbies? Things you enjoy in your spare time? I really enjoy baking and doing crafts in my spare time. I just started entering my baked goods in the fair and won 2nd place for my Hazelnut Toffee. To offset my love for baking I like to stay active and work out. Recently I have spent a lot of time studying for the engineering exam so I am looking forward to getting back into the hobbies mentioned above. 
Anything else you’d like to share? To the teachers--I know there have been a lot of changes over the past couple of years in your field. From the bottom of my heart I want to thank all of you for your service and perseverance through all of the changes. It takes a special person with a special calling to be able to be a teacher, thank you for your dedication to education and for your love for the students. Please keep pushing these students towards excellence, the world after high school and college is only getting more competitive and these students will need an edge. 
School Spotlight: Wakefield
We’re visiting Wakefield Elementary School today! Here are some facts about their school: ️
▪️ Est. 1948
▪️ Principal: Luisa Salinas
▪️ Assistant Principal: Angela DeTomasi
▪️ 39 Certificated Staff
▪️ 56 Classified Staff
▪️ 592 Students
▪️ School Mascot: Wildcat
▪️ Have a great year, Wildcats! #TUSD #TUSDSCHOOLSROCK
We love to see teachers utilizing technology during Professional Learning Community collaborations! Wakefield Elementary School 6th grade teachers Jennifer Maimone (Reading/Social Studies) and Chris Alonzo (Writing) just finished up their 3rd learning cycle. Today they are working on creating and placing a rubric for students’ Egyptian project into Google Classroom. Check out these cool projects! #TUSD
This is TUSD
Meet Pam Coffey
How long have you worked in TUSD? 23 years
 
What is your job title? Administrative Secretary

Where did you work prior to TUSD?   Farmers and Merchants Bank as a teller.
 
Any info you would like to share about your job? Average day? I start early, stay late, and I'm never bored. We always say, "You can't make this stuff up.” 
 
Things you are most proud of? 40 years of marriage, our 3 sons and 9 grandchildren. Family is what it's all about.
 
Challenges? Keeping up with the demands and challenges of my job and the constant changes that come with it and everyday life. I love it though, it's good to be challenged.

Favorite memory/story? One memory I have is when Al Silveira interviewed me for a secretary position at Medeiros when the school first opened. He's an avid Oakland A's fan and had A's memorabilia throughout his office. I didn't know him then and I didn't pay attention to his office décor. During my interview he asked who my favorite baseball team was and I said the Dodgers. Wow, my bad! He let me know what he thought of my answer but he hired me anyway.  
 
What are you reading? I just started reading Dove Keepers by Alice Hoffman.
 
Any favorite shows you’re watching on TV? We are sports fans so if there are any football or basketball games on, college or pro, that's what we're watching. I also like the Marvel series on Netflix, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Daredevil, etc. and Stranger Things . My sons' trained me well.
 
Anything surprising we may not know about you? We have backyard chickens. As part of Cunningham's Ag brand, several classrooms hatched chickens last year.  I took some home with me last Spring and I love them. We have a variety of Silkies, Cochins and Bantams. They have tons of personality, follow you everywhere and are very entertaining.
 
Anything else you’d like to share? I love to camp and spend time with my grandkids. I also enjoy decorating.
Seen on Social Media
Turlock Junior High School
They did it again! S/O to Turlock Junior High School’s Dustin Christian and his 7th grade social studies students who once again came out on top in annual Turlock Together Canned Food Drive competition. Nearly 10,000 cans of food were collected at TJHS for Turlock Together—4,400 from Mr. Christian’s class alone! We hear this year’s 2nd place teacher is on the hook for a live rendition of “Baby Shark” in the near future. Great job, Tigers! #TUSD
Congratulations!
Shout out to the McElroy family who just wrote their first book! J.T. is in 8th grade at Dutcher, Jillian who is in 5th grade at Julien, and dad James teaches English at Turlock High School. According to James:

The Sea is the first novel for the McElroy family. It began with J.T., who came up with the idea to try and write a book together. The writing began on the very first day of summer. An hour or two every day that summer was spent re-reading what had been written, adding more, and editing. On the last day of summer, the book was finished. Now it is published and we are so excited to be able to share it with everyone! The book is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble online.
The 411
Share Your Awesome!

Marie Russell
Chief Communication Coordinator
mrussell@turlock.k12.ca.us
209.648.0968
@tusd_mrussell

We would love to have ALL staff help share our TUSD story to the world, but if that is not really your thing, just click on link below to download an opt-out form and return to "Marie Russell, D.O." via district mail.