TUSD Weekly Update "Every kid is just one caring adult away from being a success story." ~Josh Shipp

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TUSD Farm Update

Laura Brem, Coordinator of Applied Horticulture and Environmental Studies Hello from the TUSD Farm! We are located on Taylor Road just east of Geer Road. The farm is ten acres; four acres is dedicated to almonds, walnuts, and fruit trees. There are also thriving vegetable and flower gardens, and the produce is picked by students and utilized by school sites throughout the district to enhance instruction through learning labs. The TUSD Farm is unique in that we are a TK-12th grade learning facility. The goal for the 2018-19 school year is to create learning opportunities for students of all ages through investigation and discovery. We will integrate NGSS, STEM and literacy into each visit. We are excited to see the farm buzzing with activity! This week our almonds were harvested and sent to the huller. This is the first year that our trees were old enough to machine harvest, and we are looking forward to bringing the nuts back to our students for a healthy snack option. This is a perfect example of farm to school, right here in our district! The TUSD Farm and Child Nutrition Education Center is partnering up to celebrate Farm to School Month in October! We will share lessons, activities and ideas about how to get involved--stay tuned! We would like to invite you to our first TUSD Farm Harvest Festival on Saturday, October 13 from 1:00 pm-5:00 pm! This is a great opportunity for staff, students, and their families to visit the farm and enjoy fall activities, which will include tasting some amazing pumpkin treats made by TUSD culinary arts students. Come join us!

Student Rep to School Board Reports

Henry Wooley, Turlock High School On August 3, we hosted over 500 freshman for our 2nd year of Link Crew. We have over 100 11th and 12th grade mentors guiding the class of 2022 through their first year of high school. We look forward to the continued impact that Link Crew is having on our campus! NJROTC finished 11th this year in the National Air Rifle Championship at Camp Perry Ohio. The top shooter for Turlock was Conner McKeon finishing 3rd overall. Ramandeep Singh was selected to compete at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs where he finished 10th overall.   Auditions for the THS fall musical, The Addams Family took place last week! The show has been cast and rehearsals are currently underway. Show dates are October 18-21. Leadership and ASB has been busy the last couple of weeks! We hosted music and passed out spirit items at the T last Friday. Last week we hosted our first spirit assembly on Friday. We also held a tailgate BBQ on Friday before the football game in the Bulldog Arena parking lot. We would like to thank our faculty and staff for donating almost all of the items for our BBQ!  August 27-31 we will be hosting our 2nd annual Unity Week. We will have activities every day to celebrate our differences while finding what brings us all together as a Bulldog family.

Gabrielle Sotomayor, Pitman High School On August 3 freshmen received their schedules at Passage to Pride. Part of the goal of this event is to immerse new students into a high school environment. At Passage to Pride, we introduced staff, gave campus tours, and hosted a rally for the incoming freshmen. On August 17 we held our first school rally and spirit day. The focus of the rally was fall sports which include cross country, girls golf, football, volleyball, and water polo. August 17 was also our first Friday Night Lights at Joe Debely Stadium vs Napa. We are excited about participating in the new CCAL starting in September!

Hometown Hero

Schools Attended in TUSD: Julien Elementary School and Turlock High School Military Branch: Air Force Reserves   MOS: Cyber Systems Operations Stationed: Travis Air Force Base Why did you join the military? For two main reasons: my grandfather was an Army veteran and I wanted to gain experience in the IT field, so in order to honor my grandfather and gain that experience, I joined the Air Force Reserves.    What is your favorite part of being in the military? The culture that I’ve experienced so far and that, if you work hard, you’ll be able to earn responsibility and push your own career ahead. What is your biggest challenge?  The earned responsibility that inherently comes with my job. If someone is good at their job, no matter their rank, they’re expected to learn and pass that knowledge onto others.   What are your goals for the future? Right now, being a traditional reservist, I’m hoping to finish up at my community college soon and transfer to Stanford University for a Bachelor’s in Computer Science. I hope to continue onto a PhD program for Computer Science with an emphasis on Security or Computer Systems in some way.  What are your hobbies? Playing soccer, producing music, and programming mostly. I also enjoy hiking.   Anyone you would like to recognize? Two big influences that I’ve had on my journey were both Major Kelly Cross and Lieutenant Commander Carlos Montanez. If I didn't join NJROTC I wouldn’t have found the drive in myself that they helped instill in me during my junior and senior years of high school. Anything else you’d like to share? If some high school students are reading this and are interested in joining the military, I’d highly recommend taking at least one year of college as I think that helped me more than anything else.

School Spotlight: Crowell

We’re visiting Crowell Elementary School today! Here are some facts about their school: ✅ Est. 1959 ✅ Principal: Margaret Osmer ✅ Assistant Principal: Janine Arakelian ✅ 40 Teachers ✅ 73 Classified Staff ✅ 616 Students ✅ Mascot: Cougar ✅ Motto: We ARE Cougars! ✅ Fun Fact: Principal Margaret Osmer is a former Marine and kids love calling her 'Ms. Awesomer.' Have a great year Cougars!

Crowell Elementary School teachers hard at work in Professional Learning Communities this afternoon! In their grade level teams they worked on: ✅ Developing trimester goals ✅ Identifying essential standards ✅ Creating assessments. Teamwork!

The US in TUSD

Meet Ben Ben Liang has worked in Maintenance and Operations the past 14 years and helps keep us cool in the summer and warm in the winter! Where did you work prior to TUSD?  Thorsen's Air Conditioning What is an average day in your job? Anything related to heating and cooling as well as refrigeration and computer programming of systems.   What are you most proud of? Finding a solution to the A/C issue at Turlock High School's Bulldog Arena. What are your challenges? Usually my job is very easy but sometimes I have to investigate a problem and learn something entirely new to fix it.   What is your favorite memory/story? I always enjoy when the young children clap and are so happy when the A/C is fixed. What are you reading?  S cience News, Technology News , and Business News   What are you watching? PBS: How the Universe Works, NOVA , and Animal Planet   Anything surprising we may not know about you? I never thought that I could improve my swimming speed at my age. I learned Total Immersion Freestyle swimming last summer. Last week, I swam 1800 meters in less than 52 minutes and wasn't even tired.   What else should we know about you? I have been married for 30 years and I have two sons; Wilson is a recent graduate of UC San Diego and is now a pharmacist while Alick is finishing his degree at UCLA and works for Kaiser.

TUSD Help Desk

The 411

Turlock Adult School

Share Your Awesome! Marie Russell Chief Communication Coordinator mrussell@turlock.k12.ca.us 209.648.0968 @tusd_mrussell Thank you OnTrack Transitions Instagram for this cool pic!

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