GGUSDPride: Commitment to Peace, Fall Athletics, College Fair, ParentSquare, and More

October 9, 2019

#GGUSDPRIDE E-newsletter

The #GGUSDPride E-newsletter features many of the great things happening in GGUSD.

Send your photos to pio_department@ggusd.us to highlight your school or students in the e-newsletter.

GGUSD College Fair Attracts Hundreds of Students

This week, hundreds of students and families attended GGUSD's 2019 College Fair at the Great Wolf Lodge to engage with university reps from more than 80 colleges and universities and begin making plans for a bright future! Students gathered information about university programs, learned about the admissions process, and walked away with some great swag! #GGUSDPride

Carrillo Students Commit to Peace

Carrillo Elementary School hosted its annual Peace Day program. Students learned about the work of the Sylvia Mendez family which led to the desegregation of schools and heard from Westminster City Council member Sergio Contreras about the city's planned Mendez Freedom Memorial Trail and Monument.

Students sang songs, performed readings, and made a commitment to equality, inclusion, and kindness. As part of the school's annual tradition, e ach classroom received a peace dove bank. This year, interested students can donate spare change to help contribute toward the Mendez Freedom Trail. Last year, students donated to the American Red Cross. Kudos to teacher Paul Portner on his work spearheading this outstanding annual project!

College Wear Wednesdays

We love that our elementary students are already thinking about their college and career goals. Check out these Murdy Elementary School scholars in this photo from College Wear Wednesday!

Follow Murdy on Facebook!

Enders Fall Harvest

What better way to learn about the fall harvest than by growing your own pumpkins! Enders Elementary students planted and harvested their own pumpkins in the school's garden and sixth grade boosters sold fall treats.

Rancho Alamitos Begins League Play with a Win

Rancho Alamitos High School defeated Loara 21-10 on Friday to start off Garden Grove League play on the right foot. The Vaqueros are the defending league champions and are looking to make it two in a row.

Donation Toward Student Success

Students at Eisenhower Elementary, Doig Intermediate, and Santiago High School were thrilled to receive a generous gift of more than 2,300 school supplies donated last week through a partnership with United Way of Orange County and the Automobile Club of Southern California.

Walk and Bike to School Day

Many GGUSD schools participated in National Walk or Bike to School Day, and enjoyed the support of our local police partners to ensure students got to school safely. Students and parents, pictured here, from Violette Elementary even created a Walking School Bus as a creative way to spread awareness about the importance of ensuring students have safe routes to school!

GGUSD Scholars Bring Grit and Hard Work to Fall Sports Season

The girl's volleyball teams from Los Amigos and Santiago served up some excellent play last week as the two teams met in a Garden Grove League match up.

Fall sports are in full swing around GGUSD and that includes girl's tennis! Last Thursday saw a great match up between the La Quinta Aztecs and Santiago Cavaliers. Good luck with the rest of your season girls!

Future Engineers from Crosby Elementary School

Thank you, Girls Inc., for partnering with Crosby Elementary for the school's after school Engineering Club. What an awesome and empowering opportunity for Crosby female students to learn next generation science, technology, engineering, and math skills.

GGUSD Launches ParentSquare to Expand Parent Communication

GGUSD has launched ParentSquare, an easy-to-use communication platform to reach and engage every parent, ensuring all parents have the opportunity to actively participate in their children’s education and stay up-to-date on district and school news.

ParentSquare features:

district and school-wide mass notifications through voice, email, text, and new mobile application
district, school-wide, and classroom posts received as emails or texts by parents with two-way communication features
principal and teacher direct messaging with instant language translation using Google Translate
automated attendance notifications on student absences and tardies
school calendars and event rsvp’s
teacher to student communication for seventh through twelfth grade students

ParentSquare allows parents to choose how to receive school and classroom communication via email, text, or mobile application. Parents can also select when to receive messages either instantly or in digest format at the end of each day. Urgent school-wide messages can be sent through voicemail as well. Parents will receive emails, texts, or voicemail messages to the email address or phone number on file with the school as part of the student enrollment process.

Parents can download the GGUSD mobile application now on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

GGUSD’s partnership with ParentSquare will enable a stronger dialogue between school and home, and will help empower everyone within the school community to stay connected and informed.