March 9th 2023

 

Mark your calendar: March 10th - Staff Day, No School March 15th - Minimum Day, 12:40pm dismissal  March 27th - April 7th - Spring Break, No School  Quick Links  HTHPL Calendar 2022-23      Calendar 2023-24 HTH Family Portal - New look!  Attendance: Send an email to hthpl-frontdesk@hightechhigh.org HTH HAPPENINGS 9th graders on the Chase/Juli/Ari Team went to the Orange County Ropes Course as part of our Epic Journeys Project. Senior field trip to Nautical History Gallery and Museum, and Visions Art Museum 11th Grade students in Jesse Wade-Robinson’s bio class have been working on the Cancer Cell Project. They have begun testing different possible treatments for cancer cell migration and growth. High Tech High is one of only a handful of schools nationwide that have access to real mouse cancer cells! The students also had the honor of meeting with scientists specializing in this field to propose their research plans. The students are currently working on finalizing their treatment research and have begun the thorough process of testing the active cancer cells. 9th grade students create Crankie Box background scrolls for their culture folklore shadow puppet performances.  11th grade students plant trees in Balboa Park wtih Forever Balboa Park  HIGH TECH HIGH IN THE SPOTLIGHT How to Design a Great “Launch” to Personalize Learning - 11th grade Biology teacher Jesse Wade Robinson and 12th grade Environmental Science teacher John Santos talk about how they use project launches to personalize learning for every student.  Education Specialist and EML Coordinator Judy Zapien featured as a special guest speaker for a class training new teachers at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. Woohoo!  We have launched “Spring Into School” - a month-long attendance campaign to encourage all students to attend school every day.  As a school community, we have a 90.3% attendance rate from the beginning of school to now.  We are aiming to have a 95% attendance rate for the month of March, our pre-COVID yearly average.  As parents and guardians, you are essential partners with us in this work and we appreciate your care and attention to these matters. Thank you for helping us make this happen. If you need to reach out for attendance reasons, please contact hthpl-frontdesk@hightechhigh.org. FROM THE JOURNALISM CLUB In a System that Failed, They Prevailed Part 1; César López   by HTH Student Journalist Lucia Lopez   In 1980, the López family received a letter from the UCLA Lab School notifying Marta Sanchéz and Joel López their son, César López, had been accepted from a lottery. At the time the López family had recently moved from the projects in Downtown LA to a home in East LA. Joel was a new immigrant to the U.S. while Marta was born in México and grew up in Los Angeles. The couple got married and had three children; Leonardo, César, and Diana. Joel worked around the clock at the nearby Coca-Cola factory and Marta was an elementary school teacher in Downtown LA while studying for her degree at community college. Ultimately, César did not attend the UCLA Lab School. Read more.... FAMILY CONNECTIONS Join us for this month's Facetime with Fahima on March 15th at 9am at High Tech High or on zoom. We will talk with Fahima about school news and attendance. Why does attendance matter so much? both academically and financially. If you plan to join via zoom, please pre register here If you plan to join in person, please RSVP here (We will no longer be recording these sessions) As always, we will have coffee and some breakfast goodies.   We are inviting you, our most engaged family partners, to participate in a very important Family Focus group.  This group will be representing the High Tech High family community to the WASC panel which visits our campus every six years to accredit our school.  Please RSVP by April 10th by submitting this form. We hope you will choose to attend!  Questions, email Stephanie at santin@hightechhigh.org or Sarah Strong at sstrong@hightechhigh.org Update on where your Dollars For Doers funding is going. This year, this campaign has funded: 24 Staff Grants for projects and field work  Projects include field trip to the Museum of Tolerance, clay for ceramics, strengths test for advisory, emerging journeys project, the Rover project and more.  3 student matching grants for Internship and Endersession for travel to Japan, Washington DC and Belize.  Staff Appreciation Week is coming up May 1st-4th 2023 Let's raise some funds to appreciate our wonderful HTH staff and all that they do for our students and school.   Your HTH Parent Association asked the staff and they asked for appreciation messages, Amazon gift cards and lunch.  Help us make that happen!  You can make your donation here Donations will be accepted through March 23rd STAFF SPOTLIGHT Michael Chin 10th Grade Chemistry Teacher Why did you choose to work in education? Through his coursework as part of the Education Minor at UCSD, his eyes were opened to the vast inequities that are present in the our country’s school system and he desired to make a difference in these communities. These years working in the High Tech Schools have greatly impacted his view of how education can be structured through the lens of hands-on and collaborative learning.  His aspiration for joining the graduate school was to learn how to foster a classroom environment in which rigorous science coursework can be supported by equitable, project-based, and anti-racist practices. What are your hopes for this school year? To grow in equitable assessment of student learning What do you love most about HTH? The community that we have at our school! Tell us about a memory you have from high school? Dumpster diving in pancakes and syrup to find my lost retainers And thank you to Sensations Salud, LLC.  for being a community partner for a third year!

COLLEGE NEWS Did you know that Mesa College reps come to campus on Tuesday and Wed afternoons in March to help seniors complete their application. Register on SCOIR to set up a meeting with them - first come, first serve! As always, you can email me anytime at nwyatt@hightechhigh.org    Nicholle