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2

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Middle 2

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3

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V I S T A

U N I F I E D

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D I S T R I C T

Vista Unified School District A P R I L 2 0 1 7 V O L U M E 7 , I S S U E 7

PASS AmeriCorps Newsletter

Global Youth Service Day was

established in 1988 to celebrate

and mobilize young people to serve

their community. For this National

Day of Service, the PASS Ameri-

Corps took part in a community

clean up on April 22nd, also honor-

ing Earth Day. Thirty-eight Ameri-

Corps Members, the leadership

team, and a few dedicated PASS

students served and connected

with our different communities

through I Love a Clean San Diego’s

“Creek to Bay Cleanup”. We

cleaned creeks, parks, and streets

to prevent ocean pollution. PASS

AmeriCorps students also partici-

pated, with one Vista student not-

ing that we were cleaning the

neighborhood where his grandpar-

ents lived. The “Creek to

Bay Cleanup” is held twice

a year and the PASS Amer-

iCorps Program partici-

pates every spring.

Along with service to our youth

and communities, the PASS Ameri-

Corps Program is dedicated to

contributing to the professional

growth and development of our

Service Members. On April 17,

2017, PASS hosted a Resume

Workshop.

First, we had a presentation on

how to build an effective resume,

with time to update and construc-

tively critique each other’s re-

sumes. Then we learned tips on

translating this year of service with

PASS AmeriCorps onto our re-

sumes, and had a little time to

incorporate recommendations to

make our resumes as job-market

ready as possible.

We want to thank SDCOE Pro-

gram Specialist, Sal Garcia for pre-

senting on “Technology Trends,

Privacy Settings, and Protecting

Your Personal Brand”; SDCOE

Human Resources Project Special-

ist, Jessica Glover for presenting on

“Interview/Resume Strategies and

EdJoin”, and giving us some tips

from HR about how to make our-

selves competitive; PASS Ameri-

Corps Support Supervisors, Ya-

neen Gutierrez for presenting on

“Resume Building” and Teenie Le

for presenting on “Interview Tips”;

PASS AmeriCorps Service Mem-

bers, Corey Bishop for presenting

on “Social Media Networking:

LinkedIn” and Jonathan Spicer for

presenting on “Professional Eti-

quette in the Workplace.”

VUSD PASS Team

cleaned at the Vista

Street Sweep near S.

Santa Fe Ave.

PASS AmeriCorps Joins the Creek to Bay Cleanup

PASS AmeriCorps Resume Workshop

We wrapped up the day by practic-

ing our answers to possible inter-

view questions in mock interview

breakout groups, facilitated by our

guest speakers and PASS Support

Supervisors.

We hope that the day was useful

and informative, helping our PASS

AmeriCorps Service Members as

they begin transitioning into the end

of their 2016-17 Term of Service

with PASS.

PASS

Ameri-

Corps

Service

Members

presenting at the

Resume

Workshop

OUSD PASS Team

cleaned Loma Alta

Creek at Union Plaza

SDUSD PASS Team

cleaned Cesar

Chavez Park

SMUSD PASS

Team cleaned at

Dixon Lake

VCPUSD PASS Team

cleaned and made friends

with

spiders and

snakes at

Dixon Lake

15th Annual

Creek to Bay Stats:

www.creektobay.org

6,500 volunteers

(county-wide)

112

locations

Over 170,000 lbs.

of trash removed

P A G E 2

The Appreciation Tree is

a work in progress

PASS

students

Belen and

Bella

holding up

the giant

bunch of

grapes honoring

Cesar Chavez

Great ex-

citement

has been

buzzing at

Casita,

from our

Annual

Carnival to

our up-

coming 5th

Grade

Exhibition,

we’ve been

busy mak-

ing the best of spring. PASS

students have also kept busy,

with Angelina and Brianna

leading the charge at their

book club’s first meeting. 5th

graders are preparing for their

Exhibition Showcase, since less

than a month is left to present.

As a volunteer mentor for the

exhibition, I have spent a great

amount of time searching for

ways to connect my group to

primary sources. In addition,

PASS has been actively trying

to engage students with histo-

ry. To honor the memory of

Cesar Chavez, PASS students

created a giant grape with

balloons to

have participants write thank

you messages to Cesar for his

commitment to equality. For

Earth Day, students were chal-

lenged to consider the impact

they have on Earth by com-

pleting an obstacle course

while carrying the weight of

our daily waste, about 5

pounds. May our hard work

yield great rewards!

so great to see students willing

to come after school to talk to

one another about their expe-

rience with various topics. On

April 21st, PASS AmeriCorps

teamed up with Garden Club

to complete a campus-wide

beautification project. The

projects included placing the

tiles (that PASS students had

created for Cesar Chavez Day)

in the garden, picking up trash,

On April 18th, PASS

AmeriCorps at Madison

Middle began Project

AWARE after school.

The 8 week program

focuses on educating

students in taking re-

sponsibility for their

thoughts and actions. Students

who chose to participate have

commented on how excited they

are to start Project AWARE. It is

pulling weeds, and planting

succulents. Also, the end of

the year is almost here! There

is still time to enjoy school and

pick up classroom grades. If

help is needed, PASS is contin-

uing to offer homework help

before school everyday

(Mondays 8:30-9:30am,Tuesday

- Friday 7:30-8:30am) and after

school Mondays and Thursdays

(3:15-4:15pm).

dents learned that Earth tends

to change due to natural caus-

es. April brought an Earth Day

celebration and students par-

ticipated by providing leaves to

a tree decoration in the PASS

room. On the leaves, they

wrote comments about what

they appreciated about the

earth. Olive also celebrated

Ability Awareness Week. Stu-

dents explored how it would

be like to have difficulty seeing,

or perhaps not being able to

use their legs. They were chal-

lenged with the task of operat-

ing their way through obstacles

which allowed them to put

themselves in the shoes of

others. We hope students

gained awareness through

these activities.

Olive Elementary's fourth

graders went on two study

trips. Since they had been

learning about California's

history, the students went to

Mission San Juan Capistrano to

learn about the history and

people. Their second study

trip was to Agua Hedionda

where they learned about

fossils, volcanos, earthquakes,

and climate. For example, stu-

Students

picking

up litter

on the

Madison

Campus

P A S S A M E R I C O R P S N E W S L E T T E R

Olive Elementary School

Madison Middle School

Casita Center for Science and Technology Daisy Gallardo,

PASS AmeriCorps

Member

Diego Bautista,

PASS AmeriCorps Member

Rosalba Rocha,

PASS AmeriCorps Member

P A G E 3 V O L U M E 7 , I S S U E 7

April absolutely flew by, but it has

been a fantastic month for PASS.

One of my favorite projects PASS

AmeriCorps participated in was

repainting the school tables for

Earth Day. We went out and chose

the tables that had the most graffiti

and started to work, one in the

seventh grade quad and one in the

eighth. The seventh grade quad

now has a purple and blue table

decorated in the PASS students'

hand prints. The eighth graders

have a purple and orange table to

brighten things up! I was so proud

of the students for coming up with

beautiful ideas to help make the

campus look and feel more positive.

It was so successful that students

who were unable to participate

asked when we were going to do it

again so they could help! This pro-

ject in particular showed me how

much these students have grown

over the year. They were respect-

ful, responsible, creative, and

worked together to make their

school a brighter, happier place.

The project was a celebration of

both Earth Day and Global Youth

Service Day, which fell on April 21-

23rd. On Earth Day, April 22nd, we

participated in the Creek to Bay

Clean-up, put on by I Love a Clean

San Diego, to pick up trash in the

neighborhood surrounding Vista

High School. At the end of the

month, National Volunteer Week

occurred from April 24-29. Addi-

The year is quickly winding down

here at Vista High School! This

month started off with a trip for

our sophomores to the Museum of

Tolerance in Los Angeles. The trip

was a great opportunity for our

students to learn about various

human rights challenges facing our

global community. April’s service

project focused on creating bird

feeders out of recycled materials.

tionally, April 14th was the

end of the second grading

period of the second se-

mester, marking the last

progress report before final

grades come out at the end

of the school year. We will

be working with students

to finish the

school year

strong!

soon be starting presentations on

their topics. Seventh grade students

completed their reading of

"Monster" and created arguments

for Steve and whether students

believed he was guilty or innocent

of the story's crime. There have

been a lot of writing assignments

completed in the PASS room!

Earth Day was celebrated as well.

Students were encouraged to recy-

cle and be earth

friendly by partici-

pating in a book

swap to bring in

books they had

read in exchange

for new, unread

books. This helped

promote the idea of

reusing and encour-

aged reading.

The eighth graders in Ms. Palmer’s

and Mr. Kellish’s Language Arts clas-

ses focused on various topics pre-

sented in the Vista community, in-

cluding homelessness, students with

special needs, and LGBTQ students.

Students in PASS have received addi-

tional help writing their reflective

essays on their volunteer experience.

The PASS 8th graders are also re-

ceiving help writing an essay on how

immigration has shaped them and will

Anthony

and Edgar make bird feeders for Earth Day.

Seventh Grade Table Repainted!

Rancho Minerva Middle School

Vista Innovation and Design Academy (VIDA)

Vista High School

Chelsea Kozikis,

PASS AmeriCorps Member

Vanessa Acosta,

PASS AmeriCorps Member

Skyler Vanderhye and Brighid Morse,

PASS AmeriCorps Members

Seventh graders, Jose and Trevor,

having their PASS period outside.

P A G E 4

Earth Day Project-

Students are making

custom Earths using

paint and shaving

cream

The school year is

almost over and the

primary focus for PASS

is helping students with

life after high school.

PASS invited ACCESS

and Learn4Life to pre-

sent to groups of stu-

dents. These two pro-

grams help young adults find

internships, guide career paths,

and teach life skills. A few stu-

dents are already taking ad-

vantage of the opportunity.

A main focus for students in

the remainder of the year is to

earn credits. I have been push-

ing into classrooms more often

to help PASS students accom-

plish this goal. A large amount

of my students have improved

their grades within the last few

months.

Service this month revolved

around Earth Day and students

made custom planets and we

discussed the importance of

the respect and perseveration

of the Earth.

PASS AmeriCorps also contin-

ues to be involved in sports.

The Alta Vista soccer team

won the Continuation Soccer

Tournament held Friday, April

21st. They were our second

winning team this year.

was able to offer students

elective credits for community

service. The Creek to Bay

Cleanup was hosted by I Love

A Clean San Diego and was

located at North County Life-

line. The event was open to

the community and partici-

pants were able to clean up

pounds of trash off the streets

of Vista.

April 24th was the first

day of hexmester six and PASS

will be going over graduation

plans next week as transcripts

will be updated. This marks the

last chance for PASS students

to set goals for this school year

and we are looking forward to

the finish line!

We only have about six weeks

left of school, I really can’t

believe it! Graduation is on

everyone’s mind as we are in

the home stretch. Students are

looking forward to the future

by enrolling at Palomar or Mira

Costa Colleges and completing

their FASFA.

In April, we encouraged stu-

dents to participate in Global

Youth Service Day and PASS

P A S S A M E R I C O R P S N E W S L E T T E R

Major General Murray High School

Alta Vista High School

Jennifer Garritson and

Dana Tsoutsoudakis,

PASS AmeriCorps Members

Corey Bishop,

PASS AmeriCorps Member

RMMS PASS students’ fin-

ished AmeriCorps poster

Above: Casita PASS students posing

outside the library after a successful

book club sign-up

Left: Earth Day sign created by

Madison Middle School PASS

student and mentor

“There is only one thing

that makes a dream

impossible to achieve:

the fear of failure.”

― Paulo Coelho,

The Alchemist,

provided by VHS

student

Students at the Vista

Creek to Bay Cleanup

with PASS Mentor,

Jennifer Garritson

6401 Linda Vista Road - Room 412

San Diego, CA 92111-7399

Phone: 858-569-5474

Fax: 858-565-4150

Email: mquiroz@sdcoe.net

Website: www.sdcoe.net/pass-americorps

The PASS AmeriCorps Program serves stu-

dents in grades 3 through 12 at 29 school sites

across San Diego County, including campuses

in San Diego, Oceanside, Vista, San Marcos,

and Valley Center. Each PASS AmeriCorps

member provides support for 30 targeted stu-

dents through individual and group mentoring,

academic support, grades and attendance re-

views, leadership development, guest speakers,

service learning projects, and parent outreach.

Through their service with PASS, our Ameri-

Corps members are able to create positive

change in our schools and communities.

San Diego County Office of Education

PASS AmeriCorps Program

PASS

AmeriCorps

Program

Upcoming

Month’s

Calendar

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May