This week’s can’t miss events:

Girls golf
Monday, Oct 18 DAL Championships at Diablo Creek GC at 9am.

Girls volleyball
Tuesday, Oct 19 host Campolindo HS. Freshmen at 4pm, JV at 5pm and Varsity at 6:30pm.
Thursday, Oct 21 at Miramonte HS. Freshmen at 4pm, JV at 5pm and Varsity at 6:30pm.

Girls tennis
Tuesday, Oct 19 v. Campolindo HS at 3:30pm. Varsity is home and JV is away.
Thursday, Oct 21 v. Miramonte HS at 3:30pm. Varsity is home and JV is away.

Girls water polo
Wednesday, Oct 20 host Campolindo HS. JV at 4pm and Varsity at 5pm.
Friday, Oct 22 and Saturday, Oct 23 NorCal Championships at Sacred Heart Prep HS.

Boys water polo
Wednesday, Oct 20 host Campolindo HS. Varsity at 6pm and JV at 7pm.
Saturday, Oct 23 host Redwood HS. Varsity at 3pm and JV at 4pm.

Cross country
Wednesday, Oct 20 DAL Center Meet at Newhall Park at 3:30pm.

Football
Friday, Oct 22 host Benicia HS. JV at 4:30pm and Varsity at 7pm.
Here are the Fall sports schedules (subject to change):

• Cross Country
• Football
• Girls Golf
• Girls Tennis
• Girls Volleyball
• Boys Water Polo
• Girls Water Polo

• Substitute Teachers Needed – Ever thought about being a substitute teacher? Flexible schedule, great academic environment, and earning potential! If so, now’s your chance. Acalanes Union High School District is in need of substitute teachers for all four high schools.  Criteria and requirements have changed so if interested, please call (925) 280-3900 x6623 to inquire further. 

Lafayette Res Run for Education – Support YOUR School!
Run with your friends, family, classmates and neighbors in person through downtown Lafayette.

• Sunday, Oct 24 – Choose the traditional 2-mile fun run/walk, 5K along Mt. Diablo Blvd., or the 10K route which takes you around the Lafayette Reservoir.
• Wednesday, Oct 13- Saturday, Oct 23 – Back by popular demand, you can now register for the Reservoir Challenge – the virtual race which “runs” around the 2.7-mile paved trail of the Lafayette Reservoir. The Reservoir Challenge is a great opportunity to safely walk or run the Reservoir, perhaps challenging your friends or beating your time from last year!

In 2020, ResRun Reimagined (the fully virtual race) donated a record $32,185.17 to our local public schools. Learn more and register TODAY!
 
Kelly Daggs, VP Fundraising and Corporate Match

Deadline Extended to Friday, Oct 15! APC Fall Grants – All ideas are welcome for consideration.
Acalanes Parents Club is pleased to invite all AHS teachers, staff, students, and parents to submit a grant application for programming, materials, or projects that enhance the educational experience for our school community. Click here for criteria and application. Completed proposals and questions can be submitted by emailing APC Grants Coordinator Catherine Habas. Proposals can also be delivered to the APC box in the front office. 

Thursday, Oct 21 at lunch Acalanes Volunteer Service Awards Kick Off Meeting
It’s not too early to start logging volunteer service hours for the Acalanes and President’s Volunteer Service Awards. Join College & Career Advisor Debbie Levy and Leadership Teacher Katherine Walton at lunch in the C&CC, on October 21 to learn more about how to volunteer and log your hours. Check out the forms here.

ACA MOMENTS ARE HERE!
What exactly are ACA Moments? There is a concerted effort underway on campus to recognize students for the positive things they do (or their team or club does) to make another student’s day. These efforts have been dubbed ACA moments and students, parents, and community members can all get in on the effort. Whether it’s asking someone how their day is going or dropping by a sport or event other than your own, these little acts of kindness (known as ACA Moments) make a meaningful difference in our greater school community. The upcoming Frosh + Senior Ice Cream Social on Wednesday, Oct 13 at lunch is a perfect example of ACA Moments in action. Encourage your freshmen and seniors to attend!

October 11 is recognized as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Let’s pause to remember that Native people are the first inhabitants of the Americas, including the lands in Lafayette. The local tribe was the Saklan tribe, who were part of the larger Miwok community. Did you know that the name of our school, “Acalanes” is derived from the word “Saklan,” who were referred to by the Spanish missionaries as “Saklanes”? Their historical tribal lands ranged from Moraga to San Leandro Creek to Lafayette. Today, many Saklan descendants have intermarried with the larger Chochenyo Ohlone community. Learn more about the history of Native California in this video.
 
October is also National LGBT History Month and this Monday October 11 is “National Coming Out Day.” On this day we honor and support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer people and their “coming out of the closet” to proudly be their true selves. The day is aimed to raise awareness of both the LGBTQ community and civil rights movement and to advocate for a person’s mental health and identity.
 
After a successful and well attended potluck last week, our celebration of Latine Heritage Month continues! Thursday Oct 14, the students are invited to engage with guest speaker Alberto Ledesma. Lunchtime via zoom in room 314. Parents are welcome too! Meeting ID: 797 6464 3844 Passcode: LHM
 
What is Latine Heritage Month without music? Get up and dance to the Afro-Cuban rhythms in this NPR Music Tiny Desk concert featuring Afro-Cuban percussionist PedritoMartinez and his band.
 
Tuesday, Oct 12 from 6-8pm AUHSD Quarterly Book Read in the Miramonte Library. “The Sum of Us” by Heather McGhee. Sign up here.
 
Facts corner:
 About 9 million people in the U.S. identity as lesbian or gay, bisexual or transgender. Many are afraid of living their true selves in fear of scrutiny and judgment from others, which has a huge impact on mental health. Mental health challenges that face LGBTQ youth are staggering; 40% of LGBTQ youth responded that they had seriously contemplated suicide in the last 12 months. Greater levels of support and acceptance is associated with dramatically lower rates of attempting suicide. See results of a 2020 Trevor Project survey here.

ICYMI, here is a recording of Ron Lieber’s talk based on his book “The Price you Pay for College.”  Ron gave an informative and eye-opening talk on additional factors to consider when choosing colleges and universities.
 
Tuesday, Oct 12 at 11:30am Navigating Trauma for Kids and Teens: Back to School and COVID, presented by Mental Health America.  Some of us may still be struggling with the impact of this 18 month long ordeal. Registration link here.
 
Finally, as parents we may not know the best way to talk to our teens about drug use, but it’s important that we do as the news reflects why.  Recently, there was a crackdown on fentanyl-laced pills that has already led to numerous deaths and has been predicted to have the potential for thousands more. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid typically sold on the streets and through social media; it has been made to look like other prescribed medicines like Xanax and Percocet. Also, it has recently been shown that cannabis can increase risk of breakthrough COVID cases as presented in this article.
 
Here are some tips from Harvard Health Publishing on how to talk to your teens, prevention tips for teen drug use, as well as additional resources on having honest and important conversations about drug use.
 
Feel free to reach out and connect with us with ideas for future topics, shareable resources, or thoughts at parented@acalanesparentsclub.com.

Homecoming 2021 Wrap-Up
Again, thank you for all of your support with Homecoming. From hallway decorating to lunchtime activities to watching students at student dodgeball to the rally and Saturday night event, it was a great week at Acalanes. Ultimately, the Class of 2022 won HOCO 2021!
 
Homecoming Recap Videos
If you would like to watch Homecoming class skits or a HOCO recap video, check out the videos here. A big thank you to video production teacher Mr. Morford and students Jack Dunne, Cormac Maher, Yasmin Ward for filming & editing this year. Our hope is we can take the spirit, connection, and community, and continue to build in ways to create ACA Moments throughout the second quarter.
 
Acalanes Canned Food Drive
Thank you to all who donated to the Acalanes canned food drive! As a community, we are donating 15,028 cans to the Contra Costa Food Bank at a time when they can really use these resources. We are grateful for your support and for giving to our Contra Costa neighbors.
 
Sept 15 through Oct 15 Latine Heritage Month
Why celebrate Latine Heritage Month at Acalanes? As a school, we are dedicated to making all of our students feel welcome, safe, and appreciated, for we are all unique individuals. Our purpose with this month is to educate students and celebrate the different cultures in Latin Heritage.
 
Our culminating event will be:

• Thursday, Oct 14 at Lunch (1pm) Guest Speaker Alberto Ledesma in room 314 (will be on Zoom). All students and parents are welcome!

Friday, Oct 15 Football Game vs. Campolindo
Let’s honor our heroes! Acalanes and Campolindo are coming together for the Oct 15 football game to honor the heroes in our Lamorinda community. Both schools will be doing a joint tailgate before the game!
 
2021-2022 Clubs
Clubs are continuing to meet and it is one of the BEST ways for students to get connected at Acalanes. Club meeting times and contact information are in the spreadsheet.

Thursday, Oct 14 at 6:30pm Brighter Days Concert
AHS is excited to announce Brighter Days, a charity concert benefiting local suicide prevention organization A Brighter Day. With recent suicidal passings in our school district, Acalanes students felt compelled to do something positive. With this in mind, they came up with the idea of a charity event to benefit A Brighter Day. 

The Brighter Days concert is being held at the Acalanes front quad on Thursday, October 14th at 6:30pm. Entry is free and donations are welcome. All proceeds will go to A Brighter Day.  

Follow @brighterdays_fest on Instagram for updates on the concert and artists performing. Artists are welcome to reach out to @tylersingh_ on Instagram if they wish to perform. We hope to see many of you at this student event!

As always, I am here to support you and your students. If there is anything I can do, please don’t hesitate to reach out via e-mail.

Katherine Walton, Student Activities Director

Seniors

• College Visits in the CCC (have your student come by for a pass before school)
  • Tuesday: Saint Edwards, Sacred Heart, Lafayette College, Goucher, Landmark College, Linfield University
  • Wednesday: Middlebury, Lehigh, Duke Kunshan, St. John’s College, Washington & Jefferson, Fordham
  • Thursday: DigiPen, University of Connecticut, Franklin University-Switzerland, Claremont McKenna College
  • Friday: Dickinson, Oberlin, Georgetown
• ACADEMY This is a great time to get application support. Encourage your child to sign up for Levy’s Academy on Wednesday and Friday! We will continue working on Cal State Applications this week!
• Virtual visits are upcoming. These are quite engaging!

Juniors

• Virtual College Visits Check out these interesting virtual visits. Oct 14 – Midwest Colleges, November 2 – Art and Stem Fair

Sophomores/Freshmen

• Volunteer and Work in the Community  Click here for some ideas to get youstarted. Here are the new forms for tracking your volunteer service hours for recognized awards.

Resources:

• CCC Website

Counselor assignments are by last name.
A – Dr  Anne Schonauer
Du-Kr  Christine Todd
Ku-Rog  Marissa Meadows
Roh-Z  Susan Martin

Counselor Appointments
Counselors are checking in with all 9th graders during October. We want to start getting to know them and help them as best we can! We are always seeing any student for drop in appointments.

End of the First Quarter News
We are at the halfway point of the semester! Quarter grades will be posted by Friday, Oct 15 in Canvas and Aeries. Report cards will only be mailed home to families that are not observers in Canvas. Students that drop classes now will receive an F on their transcript. Sports eligibility will be checked on Thursday/Friday of this week. Students need a 2.0 GPA and no more than 2 “F” grades. Ineligible students will be able to play this weekend, but will not be able to play in any games after Oct 18.

October is Letter of Recommendation Writing Season!
Counselors are busy working on writing letters of recommendation for their students with ED/EA deadlines of Nov 1. If you are applying early to a school that needs a counselor letter, please see your counselor ASAP!

Ordering Official Transcripts for College Applications
Please go here for step by step instructions if you or your student needs to order transcripts to be sent to colleges. Official transcripts are sent electronically in most cases, so physical addresses are not necessary.