News & Announcements

ICYMI Missed Friday’s Dons Dialogue? You can watch a replay here!
 
Are you free for lunch?  If so, we continue to support our Cafe Staff this semester on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. We need 4 parents from 12:45 to 1:15pm to help serve lunch and provide line management so that our staff and administration can focus where needed. Please sign up here if you are able to lend a hand.
 
AHS Volunteer Service Awards Reminder: Encourage your student to participate!
It’s not too late for students to give back to their community now and be recognized for their efforts by applying for the AHS Volunteer Service Award this spring. Details regarding the program and related forms can be accessed here. Students should log their hours on the application forms as they volunteer. To learn more about the program or where they can volunteer, students can drop by the College & Career Center or contact APC program liaison Amy Norstad with questions or for more information.

Saturday, Feb 5 from 11am to 2pm Second Annual ACA STRONG Light Display Set-Up Help
Join the fun in hanging lights for this upcoming ACA event! Sign up to help support your class in making this event a memorable one. All students and their families are welcome. Students will earn volunteer service hours for the event. More details regarding the AHS Volunteer Service award can be found here.
 
2nd Annual ACA STRONG Light Display Monday, Feb 7 through Friday, Mar 4 from 5:30 to 9:30pm
Check out this year’s light display! All Acalanes families and the greater Lafayette community are invited to see ACA spirit on display. Enter campus via the main Acalanes entrance on Stanley Blvd. and exit on Pleasant Hill Road. This year a Photo Class Competition has been added!! Take a photo in front of your lighted class sign and DM via Instagram to ahs@dons. One photo per student or group of students please.The class with the most submitted photos will be invited to an ice cream sandwich social at lunch in March.

Oakland Museum is open! Starting January 29, your family can attend two special exhibitions, Mothership: Voyage into Afrofuturism and Edith Heath: A Life in Clay. Tickets for special exhibitions can be purchased here. 
 
Looking for opportunities to volunteer or give? There are plenty of local charities looking for help, especially this time of the year. A few include: Grateful Gatherings and Food Bank of Contra Costa County.

Facts corner: January 27 is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this day in 1945, Soviet Red Army troops liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration camp. 

Students get diplomas when they graduate from high school, but I think they should also get diplomas for simply surviving the teen years. 
Melanie Willard
 
We hope you were able to join us for The Well-Balanced Student Presentation with Laura Easley and Douglas Tsoi from Challenge Success, hosted by the APC Parent Education committee. It was a great event, and we hope to obtain a recording of the talk for those who might have missed. And many thanks to Allen Choi and Andie Nishimi for being panelists to help support our parents/guardians/teens further.
 
If you’d like more reading, here are the Best Greater Good Articles chosen by Greater Good editors from 2021. It has a wide range of topics so there should be something for all!
 
Finally, if your teen is struggling with academics or feeling down or frustrated about school, don’t forget to connect with our Counselors, our Nurse, and our Wellness Center. Feel free to reach out and connect with us with ideas for future topics, shareable resources, or thoughts at parented@acalanesparentsclub.com.

An Aca Leader is a role model that shows leadership and plays a big role throughout our school community. Each week, one student who stands out is chosen to be our week’s Aca Leader. This week we are proud to have chosen 2 Aca Leaders, Taylor Mikalis, a frosh student on the Varsity Girls Soccer team and junior, Nikki McCarthy, on the Varsity Girls Basketball team! Our lady dons have both made such an impact on their teams and represent what an Aca Leader is! Congratulations!
 
Student Government applications for the 2022-2023 school year are available beginning tomorrow. All are welcome and encouraged to apply; applications can be found on canvas or the Acalanes leadership website and are due February 7th!  Info meeting at lunch on February 1st in room 314. Students can opt in to run to be a class officer and represent their class or join one of 16 committees. Student Government/Leadership is a wonderful opportunity to serve campus & community while building “soft skills” that will be used in the future.
 
2021-2022 Clubs Anyone can still join a club and now is the perfect time to do so! Check out our 2021-2022 clubs (clubs highlighted in green are new as of this semester!)
 
Acalanes Spiritwear Looking for Acalanes gear or a welcome gift for the Class of 2026? Look no further! Spiritwear is available for purchase on the Acalanes webstore. You can purchase here and once purchased, you will receive an email with directions for pick-up.
 
Peek at the Week

• Mon-Wed Frosh quad clean-up competition. Encourage your frosh student to pick up any and all trash in the quad at the end of lunch! We are tracking student participation for prizes.
• Wed @ lunch  2022 Vision Board Making in room 314

Save the Date:
February is Black History Month and
Saturday, Apr 30 Junior & Senior Prom at Lake Chalet in Oakland
 
Katherine Walton, Student Activities Director

With COVID cases back on the rise, there is no better time to quit a smoking or vaping habit than today. The lungs are at the forefront of your immune system. Inhaling irritants such as smoke and vapor can cause an even stronger immune response if exposed to COVID. Researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that not only are people that smoke and vape five to seven times more likely to test positive for COVID, but they are also more likely to develop serious complications if infected. Secondhand smoke from cigarettes and, even more so, from vaping poses an increased risk for anyone that may inhale infected droplets in the air. If you or your student has a smoking or vaping habit, check with your healthcare professional to discuss cessation options. Quitting smoking is not only beneficial to wellbeing during the Coronavirus pandemic but to long term health as well. (source: Coronavirus: Smoking, Vaping, Wildfire Smoke and Air Pollution | Johns HopkinsMedicine)

Seniors

• DVC Registration: Please have your senior sign up for Levy Academy on Wed. Feb 9 in the library.  DVC admissions officers will be walking students through the registration process.
• Scholarship Tips

Juniors

• Tuesday, Feb 1 from 6 to 7pm Acalanes Bookclub Meeting will be on Zoom.Join other Junior parents to discuss Who Gets in and Why by Jeffrey Selingo.
• College Timeline– Check out these informative tips!
• Jobs available If your student is interested in work opportunities, there are loads of jobs available.  Encourage your student to come by the CCC.

Sophomores/Freshmen

• College Timeline- There is plenty of time to enjoy high school exploration! Here are fun ideas and a timeline by one of my favorite resources- The College Essay Guy.
• Resume Development- Have your child reach out to work on creating a resume!
• Volunteer  Here are some volunteer options to get you started. Check out the newforms for tracking volunteer service hours for recognized service 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
 
Course Selection for the 2022-2023 School Year Counselors visited 9th,10th, and 11th grade classrooms from Thursday, Jan 13 through Friday, Jan 21 to talk about the course selection process for next school year. Please have your student see their counselor asap if they missed this presentation and did not receive their course selection form!  Please visit the Counseling website for videos and resources for choosing classes.
 
AHS Open House is Virtual this year! Open House will be on Thursday, January 27th. Please look for announcements with links to videos describing all of our classes.  This is another great resource for helping your student choose classes for next year. 
 
Counselors will collect Course Requests 1/31-2/3 Your student has an appointment scheduled with their counselor to turn in the course selection form and review classes in Aeries. This appointment is on the white label on their course selection sheet. This is a five minute appointment. Please make sure your student remembers this appointment. 

Thank you to Acalanes families for reporting COVID+ cases to us (especially Attendance), keeping your students home when they are ill, and making sure they have well-fitting masks that they wear correctly.

COVID Vaccine Most students are now eligible to get boosters – PLEASE DO!!!   Despite the burden of COVID virus, our community is working hard to stay healthy and the high vaccination rate and observance of health department guidelines makes a significant difference and helps keep students in school learning. If  you haven’t yet, please submit your students’ COVID vaccine records. 

COVID Isolation, Quarantines and Test Kits The current guidelines for return to school after COVID illness require a negative COVID test (if returning before 10 days). School sites do NOT have more test kits to distribute. Please see Principal Shawn’s COVID FAQ’sfor more details.

Make sure you always have your proof of vaccination! Try this site- https://myvaccinerecord.cdph.ca.gov/ iPhone users- you can now put your vaccinationrecord in your Apple Health app (and Apple Wallet).

Please be in touch with me to discuss any medical, health, or wellness concerns.

Stay healthy and be well,
Dvora Citron, RN, MS
dcitron@auhsdschools.org
925-280-2970 x7128
Acalanes School Nurse Google Site
IG:  acalanesschoolnurse