The APC Nominating Committee is in full swing and planning for the 2022-2023 school year! Below is a list of positions we need to fill in the Acalanes Parents Club. Being a part of this amazing, thoughtfully run organization is rewarding and an opportunity to help the school, teachers, staff, and students in a variety of ways. Come join the team! If you have any questions, please contact Nominating Committee Lead Angela Ketcham or anyone from our 2022 Nominating Committee: Sherry Quinn, Kristen Labrosse, Maria Nicolacakis, Jennifer Palmer, Katharine Wallace, Danielle Upp and Catherine Habas.
Open positions:
President Elect
VP Fundraising
Assistant Treasurer
Secretary
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Liaison
Co-Hospitality Chairs
Grants Coordinator
Volunteer Coordinator
Legislative Representative
Co-Parent Ed. Coordinator
Student Awards Coordinator
Stanley Liaison
APC Spring Grants: Submissions are Open! Applications due Friday, Mar 4 All ideas are welcome. 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 GrantsCoordinator Catherine Habas. Proposals can also be delivered to the APC box in the front office.
APC in Action
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)
It’s Black History Month and the 2022 Winter Olympics! Let’s celebrate the twelve trailblazingBlack athletes who have made history at the Olympics over the years. From speed skating to skiing, these outstanding athletes have earned many firsts.
Riveted: The History of Jeans follows America’s past, “from the iconic garment’s roots in slavery to the Wild West, youth culture, hippies, high fashion and hip-hop.” Watch it on KQED this month!
Interested in theater and the story of Frederick Douglass? The Marsh will send you a free one-hour, two-act play starring actor Darryl Van Leer, who portrays events of Douglass’s life with the notorious slave master Edward Covey, as well as his thrilling and suspenseful train ride to freedom.
Facts corner: African American lawyer Pauli Murray applied to be a Supreme Court justice in 1971, under President Nixon. Although she was denied, Justice Thurgood Marshall used a summary Murray wrote on racism and state law as the foundation of the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education.
Parent Education
Teach your kids that love is their end game; that mistakes can be lessons; that the hardest of those lessons will teach them about boundaries and self-respect. Those loud voices can bring change. That taking up space is important. That it’s okay to be unlike anyone else. That in the end, acting with love brings more love, for themselves and for others. -Parents Magazine
How to help our teens be good citizens online: Here is a resource/study on digital citizenship education that may help provide you more insight and guidance on how to support your teens.
If you missed the Challenge Success talk on a Healthy Approach to College Admissions, you have another opportunity! They will be presenting again Friday, March 4th at 4pm online for $10. Register here! Here is an article on how to support your teens through this process. And for your students, here is an article on how to avoid the college “prestige” trap as well as an article on misconceptions on college choice and success in life.
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.
APC in Action
The APC Nominating Committee is in full swing and planning for the 2022-2023 school year! Below is a list of positions we need to fill. Being a part of the Acalanes Parents Club is very rewarding. It is an opportunity to work with an amazing, thoughtfully run organization as well as a chance to help the school, teachers, staff, and students in a variety of ways! Come join the team! If you have any questions, please contact Angela Ketcham, Nominating Committee Lead or anyone from our 2022 Nominating Committee: Sherry Quinn, Kristen Labrosse, Maria Nicolacakis, Jennifer Palmer, Katharine Wallace, Danielle Upp, and Catherine Habas.
Open positions:
President Elect
VP Fundraising
Assistant Treasurer
Secretary
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Liaison
Co-Hospitality Chairs
Grants Coordinator
Volunteer Coordinator
Legislative Representative
Co-Parent Ed. Coordinator
Student Awards Coordinator
Stanley Liaison
APC Spring Grants: Submissions are Open! Applications due Friday, Mar 4. All ideas are welcome. 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 GrantsCoordinator Catherine Habas. Proposals can also be delivered to the APC box in the front office.
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.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)
Wednesday, Feb 9 at 6pm in the Library. Join us to celebrate Black History Month! Jason Gant will be speaking on Empowering Ourselves to be in Community.
Did you know Oakland native Daveed Diggs, who won a Grammy and a Tony for his role in Hamilton is also the co-creator of Blindspotting? The series, which takes place in the Bay Area, was picked up for a second season.
Up for an inspiring and heart-warming story (and who isn’t these days)? Check out the McBride Sisters, who discovered each other along with their love of wine-making. Their affordable wines have turned their business into the largest Black–owned wine company in the U.S.
Facts corner- Why February? The Association for the Study of African American Life and History sponsored a national Negro History week in 1926, choosing the second week ofFebruary to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. In the 1960’s its name was updated, and every American president since 1976 has designated February as Black History Month.
Parent Education
Me: (uses “yeet” in a sentence)
14-yr old: “Mom, no one says yeet.”
Me: “yeet is cringe?”
14-yr old: ”MOM NOONE SAYS CRINGE”
Me: “cringe has been yeeted?”
(The glare was EPIC) -Amy L. Blair
Putting one foot in front of the other: If this is a challenge for you lately, you’re not alone. This article from the Greater Good describes a happiness journalist’s struggle with languishing during the pandemic.
If you want to learn more about the culture of addiction and how it impacts your teens, here is a recording from Jessica Lahey’s talk with MVLA-The Addiction Inoculation: Raising Healthy Kids in a Culture of Dependence.
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.
APC in Action
Are you free for lunch?
If so, please join us on either Monday, Wednesday and/or Friday as we continue to support our cafeteria and administrative staff who need our help to safely serve free lunch to our students. Please sign up here if you are able to lend a hand- parent support is greatly appreciated!
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.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)
Congratulations to Amy Schneider! An Oakland resident, Amy is breaking barriers for women and trans people by becoming the first woman- and one of only four people ever- to win over a million dollars on Jeopardy!
Facts corner: Did you know that more than 1.5 billion people around the world celebrate Chinese New Year (a.k.a. Lunar New Year) on February 1? To wish someone a happy new year in Cantonese, you can say “Gong hei fat choy.” In Mandarin, the same greeting is “gong xi fa cai”(pronounced gong she fa tsai). Try it!
Parent Education
You’re not always going to be the best parent because you can’t train for this. There are no top scores to beat. For each of us, one day’s “best” is different from another day’s. Today’s best might be a home-cooked meal and tomorrow’s could be fast food in the car on the way to dance lessons. “Best” is a moving target. It’s a fast ball whizzing toward you ten times a day. All that matters is that you keep swinging. -Parents Magazine
ICYMI- Here is a recording from our presentation The Well-Balanced Student Presentation with Laura Easley and Drew Schrader from Challenge Success, hosted by the APC Parent Education committee. It will be available for 60 days for your review.
Tuesday, Feb 1 from 7 to 9pm online MVLA Parent Speaker Series will be hosting Rosetta Lee who will present Implicit and Unconscious Bias: Bridging the Distance Between Professed Values and Daily Behaviors. Rosetta Lee says that in over a decade of conducting training she mostly encounters people with a desire to do good. They want to be inclusive, kind, and fair. The problem comes when they have to evaluate how perceptive and fair-minded they actually are. She explains that the human mind takes in millions of pieces of information at any moment, but cannot actively process all of it, so it ends up taking mental shortcuts. The brain also makes assumptions based on certain associations, which can lead to biases. Rosetta illustrates and explains twenty different cognitive biases that mess with our decision making and behavior. Register for this free event here.
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.
Parent Education
Tuesday, April 20 at 7pm “Angst” Film Screening
Save the date for our next Parent Ed event when we will be co-hosting an interactive screening of the film “Angst,” an exploration of teen mental health.
