Archived Posts

Wednesday, Oct 21 at Lunch – Keith Hawkins Live
Encourage your student to continue the dialogue from Monday Cohorts with Keith Hawkins at lunch on Wednesday. Zoom link will be sent out via Canvas. 

Last call! Looking for CARE Leaders
Acalanes is continuing our education around issues of equity. One of the ways we will do this is through CARE Week & CARE Workshops, which are student-led. We are looking for 55 students to lead a workshop in Monday cohort about on-campus discrimination, bias, and lived student experience at Acalanes and in our community. We are looking for students who are well-versed in the protocol (Compass and Agreements) as well as students who can be comfortable leading uncomfortable conversations. Apply here.

Thursday, Oct 22 at 7:30pm – ACA Women in Leadership Series: An evening with Kelly Galuska
Kelly is a writer and executive producer on Netflix. She has worked on the shows BoJack Horseman, Big Mouth, and is currently producing Human Resources with Nick Kroll. Come hear about her story, her experience as a female in Hollywood, and engage in dialogue. 

ACA Spirit Week: Wicked Week October 26-30
Students have a very fun spirit week planned and there are multiple ways to get involved and engaged. The week will be a competition in cohorts. Cohorts will compete in daily challenges via goosechase (scavenger hunt), dress up days, and two lunchtime activities. In addition we have four evening activities planned:

• Monday, Oct 26 from 6-8pm – A walk through Haunted House at Acalanes. Students MUST sign-up ahead of time via the sign-up genius. 
• Wednesday, Oct 28 at 7pm – ACA Night at the Drive-in Movie
• Thursday, Oct 29 – Jazz Band in Lafayette Plaza & Dinner at Sideboard (tentative, pending approval)
• Friday, Oct 30 at 7pm – Virtual Rally recap

Oct 16-30 Canned Food Drive for the Contra Costa Food Bank
Bins are at the Acalanes flag pole. For a quick look at the need for our support, check out the Food Bank’s August report.

Oct 12-23 Environmental Club Clothing Drive
Acalanes Environmental Club is hosting a clothing drive. All clothes will be donated to Goodwill. The bin is by the flagpole. Find more details on our Instagram: acalanes_environmental_club.

The tech board within leadership is creating an equity documentary series to highlight equity clubs & current issues in our nation, in our community and on our campus. The first video features our Black Student Union and students from the club. Please take 10 minutes to listen and reflect on the students’ powerful narratives. Find the video here.

Take a minute to read the October equity newsletter. 

2020-2021 Clubs
Club meetings continue this week. Encourage your student to attend even if they missed the first meeting last week. Check out our 45 clubs!

Acalanes Community Always Fire Relief Fund
Thank you for all of your support with the fire relief fund! We raised over $2000 dollars! Our community is amazing. Students also decorated our three firehouses in Lafayette which was met with much gratitude from our firefighters. See @ahs_dons for pictures!

Save the Date: Equity Week Nov 16-20

• Wednesday, Nov 18 at 7pm “ Be an upstander, not a bystander” Equity speaker Lori Hayes

If I can ever do anything to help you or your student, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Katherine Walton, Student Activities Director

One of the things we’re prioritizing whenever we meet with students involves spending a few minutes checking in on our physical selves. It’s easy to get detached from practicing internal awareness when much of our time is spent online. We are bodies, hearts, and minds but sometimes parts of us get more attention. And as families, spending a lot of time together, we can get into the habit of taking things for granted and forgetting to process together what’s difficult about life right now. We’ve learned that where Covid is concerned, 66% of adolescents believe the anxiety that they currently have will never go away (CDC study). We have found this resource really helpful as we try to remember that we are whole people and not just Zoom attendees: Balancing All Parts of Ourselves

Allen Choi, Wellness Coordinator
Casey Sasner, Intake Specialist

For updates, tips and advice, follow Wellness on Social Media: Instagram @acalaneswellness

One-on-one Appointments
Students can book an individual meeting with Ms. Reicher here. Please encourage your student to take advantage regardless of where they are in the process.

Monday, Oct 19 – Admissions Virtual Reps Visits for Junior and Senior students via Naviance.
Have your student sign up! Here are some of the schools this week: Duke, Humboldt State, Johns Hopkins, Oregon State, LMU and more! 

Tuesday, Oct 27 at 7pm – Financial Aid Night (rescheduled)
Join us for an online presentation about college costs. The meeting link is here, and you can review this helpful handout for details. 

Tuesday, Nov 17 at 7pm – Parent Naviance Workshop for Juniors.
Zoom ID: 651 363 0875 Password: DONS2021.  Log in using your students AUHSD Zoom account.

Helpful Links:

• Career Exploration
• Alternatives after High School
• Fall CCC Newsletter for updates!

Freshman College Planning
Sophomore College Planning
Junior College Planning
Senior Checklist

• CCC Website 
• Follow us on Instagram: @acalanesccc
• Facebook Page for Students Have your senior or junior join the College and Career Student FB page 

Keep up the good work! 
Wendy Reicher/College and Career Advisor: wreicher@auhsdschools.org

End of Quarter
October 9 was the end of the quarter grading period. It’s gone by fast! Grades are updated in Canvas. Quarter grades are essentially progress reports at the halfway point in the semester. Grades and credits are updated on the transcript at the end of each semester. 

Seniors
Many seniors have still not ordered official transcripts for college apps or updated their Naviance accounts. Students pay the $5 fee for official transcripts on the webstore. Mrs. Finn, the registrar, will process requests. Documents will be sent electronically through Naviance whenever possible. Please contact Mrs. Finn with questions. Students can review unofficial transcripts in Aeries.

Counselor appointments
We love talking to our students! Email is the best way to reach us. Counselors have appointment slots for students and will email them a link for signing up. We are trying to reserve the limited slots outside of class time for students. Parents can schedule a time when students are in class. 

A- Ed  Anne Schonauer
Ee-Kr  Christine Todd
Ku-Ros  Marissa Meadows
Rot-Z  Susan Martin

Be Covid Proactive!
See update on my google site. Stay healthy by keeping this symptom checklist in mind.

School Immunization Requirements are still in place.
Many students are missing the 2nd dose of Varicella (Chicken Pox) vaccine which is required for school entry. Those families will receive an email with a request to submit updated immunization records. Please check in with your local pediatrician’s office, Primary Care Provider, or our County Health Department.

Flu Vaccine is available NOW!
Reduced illness from flu will also ease the burden of illness from Covid in our hospital facilities. Flu vaccines are available at most medical practices and pharmacies. Free CC County Flu Shot Clinics begin next week.

Medical Forms and Medications at School
Please turn in any relevant medical forms your student might need for the 2020-21 school year. Those forms should be dated no earlier than June 2020. You can access forms here.

Parents: Feeling Overwhelmed? Who isn’t???
I found this TedTalk with Elizabeth Gilbert validating and nourishing.

Here’s a great one-pager on SLEEP to remind you why it’s so good for us.

Is your student interested in joining the Acalanes Health & Medicine Student Club? They meet at lunch on the 2nd and 3rd Tuesdays. Check it out here.

Please get in touch with me with any questions, concerns, and/or requests. I look forward to being in touch and connected!

Dvora Citron, RN, MS
Acalanes School Nurse Google Site
dcitron@auhsdschools.org
IG:  acalanesschoolnurse

We look forward to having you “GO ALL IN FOR OUR KIDS”!
Check your inbox Monday morning, October 19th for a link to purchase tickets or click here. Tickets go on sale at 9am.

Subscribe to LPIE Podcasts!
This series spotlights how LPIE directly supports every Lafayette school, teacher, student and parent. Check out Episode 3, featuring Acalanes teacher Katherine Walton, who wears many hats at Acalanes including leadership teacher, Ethnic Studies teacher, and Teacher on Special Assignment for Culture, Climate & Equity, proudly funded in full by LPIE. This podcast episode talks about the new Ethnic Studies course, her work in equity and is a really inspiring discussion including lots of useful information that parents (or anyone) can put to work for themselves and their children.

Laura–Kate Rurka & Jennifer Palmer
Acalanes LPIE School Chairs

www.lpie.org

Acalanes Sports Camps
Click on this link to learn more about these camps and how your student can participate. Participating sports (subject to change) include: football, girls and boys volleyball, girls and boys basketball, girls and boys lacrosse, softball, cheerleading, and tennis (provided through an outside organization).

acalanesboosters.com

Save the Date! Friday, Oct 16 from 10-11:30am – Dons Dialogue with Principal Bell
Join Principal Bell online for updates on the latest AHS topics. Friday’s Dons Dialogue will include information on: 

• California Healthy Kids Survey results
• Distance Learning Updates
• Student Leadership News

Watch your email this week for a link to register.

ACA 101 How To Stay Connected During Distance Learning
Hopefully you picked up this flyer at Thursday’s Campus Drive-by. This handy guide provides a wealth of resources for students and their families, especially during distance learning. 

2020-21 Acalanes & President’s Volunteer Service Awards Program
The 2020-21 program year continues to be challenging for identifying volunteer opportunities. It is very important that students looking for opportunities to volunteer in our local community follow safety guidelines in order to keep yourself, families and neighbors safe. This year we are reducing the volunteer service hour minimum to 20 hours and adding in flexibility to volunteer requirements. This reduction applies only to the Acalanes Volunteer Service Award. The President’s Volunteer Service award is a federal program and we cannot modify their program requirements. We encourage students to be creative with ideas that can turn into volunteer opportunities. Ideas to consider (verification of hours is still necessary):

• Grocery shopping or running errands for senior, disabled or at-risk neighbors
• AHS Stege Elementary pen-pal program
• AHS Clubs focused on service such as Key Club, Children’s Hospital, Equip for Equality, Environmental, Asian Student Union, SAGE, Protect Animals Worldwide

If you have a great idea about a way to be of service in your community and want to see if it qualifies under the AHS program, email us!

It’s already been an exciting month for all things ACA. Our first ever ACA Day was a tremendous success with so much Dons Spirit on campus, ACA Chat Live had its debut hosted by Andrea Powers and Katherine Walton (click here for follow-up info highlighted in the forum) and the ACA Campus Clean-Up made such a big difference to the front of the school (thanks to the over 50 students who helped out)! 

The ASB Spirit Card Just Got Even Better. Four more local businesses have joined the program! ASB Spirit Card Holders can receive a special discount at 360 Burrito, Pancoast Pizza, R&R Barber Salon and Zoonies. Here’s the link to participating businesses.

Finally, a special shout out to Team ACA’s Sarah Cusumano who was awarded the AUHSD’s Su Stauffer Friend of Education Award at last week’s board meeting! Congratulations, Sarah! 

Questions, comments or feedback, email aca@acalanesparentsclub.com.

We had our first week with Keith and it was powerful. We encourage you to watch his video message to students and continue the dialogue with your student. We don’t have a Cohort session this week but will continue with Keith on October 19th looking at mental health & Temporary vs. Permanent.