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Counseling
We want to remind you of some valuable community resources:
For non-life threatening mental health support: Contra Costa Crisis Center: call 211 or text HOPE to 20121 available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for mental health needs. www.211cc.org can help you reach other community resources.
In the event of a mental health emergency, please contact 911.
As a reminder, here are the counselor assignments and emails. Counselors prefer using the auhsdschools.org email but School Loop messages are also fine.
Student last names
A- E Anne Schonauer aschonauer@aushdschools.org
F-Lar Christine Todd ctodd@auhsdschools.org
Las - Rog Marissa Meadows mmeadows@auhsdschools.org
Roh-Z Susan Martin smartin@auhsdschools.org
Summer School will be at Acalanes this year and applications are available. Summer school is for students who need to repeat a required class because they have a D or F grade for the semester. Dates, times and more info is available here. Turn in application forms to your student’s counselor.
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College & Career
SENIORS
UC Application Decisions Be sure to check your UC portal as UC decisions are beginning to roll out. Please update your Naviance as soon as you get news!
Scholarships This is a great time for seniors to look into scholarship options to support their college educations. Following are some to consider though there are hundreds to review online via a quick google search.
- Jewish Community Federation Scholarship Deadline: March 31, 2020
- CCAR (Contra Costa Association of Realtors) Deadline March 31, 2020
- Ivy & Pearls Deadline March 31, 2020
- Matt Lynn Scholarship, email Ms. Reicher for details. Deadline April 10, 2020
- PB&J Scholarship Fund
- Wa Sung Community Service Club
Naviance Portal Update: Senior parents - please ask your senior to update college decisions on Naviance Portal so that others, especially juniors, can see the results. It’s critical data for researching colleges.
JUNIORS & SENIORS
Student Support I will be available via School Loop or email: Wendy Reicher to support our seniors with application acceptances & rejections and juniors with application prep questions, list development, use of Naviance and more. Just reach out!
Internships Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan is seeking summer interns. Rising juniors and seniors submit a resume and cover letter to RebeccaBauer-Kahan@assembly.ca.gov with “Summer Internship Application” in the subject line of your email.
JUNIORS
Buck Scholars Buck Fellows Program for Sophomores, provides two years of mentorship for college, funding for enrichment, test prep and more. Deadline April 1, 2020.
College 101 Academy for Juniors Sign up in Teachmore under REICHER. All juniors must attend one session held in the CCC. Students who have not yet attended will be tagged this month.
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Co-Presidents’ Message
First of all, we hope this email finds you all safe and healthy. While our content is limited, we believe communication continues to be one of the most important ways to connect to one another while Shelter in Place keeps students, teachers, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and even family members physically apart. A special thank you to our APC Communications co-chairs Kristen Labrosse & Heidi Hambidge who along with editor Sarah Ortman who have worked to make the APC Newsletter such a valuable resource to our parent community now and throughout the school year.
Earlier this year, APC paid for teen motivational speaker Mike Smith to host a student assembly for sophomores and juniors along with a working group of students across all grades. The positive feedback was tremendous. Leadership teacher Katherine Walton sent a recent email regarding Mike Smith’s current video Rooted in Love, a call to action for all of us, in this unprecedented time, to find ways to build community, take care of one another, and stay rooted in love. It’s a terrific 5-minute video to sit down and watch together as a family.
Finally, in case you missed it, the district sent out an email regarding student wellness by sharing guidance regarding the value of keeping family schedules consistent and highlighting resources for students during this unsettling time. The Wellness Center section of the APC newsletter will continue to provide additional guidance so you may want to check it out each week.
Please reach out if you have any suggestions for content or other ideas for this newsletter at president@acalanesparentsclub.com.
Sending our extended Dons family a large virtual hug!
Dawn Brightbill and Sarah Cusumano
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COVID-19 Updates
We continue to encourage you to check your emails and texts for important information from the school and district about the Coronavirus. You can also find information on the AHS Coronavirus Update & Postponed Events page as well as the AUHSD (district) home page.
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Wellness Center
In the spirit of “Community Can’t Be Canceled,” Wellness is using Instagram (@acalaneswellness) to bring wellness-related advice, resources and connection to the school community. We’re working with staff and student organizations like Leadership and Bring Change to Mind (@bringchangetomindacalanes) to provide positive messages and practical guidance for challenging times. If you didn’t catch the launch of our positivity mindset program Three Good Things, you can learn more on Instagram @3goodthings_ahs. We’re trying to increase the reach to these accounts and to @ahs_dons because connection is what we all need the most. You’ll soon see us launch a mindfulness program based on the curriculum of Mindful Schools. We’ll be adapting the lessons for a short form initially and if there’s interest, we may explore the possibility for some live practices. Please tell your students how greatly they are missed and how strongly the entire Dons staff believes in their ability to not only rise to the challenge of the current crisis but to build remarkable resilience along the way. Stay tuned each week for more thoughts and resources. We remain, so grateful to our incredible Parents Club for this platform! (CS - 3/20@2:37pm)
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Co-Presidents’ Message
Now more than ever we feel the need to communicate and stay connected with our Acalanes community as we all make major adjustments to our lives during this uncertain time.
AUHSD Superintendent Nickerson has emailed parents with updates regarding school closure and guidelines for social distancing. This information is critical as we all figure out how to best handle social interaction during school closures. We expect that the district and Principal Bell will have an update for parents and students early next week regarding how teachers have prepared for AHS Distance Learning.
The LPIE Power Party unfortunately has been cancelled but the LPIE Auction is still a go. We are hopeful that you’ll consider checking out the hundreds of auction items available for bidding. All donations will allow LPIE to continue to bring tremendous resources to Acalanes. Your students may want to consider using the upcoming downtime to enter Project LPIE’s 2020 student competition. There are seventeen categories in which students can compete, many of which are conducive to working at home. More details in the LPIE section below.
As parents, we are in this together and welcome your thoughts, resources and advice during this time. Please feel free to email us at president@acalanesparentsclub.com. We will continue to share the latest updates to help keep the AHS parent community informed as information becomes available over the next few weeks.
Dawn Brightbill and Sarah Cusumano
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Volunteer Service Awards Program
With the support of the APC, Acalanes recognizes students for their volunteerism through the nationally recognized President’s Volunteer Service Award and the Acalanes Volunteer Service Award. All program information, including application and verification forms, download from the AHS website (under College & Career Center). Quick links below.
- Volunteer Service Awards overview
- Guidelines & Requirements
- Application & Tracking forms
Stay tuned for when and how to submit applications! Questions? Email APC program coordinators.
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COVID-19 Updates
We encourage you to check your emails and texts for important information from the school and district about the Coronavirus. You can also find information on the Coronavirus Update & Postponed Events page of the school’s website.
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Wellness Center
With school closure due to Covid-19 and more time to think as a result of social distancing, we need to reduce stress more than ever. This gift of more down time is perfect for students to catch up on sleep and perhaps to practice presence which we can model. Check-in with yourself throughout the day to ask, “How are things for me right now?” Planning for, protecting against, and ruminating on uncertainty is stressful. Worrying makes sense and so does planning but we can do those things and then shift our attention back to the present. We move out of our heads and into our bodies by sensing our internal experience and immediate conditions. What can I see, smell, hear, and feel right now? What’s happening around me-- Are there people to connect with? Beautiful things to see? Opportunities to engage in learning or practicing skills? Am I safe, comfortable, at ease? Kids look to adults for cues so your regulated nervous system will co-regulate theirs. (CS)
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Counseling
We want to remind you of some community resources:
For non-life threatening mental health support: Contra Costa Crisis Center: call 211 or text HOPE to 20121 available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for mental health needs. www.211cc.org can help you reach other community resources.
In the event of a mental health emergency, please contact 911.
As a reminder, here are the counselor assignments and emails. Counselors prefer using the auhsdschools.org email but School Loop messages are also fine.
Student last names
A- E Anne Schonauer aschonauer@aushdschools.org
F-Lar Christine Todd ctodd@auhsdschools.org
Las - Rog Marissa Meadows mmeadows@auhsdschools.org
Roh-Z Susan Martin smartin@auhsdschools.org
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Coronavirus Updates and Postponed Events
Click here for the latest updates from the Acalanes High School.
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Co-Presidents’ Message
It’s been a busy time on campus. Spring sports are in full bloom, and last week’s spring musical Urinetown received rave audience reviews with vast numbers of students showing up to support and cheer for their peers. Bravo!
Just a reminder that this week is a short week as Friday, March 13, is a Staff Development Day. Thanks to your donations, APC provides $35,000 of funding each school year for staff development for teachers and staff like Friday’s development day. We look forward to sharing more regularly in our APC in Action section how this funding supports development of our AHS teachers and staff.
Dawn Brightbill and Sarah Cusumano
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Mar 20 to Apr 10: Volunteer Service Awards Program Applications
With the support of the APC, Acalanes recognizes students for their volunteerism through the nationally recognized President’s Volunteer Service Award and the Acalanes Volunteer Service Award.</strong > All program information, including application and tracking forms, can be picked up in the Counseling office or downloaded from the Acalanes website (under College & Career Center). Quick links below.
- Volunteer Service Awards overview
- Guidelines & Requirements
- Application & Tracking forms
Return completed application forms to the counseling office between Mar 20 - April 10, 2020. Questions? Email program coordinators.
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