Weekly News & Announcements

Student Activities

It’s our last full week and it’s a busy (and fun!) one!

Year End Spirit Week!

Monday:
Dress-up: ACA Gear
Lunch: Stressbusters in the frosh quad
Tuesday:     
          Dress-up: Flower power
          Lunch: Innertube waterpolo
          Lunch + 7th: Car painting for seniors
          7pm: Senior dodgeball
Wednesday:
          Dress-up: USA Day
          Academy: Senior grad cap decorating
          Lunch: Innertube waterpolo
          6pm: Senior Awards
          7:45pm: Senior Sunset
Thursday:
          Dress-up: Twin Thursday
          Lunch: Senior Athletic recognition
Friday:
          Dress-up: Beach Day
          Academy: End of year rally
          5pm: Senior Car Rally in downtown Lafayette
 
Seniors can donate their Acalanes merch to the bin outside the front office! All proceeds from sales will go to the Class of 2028 and items can be purchased at Dons Day in August!
 
Acalanes summer spiritwear - store is open!
Looking for new student designed spiritwear? You can buy now through Aug 16 and proceeds benefit the classes of 2025, 2026, 2027 & 2028.

Looking to stay informed? Follow us on Instagram for the latest on student activities and class happenings.
 
Katherine Walton, Activities Director

College & Career

SENIORS:
Senior exit survey is mandatory: If your student has decided on their post high school plans, please have them log into Naviance and finish their Acalanes senior exit survey. It is the only way final transcripts will be sent to colleges.
 
JUNIORS:
We're excited to be partnering with College Essay Guy to offer AHS students a number of awesome college application resources and virtual workshops. Students can join any or all of these live online courses:

• How to Write A Personal Statement Boot Camp (Jun 3, 5, 7)
• How to Write A Personal Statement Boot Camp (Jun 17, 20, 21)
• The College Application + Supplemental Essays Crash Course (Sept 22)
• How to Answer the UC Personal Insight Questions Crash Course (Oct 5-6)

To Register:

• Go to the registration page: https://www.collegeessayguy.com/sub-ceg-live-students
• During the registration process, students will be asked to select their school from a dropdown menu.
• Enter name and email.
• Select the workshops your student would like to join.
• That’s it! A confirmation will be sent to the email address submitted with the form.
• A follow up email will be sent with next steps and instructions for assignments, as well as how to join the live events.

Quick info on College Essay Guy:

• Ethan wrote the current bestselling book on the personal statement, College Essay Essentials.
• He’s well-regarded in the college admissions field and is considered one of the go to resources on college essays.
• His website has hundreds of free resources for applying to college.
• He has a cool podcast!

If your student can’t make the live course dates, they will have access to the courses through the end of the year, and recordings of the sessions will be available to all who sign up.
 
Please visit our College & Career Counseling website any time for additional information and support.

Counseling

Counselor assignments are by last name:
A-Em Anne Schonauer  
En-Kr Erika Vasquez
Ku-Rog Marissa Meadows 
Roh-Z Susan Martin

Counselor Alpha Change Coming in the Fall
This spring the AUHSD School Board voted to reduce the staffing in the Counseling Department at Acalanes from 4.0 full-time counselors to 3.6. Erika Vasquez will now only be in the office 3 days a week, so her caseload will be redistributed to the other counselors in August.
 
Summer School
Counselors are signing students up for summer school - it’s at Acalanes this year! If your student has a D or F in a required course, please send them to see their counselor to sign up!  Please see HERE for more information.

School Nurse

FUEL YOUR STUDENTS FOR FINALS with Phytonutrients and Healthy Proteins!  There are lots of delicious berries and stone fruits showing up at the markets. Get plenty of healthy whole foods for your students to choose from. Hydrate them with our fantastic east bay tap water.
 
We need NEW medical forms for each school year. Get them filled out at the doctor’s office this summer and turn in to me at the start of school in August. Check out this QR code for the various forms your student might need:

See my website for more information.

Always Your School Nurse,
Dvora Citron, RN, MS
dcitron@auhsdschools.org, 925-280-2970 x7128
IG: acalanesschoolnurse, ​School Nurse Website

Sports

*The game schedule below reflects dates and times as of last Friday. Games may change for several reasons, including weather. If you have questions or comments, please contact AcalanesSportsBoosters.

This week’s can’t miss events:
 
Boys Golf
Monday, May 20 CIF NorCal Championship at Berkeley CC.
 
Baseball
Tuesday, May 21 NCS semifinal.
Friday, May 24 or Saturday, May 25 NCS Championship.
 
Softball
Tuesday, May 21 or Wednesday, May 22 NCS semifinal.
Friday, May 24 or Saturday, May 25 NCS Championship.
 
Track & Field
Friday, May 24 and Saturday, May 25 CIF Championship at Buchanan HS, Fresno.
 
You may view the full 2023-2024 Athletic Schedule by clicking HERE.

General Administration Announcements

ACALANES SILVER A AWARDS 2024
We are excited to announce the recipients of our Acalanes Silver A Award. The Silver A Award is a teacher-nominated award that acknowledges those students who exhibit subject matter passion through engagement and curiosity, create a sense of community and inclusion in the classroom, actively engage in a diverse exchange of ideas with their classmates and teachers, and find ways to extend their learning of the material beyond the classroom. 118 students will be receiving this award, and we will celebrate them with an honorary breakfast on Friday, May 17. View our Award Winners Here!
 
ACALANES TRANSITIONS TO BRING YOUR OWN DEVICE CAMPUS
If you have not already, please take a moment to read Principal Shawn’s message regarding the transition to a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) campus.
View message on Parent Square here (or here as google doc).

APC in Action

SPECIAL DONS DIALOGUE - COFFEE & CHAT - Friday, May 17 at 8:45am

Please join us for our final APC Dons Dialogue of this school year. 

Our Dons Dialogue Coffee & Chat will include;

• 2024-25 Board of Directors Slate Vote
• Student Activities Report
• Summer Transition Discussion
• Group Chat (bring your burning questions)

AHS AND PRESIDENTIAL SERVICE AWARDS CELEBRATION - Wednesday, May 22

Congratulations to those students who have been awarded AHS and Presidential Service Awards! Acalanes students volunteered a total of 15,971 community service hours this past year for over 425 different organizations! We thank your students for making a difference to those individuals and organizations in need in our community and we hope they’ll continue their community service in the future. 
 
Please note that all community service award recipients have been notified via email.  If your student believes they qualify for an award but has not yet received an email, please email communityservice@acalanesparentsclub.com as soon as possible. 

If your student has received a service award, please remind them to come to the front quad at lunchtime on Wednesday, May 22 to pick up their service award certificate and enjoy a celebratory treat!  

FINALS FUEL - For Exam Week
Finals are just around the corner…..and that means FINALS FUEL is back! During finals week we provide snacks for the students during brunch period. You can help refuel and recharge our Dons in several ways:

• Purchase snacks prior to finals week and deliver to a private residence near AHS
• Purchase snacks from the Amazon wish list and items will be sent directly to a residence for transport to AHS
• Donate money and we’ll shop for you: Venmo @Stephanie-Asadorian (any amount is welcome and appreciated)
• Volunteer to hand out snacks on campus Tuesday, May 28 - Friday, May 31

You can also sign up here for shifts and food drop off here.
 
Reach out with any questions: reganscovic@gmail.com or stephquinn@hotmail.com  Thank you in advance for your support! Regan Scovic & Stephanie Asadorian

APC Membership & Fundraising

BUY A BRICK, LEAVE A LEGACY . . . 
There’s no better way to honor a special Don than with a customized 2024 Legacy Brick on our Dons Legacy Wall! Prominently displayed in the main quad, our Dons Legacy Wall provides families a lasting way to recognize their special student, teacher, coach, team, performance group, club, and more. 

Purchase your brick through the Acalanes web store for $300.
Questions?Contact Legacy Brick Coordinator, Leanne Zimmerman.

Acalanes Community Always (ACA)

ACALANES GARDEN - MAY UPDATE
We had a small group of kids and adults show up on Sunday, April 21 (Earth Day) to plant, weed, and set up irrigation. All of our summer crops are planted and thanks to Yuri and his son Alexey we have drip irrigation installed in all the beds! We have a small layer of straw to help with water conservation and weed suppression. The weeds are pretty fierce so we will spend the last two garden club lunch meetings weeding in the farm.
 
We have our summer schedule and mulch date set up. Unfortunately it is too close to the end of year to have another Sunday work party so we are planning our mulching work day on Sunday, Aug 25 when we return, and will go 9-11am to avoid the hot midday heat. We are fortunate that Ecomulch will donate the mulch that we need and only charge us a small delivery fee.
 
Our summer work evenings will be Tuesdays 5:30-7:30pm.  We will weed, harvest, and start our "community veggie boxes" if we have a big harvest. We will meet every Tuesday except the first two weeks of July.  The dates are: 6/11, 6/18, 6/25, 7/16, 7/23, 7/30, 8/6.  Either Mrs. Challacombe or myself (or both) will be there. If you think you can/want to come to any of these evenings, please sign up HERE.
 
Finally,  we are in desperate need of cardboard and could also use new gardening tools and gloves. Please feel free to drop items off at room 201 before the year is done.  If you are binging bardboard, it would be great if you could remove any tape and labels before you drop it off.
 
Thanks so much for all of your support.  If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Ms. Tewksbury (LTewksbury@auhsdschools.org)

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI)

TO CELEBRATE IN MAY:

• Mental Health Awareness Month
• Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
• Jewish American Heritage Month

May is Jewish American Heritage Month. Each May, hundreds of organizations and Americans of all backgrounds join together to discover, explore, and celebrate the vibrant and varied American Jewish experience from the dawn of our nation to the present day. You can learn so much by visiting the Jewish American Heritage website and checking out AUHSDs site here.
 
JOIN the DEIB Committee NOW for Next Year
Our ‘24/25 planning is underway. Please share any thoughts or ideas you have with us here. This is a collaborative process; we encourage participation. It is important that a plethora of voices and ideas are heard. We are also looking for members of our community that would like to be more involved. Time commitment and involvement is up to you but the more you do, the bigger impact you will have on our Acalanes community.
 
Please check out the new AUHSD DEIB website for many great resources and events! And follow us on Instagram and Facebook.

Performing & Visual Arts

Student Activities

Wednesday @ lunch: Summer Bash
Encourage your student to come out to the pumpkin patch for games, food, sno cones & more to celebrate the end of year and start to summer!
 
Wednesday/Friday academy: Senior Grad Cap Decorating in room 314
Friday @ lunch: Last ACA Buddies of the year
Friday @ lunch: Junior Sizzle into Summer event
Sunday @ 4pm: Time of Reflection
 
Seniors can donate their Acalanes merch to the bin outside the front office! All proceeds from sales will go to the Class of 2028 and items can be purchased at Dons Day in August!
 
Acalanes summer spiritwear-store is open!
Looking for new student designed spiritwear? You can buy now through August 16 and proceeds benefit the classes of 2025, 2026, 2027 & 2028.
 
It’s a quiet week on campus with the start of AP exams. Good luck to all the students!
 
Looking to stay informed? Follow us on Instagram for the latest on student activities and class happenings.
 
Katherine Walton, Activities Director

College & Career

SENIORS:
Senior exit survey is mandatory: If your student has decided on their post high school plans, please have them log into Naviance and finish their Acalanes Senior Survey. It is the only way final transcripts will be sent to colleges.
 
JUNIORS:
AUHSD hosted a webinar last week for all Junior parents on the new college search platform, MaiaLearning. If you missed this webinar, you can now click HERE to view the  MaiaLearning Parent Webinar.
 
JUNIORS, SOPHOMORES, FROSH:
Stanford University Admissions Night: May 14 from 6:30-7:30pm in the Campolindo CPAC. Open to all students, parents, and caregivers in the district. Learn about Stanford University from Admission Counselor, Neha Patel. This will be an overview of Stanford University and the programs they offer.
 

 
Please visit our College & Career Counseling website any time for additional information and support.