Weekly News & Announcements

Student Activities

Monday, Oct 25 through Saturday, Oct 30 at 7pm Almost Maine
This week we have the Fall Play with performances every night! It is a not-to-miss event. Purchase your ticketahead of time; $7 for students and $14 for adults. 
 
Monday, Oct 25 through Friday, Oct 29 Halloween Week:

• Tuesday at lunch in Room 314 - Staff/student pumpkin painting competition 
• Wednesday at Academy - Halloween party with our essential skills students & friendly faces club
• Wednesday at lunch - Bob Ross Painting Day & Senior Bonding on the senior deck
• Wednesday at 7pm - Halloween Movie Night in the frosh quad watching Ghostbusters
• Friday at lunch - Halloween carnival in the frosh quad

Friday Oct 29 Student Equity Council in Room 314
Encourage your student to attend our October Equity Council during academy. Our Queer Student Alliance will be leading this meeting and continuing the important dialogue around diversity, equity, and inclusion.
 
2021-2022 Clubs
We are just kicking off the 2nd quarter and it is never too late to start attending club meetings. Clubs are continuing to meet and it is one of the BEST ways for students to get connected at Acalanes. Club meeting times and contact information are in the spreadsheet.
 
As always, I am here to support you and your students. If there is anything I can do, please don’t hesitate to reach out via e-mail.
 
Katherine Walton, Student Activities Director

College & Career

SENIORS

• Friday, November 12 Deadline - DAR Good Citizens and Scholarship Opportunity
• College Visits in the CCC (have your student come by for a pass before school)
  • Monday: Butler University, Skidmore College, Rollins College
  • Tuesday: Pomona College, Southern Oregon University
  • Wednesday: Franklin Olin College of Engineering, Pepperdine, Vassar
• ACADEMY - We will continue working on Cal State Applications, Common App, Coalition App, and UC apps this week!
• Virtual visits are upcoming on November 2 and November 14. These are quite engaging!

JUNIORS

• Virtual College Visits - Check out these interesting virtual visits- Midwest Colleges, November 2 - Art and Stem Fair and November 14.

SOPHOMORES / FRESHMEN

• Volunteer and Work in the Community - Click here for some ideas to get youstarted. Here are the new forms for tracking your volunteer service hours for recognized awards.

RESOURCES

• CCC Website

Counseling

Counselor assignments are by last name.
A - Dr  Anne Schonauer
Du-Kr  Christine Todd
Ku-Rog  Marissa Meadows
Roh-Z  Susan Martin

Tuesday, Dec 14 through Friday, Dec 17 Final Exams 2nd Quarter is going by fast!  There are five more full weeks of school before finals week! 

CSF Membership CSF membership status for the Fall 2021 application period is posted on the counseling office window. Any questions should be directed to Ms. Schonauer.

Counselor Appointments Counselors are checking in with all 9th graders during October. We want to start getting to know them and help them as best we can! We are always seeing any student for drop-in appointments.

October is the Letter of Recommendation Writing Season! Counselors are busy working on writing letters of recommendation for their seniors with ED/EA deadlines of November 1. We like to have a student and parent statement completed on Naviance, as well as a resume and a transcript order through the webstore. Please have your senior come see us with questions.

Ordering Official Transcripts for College Applications Please go here for step by step instructions if you or your student needs to order transcripts to be sent to colleges. Official transcripts are sent electronically in most cases, so physical addresses are not necessary.

School Nurse

• COVID VACCINE:  I continue to encourage you to get your students and your families vaccinated.  Please contact me for support if needed.
• Proof of vaccination:  Try this site:  https://myvaccinerecord.cdph.ca.gov/
• Need more masks? Your students do!!!  Many students are arriving at school without a mask. Please make sure to have a generous supply of clean masks at home for your students. Keep an extra supply in the car too! And maybe even their backpacks and lockers…  Everyone wears a mask indoors (outdoors optional with social distancing) and is encouraged to practice good hand hygiene.
• Any student that has illness symptoms should stay home until they have been symptom-free for at least 24 hours.  If your student has NOT been vaccinated for COVID and/or has had a fever, please provide a negative Covid test result.
• If your student has a medical condition and/or needs medication available at school, please go to this link on my webpage to get the appropriate forms. All forms need to be filled out completely and signed by both the parents and the physician. Please bring any/all unexpired medication in its original bottle directly to me so that I can review the required medical documentation at that time.
• If there are any updates to your student’s vaccination record, please send me a copy. If your student is missing any required immunizations, they may not be able to be at school until those are complete. Please get in touch with me as soon as possible.

Quick Links

• AUHSD Safety Plan
• COVID-19 Vaccination Record Submission Form

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

LPIE

LPIE Read-a-thon is back and Acalanes Students can join in the Fun! Information packets are available in the Acalanes library. Readers can win raffle prizes including: Warriors Tickets, AirPods, Gift Certificates - and more Big Surprises.  Students can log their own reading plus reading to younger siblings and neighbors. Click here to set up the pledge page, grab a book, and let's get reading!
LPIE Congratulates the Choir and Instrumental Musicians on their triumphant return to live performance at the ACA Pops Concert last Thursday. Thank you Lauren Gibson for your incredible direction. LPIE is proud to support our student musicians!
 
Jennifer Palmer and Michele Colaco, Acalanes LPIE School Chairs
www.lpie.org, Follow us on Instagram

Performing Arts

ALMOST MAINE

Welcome to Almost, Maine, a place that’s so far north, it’s almost not in the United States. It’s almost in Canada. And it’s not quite a town, because its residents never got around to getting organized. So it almost doesn’t exist. One cold, clear, winter night, as the northern lights hover in the star-filled sky above, the residents of Almost, Maine, find themselves falling in and out of love in unexpected and hilarious ways. Knees are bruised. Hearts are broken. But the bruises heal, and the hearts mend—almost—in this delightful midwinter night’s dream.

Sports

This week’s can’t miss events:

Girls volleyball
Tuesday, Oct 26 NCS Playoffs at 7pm

Girls tennis
Thursday, Oct 28 through Saturday, Oct 30 DAL Championships

Girls water polo
Tuesday, Oct 27 at Miramonte 4pm
Friday, Oct 29 through Saturday, Oct 30 at Campolindo. DAL JV Tournament

Boys water polo
Monday, Oct 26 host Heritage for Senior Night. Varsity at 5pm and JV at 4pm
Tuesday, Oct 27 at Miramonte. Varsity at 7pm and JV at 6pm
Friday, Oct 29 through Saturday, Oct 30 at Campolindo. DAL JV Tournament

Football
Thursday, Oct 28 host Miramonte. Freshman at 5pm
Friday, Oct 29 at Miramonte. Varsity at 7pm and JV at 4:30 pm

Here are the Fall sports schedules (subject to change):

• Cross Country
• Football
• Girls Golf
• Girls Tennis
• Girls Volleyball
• Boys Water Polo
• Girls Water Polo

APC in Action

Thursday, Oct 21 at lunch Acalanes Volunteer Service Awards Kick Off Meeting
It’s not too early to start logging volunteer service hours for the Acalanes and President’s Volunteer Service Awards. Join College & Career Advisor Debbie Levy and Leadership Teacher Katherine Walton at lunch in the C&CC, on October 21 to learn more about how to volunteer and log your hours. Check out the forms here.

Friday, Oct 29 Staff Appreciation Lunch
We are in need of a few more volunteers to complete the Sign Up Genius for the lunch APC is providing our teachers to show how much we appreciate all they do! Click here for details and to see what we still need. Thanks for your support!

APC Membership

Who is game for a friendly competition? See you at the finish line of the Lafayette Res Run for Education!
Will Acalanes finish the race with the most registrations among the high schools? Check out the chart at https://runsignup.com/Race/CA/Lafayette/LafayetteReservoirRun to see if Acalanes keeps the lead over Campolindo and Miramonte.
 
Sign up for the Lafayette Res Run for Education which will take place in-person on Sunday, October 24 starting at 8am with a virtual option, the Lafayette Reservoir Challenge, “running” through October 23, 2021. 10k goes around the Lafayette Reservoir, 5k and the 2 mile fun run/walk route is on Mt. Diablo Blvd. in downtown Lafayette. The Reservoir Challenge (virtual race) will NOT be available on Sunday, October 24 as the Reservoir will be closed for the 10K runners only. Help promote Lafayette’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, show your community spirit, and support YOUR school (Go Dons!) Register now at https://lafayettechamber.org/resrun.
 
In 2020, ResRun Reimagined (the fully virtual race) donated a record $32,185.17 to our local public schools. Learn more and register TODAY!
 
Kelly Daggs, VP Fundraising and Corporate Match

Acalanes Community Always (ACA)

Thursday, Oct 21 at 7pm - ACA Pops Night in the PAC

This week’s ACA highlighted event is the Instrumental Music & Choral Pops Night!  ALL students and their families are invited and encouraged to attend this high energy, entertaining performance! It’s the first time band and choral students will be performing together. This fun event is a great way for students to show up to support their band & choral peers. A reception of yummy desserts will follow the performance. Free admittance for students and a $5 suggested donation for adults. Encourage your students to attend!

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)

Here are some opportunities for further inquiry on several topics:

• Before your child dons their favorite Halloween costume this year, ask them: are they using cultural appropriation? Watch how one teen feels about this practice: “My Culture is NOT a Costume”(Teen Vogue)
• Have you noticed the colorful new mural downtown by Uncle Yu’s? Learn more about this year’s theme here.  
• Philippine journalist Maria Ressa is only the 18th woman to win the Nobel Prize out of 109 given. The Nobel Foundation explains, “Part of it is that we go back in time to identify discoveries. We have to wait until they have been verified and validated before we can award the prize. There was an even larger bias against women then. There were far fewer women scientists if you go back 20 or 30 years.” In 2018, the committee said it would take steps to address the imbalance.
• At the intersection of Latine Heritage Month and LGBTQ+ History Month, please enjoy this video of Mariachi Arcoiris de Los Angeles!
• In 1969, a riot at the Stonewall Inn in New York city became a turning point in the fight for LGBTQ civil rights. The protest through the streets of New York City is memorialized as the annual Gay Pride parades that are now celebrated around the world.

Parent Education

“One of the most important things we adults can do for young children is to model the kind of person we would like them to be.” Carol B. Hillman

In case you missed it, here is a recording of Ron Lieber’s talk on how to talk to kids about money management, The Opposite of Spoiled: Raising Kids who are Grounded, Generous, and Smart about Money.
 
Thursday, Oct 21 at 7pm - A free talk-hosted by Mountain View Los Altos Parent Education Speaker Series, featuring Dr. Michael Bradley: Yes, Your Teen is Crazy! Loving your Kid without Losing Your Mind via Zoom. Dr. Bradley is an award-winning author, who has counseled adolescents and their parents for over 30 years and currently has a private practice in suburban Philadelphia. As a recognized specialist in adolescent behavior and parenting, Dr. Bradley is in demand as a speaker and facilitator for mental health professionals, educators, and parenting groups. Registration link is here. 
 
Oct 5 through Dec 14 Bridging Differences, offered by the Greater Good Science Center with UC Berkeley is for those who may be interested in how to manage differences and improve relationships. Folks are allowed to audit the course for free. Registration link here.
 
Feel free to reach out and connect with us with ideas for future topics, shareable resources, or thoughts at parented@acalanesparentsclub.com.