Weekly News & Announcements

Peer Tutoring Help!

 Has your student been to peer tutoring yet? This invaluable resource is available to all Dons every day during lunch, 7th period, Academy and after school until 4pm.  APC funds the entire program including two professional staffers who manage the selection and training of peer tutors. Their expertise is second to none. Now, with plenty of time before finals, is the perfect time for your student to get some extra help in a tricky subject or just use the study space to get some homework done before heading home. They don’t have to use a tutor if they don’t need help, but there is always a tutor on hand if they do!  (Bonus: They have candy!) 

APC Fall Grants Awarded!

Because of your generosity, the APC was able to fund $10k in grants during the Fall submission period. Our Special Ed department is now able to purchase much needed items for their life skills program. Our school psychologist will be able to further support our students utilizing updated social, emotional learning curriculum. Additionally, our campus will be ordering another water filtration system and we will be purchasing additional tables around the campus to accommodate our students during lunch/brunch times. APC thanks you for your continued support! 

Acalanes Jazz Ensemble Fall Concert: 11/14

Acalanes Jazz Ensemble Fall Concert  Acalanes High School’s Jazz Ensemble, along with the Stanley Jazz Messengers, will be performing in the Acalanes Performing Arts Center (PAC) on Nov 14 at 7 pm.  Attendance is free so come by to enjoy some swingin’ tunes from our renowned musicians!

College & Career

WEDS, OCT. 30
9:35  Ohio Wesleyan
1:25  University of Richmond
1:35  UC Santa Cruz 

THURS, OCT. 31
8:00  Lewis and Clark
9:40  LMU

College & Career

6:30-8:30pm, Acalanes PAC

AHS Junior parents AND students are invited to join our College & Career Center Advisor Wendy Reicher & Counselor Susan Martin to learn more about class selection for senior year, parent roles in the college application process, college visits, ACT/SAT test taking, college search tools and types of tuition aid.  It should be a VERY informative evening!

Register here.

6:30pm   APC Hosted Parent/Student Reception with Wendy Reicher & Susan Martin

7:00-8:00pm College Night Presentation

8-8:30pm Question & Answer Session

Presidents’ Message

Our APC Parent Education Program kicks off the year with two upcoming events: “The Risks of Vaping & Tobacco Use,” a forum co-hosted by APC and the Acalanes Unified High School District, on Tuesday, October 29; and  “Mindfulness for Stress Management,” our first APC Parent Workshop, presented by the AHS Wellness Center, on Thursday, November 7. You can find more details in the Parent Education section below.

We’d like to give a shout out to one of our AHS Support Partners -- LPIE! Our students are so fortunate to have such a dedicated funding source and team of volunteers supporting class electives, writing tutors, the AHS Wellness Center, technology and much more. LPIE is in the midst of a push to meet their fundraising goal. If you have not yet had the chance to donate, we hope you will consider doing so here. 

Thanks to the numerous parents who regularly attend APC’s Dons Dialogue. Friday’s forum provided an opportunity to hear from Principal Bell and key teachers and administrators regarding what’s going on at Acalanes. If you missed it, we will soon have a link to the forum’s video on our APC website. 

DONS SHOW UP in October!

In an effort to better communicate with students and the community on the big events each month, we have created a Dons Show Up in October calendar (on the homepage of the Acalanes website). This week’s events: 

Tuesday Senior Night, Volleyball
Wednesday DramaDons’ opening night of The Laramie Project
Thursday Senior Night, Tennis  

It’s a great week to be a Don!

Is your student a senior? Make sure to remind them to attend the lunch meeting Monday (tomorrow)  in room 314 to play senior dodgeball. Senior dodgeball, in it’s 2nd year, is a tradition not to be missed. Students form teams of 12 (11 seniors + 1 staff member) and play over 3 days in November. 

Wednesday Unified Sports plays at Heritage High School at Lunch. 

Is your student a freshman? Remind them to come out to capture the flag on Thursday at lunch. New Crew leaders will be out there playing alongside with them. Great way to spend a lunch period.

Ted Talk: Ovrcomoming

High school students are fatigued for a lot of good reasons including too little sleep and a body clock that would prefer to stay up late and sleep in. Another significant factor is psychological fatigue. You know that wiped-out feeling you have after a long day at work? Teenagers get that too. The toll of several features of adolescence-- high intensity emotions, exercising self-control, and high intensity negative thinking is incredibly draining. And on top of all that, their work is demanding. The key to overcoming psychological fatigue is by finding calm and the best way to get calm is by using breathwork. This TED Talk is a great place to explore the connection and find tips to get started. 

Week of 10/21 Update

Oct 23 SAT/ACT Info Night @ AHS 6:30p-7:30p
Oct 28 SFSU Tour  
The SFSU Campus Tour (seniors only) is on Monday, October 28, 7:30am - 2:00pm. For more information, including a link to the permission slip (due Friday) please go to the College & Career Center page on the APC website.  

College Rep Visits Coming This Week
Oct 21 Seton Hall, Beacon College, St. John’s, Portland State, Azusa Pacific
Oct 22 Wash U, Univ. of Portland, U of BC, Occidental, Redlands, USD, Linfield
Oct 23 Butler, U of Alabama, U of Oklahoma, Baylor, Rutgers
Oct 24 Pomona, Middlebury, Montana State, U of Arizona, U of New Hampshire,  TCU, U of Washington
Oct 25 UCSD, USC

For times and sign up visit Naviance.  These visits are for junior and senior students.  Please pick up passes before school, during brunch or lunch.  Make sure to sign in during the visit to clear the attendance office.

APC Parent Workshop: Mindfulness for Stress Management

Thursday, November 7 from 7:00-8:30pm.

Acalanes Library

Join us for our first APC Parent Workshop on Mindfulness for Stress Management, presented by the AHS Wellness Center.  Please dress comfortably and feel free to bring a small blanket or mat for mindfulness practices.  

Fall Instrumental Pops Concert Recap

In case you missed it, the first annual fall instrumental Pops concert took place in the Acalanes Performing Arts Center on Oct 10. Click here for a recap (thanks Acalanes Blueprint)!

Co-Presidents’ Message

Just a reminder that Monday, October 14, is a Staff Development Day so there will be no school tomorrow. It’s hard to believe the first quarter of the school year has already come and gone. There is a tremendous amount of activity on campus this month with fall sports and performing arts’ events in full swing. We anticipate a tremendous amount of excitement next week too, as Acalanes welcomes the highly-regarded United States Marine Band for a concert on Wednesday. Finally, don’t forget to wear lavender to Friday night’s football game against Campo. Go Dons!

We are looking forward to the upcoming APC Dons Dialogue with Principal Bell on Friday. The agenda is jam-packed with some terrific information so it’s one you won’t want to miss. You’ll find more details in our APC in Action section below. Hope to see you on Friday. 

Dawn Brightbill & Sarah Cusumano