 Photo by Brooke Tran/"The Union" school newspaper Junior Abdullah Rehmen (left) constructs a robot arm out of paint sticks while Junior Rachel Chiang (right) puts the finishing touches on a hovercraft. By Emmy Yu, Milpitas High School student and reporter for "The Union" school newspaper
Members of the Milpitas High School Science Olympiad Team compete to create more than the average vinegar-and-baking-soda volcano. In their recent tournament at Mira Loma High School, students showcased their talents in events that ranged from tower and helicopter building to wind power physics. “The Mira Loma competition was one of our harder invitationals for sure,” Science Olympiad Co-Captain Long Dang said. “There were two schools that were national champions from past years.” The 4th Annual 2017 Mira Loma Invitational held in Sacramento featured teams from all across Northern California. “I believe that we’ll see a more accurate representation of our skills in the upcoming competition,” Advisor Christopher O’Connor said, “especially considering how competitive the teams based in the Bay Area are and the amount of teams that compete.” Despite not placing in the Mira Loma invitational, the team went on to participate in the Wicklund Science Olympiad Tournament in Mountain House, winning first overall of the eighteen teams competing. “One word to describe Mountain House would be ‘unexpected,’” Junior Rachel Chiang said. “A lot of us went through the day thinking we wouldn’t do very well, but it was a nice surprise considering how hard we worked to study for our events.” The various events throughout the competition include both a written exam and a building portion. The teams are ranked based on the number of correctly answered questions and the building events are judged on how well students meet the parameters and specific guidelines. Compared to the Mira Loma competition, “Mountain House didn’t have the two national champions, but it was a competitive invitational nonetheless, Dang said. “In fact, one of the schools spent $6,000 on their robot arm while our robot arm cost about $200 for reference. With the newly earned win at Mountain House, the team moves on to the Golden Gate Invitational hosted in collaboration with Stanford and UC Berkeley students. “We’ll be able to compete against at least four teams from Washington, two teams from Texas, another two from Nevada, and one team coming all the way from Hawaii,” Advisor Letta Meyer said. Events featured at competitions include Ecology, Experimental Design, and Hydrogeology. Junior Jennifer Zhang is scheduled to compete in all of these categories. “In my Hydrogeology portion, we take a written test, work with computer groundwater simulations, and map possible contamination zones,” Zhang said. Other events include building balsa wood helicopter and constructing miniature wind turbines to compete to produce the most voltage. Photos by Jason Foy Photography
Curtner Elementary School held its annual Lunar New Year celebration on February 8, during two separate assemblies for kindergarten- through third-graders and fourth- through sixth-graders. “Celebrations like this honor the multiculturalism that's reflected in our community and builds confidence and benevolence in our students,” Principal Jackie Vo-Felbinger said. Sixty-five percent of Curtner students identify as Asian. Each year, from late January to the middle of February, many Asian countries (including China, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Singapore) celebrate the Lunar New Year as national holidays. This year, organization Able2Shine joined in the festivities at Curtner, working closely with the Parent Teacher Association and staff to provide training to students and parents on coordination of the assembly, student performances, and gathering of outside performers. “We received comments from students of all backgrounds who talked about how much they enjoyed the show and how they want to experience this celebration again,” Vo-Felbinger said. “The celebration shined light on the pride of students who had these experiences as a part of their family traditions, bonding them even more closely to the school.”
Message from MUSD Assistant Superintendent, Norma Rodriguez
 By Barbara Knitter,
Quest/AVID teacher at Thomas Russell Middle School Eight years ago, Thomas Russell Middle School started a recycling program. It was a tough beginning because not many people were interested in recycling. Back then, when you looked in a recycling bin or garbage can, they looked identical - both had garbage and recyclables. Our recycling bins were not well marked, so the following year we applied for a grant through Allied Waste (now Republic Services) to purchase bins for our school. We bought large blue bins with circles in the white lids. We spray painted “Bottles and Cans Only” on the lids and bins. We saw a small improvement in our recycling efforts, but it was still disgusting to clean out the bins. So we began the educational part of our program. My students in Quest and AVID researched why we should recycle and what happens if we don’t and here is what we discovered. If we recycle plastic water bottles, they can be recycled back into bottles again which happens to most of the bottles we recycle on our campus. However, after the third or fourth life as a bottle, the plastic becomes too weak and needs to be shredded. It is then turned into polyester to make backpacks, jackets or other items. It can also be turned into plastic lumber to make benches, picnic tables or of other plastic tools. We found that the same oil used to make plastic bottles is also used to manufacture gasoline for our cars. We learned that aluminum comes from Bauxite and is number 13 on the Periodic Table. Once it goes through the process of becoming aluminum, it never loses its strength and can continuously be recycled back into another aluminum can (It only takes 60 days to do this). Or it can be recycled into parts used to make automobiles or even airplanes. What shocked us the most was what happened if we don’t recycle! If we don’t recycle our bottles and cans, they end up in a landfill and it takes more than 400 years for them to decompose. They fill up the landfill and never break down naturally making our landfills larger and larger. Worse than that is the plastic contains toxins that can leak from the bottle, contributing to leachate, which can poison our soil and groundwater. Students were astonished about what they had learned and discovered ways to communicate their findings on posters, video clips and creating Recycling books. Posters were hung around school, and video clips were broadcast school wide on GMTR (Good Morning Thomas Russell). With this new educational approach, the recycling bins looked cleaner with the correct items in them and students now show up every Thursday after school to help sort the bottles and cans for Community Service. About once a month, students travel to the Elite Recycling Services off Montague Expressway to help unload the bags of bottles and cans and cash them in. We began an Environmental Club last year that helps oversee the needs of the program. The students have learned much more than living green and taking care of the environment. They’ve learned that every time they throw something away, they make a choice about our environment because there’s always a garbage can near a Recycling bin on our campus. They’ve learned they can make a difference and if we work together we can make a bigger difference. It is our hope that they will take everything they’ve learned home and teach it to their parents and family members. Beyond that, we hope they will embrace their leadership skills from this experience and continue to make a difference in their community and their future. Thank you to all our current and former Wolverines for taking on the responsibility of recycling and caring for our earth!  For immediate release Contact: Shannon Carr,
Board Support & Communications Specialist (408) 635-2600, ext. 6031 MILPITAS - Board President Dan Bobay recalls his longstanding history with the Board of Education fondly. Sworn in as a trustee in 2008, “I was lucky to be able to get involved and I remember my first school board meeting as a fog. It hits you only after you have been elected that you are no longer part of the solution, you are part of the problem; whatever the problem is to solve, it’s in your lap.” Dan was sworn in for a third term in December 2016. He says while much has changed since starting, the drive remains the same. “Most of us get it pretty early on that we are here for the teachers, the students, the janitor, the people who work in the district, and the community,” Dan said. “We don't want to let any of them down and we do want them all to be proud of what we are. It's a heavy responsibility which requires thoughtful consideration and long range-vision to do well. Being on the inside is vastly different than my perspective before I became a Trustee.” Dan reflects on that “time before” and his decision to run for school board nine years ago, a series of stepping stones he admits goes back to the Cold War. During that time, he worked for a military contractor in Sunnyvale in the Signal Intelligence/early warning industry. “I was a normal person in many ways and our kids were in daycare most of the time,” he said. “When the Berlin Wall came down and worldwide peace was declared, I was thrown out of work.” Having four children with his wife Janice, they decided that instead of paying for people to raise their children he should become a stay-at-home dad. Before long, Dan was rising through the ranks of Spangler Elementary’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA), and joined the California Sixth District PTA. At that time, Berryessa Union School District was part of the PTA Council Unit. This led Dan to become involved in Milpitas and Berryessa schools for two years, before Milpitas split off to form the Milpitas Council of PTAs, for which he was the founding president. “My thinking at the time was that I was either going to be involved or I would home-school my kids,” Dan said. “I am glad I got involved in the public schools.” Admittedly, Dan said the skillset required through the years comes naturally to him. “Leading people in helping them solve problems and making decisions is what I have always done best,” he said. “I want to succeed and in order to do that everyone around me needs to succeed too.” In terms of what has sustained him through the years, Dan says without a doubt “the relationships I have made and the connections to the community have been right up there on the greatest satisfaction scale.” “We are proud to serve our community and we want to do that with the people that live here,” Dan concluded. “We want to talk to you in the store, on the street, at meetings; wherever you see us, we want to get to know the people we serve.” Editor’s Note: This is the first article in an ongoing series about our dynamic and diverse Board of Education. The five people currently serving on the Milpitas Unified School District Board of Education typically meet twice a month to carry out the MUSD Vision: “We prepare students to go out into the world to make a difference as responsible citizens who are passionate about life and learning.” The school board serves a population of approximately 69,000 residents that covers nearly 13 square miles and more than 10,000 students.  For immediate release Contact: Shannon Carr,
Board Support & Communications Specialist (408) 635-2600, ext. 6031 MILPITAS, CA -For nearly as long as she can remember, 11-year-old Linda Zhao has been inspired by the arts. “Ever since I knew how to pick up a pencil, I always liked drawing,” the Spangler sixth-grader said earlier this week. “I feel like I can really show off my art and share my feelings in it. And it’s really fun because you get to spend time on it, like four hours for this instance, and once you’re done, you’re really proud of it.” Linda said she created her piece “Hold On Pain Ends (HOPE)” at home using watercolor, acrylic, and marker. It is influenced by the work of Finland artist Jonna “Scandy Girl.” “I saw her pictures and there was this one wolf that was howling and crying, but the tears had a picture to it, and I really liked that it was abstract but realistic,” she said. “So I wanted to draw it too.” Linda added that the puzzle pieces on the bottom of the painting were inspired by another artist, where half of a tiger was drawn with fur but the other half looked like pieces were cracking. The final touch to the artwork was the quote “Hold On Pain Ends,” which she credits to her friend Naomi. Even though it is admittedly one of her favorite art pieces, Linda says she wanted to give it to her teacher Susan Nery for her birthday. “I like the feeling of when you give someone something. It makes you feel warm on the inside,” she said. When Linda isn’t found drawing, she enjoys swimming, taking dance classes, and playing piano, the latter of which she has been doing for six years. Linda also knows how to play clarinet and flute, and is enrolled in Chinese class. She shared her hopes to learn even more languages in the future, referencing Spanish and French. For immediate release Contact: Shannon Carr,
Board Support & Communications Specialist (408) 635-2600, ext. 6031 MILPITAS, CA - Rancho Milpitas Middle School will retain its designation as a model middle grade school in the 2016-17 Schools to Watch-Taking Center Stage program, according to an announcement from the California League of Schools, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the California Middle Grades Alliance on January 23. "Rancho’s fourth consecutive redesignation as a State and National School To Watch is a validation of our collaborative work that continues to be carried out,” Principal Casey McMurray said. Honored middle grade schools are high-performing model schools that demonstrate academic excellence, responsiveness to the needs of young adolescents, and social equity, according to an official statement from the California League of Schools and Schools to Watch-Taking Center Stage office. These schools host visitors from California and around the world who are looking to learn practices they can use to improve their middle grades schools and close the achievement gap. To earn this designation, schools must complete an extensive application that is reviewed by middle grades experts. In order to retain the designation, each school is re-evaluated every three years. When comparing the same cohort of students going from seventh to eighth grade from 2014-15 to 2015-16, Rancho has had a 113 percent growth rate in English language arts and 63 percent in math for its English Learner (EL) students, according to Principal McMurray. He emphasized this was the top performance in terms of growth of all subgroups at Rancho. There are many school practices that can be cited for the positive progress, specifically over the last two years, including expanding the English Language Development (ELD) teacher from being part-time to full-time. This has enabled the school to offer two additional sections of ELD. Other coherent and cohesive investments have included the use of technology tools such as Google Docs, Newsela, iReady, and YouTube; supporting a Professional Learning Community for three EL teachers; expanding a teacher’s job to encompass EL Site Support for professional development; and strategic advisory classes. “We love our students and we strive to know each of them well and to help them be successful,” Principal McMurray said. “To that end, Rancho provides multiple opportunities and supports to maintain a caring and positive campus environment." Rancho staff and Principal McMurray will be among 30 schools recognized in Sacramento at the California Middle Grades Alliance annual luncheon February 23, and during the California League of Schools' Annual Conference North, February 24 to 26. All of these schools will receive their national recognition in Washington, D.C. June 21 to 24. The Schools to Watch-Taking Center Stage program is sponsored by the California League of Schools and the California Department of Education, in partnership with the California Middle Grades Alliance. |
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