- Welcome to our board meeting where we hope you see and hear that Sweetwater is a district where each student, each family, each community member, and each educator matters!
- Saturday, we hosted the 2nd Annual State of the District event. Again, we had approximately 600 participants. This year’s theme was “Why Relationships Matter.” Our student speakers included Student Board Representative Isaiah Irizarry (BVH), ASB VP Shaylee Clark (OLH), student with exceptional abilities Marissa Blagtas (CVH) who delivered her speech using American Sign Language, SYH graduate (2013) and MISTI Tutor Brenda Melendrez, and RISE teacher at SoH Stephanie Balbaneda. 130 Student facilitators helped solicit feedback and input on our four LCAP Goals. Over and over we heard from participants that the student speakers and student facilitators were amazing! It was a great day for students, families, and staff in Sweetwater.
- Who are we celebrating in Sweetwater? Congratulations to…
- Valerie Ruiz has been recognized by CAC as SUHSD’s Outstanding Special Educator for her work with Unified games.
- Julie Walker (RDR) and Mari Venturino (MVA) just qualified as Nationally Board Certified teachers
- Both RDR and SUHI cheerleading squads have qualified for the National Championships.
- ELH Baseball Coach, David Gallegos, has been recognized by the High School Coaches Association as 2017 Pacific Coach of the Year
- ELM and SYH are finalists for the SoCal Cyber Cup Challenge. ELM placed 1st in the Junior Varsity division, and SYH are in the top 8 high schools for Varsity. Teacher coaches are Tara Taylor (ELM) and Carrie Northum (SYH).
- This past week we held our 20th Annual Sweetwater Science and Engineering Fair. Special thanks to retired teacher Steven Rodecker who continues to coordinate the fair. We had 178 entries in the Junior Division (middle school); 43 entries in the Senior Div. (high school) with the following participating schools: BVM, CPM, CVM, ELM, HM, NCM, MOM, RDR, SOM, BVH, ELH, ORH, OLH, SUHI. JD Life Sciences Sweepstakes Award went to NCM student Patrick Dela Rosa, teacher Ryan Smith; Physical Sciences Sweepstakes Award went to NCM student Axel Marquez, teacher Ryan Smith; SD Life Sciences Sweepstakes Award went to ELH student Megan Badea, teacher Cheryl Bayley; SD Physical Sciences Award went to Isaac Broudy, teacher Michelle Mardahl.
- Good Luck to student board rep Isaiah Irizarry who is attending the Youth & Government Summit this coming weekend!
- Resolution designating the month of February 2018, as National African-American History Month.
- Today, February 12th is the actual birthday of Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States. In honor of his birthday I want to share some interesting facts and quotes from Abraham Lincoln:
- Facts
- he was the only president to have a patent; Lincoln invented a device to free steamboats that ran aground
- he wanted women to have the vote in 1836
- he established Thanksgiving as a national holiday
- his shoe size was between 12 and 14 & he was the tallest president at 6’4”
- he battled depression and anxiety for much of his life
- he often kept important documents inside his trademark hat
- first president to appear on a US coin
- the most quoted speech in history was Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address
- more books written about him more than any other president
- Quotes
- On adversity – Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.
- On the future – The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.
- On democracy – As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.
- On voting – The ballot is stronger than the bullet.
- On being quiet – Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.
- On fooling people – You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
- I’ll close this section of my message with one last Lincoln quote: “Don’t worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.” Happy Birthday Mr. Lincoln!
- And, finally, the Winter Olympics have begun. I want to acknowledge South and North Korea’s effort to honor the mission of the Olympic Spirit – to build a peaceful and better world in the Olympic Spirit which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play – Olympic Spirit strives to inspire and motivate the youth of the world to be the best they can be through educational and entertaining interactive challenges. Olympic Spirit seeks to instill and develop the values and ideals of Olympism in those who visit and to promote tolerance and understanding in these increasingly troubled times in which we live, to make our world a more peaceful place.” In that spirit, I brought an Olympic Torch from the 1984 games to pass around to visitors and to inspire all of us to pass along the Olympic Spirit on a daily basis.
- Facts