Caps, gowns, smiles and celebrations are around the corner for local high school students.

Graduation at Scripps Ranch High School (SRHS) will be held at the University of San Diego’s Jenny Craig Pavilion on June 12 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. For two hardworking seniors, this will mean the opportunity to share a meaningful quote, sit on the stage and be properly acknowledged for their hard work and dedication to their studies.

Michelle He and Ashwin Kumar have been named the SRHS valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively, of the 2019 graduating class.

“I was really surprised at the news that I was valedictorian. It was not something I had been working towards; I was mostly focused on keeping up my grades,” He said.

Kumar reiterated these sentiments.

“It’s an interesting feeling. Throughout high school you know roughly where you stand in class rank, but when it was announced it felt like ‘Wow, my hard work actually paid off,’” Kumar said.

Neither He nor Kumar felt a sense of rivalry for the top spot and shared that they are close friends. The talented students both have bright futures ahead of them albeit some 3,000 miles apart. He will attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Kumar will attend The University of California, Berkeley. He said she plans to study computer science and biology. Kumar will focus on computer science as well.

He said she was nervous for the next step in her academic journey, but that she is also feeling excited for what is to come at MIT. Kumar said he has a sense of dread about leaving his friends and family, but that he can’t wait to meet new people and build new friendships in college.

He and Kumar credit their family and friends for their support in achieving their academic success, but, above all, they said they were grateful to the teachers at Scripps Ranch High School.

“The teachers at Scripps are massively supportive and amazing. I’m really going to miss this place,” Kumar said.

This is the third year of the Kindness Week program at Jerabek Elementary School. Jerabek Elementary focuses on creating a sustained culture of kindness throughout the school, the students and the community. This happens three times a year when there is a focused week with classroom activities, at-home participation with parents, community projects and a celebration rally on the Friday of each Kindness Week to celebrate the success of all the efforts. 

The final Kindness Week rally of this school year included a special celebration with the entire student population, staff, faculty and special guest speakers. The kids enjoyed music from the school’s local community partner DJ Mr. Tim, as well as a speaker from local fitness club Fitness Quest 10 who spoke about the importance of kindness to yourself, your body, the environment, your community and more. Jerabek Elementary students were in a special formation at the rally in the shape of the words “be kind.”

Activities for Kindness Week are funded by sponsorships as well as the Jerabek Elementary Family Faculty Organization. The goal is to create and sustain a culture of kindness at Jerabek Elementary in which students treat themselves, peers, teachers, their families and the environment with care and compassion. 

Scripps Ranch High School student Sydni Silverstone is a winner of the national “Project Yellow Light” scholarship competition.

Her winning billboard public service advertisement educates the public about the dangers of distracted driving.

Silverstone’s design was chosen as the winner of the “Billboard Design – High School” category. Her design will be featured on the San Diego digital transit/bus shelters.

Silverstone’s public service advertisement will help save lives. 3,166 people were killed in crashes involving distracted drivers in 2017.

Scholarships for this year’s winning students are provided with support from Aspire, AT&T’s $500 million commitment to education and skilling. This initiative was also supported by AT&T’s It Can Wait program aimed at curbing distracted driving.

Project Yellow Light was established in 2007 by the family of Hunter Garner to honor his memory after his death in a car crash at age 16. According to the latest data, 3,166 people were killed in crashes involving distracted drivers in 2017, representing 8.5 percent of all crash fatalities that year.

“We’re so proud of all our winners, all those who took part in this year’s competition and everyone taking an active role to encourage safe driving among their peers,” said Julie Garner, founder of Project Yellow Light. “Thank you to our amazing partners helping us advance our mission to save lives.”

Since 2011, Project Yellow Light has partnered with the Ad Council to turn the winning submissions into PSAs that receive national exposure through 1,600 TV stations nationwide, iHeartMedia radio stations, and Clear Channel Outdoor’s hundreds of printed billboards and more than 1,200 digital billboards.

Scripps Ranch High School (SRHS) held its Class of 2019 Senior Awards presentation on May 30. Besides student recognition, numerous organizations honored SRHS seniors with scholarships.

Multiple scholarships were presented by the Durkin IMPACT Foundation and the Scripps Ranch Old Pros. The Scripps Ranch Women’s Club, Scripps Ranch Softball Association and the Scripps Ranch Women’s Athletic Club were other organizations presenting scholarships. Families contributing scholarships included the Faralan family, the Marra family and the Sean Maloy family.

One page in the event’s printed program was filled with scores of names of SRHS graduating seniors who had each achieved a 4.0 average.

Jerabek Elementary School has taken its academic experience to the next level. Bridging an ever-growing technology educational gap, the new Science Technology Engineering Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) Lab was unveiled at Jerabek Elementary School on May 2. The celebration was marked with a ribbon cutting ceremony and testimonials from students, parents and faculty about the importance of the new lab.

Parents were the driving force behind the fundraising efforts to bring the lab to fruition, and raised more than $150,000 in equipment, furniture, materials, flooring and wall structures. The lab consists of a 2,500 square foot space that includes a robotics room, a makerspace, a quiet room, a messy room and an audio-visual lab.

A group of parents with backgrounds in STEAM fields initiated the effort to build the lab at Jerabek. Terra Norine of Troxel Communications was one of these parents and works to build STEAM Labs in schools across the country. Norine gave her time and resources to build the lab at Jerabek. She said it took about a year and a half to get the lab up and running because of her goal to make it state of the art.

“I sat down and built out a scope and sequence for each grade level so that the skills they are learning in kindergarten are giving them the tools needed for when they get into first grade and so on,” Norine said.

According to Norine, they placed their focus on robotics and coding. She took what they were already learning in the classroom and applied it to be more interactive and project-based in the lab.

At Jerabek, classroom curricula cannot be mandated. Instead, all teachers elected to participate. Each teacher learned aspects of coding and robotics. Dr. Angelia Watkins, principal at Jerabek, said the teachers are what make the STEAM Lab at Jerabek special.

“Our teachers have decided to take it upon themselves to learn the new curriculum, which is phenomenal. This is above and beyond what they are already teaching,” Watkins said.

The influence of the teachers and their newly learned curriculum has been influential in creating an environment where students are highly engaged in their own learning, Watkins said.

“Once the teachers are in that lab, they are more like facilitators,” she explained. “The students drive the lesson. Once students know they get to be the conductor of their learning, they are more engaged.”

Students of all ages, ranging from five to 11, are enamored with the STEAM Lab. Avi Lefkowitz, fifth grader at Jerabek, said he was inspired by what he has learned in the lab to continue on the STEAM path in middle school.

“My favorite subject right now, other than P.E., is probably STEAM. It’s really fun to work with my partner,” Lefkowitz said. “It’s interesting to have that relationship and we can become friends because before STEAM, my partner and I didn’t really know each other. I think it’s really great that my teacher puts us together boy, girl. It just creates a really cool program.”

Watkins said the lab will set students up for STEAM careers and success in the future.

“The younger you start students out with engineering and things of that nature, then they are not afraid later. It sets them up for the next level,” she said. “If we can instill that in them here in the elementary, just think of what they can do in middle school and beyond.”

According to Watkins, the teachers will continue to push the envelope with the curriculum through training at the University of San Diego, partnering with other teachers who also have STEAM labs and every year making sure the rigor is more challenging.

As the school year rapidly winds down for seniors at Scripps Ranch High School (SRHS), emotions are mixed as they prepare to leave behind all that has been familiar to them throughout their adolescent lives. But with spirit week, prom, grad night and graduation approaching in the days and weeks ahead, the leading emotion for most of these students is excitement. Many seniors admit that prom is an event for which anticipation begins building as early as freshman year.

Hayley Lewellin is a senior who has attended SRHS since her freshman year.

“I don’t even know how to describe how excited you become after four years of waiting,” she said.

Given that many high schools make their prom open both to juniors and seniors, the fact that this event is a privilege reserved exclusively for seniors at SRHS creates a stronger sense of anticipation and appreciation, according to Lewellin.

This year’s prom, themed “Sleepless in the City,” will take place on Saturday, June 1, at Parq Restaurant and Nightclub in downtown San Diego. Grady Dok, senior class vice president, is one of three Associated Student Body (ASB) officers responsible for planning the prom.

“Our venue is very unique this year; it has a really powerful and fun vibe to it,” he said. “We put a lot of effort in to planning it and I think the senior class is really going to enjoy it.”

Amber Almond, senior class secretary, added that the planning team has tried to ensure that the options for entertainment at the event are diverse and enjoyable.

“There will be three separate areas at our venue: one primarily for dancing, another is going to have a lot more games and food where it’s more relaxed and quiet, and the third area will have a silent DJ and photo booths,” she said.

Promposals – the modern-day method by which students ask their dates to prom – continue to take place both on and off campus. While some choose to prompose with an elaborate, grand gesture in a public place, others opt for a more simple, sweet and private approach. Senior Katherine Rosen has observed that, in general, the more elaborate promposals typically take place between couples that have been dating for some time, where an affirmative response to the invitation is almost certain.

“In a previous year, someone made a huge sign and had his friends hold it up publicly in the quad,” Rosen said. “But most people might do informal things if either they are on the shy side, or not sure of the response.”

Shopping for the perfect dress is also a quintessential part of the prom experience for senior girls. Each year, the female students set up an Instagram account where they exchange notes about their shopping experiences, and also share photos of what they plan to wear in order to guard against showing up to the event wearing the same dress as a classmate.

For some, the dress shopping experience is one shared with friends. Others opt to make it a family affair. For Lewellin, it involved a little bit of both.

“I went shopping a couple times with my friends, even though I knew I wasn’t going to get my dress that day because it was months ago,” she said. “Then I went with my mom a couple weekends ago and the first dress that I tried on, I fell in love with. I know that doesn’t happen a lot. It fit perfectly and I just loved it.”

While senior prom will carry with it unique memories for each student, most simply hope that it will be a fun, lighthearted time, free from any potential stress that may surround their post-high school plans.

“I’m just hoping to have an overall positive experience where I don’t need to worry about school ending or college, and just have a good time with the people that I care about before we all go our separate ways,” Rosen said.

Event tickets may be purchased on campus through May 31 and cost $60 with ASB card, $65 without.

Brick by brick, four Dingeman Elementary School students found success at the FIRST LEGO League Jr. World Competition held April 25-27 in Houston, Texas.

Lead by coach Shreya Goel, an eighth-grade student at Marshall Middle School, second grade students Siddharth Goel, Joshua Pun, Adam Couvrette and Aarnav Jain created the team Builder Beavers and placed first in the Creative Model Award.

Goel said the team qualified for the world competition at the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) LEGO League Jr. Regional Expo hosted locally at LEGOLand Resort. While the local competition was not ranked, the team was invited to bring its model and compete at the world competition in Houston.

The 2019 challenge this year was titled “Mission Moon.” Organizers challenged the students to think of a solution to the question: “How would you build a base on the moon to sustain human life?” They then had to build their solution out of LEGOs.

“I started by assigning each team member a different problem: how to get water, how to get food, how to get energy and health. They all did their research and brought it back to the team. One team member found a solution for bringing energy to the moon through fuel cells,” Goel said.

Goel explained that through their research, the team was able to create what they called the Lunar Resource Generator. She helped the members direct their solution into building a model out of LEGOs for the competition. The model also included two motorized models that Goel taught the members how to program. The final piece of the competition was preparing the members for the presentation of their ideas.

“I was surprised just to make it to worlds and, while our ultimate goal was to make it to the top of the competition, it was huge just to participate. It was a great experience just to meet people from all over the world,” Goel said.

Their remarkable model was among 60 other participating teams from all over the world. Nidhi Goel, parent mentor and Shreya’s mother, said team members expanded their knowledge exponentially through the entire experience.

“LEGO is STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math). But, it is also about presenting your ideas and doing the research part of it and problem solving. I have always felt that this program boosts the kids’ confidence while increasing their knowledge,” Nidhi Goel said.

Both Nidhi and Shreya Goel said they hope the Builder Beavers’ success inspires other teams to form and they would be happy to assist with the process.

Miramar Ranch Elementary School is losing something precious: an experienced principal who guided the school for 10 years.

Her name is Peggy Crane, and to truly appreciate the value of her continuity in Scripps Ranch, consider that principal turnover is a serious issue across the country. The Learning Policy Institute (LPI) reports that the average tenure of principals nationally is four years, and that only 11 percent of principals remain at one school for 10 years or more. In its most recent study, LPI also found that 18 percent of public school principals leave after just one year.

“Saying goodbye is difficult,” said Crane, who has been with the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) for 30 years, as both a teacher and an administrator. “I have never worked for one school for 10 years in a row before. It’s been an incredible run.”

The move was Crane’s choice.

“It was time for a change,” she said. “Time to bring in a fresh set of eyes.”

Working in public education has been “a second career” for Crane, originally a homemaker who started teaching at age 35. The stay-at-home mom and wife of a U.S. Navy pilot got her start by volunteering in her daughter’s elementary school classroom. She has since served a diverse group of schools and communities, from San Carlos and Barrio Logan to City Heights and Scripps Ranch, and “loved every minute of it.”

The veteran principal described her job at Miramar Ranch Elementary School for the past 10 years as “a juggling act involving parents, students, staff, budget and politics.” But she added that “it’s easy if you keep your students’ needs front and center.”

Principal Crane said her greatest accomplishments at Miramar Ranch include helping the school become a California Distinguished School last year. The award is presented to schools that have made exceptional gains in implementing academic content and performance standards adopted by the State Board of Education.

She is also proud of Miramar Ranch Elementary’s commitment to the Whole Child approach to education. Developed by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development in 2014, the Whole Child model emphasizes social and educational aspects, integrating education, public health and school health to improve learning and health.

Love on a Leash is proof positive that dogs are the best medicine on four legs. A wag of the tail and the nudge of a friendly nose can turn a frown into a smile and brighten up the darkest of days. Students at Ellen Browning Scripps Elementary School tend to agree as many look forward to visits by the friendly canines from the Love on a Leash program.

In the early 1980s a group of pet therapy enthusiasts from San Diego founded Love on a Leash, an organization in which certified therapy dogs visit hospitals, homes and schools offering people-in-need some tender loving care as only a pet can offer.

“What started as a local program with a handful of helpers now has more than 2,000 volunteers nationwide,” said Linda Roth of the San Diego North County chapter. “Here in Scripps Ranch we have about 280 members and we each have a dog or a cat and even a bunny that has been certified as a therapy animal.”

In 2015, Roth, already a seven-year volunteer, and her canine pal Happy teamed up with Martha Wilcox and her dog Sedona along with Sharon Eastman and her pooch Puzzle to introduce Love on a Leash to Ellen Browning Scripps Elementary School.

Gayle Shinn, district counselor for the San Diego Unified School District, recalls that meeting.

“Our association began three years ago when I wanted to do an assembly with dogs to teach children about all the wonderful things animals do for us and to respect animals,” Shinn said. “I met Linda and her dog Happy and thought it was a great idea to have the Love on a Leash dogs come to the assembly. The dogs had a very calming impact on our students as well as our staff. Things went so well that we made it an every-other-week event.”

Ellen Browning Scripps Elementary School Principal Liz Sloan also endorsed the program.

“The dogs are great motivators for students that are very shy and reluctant readers,” Sloan said. “We have the children read to the dogs and it brings them out of their shell, and they love the dogs.”

Roth, the leader of this unique pack, is on the go constantly traversing the community with her gal pals and their handsome hounds doing what they love best: spreading love one tail wag at a time.

Guardian songwriter and scientists flourish
The Missionary Childhood Association’s annual song writing contest awarded St. Gregory the Great Catholic School sixth-grader John Perry Wishchuk first place for his original composition “Children Helping Children.” Wishchuk performed his award-winning song at the MCA Mass at Our Mother of Confidence Church. His song now goes on to the national level.

Meanwhile, seven of St. Gregory the Great’s seventh graders were invited to the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair in Balboa Park. Shane Martin (“What Does Fido Know?: A Cognitive Study”) and Lilli Lawrenz (“Temperature: Do Windmills Care?”) both placed first in their categories. Jack Grissom, Sinclair McComic, Emily Salazar and Claire Scelfo placed second with their projects. Eva Lawson placed fourth. In addition, Jack Grissom also received a professional award from the American Society of Materials, San Diego Chapter, while Lilli Lawrenz was acknowledged by the Association of Women in Science, San Diego Chapter with an additional award. Special invitations were extended to Lawrenz to participate in the California State Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles in April, and the Broadcom Masters Competition in Washington, D.C., in October.

MMS musicians earn high honors
Marshall Middle School’s Advanced Band and Advanced Orchestra both earned unanimous “Superior” ratings at the CMEA-SBS Band & Orchestra Festival at Lewis Middle School on April 6. Those performances were about as perfect as they get.

Dingeman Elementary Spring STEAM Carnival
Join Dingeman Elementary School on Friday, April 26, 3-7 p.m. for its annual spring fundraising event, the Dingeman STEAM Spring Carnival. Open to the public, the Spring STEAM Carnival is a fun and family-friendly event with fun activities, retail vendors, live performances, food, and a silent auction. All proceeds benefit the students of Dingeman Elementary to help fund additional programs. 

Science Olympiad team participates at State
Marshall Middle School’s Science Olympiad team competed in the 2019 California Science Olympiad Tournament held on April 6 at California Institute of Technology. Fifteen Marshall Middle School students were selected to participate, and the team placed 11th out of 30 teams at the State tournament. —Laura Hogan

The Philanthropist’s Club at Marshall Middle School is making a difference in the lives of World War II veterans.

Julie Rick, advisor for the Philanthropist’s Club and math teacher at Marshall Middle School, established the club 10 years ago.

“Most of the kids at our school are upper middle class, for the most part, and they live in nice neighborhoods. I wanted to provide the opportunity to give back to the community,” Rick said.

Every year, the club votes on a charity to support financially through fundraisers over the course of the school year. Rick happened upon an article featuring the charity Honor Flight Network and suggested it as an option for the club. The club voted and agreed Honor Flight Network was the charity they wanted to support.

According to its website, Honor Flight Network’s mission is “to transport America’s veterans to Washington, D.C., to visit those memorials dedicated to honor the service and sacrifices of themselves and their friends.”

Last year, the club supported two local World War II veterans who visited the group after their trip to Washington, D.C., in uniform.

The club’s 25 members meet every Wednesday at lunch to discuss details for upcoming fundraisers or events. The club hosts bake sales that take place one to two times a month with cupcakes and donuts as their main form of fundraising. The baked goods are paid for by the students in the club. This year, the club furthered its fundraising efforts by selling candy grams at Marshall Middle School for Valentine’s Day. Rick said the new fundraiser was a huge success with the club raising more than $500.

Rick said the club has raised approximately $1,600 with the hope of raising $1,800 by the end of the school year. The money this year will go to support two brothers who bravely fought in World War II.

In addition to fundraising for Honor Flight Network, the club also conducts a food drive every November. This year the club collected 1,500 cans of food. Rick said she is hopeful the club will continue to give back to the community in new ways including service opportunities.

Hard work, preparation and brain power lead Marshall Middle School participants to win first, second and third place in the regional Science Championship.

The competition was held Feb. 19 in Los Angeles. Students qualified by taking a quiz locally on the same day and time, as all hopeful participants across the country. Of the 25 Marshall Middle School students who took the quiz, nine students qualified for the regional competition.

The regional competition contained questions from the categories of physics, chemistry, biology, computers and math. Students competed individually in the buzzer-style competition with others of their own grade or grade group.

Cheryl Converse-Rath, advisor to both the Science Championship and the Academic Quiz Bowl for Marshall Middle School, said she discovered the competition for the first time this year. Converse-Rath said she established a weekly practice schedule and used the provided practice packets to prepare the students for the competition. The results speak for themselves.

In the eighth-grade group, Alec Malcangio, Shreya Goel and Shabdika Gubba placed first, second and third. Notably, sixth grader Anya Krolik won first place in her group as well.

Eighth grade first place winner Alec Malcangio said he felt most prepared by the practice sessions held by Converse-Rath that gave him a good sense of both the types of questions that would be asked and how in-depth to expect the questions to go.

“I felt fairly confident going through the competition. I was asked a number of more traditional science questions, namely in physics and geology, that were heavily covered in the prep-packets,” Malcangio said.

Despite feeling prepared, Malcangio said he had no expectation of winning the competition.

“I really didn’t expect to win. When I finished first, I was completely surprised and I was in shock for a while,” he said.

Converse-Rath was thrilled with the students’ remarkable finish and plans to spread the word and promote the event even more for next year’s competition.

“I think the students’ finish is fantastic. How exciting is it that in the first year we competed we have five students who qualified for the national championship?” she said.

The National Science Championship takes place in Atlanta Georgia in June. While Malcangio qualified for the national championship, he said he won’t be attending because it takes place during his eighth-grade graduation.