Imagine solving a who-done-it, building a battery-operated robot or proving your knowledge in a specialized area of science. Now imagine being able to do that in middle school. Ninety students of Thurgood Marshall Middle School do just that when they compete annually in the Science Olympiad.

Karla McCalmont, one of Thurgood Marshall Middle School’s 46 Science Olympiad assistant coaches, is a chemist by trade. She serves as the coach for the Crime Busters event in the competition. Science Olympiad, McCalmont explained, is comprised of 23 events that fall into three distinct categories: study events, lab events and build events. Crime Busters falls into the lab events category with much to accomplish in a short amount of time.

“In the case of Crime Busters, you have a mock crime scene scenario: students are given evidence and they have 50 minutes to discover metals and liquids, figure out which evidence points to what suspects and write an analysis showing their conclusion,” McCalmont said.

The topics range from life science, earth science and physical science to technology and experimental design. Marshall Middle School students participating each compete in three or four separate events. For the majority of the events, the participants are placed into teams based on their application which denotes their preference for particular events.

According to McCalmont, the participants meet weekly with their coaches for each of their assigned events from October through February. While there were some smaller invitational events that helped the participants gain their competition sea legs, the main event of the year is the annual San Diego Regional Tournament. Thurgood Marshall Middle School has placed in the top 10 schools for the past 12 years, and this year was no different. Competing on Feb. 9, Thurgood Marshall Middle School placed fifth out of 32 schools and 112 teams. This remarkable finish solidifies their spot at the California State Science Olympiad competition to be held on April 6.

McCalmont said participating in Science Olympiad gives participants the opportunity to take a deep dive on a topic they really enjoy.

“Science Olympiad provides a chance for students to try out an area mentioned maybe once or twice in class work with much more detail. It also provides a venue for better communication skills and working with a partner. The kids learn how to delegate each task to their strong suits,” she said.

Fans of song and dance are in for a treat when the students of the Scripps Ranch High School’s Falcon Playhouse present their staging of the classic American musical “Anything Goes,” beginning Feb. 28 at the school theater.

The timeless story of the play follows nightclub singer and evangelist Reno Sweeney and her friend Billy Crocker as they travel onboard the SS American. Billy is in love with Hope Harcourt, who is engaged to the wealthy Lord Evelyn Oakleigh. With the help of a hapless gangster and the girlfriend of a man regarded as public enemy no. 1, Billy sneaks aboard hoping – with the help of elaborate disguises, tap-dancing sailors and good old-fashioned blackmail – to stop the wedding and sweep Hope away for himself.

A classic play that has remained popular throughout the country, “Anything Goes” premiered on Broadway in 1934. It has been made into a film and has been reproduced on stage both on and off-Broadway, including as part of a national tour, and at high school and community theaters.

SRHS Theatre Director Patrick Garcia noted that students will be presenting the 1987 version of the production, which features extended musical sections.

“The ‘Anything Goes’ number is a little longer, and several of the other numbers have longer dance breaks,” he said.

Lead actors in the play will be Mackenzie Cain as Reno Sweeney; Luke Lima as Billy Crocker; Maia Fram as Hope Harcourt; Griffin Herring as Lord Evelyn Oakleigh; Dylan Darwish as Moonface Martin; Genevieve Flores as Erma Latour; and Shayan Nowzari as Elisha Whitney.

Garcia said “Anything Goes” is one of the student playhouse’s biggest productions. The play has a cast of 45, including the leads, another 35-40 people working as crew and 12 musicians to provide the live music. And it’s all student-run.

“I give these students, with guidance, full control of the production,” Garcia said. “What people see on stage – from the sets, lights, costumes and, obviously, the acting – is brought onstage by (students). The biggest thing is that they’re given freedom to express themselves in a creative and positive way, on a large scale, and hopefully a real-world experience where they get community members coming in to see their work.”

Scripps Ranch Chess Tournament
Ellen Browning Scripps Elementary School is hosting a community-wide chess tournament for youngsters on Thursday, Feb. 28.

All students in Scripps Ranch in kindergarten to sixth grade are welcome to enter this informal tournament. Cost is $20 per competitor, and a sibling discount is available.

The event is open to players of all skill levels.

The Scripps Ranch Chess Tournament will be held at Ellen Browning Scripps Elementary, 11778 Cypress Canyon Road, in the Multi-purpose room starting at 6 p.m. and ending at 8:45 p.m.

Pizza and Refreshments will be on sale. Trophies will be awarded to the top four players in each age group.

Doors open at 6 p.m. Games begin at 6:30 p.m. and the awards will be presented at 8:45 p.m.

Pre-register online at ebsenrichments.com.

A local team of tech-talented students representing Scripps Ranch High School Feb. 16 in the finals of the 10th annual SoCal Cyber Cup Challenge, a competitive event designed to encourage and support student interest in the field of cybersecurity, captured first place in the high school division.

The event is produced by the San Diego Chapter of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA).

The SoCal Cyber Cup Challenge gave students a chance to apply theories and practical skills they have learned, while also fostering a spirit of teamwork, ethical behavior and effective communication both within and across teams. Open to all high school and middle school students in San Diego, Imperial, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, nearly 400 students participated in the Cup’s qualification round this year. Scripps Ranch High’s team, the “Byte Sized Falcons,” is one of eight high school finalists and seven middle school finalists that competed for the title, a trophy and prize money for their school. According to the NDIA website, since the cup began, the organization has awarded more than $100,000 to help schools build their cyber programs.

The Byte Sized Falcons are all seniors and all members of the Scripps Ranch High School Air Force JROTC program, led by Air Force Master Sergeant Ferdinand Toledo. Team members include Evan Dicker, Shane Donahue, Valerie Ho, Brandon Nguyen and Alex Roh. For the last seven years, the team has competed in CyberPatriots, a youth cyber education program created by the Air Force Association to inspire K-12 students toward cybersecurity or other science, technology, education and math (STEM) fields.

“We’ve qualified for nationals in CyberPatriots two years in a row,” Donahue said.

This is the first time, however, that the Falcons have competed in the SoCal Cyber Cup.

Speaking before the event, Donahue said he expected the finals to be a “capture the flag” type of competition, with clues contained in questions offered like in the game show “Jeopardy.”

“Flags are hidden (throughout) the system, and you follow clues and answer the questions to find the flags,” he said.

“Every time we answer a question correctly, we get a flag and the team with the most flags wins,” Nguyen explained.

“For instance, someone puts a malicious program on the computer, and you have to find out who owns (the program),” Donahue said. “If you look at who owns it, you can find the flag.”

Donahue and Nguyen explained that the team would set up a board containing each challenge they are faced with, and each team member will pick one to go after. If someone had trouble with their question, others pitched in to help.

Throughout the competition students utilized the Haiku Cyber Range, a cloud-based technology provided with support from Amazon Web Services, to defend simulated systems that were under cyber-attack. Working in the cloud, teams from all over Southern California could access the cyber range and compete in practice, qualification and final rounds from any location. For the finals, the students got to work at the San Diego Supercomputer Center located at the University of California, San Diego.

“Its digital forensics work, so it helps you with system administration work,” he said. “There’s a lot of digging around in system files and services. Essentially, forensics and some administration, which are both highly valued job skills, I believe.”

Master Sergeant Toledo gives all credit for the Byte Sized Falcons’ success to the students.  

“These guys are amazing, they’re all self-taught in their field of knowledge,” he said. “These (students) have competed against the best teams across the country, and they’ve had very little coaching at all. I’m their advisor. I wouldn’t say ‘coach’ because I don’t coach them. I have no idea what they’re doing, honestly. These guys are the experts, not me.”

A Scripps Ranch High School alumna is reaching for the stars, quite literally, as she and her team attempt to become the first student-run organization to launch a rocket into outer space without any assistance from an outside organization.

University of Southern California junior Lauren Potterat is part of the Rocket Propulsion Laboratory at the university which, according to its website, is an undergraduate research laboratory that designs, builds and tests experimental rocketry and propulsion hardware.

Potterat works in the avionics team division as the embedding software lead, with eight other coders under her direction. Her main job is to inspect the hardware’s coding, which enables the team to know where a rocket is and what it’s doing during the flight.

“We want to design and kind of show that we are capable of sending an advance rocket to space,” Potterat said.

Though Potterat has a deep passion for space and technology, she admitted it wasn’t something she pictured herself doing while in high school.

“In high school I was a pretty strong pre-med candidate,” Potterat said. “I thought that I was going to be a surgeon.”

However, she went on to enroll at USC as a computer science major, switching midway through her sophomore year to astrophysics.

Potterat said she was surprised to discover the type of advance work that was being conducted in the lab, stating that she discovered the group through some of her peers within the major. 

“For (the lab) to operate at an undergraduate level is something that I wouldn’t fathom – for it to be operating at this level,” Potterat said. “Once I joined, the ship was sailed, and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

The lab currently holds the world record for student undergraduate altitude with the launch of the Fathom II Rocket on March 2017, but the team’s ultimate goal is to be the first collegiate lab to successfully launch a student-made rocket into space.

“We want to design and kind of show that we are capable of sending an advance rocket to space,” Potterat said. “On a technical scale, (we’re trying to) be the first undergraduate student organization that builds a rocket in-house ­– without industry assistance – that makes it to space.”

Potterat is hoping that the passion for space she’s seeing at the collegiate level trickles down and sparks a renewed interest in space among high school students and younger students so future generations continue to pursue space exploration.

“I’m a believer in the fact that space is the final frontier,” Potterat said.

The lab is currently gearing up for its next launch which will happen during the spring semester. The public can follow this project online through updates on the Rocket Propulsion Laboratory’s website: uscrpl.com.

“At the end of the day, it’s just a bunch of kids having a good time and doing some actual engineering,” Potterat said.

A full house was on hand at Ellen Browning Scripps Elementary School (EBS) for the school’s second annual International Night, held this year on Jan. 31. An estimated 200 attendees packed a multi-purpose room on the school’s campus to sample food and learn about the cultures presented at tables representing 15 different countries. Parents of EBS students provided the displays and staffed the tables.

School Principal Liz Sloan stood in the middle of the growing crowd, proudly viewing the activities as guests continued to arrive on this wet and rainy evening. The soggy weather did nothing to dampen the spirits of those in the room, which was filled with smiles and pleasant chatter.

Those responsible for chairing this event included Gail Faber, president of the EBS Academic Fundraising Partnership; Arwa Saif; Raquel Frutos; and Vann Tran.

A large number of the students and parents in attendance were adorned in colorful international garb as the aroma of delicious food wafted through the room.

A handful of performers, including vivid dragon dancers, entertained the crowd, some dancing on stage and around the room.

The International Night began in 2018 as a way to highlight the numerous backgrounds of students attending EBS, and to promote understanding of other cultures.

“A parent came to me a year ago and asked for an International Night because there are so many different cultures at EBS,” Faber said.  

Most children enjoy playing with Legos, but a group of Miramar Ranch Elementary School fifth graders, known as the Aquabots, took the beloved interlocking bricks to the next level. The Aquabots were awarded first place in Strategy and Innovation for Best Robot Design in the First Lego League Robotics (F.I.R.S.T.) SoCal regional competition at Legoland on Dec. 9.

The Aquabots are comprised of Joshua Frantz, Brady Nelson, Sasha Repkin and Liberty Morgan.  

Aquabots coach and electrical engineer William Frantz spent his fourth year leading a team of four students, including his son, in creating a robot made of Legos to compete against 55 other teams from fifth to eighth grade. Prior to the regional competition, the Aquabots competed at a local San Diego high school against 15 teams.

“It was our first year making it to regionals, so we were all really excited to win for best robot design. And our trophy was made of Legos!” Frantz said.

The theme for the 2018 competition was “Into Orbit” – very fitting for the young innovators. Aside from designing, building and programming a robot, student participants had to identify and research a problem relating to space and space travel. Last year’s theme was Hydro Dynamics, which inspired the Aquabots’ name.

Students were instructed to build and program a robot that could act autonomously by fetching, building or another type of physical action. Robots then had to move on a 4-foot by 8-foot mat that had graphics made for the robot to detect. Teams were judged on teamwork, cooperation, design and research.

Frantz noticed the greatest challenges in this competition were keeping students inspired and working hard. Students spent several weeks planning, designing, building, and programming what would become their end result.

“It’s hard for the students to stay motivated when they realize it’s actual work, but in the end, they love it and love Legos,” Frantz said.

While this was their first time at regionals, Frantz and the Aquabots are still riding on the excitement of their first-place win. Frantz is especially awaiting another chance to compete and prove what else the Aquabots can bring to the table.

“I know what to expect now. Compared to the first year we participated, we got the highest score, but receiving an award made me realize we’ve evolved and we can push that even further and definitely advance past regionals,” Frantz said. 

Frantz plans to compete again next year, but this time with more students.

Families with students attending schools in the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) received email notification Friday, Dec. 21 regarding a major data breach. The breach also included information from some SDUSD staff members. According to the email, all important information was “potentially” exposed including addresses, Social Security numbers, contact information and other personal data. The breach might go back as far as January 2018. Today, SDUSD verified that the email notification was in fact valid and accurate. The unauthorized person or persons, perpetrators of this breach, gathered network access log-in information from staff and used the information to log into the district’s network services, including the district student database.

More information will follow. Meanwhile, here is the content of the email notice from SDUSD:

Notice of Data Breach
This letter is in regard to an incident at San Diego Unified School District involving the security of you or your student’s personal data on the district’s information systems. We sincerely regret to inform you that, after completing a thorough forensics investigation, we have reason to believe your personal data may have been compromised through the access or use by an unauthorized individual. The unauthorized access resulted in the potential viewing or theft of the personal data of some students and staff members. The personal data potentially included social security numbers and other information listed below.  The San Diego Unified School District has taken the steps necessary to eliminate the threat to your personal data and implement improvements to prevent such unauthorized access from happening again. We are sending this letter to provide you more information about the incident and what you can do to remain vigilant and protect your information.

What Happened
During October 2018, Information Technology professionals were investigating multiple reports of phishing emails, which were used to gather log-in information of staff members throughout the district. Staff determined an unauthorized person or persons, was gathering network access log-in information from staff and using that information to log into the district’s network services, including the district student database. Access to the student database offers complete access to personal identifying information, potential health information, scheduling and grade information. All staff members whose accounts were compromised had the security on their accounts reset immediately upon discovery. The breach is believed to date back to January 2018.

What Information Was Involved
The accessed systems contained the following personal information:

• Student and selected staff personal identifying information, to include: first and last name, date of birth, mailing address, home address, telephone number;
• Student enrollment information, to include: schedule, discipline incident information, health information, school(s) of attendance, transfer information, legal notices on file, attendance data;
• Student and selected staff Social Security Number and/or State Student ID Number
• Student and staff parent, guardian and emergency contact personal identifying information, to include: first and last name, phone numbers, address (if provided), email address, employer information;
• Selected staff benefits information, to include: health benefits enrollment information, beneficiary identify information, dependent identity information, savings or flexible spending account information;
• Selected staff payroll and compensation information, to include: viewable paychecks and pay advices, deduction information, tax information, direct deposit financial institution name, routing number and account number, salary and leave information;

Access to the systems noted also included the ability to alter data within those systems.

We are not able to confirm, specifically, whether your personal data was viewed or copied from our systems as a result of this incident. We only know that the viewing or copying of some personal data was possible or occurred between January 2018 and November 1, 2018.

What We Are Doing
Once aware of the threat to student and staff data, we promptly took steps to secure the system and identify the scope of the incident with the help of law enforcement. We have continued to implement and explore additional security measures, and continue to review and audit our practices to prevent this from happening again. We have also coordinated our investigation and response to the incident with law enforcement to bring the perpetrator(s) of this incident to justice.  We have also provided notice of this incident to state authorities as required under applicable state laws.

What You Can Do
We highly recommend you review all credit information for all persons listed in the student or staff databases. Remain vigilant and report any fraudulent activity to your card-issuing bank, card issuer, or credit reporting agency as soon as possible. Regardless of whether or not you note any fraudulent activity on your card statement, we still recommend that you contact credit reporting agencies to notify them of the breach of your information.

Should you find evidence of identity theft, you can contact San Diego Unified School Police Department to file a police report. To file a police report, contact your local Campus Police Officer, or call School Police Dispatch at (619) 291-7678. San Diego Unified School District Police Department is tracking all incidents of crime related to this network intrusion, and is investigating with the assistance of forensic computer and electronic crimes investigators. You may also contact the Federal Trade Commission or one of the credit bureaus for more information about how to protect your identity. 

For More Information:
You can place an identity theft/fraud alert, get credit freeze information for your state, or order a free credit report by calling any of the following credit reporting agencies at one of the phone numbers listed below or visiting their respective websites. Some states may charge a fee for such services.

Students from multiple schools across Scripps Ranch and surrounding communities are learning valuable life skills outside of the classroom through a robotics program that fosters self-confidence, communication and leadership.

For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1989 and has since gained worldwide recognition. While it is rooted in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) principles, Dean Kamen, the organization’s founder, explained that the organization’s programs are more comprehensive in terms of the lessons students learn.

“FIRST is more than robots. The robots are a vehicle for students to learn important life skills. Kids often come in not knowing what to expect of the program nor of themselves. They leave … with a vision, with confidence and with a sense that they can create their own future,” according to the FIRST website.

The organization has four levels of robotics programs, separated by both age and skill level. FIRST LEGO League Junior is designed to capture the curiosity of children in grades kindergarten through fourth grade, with motorized LEGO elements used as the primary robot construction material. FIRST LEGO League (FLL) also utilizes LEGOs for robot building and caters to students in grades four through eight.

At the FLL level, teams have three primary focus areas: robot, which involves construction of a LEGO robot for competition; project, in which team members research a real-world problem then develop a solution to be presented before judges; and core values, which include discovery, innovation, impact, inclusion, teamwork and fun.

Evan Edmonds is a fifth grader from Scripps Ranch who is part of an FLL team at The Cambridge School.

“I thought it might be fun because of the research you get to do in project,” he said when describing why he first decided to join. “The core values could help me in anything [in life], and the robot could help me learn engineering for when I get older for a job.”

FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) is geared toward students in grades seven through 12, utilizes industrial building materials, and involves programing and more advanced processes. The most advanced group, FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), is open only to high school students in grades nine through 12.

Alex Szeto is a Scripps Ranch resident and is the FTC coach for the multiple award-winning team “Inspiration,” which is comprised of students from Marshall Middle School, Black Mountain Middle School, Scripps Ranch High School, Rancho Bernardo High School, Torrey Pines High School, Del Norte High School, The Cambridge School, and Design 39 Campus. Among the team members are his twin tenth graders, Colin and Mabel.

Colin Szeto first expressed interest in the program after attending an FLL open house in second grade.

“The best thing about FLL is that it uses LEGOs as a basis for teaching,” he said.

Colin’s sister, Mabel, joined the program the following year. Although she acknowledged having had a preference for art over science at the time, she also found the LEGO aspect appealing.

Mabel and Colin agreed that the values that FIRST teaches are what have kept them interested in and passionate about the program for the last eight years, even after advancing to the FTC level, which does not use LEGOs for robot construction.

“The core values are about being a good person, being a good teammate, being respectful toward others and being a gracious professional,” she said. “The focus of FIRST is about getting better and learning and passing that on, not just about winning.”

Passing on their knowledge in service to others is something that Mabel, Colin and many of their peers have dedicated countless hours to through volunteer mentoring.

“My team teaches every week, 52 weeks a year,” Alex Szeto said. Whether hosting an open house, teaching a robotics summer camp, delivering a presentation at a local college or science museum, or virtually mentoring a FIRST robotics team in West Africa through 6 a.m. video conference calls, these students are committed to upholding the values imparted by the FIRST organization. Colin Szeto finds mutual benefit in having the opportunity to give back.

“It changes lives,” he said.

Families are encouraged to attend a fun-filled evening full of good food, music, dancing, contests and more at this year’s Dingeman Elementary School’s Boo-Bash fundraiser from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 26 at the school campus, 11840 Scripps Creek Drive.

There will be a bake sale, food trucks, a live DJ, a fire truck and many more fun things for to enjoy. Those attending are encouraged to wear their favorite costume. 

Dingeman students who have entered the contest will be competing to win a prize for the best pumpkin carving, as well as for the most creative trunk decorations for the Trunk or Treat area of the event.

Halloween Parade
The season would not be complete without one more event: Dingeman Elementary will continue the Halloween Parade tradition again this year. The parade for Dingeman Elementary students will take place on Halloween, Oct. 31. Classes will meet on the white top just after school begins at 8:45 a.m. Children are welcome to wear their costumes for the parade and will be asked to remove costumes after the parade.

Students are permitted to parade with or without a costume. Masks can be worn during the parade only. Masks cannot be worn as students arrive to or depart from school. 

Ellen Browning Scripps Elementary (EBS) School’s Fall Festival will take place on the school grounds from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 26.

Organized by the EBS Academic Fundraising Partnership, this annual family-friendly event is free to attend but raises money for the school through a silent auction, food sales and games. Funds generated by the event are used to pay for vital resources and services affected by budget cuts over the last few years.

Activities at the Festival include a pumpkin decorating contest, a bake sale, costume parade, face painting, and a cakewalk. Food vendors will feature Mexican, barbecue, burgers, Jamaican and Filipino flavors.

More than 100 seniors at Scripps Ranch High School (SRHS) gathered in the school’s front parking lot over the course of three days this month to take part in a long-standing school tradition. Each fall, designated parking spots are auctioned off to the highest bidders in a school fundraiser, offering seniors an opportunity to purchase, personalize and maintain ownership over their very own parking space for the duration of the school year.

While all SRHS students with a parking permit are allowed to park on campus, these dedicated spaces are a privilege reserved exclusively for the senior class. In addition to being a guaranteed, consistent parking spot every school day, these spaces also allow students an opportunity to showcase their creativity and demonstrate their individuality.

Designated painting days were held after school on Oct. 8 and 10, as well as the morning of Saturday, Oct. 13. During these specified times, students who purchased a space were invited to bring their own materials and any desired helpers to paint and personalize their spots, while enjoying a festive atmosphere.

Grady Dok is vice president of the Associated Student Body (ASB) senior class, the student group responsible for the fundraising activity.

“We supply music and a good time, and everyone has fun with their friends,” he said.

Indeed, on those designated painting days, the school parking lot was abuzz with energetic teenagers, happily hard at work painting their spaces – some solo and singularly-focused on the task-at-hand; others laughing with friends as they discussed their designs; and still others making it a family affair, with parents joining the project.

Alexis LoVuolo worked with her mother on painting a geometric design that featured the letter “A” in the center.

“My mom and I are like best friends so we always do everything together,” she said.

Meanwhile, Nancie Helders, a senior at SRHS who has long had a passion and talent for art, took the project on as a solo artist. Helders explained that she had never before painted on such a large surface so it did present some challenges, but she was excited to be participating in the activity.

“When I found out about [this activity] ... I got excited that I could personalize a spot, make it mine and leave my mark for the year,” she said.

While perhaps helpful, artistic ability is not a requirement for participation, according to Amber Almond, senior class secretary.

“It’s still fun to come out and paint and make your spot look as good as possible,” she said.

Parking spaces were made available for purchase through an auction that was held on campus during lunch on Sept. 20-21, with a re-auction for unclaimed spaces held on Sept. 24. Interested students were required to sign up in advance to participate in the optional activity, and only those registered were admitted to the function. Bidding for each space started at $40, with a minimum increment of $5 required to outbid the previous bidder. LoVuolo reported that the most expensive spot this year sold for around $400.

According to ASB advisor Lauren Ruiz, the median price of the 111 spots auctioned this year ranged between $150 and $300.

Alexandra Kotsos, senior class president, explained that the spaces that generally command a higher selling price are those that are in the shade and located nearest the exit.

“The funds we raise … go toward multiple senior activities throughout the year,” Kotsos said. “We want to have fun things for the seniors to do throughout the year such as senior sunrise, prom, graduation gifts and more.”

For many whose bids approached the higher end of the range, knowing that the funds would benefit the senior class helped make it feel more worthwhile. Gina Lane is a parent whose daughter, Juliana, purchased a space.

“It’s hard to justify spending a lot of money on a parking spot unless you know it’s going back to the students and they will get the value in return,” she said.

For some, that value goes well beyond the funds raised for the senior class.

“It gives students a sense of school spirit and camaraderie,” Lane said.

Likewise, for Helders: “I’m doing what I enjoy,” she said.