One of the positive and ongoing traditions continued at last week’s Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) Board of Trustees meeting. Generally, the second bi-monthly meeting devotes an early agenda item to spotlight one of the ten school sites in the district. On Tuesday, the slot was devoted to Kolb Elementary School. Kolb is the newest school site in Dublin and serves just over 1,000 Kindergarten through fifth grade students. The school opened in the fall of 2012 and is led by Principal Ms. Nicole Williams Browning. The site is located on a large parcel adjacent to Fallon Road and right next to the Fallon Sports Park.
At the Trustee meeting, there were presentations to students in the category of Integrity in Action. Additionally, the Kindergarten teaching team was commended for their work in fostering a Professional Learning Community (PLC). Finally, as with each spotlight, a Certificated and Classified employee is recognized. OneDublin.org recently had the opportunity to sit down with the Kolb Certificated designee, Trisha Hahn. Ms. Hahn is a Resource Teacher and Intervention Specialist.
Trisha attained a B.A. in Liberal Studies with an option in Special Education from California State University, Hayward (now East Bay). She also received a Multiple Subject Credential in Mild/Moderate Special Education. Ms. Hahn was also an athlete as she played for the Women’s basketball team. She has been employed by DUSD for ten years now and had worked primary at Dougherty Elementary School. However, she also managed to split some of her work days between Murray & Green Elementary and Fallon while it functioned as a K-8th Grade school. When Kolb opened in 2012, she made the fully dedicated move to this site.
Dublin High School Junior Sunny Bai Chosen for 2014 Congress of Future Medical Leaders in Washington, DC
Members of the Fallon Middle School and the Dublin Ranch community will never forget a Fall day in 2008 when a Fallon student was struck by a car and seriously injured in a crosswalk while on the way to school. Just over five years later, that same student, Sunny Bai, a junior at Dublin High School of Dublin, California has been nominated to attend the Congress of Future Medical Leaders in Washington, DC on February 14-16, 2014. The Congress is an honors-only program for high school students who want to become physicians or go into medical research fields. The purpose of this event is to honor, inspire, motivate and direct the top students in the country who aspire to be physicians or medical scientists, to stay true to their dream and, after the event, to provide a path, plan and resources to help them reach their goal.
Sunny Bai: “In November 2008, I was struck by a car while walking to school, just one block from my house. The driver was an elderly man who was distracted by his seat neighbor and unexpectedly crashed into me, despite the fact that there was also a crossing guard. The impact of the collision was great enough to throw me twenty feet from where I was, knocking me unconscious. The paramedics arrived and I was taken by a helicopter to the Oakland Children’s Hospital. Despite having internal bleeding, a broken rib, cuts and scars all over my body, I was fortunate to have not only survived the incident, but to have thrived.
Dublin High School Kids Against Hunger Club
Mother Teresa once said, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one”. This is the motto for the Dublin High School Kids Against Hunger Club; they raise as much money as they can throughout the year to feed as many kids as they can.
DHS Kids Against Hunger Packing Event
Kids Against Hunger is an organization with over 100 packaging locations around the United States and in Canada all with the same purpose; to package food to send off to developing countries around the world. The food that they send is composed of four main ingredients: rice, soy, vitamins and flavoring, and vegetables. A single bag contains all nine essential amino acids required for complete nutrition and six servings, at only 25 cents per serving.
Dublin High School’s Gael Force Robotics Club has been working hard designing and building robots in order to reach their goal of attending the VEX 2014 World Championships in April, and you can help them get there! The team is currently competing in two online challenges and needs your votes. To vote, all you need to do is register on the VEX Robotics Forum (http://www.vexforum.com/register.php) and then visit the entry pages to cast your vote on the two entries:
- The club designed and built a massive trophy-delivering robot (video below) – view the entry and vote here.
- The club has also submitted their club website – view the entry and vote here.
In competition so far for the 2013-14 season:
- Dougherty Valley VEX Robotics Tournament (October 2013): Team 5327B won the Design Award and qualified for the State Championship in March
- Bellarmine VEX Robotics Tournament (November 2013): Team 5327B made it to quarterfinals and team 5327A to the semifinals
- Modesto VEX Robotics Tournament (December 2013): Team 5327A (a returning champion) won the tournament with teams 2059A and 21B. The Dublin High School Gael Force Robotics Club also won the Inspire Award (based on nominations by other teams). Team 5327B was ranked 7th overall in the tournament and became 4th seeded alliance captains.
For the third year in a row the Dublin community was treated to a preview of the Fallon Middle School, Wells Middle School and Dublin High School color guard and drum line performances. If you’ve never experienced a color guard or drum line performance, it’s a combination of theatre, music and precision that teaches teamwork, discipline and shows the payoff from hard work. The student performers, who compete against other schools across the Bay Area are both intensely serious and having a ton of fun. As the teams compete, they adjust and improve their performances based on feedback from the panel of judges that apply a strict rubric to competing schools.
Below is HD video of each performance. Enjoy and share!
Drum Line Performances
Fallon Middle School Drum Line
“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
Kimberly Bryant
As part of OneDublin.org’s Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Series, we recently spoke with Kimberly Bryant, founder of Black Girls Code, an organization whose mission is “to increase the number of women of color in the digital space by empowering girls of color ages 7 to 17 to become innovators in STEM fields, leaders in their communities, and builders of their own futures through exposure to computer science and technology.” Ms. Bryant earned a degree in electrical engineering, with a minor in computer science, at Vanderbilt University, and held a variety of roles in technology companies before founding Black Girls Code in 2011.
OneDublin.org: Before we talk about your organization, Black Girls Code, what inspired your passion for coding and engineering?
Black Girls Code classroom
Kimberly Bryant: “I consider myself an unconventional techie from the standpoint that I did not get involved or interested in computers and technology at a young age like many technologists. I was more into books and reading, and thought I’d go to school to become a lawyer. But because I was good in math and science in middle and high school, my guidance counselors recommended I pursue engineering in college. In college, I ended up majoring in electrical engineering and minoring in computer science because these two areas interested me.
“The experience with my daughter as a mom is totally different from my experience, my daughter has a natural affinity for technology, which has led me to find ways to channel her interests in a productive way. People can come to technology careers across many different paths.”
OneDublin.org: What are some of the most common misperceptions about engineering and coding, from your experience working with kids through Black Girls Code?
Preparing for the Common Core Curriculum
With the reality of Common Core knocking on our door, the Dublin Unified District has prepared a “Parent Resources” section on their website which parents may access to further their understanding of the new standards and learning our children will undertake. This online library of information contains various articles and links pertaining to the Common Core Standards, Smarter Balanced Assessments where practice and pilot tests are viewable, Professional Learning Communities, a glossary of terms as well as a link to resources and information in Spanish and much more.
DUSD’s Parents Resources will be continuously updated with articles and resources of relevant information that will be helpful to parents as our District as well as districts across the United States navigate through this new educational initiative. The “Parent Resources” tab may be found on the District’s website on the far right side of the menu bar just above the carousel of photos.
Please find below a short informative video explaining the need for The Common Core Standards and a Q&A.
Frederiksen Elementary School Hosts Superintendent Hanke for Coffee and Conversation
Coffee and Conversation
On Wednesday evening, the Frederiksen Elementary PFC hosted an evening in the library with Dr. Stephen Hanke. The purpose of the event was to discuss growth trends in the District, new technology tools available to both students and staff and preparation for the new Common Core Standards.
The 20 or so families in attendance were able to engage in a dialogue on a number of topics which included: Campus security, enrollment growth projections, the new parent resource tab on the District website and the Local Control Funding Formula, among others. The discussion then focused on the implementation of Common Core. At this stage, 45 states in the Union have adopted this standard and it is a seismic shift away from the standardized testing (STAR) that has been in place for over a decade. As such, the California Department of Education is allowing statewide districts to perform a trial run or a practice test in the spring. This “test” will allow local districts to evaluate their technological resources and to allow them to be better prepared when it is fully implemented in 2014-15.
At its heart, Common Core is intended to expand critical thinking, problem solving and to encourage a deeper level of learning. For the parents that elected to attend this evening, it was a rather unique opportunity to engage in an open dialogue with the DUSD Superintendent.
Bhavna Hariharan
The next profile in OneDublin.org’s ongoing Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Series features Stanford University Research Associate Bhavna Hariharan, who shares her experiences as a woman completing post graduate degrees in mechanical engineering, and how engineering provides the tools to address real world problems.
OneDublin.org: What inspired you to pursue engineering?
Bhavna Hariharan: “This may not sound like an obvious path, but since I was very young I always wanted to teach. Teaching was something I was very passionate about and in many ways I learned through teaching myself.
“I grew up in India, completing my education including my undergraduate degree before moving to the United States for post graduate studies. While growing up one of the things that sparked my interest in science was the encouragement of curiosity, not having to accept things as they are, the ability to ask new questions. The school I went to encouraged that kind of thinking and I realized that I wanted to teach students to be curious, to understand phenomena that fascinate you.
“Pursuing what interested me led me to specialize in the sciences, and I realized that as much as I enjoyed the language of mathematics, I was more interested in applied science – seeing how the things I was learning could be put into use. That led me to pursue a degree in engineering at Stanford University, ultimately earning a masters degree in mechanical engineering, and a PhD specializing in engineering education research. In doing so, I was able to satisfy my passion for building things and understanding how the world works.
“I’m currently working on sanitation and hygiene in rural India, and I challenge my undergraduate engineering students to come up with technologies in collaboration with community groups in India.”
OneDublin.org: What was your experience as a woman pursuing an engineering degree?
Life at the University of British Columbia – Why Not Canada?
Dublin High Commencement
When I committed to the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, I invoked surprise in a few individuals when I shared my decision. Many Americans do not consider Canada as an option for university, and some questioned why I chose not to go to a school in the United States. To me, it seemed that some felt it shocking that I would pick a Canadian school over an American one. Although I defended my choice, I had no real proof that it was the best school for me since I had never attended it. Now that my first semester classes have ended and all my finals have been turned in, I can without a doubt argue that the University of British Columbia is the best school for me. Why not Canada?
Adventure is important to me, and I wanted to go to a university that put me in the center of it. When I walk to class, I get the enjoyment of walking past thick forests, beautiful architecture and a vista of Vancouver’s breath-taking bay and soaring snow-capped mountains. Going to a university with a beautiful campus is essential for me because in times of stress, the view from a beach only ten minutes from my dorm is all I need.
OneDublin.org 