Tristan Elias
OneDublin.org recently spoke with Tristan Elias (Dublin High School Class of 2013 and University of Colorado – Boulder freshman) to talk about his first few months in college and the transition from Dublin to Boulder, Colorado. During his time at Dublin High, Tristan was an accomplished athlete playing both varsity football and baseball, and served as student body secretary.
OneDublin.org: What led you to choose the University of Colorado – Boulder over other options?
Tristan Elias: “I knew the direction I wanted to go, studying biological sciences, so I Googled ‘biological sciences schools’ when researching options. Boulder came back as an option and since I love to snowboard, it looked like a cool fit. I started looking more into what Boulder had to offer and attended a local event run by the school with my parents to learn more about the campus and the programs, and fell in love with the school. While I hadn’t heard back from the UC [University of California] applications, I was set on attending the University of Colorado. While I felt confident I would be admitted, I didn’t know what to expect.”
OneDublin.org: Describe the feeling of receiving your first acceptance notification.
Meet Dublin High School’s Newest Teachers
By: Alicia Tran and Sophia Bafaiz (Dublin High School student contributors)
At Dublin High School, students are fortunate to attend a high performing school with dedicated and friendly teachers. This year, students of Dublin High School have been graced with several new teachers, all from different backgrounds. Each new teacher has the amazing ability to enhance students’ lives and prepare them for a successful future ahead. We are excited to introduce the new teachers of Dublin High School.
Evan Branning
Mr. Evan Branning is a Culinary Arts teacher at Dublin High School. Mr. Branning joined Dublin High School because he heard about Mrs. Lawson’s actions in expanding the culinary arts program at Dublin High School and “thought that it would a great opportunity to be a part of.” His favorite part about Dublin High School is how dedicated the students are in achieving a high education.
Allison Mongold
Ms. Allison Mongold teaches Geometry and Algebra II at Dublin High School. She received her teaching credential from Sonoma State University and got her BA in Mathematics from University of the Pacific. Ms. Mongold recently moved to the area to live with her sister from Berkeley, where she taught two summer math courses at UC Berkeley. Ms. Mongold believes that Dublin is a great place to live and Dublin High School is a fantastic place to teach. Her favorite thing about Dublin High School is the community and the whole math department. “Everyone is so welcoming and the campus is just gorgeous.”
Dublin Celebrates New Wells Middle School Humanities “B” Building with Emotional Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony
Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony
A few November raindrops were not going to prevent the Dublin community from celebrating the newest teaching structure on the campus of Wells Middle School. On Wednesday evening, a formal ceremony was conducted to christen the new Humanities building that will house all English and History instruction. Highlights from this project include a new Library/Media center and 14 state-of-the-art classrooms.
This new structure was made possible by Phase 2 Measure C funds. The planning and design for this project started in 2010 with construction starting in the summer of 2012. A pleasant surprise was that the move-in was projected to occur during the Winter break. However, construction was moving very smoothly and on budget. As an outcome, certificated staff members were able to move into their new classroom during the weekend of Halloween – a full seven weeks ahead of schedule.
For those familiar with this school site, it’s been an interesting odyssey. The previously existing round classroom structure was largely demolished. The original building offered very little natural sunlight in the classrooms and the design offered very little continuity. As the destruction and construction occurred, portable classrooms were installed on the west end of the campus. By the early portion of 2013, B building really began to take shape. Not long after the framing was installed, it was obvious to see that the infrastructure, glass, stucco and other elements were not far behind. As the school year commenced, landscaping was in place and it was evident that occupation of this new space was at hand.
Dublin High School Grad Jessica Scrimshaw on the National Student Exchange Program
by Jessica Scrimshaw (Dublin High School Class of 2011, CSU Monterey Bay Class of 2015)
Jessica Scrimshaw
Although I love being by the beach at California State University, Monterey Bay, I found myself yearning to travel to try something new. I had heard about studying abroad and loved the idea of traveling to another country and immersing myself in their culture, but no particular country stood out to me. How could I go to another country when I hadn’t seen anything of my own country? That’s when I knew the National Student Exchange program, or NSE, was going to be perfect for me.
NSE is offered at a large number of colleges across the nation, including Hawaii and Alaska, which allows students the opportunity to go anywhere they want. Now, the program isn’t only good for being able to live in another state for a semester or year without paying those pesky out-of-state expenses that most colleges charge you. It also lets students take classes that may not be offered at their school, or even experience a major that they may have always been curious about, but sadly is missing at their home school. A friend of mine didn’t have a media or film program at her school so she participated in NSE to see if it was worth it to transfer to another school to continue pursuing media and film.
Years before Alan Menken and Howard Ashman enchanted moviegoers with Disney’s “The Little Mermaid”, they collaborated on the spoof of 50’s sci-fi movies “Little Shop of Horrors”. The musical became a household name thanks to a successful film version starring Steve Martin. The Pacific Coast Repertory Theatre production of the popular show opens tonight at Pleasanton’s Firehouse Arts Center and runs through November 24 (performances Fridays & Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm).
The production features Dublin’s own Joy Sherratt, who teaches at Fallon Middle School. Ms. Sherratt, who co-founded the Pacific Coast Repertory Theatre, was recently profiled by OneDublin.org (read more…).
OneDublin.org was recently invited to attend a dress rehearsal to preview the production (video and photos below), which promises to entertain with signature Menken/Ashman music and PCRT’s innovative set design, talented cast and live pit orchestra.
Sandia National Labs’ Jovana Helms Combines a Passion for Engineering with Securing our Country
Sandia’s Jovana Helms
Sandia National Laboratories focus on rendering an “exceptional service in the national interest” (President Harry Truman). What began as an engineering laboratory during World War II is now a diverse environment that employs over 8,400 professionals in science, technology, engineering and math. Among the many national security priorities facing our country, Sandia focuses on safeguarding the nation’s nuclear arsenal, supporting and assessing defense systems, moving forward our goal of energy independence, and supporting homeland and international security initiatives.
OneDublin.org recently had the opportunity to meet with Sandia’s Senior Member of Technical Staff, and Dublin resident, Jovana Helms. Ms. Helms, who earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, and then proceeded to complete a masters and PhD in wireless communications and signal processing at the University of California – Davis, actively supports education outreach programs in the Tri-Valley and recently participated in a Women in STEM event hosted by Congressman Eric Swalwell. Earlier this year, Sandia recognized young women for outstanding achievement in math and science (read more…).
OneDublin.org: What is the role of Sandia National Laboratories?
Special Athletes Shine in Soccer Competition at Dublin High School
Special Olympics Soccer Competition Torch Bearer
You may remember a somewhat overcast morning last Thursday in Dublin. However, inside Gaels Stadium there were hundreds of beaming faces. These were the faces of some very young students, families and staff members and even some grandparents. This day marked the Second Annual school-based Special Olympics Soccer Competition. While the concept of Special Olympics was hatched in the 1960’s by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the history in Northern California did not begin until 1995. On the heels of a very successful track and field event last year, Dublin High School took the lead in hosting this day’s activities. Pre-Kindergarten through fifth grade children were the focal point of this event. Four soccer fields were clearly coned off on the sports field and the athletes were free to have a great time.
Adding another level of pageantry was the presence of many service men and women from Camp Parks. They lined the track as the Dublin High School Irish Guard band and students paraded through. The service people also served on the perimeters of each soccer field. The Dublin High Band & Guard then took their position in the stands and provided “pep” music for all of those in attendance. In all, 221 student athletes were present to compete. This was a Tri-Valley event which included those from Pleasanton, Livermore and Dublin. However, also participating were students from Sunol and as far away as Mountain House. There was no need to wonder when the overcast skies would break as there were enough smiling faces in Gaels Stadium to illuminate the field. OneDublin.org had the pleasure of covering this day by a direct invitation through Eric Hamilton, Dublin Unified School District Adapted Physical Education Instructor. We also had the opportunity discuss the day’s event with Tri-Valley educators.
Melissa Chicconi has been employed as a Special Day Class (SDC) teacher in Dublin since 2005 and has worked at Frederiksen Elementary School since 2008 – often with students with moderate to severe disabilities. Prior to her arrival in Dublin, she worked for many years in the Riverside Unified School District with a similar population – both pre-school and Kindergarten. She states that “I live for those small moments when my children “get” the concept that we’re trying to teach and feel proud when they can do things on their own that were once so difficult.”
Dublin High School Sophomore Honors His Mother by Organizing Breast Cancer Fundraiser
Breast cancer is spreading at an alarming rate. We have been told that this condition is affecting one in eight women in the United States – an alarming rate. For a moment, put yourself in the shoes of a young high school student. Your mother has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Immediately, the family is upside-down, yet the daily functions of the family need to carry on. However, this story includes a positive outcome and a Dublin family was willing to share their story. Under this backdrop, OneDublin.org had the pleasure of attending the “Boo!..Bie Scare Halloween Breast Cancer Fundraiser” on Friday, October 18, at the Pleasanton Masonic Center.
In August 2012, Madeleine (Maddie) Romero-Salas, mother of Matthew and Inigo, felt a lump on her left breast. She confirmed this discovery with her husband, Ignacio. She immediately scheduled a mammogram and an ultrasound. The results didn’t look good. It seemed that she also had some enlarged auxiliary lymph nodes. The results from the first biopsy prompted a PET/CT Scan. The results were the same as the initial scan, however, they found an additional lump on her left ovary. The resulting diagnosis moved the family to decide upon a chemotherapy treatment which commenced in October, 2012. Thus, this commenced a lengthy journey of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. While Maddie’s treatment required the removal of several lymph nodes, it also required continuing doses of Tamoxifen for several years to come. This story is being told simply because a Dublin student and a loving son decided to turn a personal challenge into an event that would benefit many others. While Matthew Romero-Salas is at the heart of this story, the primary benefactor of his efforts is the Sandra J. Wing Healing Therapies Foundation.
“The Foundation” supports many of hundreds of healing therapies and treatment options. The focus is on five therapies: Acupuncture, Acupressure, Therapeutic Massage, Guided/Visual Imagery and Deep Breathing Meditation. Sandra Wing is a dual cancer survivor. In 2008, she founded a foundation that provides funds so that cancer patients can experience the immediate benefit of complementary therapies to help alleviate the side effects caused by radiation and chemotherapy. OneDublin.org had the opportunity to visit with Ms. Wing and here are her responses:
OneDublin.org: Please explain how you came in contact with the Romero-Salas family. Did Maddie benefit from your services?
Dr. Amy Mainzer
The night sky and its seemingly limitless expanse of stars, asteroids, satellites, planets, galaxies and distant objects undiscovered has been the source of inspiration for writers, artists, scientists and most recently the wildly popular film ‘Gravity’. I recently had the opportunity to speak with NASA scientist Dr. Amy Mainzer, a Deputy Project Scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory who was recently included in a 60 Minutes segment on detecting asteroids. Ms. Mainzer, who earned a B.S. in Physics with honors from Stanford University, an M.S. in Astronomy from the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of California, Los Angeles, is the latest profile in our popular Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) series of articles.
James Morehead: What inspired your love for science, and astronomy in particular?
Dr. Amy Mainzer: “When I was a little kid, five or six, I always liked playing outside, and exploring what was going on in nature. When I was in first grade my parents bought me a kids book on Greek myths, Perseus, Andromeda, all that good stuff. I remember going to the library and looking in an encyclopedia to learn more and found there were multiple definitions for many of these mythological figures, that Perseus and Andromeda are also constellations, and that struck a chord. I started out learning about mythological characters and fell in love with astronomy!
“That sparked my imagination, and left me wanting to learn more about the universe, the space around us. Where I lived, in Akron, Ohio, there wasn’t access to a lot of information on astronomy, so I read everything I could in the library. Before the Internet, information was really hard to come by, especially up-to-date information about space missions. I remember clinging to the newspaper and watching anything I could find on TV about Voyager, the mission to the planets.
Morehead: I was speaking with a friend of the family recently, a UC Berkeley student who is pursuing science, and he described middle school science as “the history of science” vs. true exploratory science. What does it mean to be a scientist and is the reality different from the experience of many students in middle and high school?
Mainzer: “A real career in science is nothing like the classes in school and unfortunately that’s how we lose a lot of people. A lot of potential scientists get turned off because they think being a scientist is like the classes that they take, which can be very focused on memorizing lists of long words that don’t convey a concept or teach your brain how to think; real science isn’t like that at all. Real science is about asking interesting questions and figuring out how can we solve them. Real functioning life as a researcher has so little to do with the memorization of facts and lists that it’s surprising we still teach that way.”
Accounting Best Practices Workshop
It couldn’t have been the easiest way to start a new job. Freshly minted Principal Brett Nelson at Dougherty Elementary School was barely two months into his new position when he began to hear whispers. The whispers became allegations which then led to an investigation. At the heart of it, some were voicing suspicions of potential fiscal improprieties within the Dougherty Parent Faculty Club (PFC). Charges of this nature needed to be substantiated. A process that included the school and District personnel began. The preliminary findings prompted both parties to then turn this matter over to the Dublin Police Department. As this is an ongoing investigation / prosecution, OneDublin.org will not comment on the current status of the case.
However, the aura of this active case hung like a dark cloud over Dougherty. Reforms and safeguards were immediately implemented. In spring 2013, several local news outlets announced that an arrest of a parent volunteer had been made. The subject then became much larger as families at other sites wondered aloud about the security of funds at their own respective schools. While Principal Nelson recognized the need to reinstate the confidence of the parents at Dougherty, DUSD also realized the vital need for enhanced training in fraud prevention. That District-wide training was presented in the form of workshops last week.
A subject matter expert was enlisted to discuss strategies with both administrators and PFC leaders. Jeri Wenger possesses deep ties to numerous school districts throughout California. She has gained over 30 years of management and technical experience in public education. Additionally, Ms. Wenger has accumulated over 20 years as a Principal/Partner with two CPA firms and a compliance and advocacy consulting organization. Jeri is very familiar with DUSD as she has previously worked with the district in delivering information on how school organizations can lawfully raise funds. OneDublin.org was invited to attend some of these sessions and the dialogue was fascinating. First, we had a visit with the facilitator.
OneDublin.org 