By: Alicia Tran and Sophia Bafaiz (Dublin High School student contributors)
Dublin High School’s Homecoming 2013 was a memorable week consisting of fun dress up days and diverse community events. This year’s Homecoming theme was the attractions of Disneyland. The freshman class theme was Toontown Land, the sophomore’s was Adventure Land, the junior’s was Tomorrow Land, and the senior’s was Fantasy Land. Every day was a different Dress-up Day where students had the opportunity to reveal their class pride and compete in friendly competitions during lunch. Students were awarded Homecoming class points, and the class with the most people tallied for spirit competitions won Most Spirited.
Homecoming Week at Dublin High School kicked off on Monday with Superhero Day. Students dressed up as their favorite superhero and conquered the school day one class at a time.
Dublin High Homecoming Skit Rally HD Video Journal 2013
Dublin High School Homecoming Skit Rally
Dublin High School’s Sports Complex was standing-room only Wednesday evening for the 2013 edition of the annual Homecoming Skit Rally. For the families, friends, alumni and curious community members who were unable to attend OneDublin.org is pleased to present all four skits and the cheer performance (with very special guests) in HD video, with a time lapse movie of the skits (if you only have two minutes to spare) as an added bonus. Photos from the event are available on OneDublin.org’s Facebook page (available here…).
Dublin High School Freshman Skit
Teacher Keira Andresen
In late April, OneDublin.org highlighted some truly inspiring moments at Dublin Elementary School during Autism Awareness Month. The Language and Social Skills (LASS) program seized this opportunity to provide a common learning platform for all of the students at Dublin Elementary. LASS teachers Keira Andresen and Jeanne Kane, aides and volunteers went on to conduct a two-day event that transformed their classroom into a sensory room. By establishing multiple stations, they provided Dublin students the opportunity to understand the challenges of their fellow students that are diagnosed with autism or other disorders across the spectrum. Examples of these stations included: attempting to write one’s name while wearing a ski glove, trying to assemble a Mr. Potato Head toy while a strobe light was flashing in the vicinity or pulling a sock onto their arm that had a “prickly” feeling. Some of these sensations and many others are common to those with Asperger syndrome or pervasive development disorder.
We thought that it was a fascinating and very powerful learning moment for all of the Kindergarten through 5th grade students at this site. However, this story did not end there. Less than 24 hours after publication of this article, the Alameda County Office of Education (ACOE) published their list of awardees for “Teacher of the Year” for each respective city. For Dublin, the honoree was Keira Andresen. A formal awards ceremony will occur on Thursday, October 3rd at the Castro Valley Center for the Arts. In order to cement this honor, the ACOE wanted to conduct a classroom visit at Dublin Elementary and to express personal congratulations to Ms. Andresen. This occurred on Monday and we were delighted to be present.
Dublin High School’s Eugene Chou Applies a Love of Math to Inspire Future Engineers
Dublin High Teacher Eugene Chou
Dublin High School’s Engineering and Design Academy has experienced dramatic growth since the program kicked off in the 2010-11 school year. Starting with 42 students and a single course (Principles of Engineering), the program now serves 190 students, includes five courses (Principles of Engineering, Introduction to Engineering Design, ROP Computer Integrated Manufacturing, Computer Science / Software Engineering, and Digital Electronics), and has grown from 2 sections to 8 sections of instruction time.
Dublin High teacher Eugene Chou, who earned an undergraduate degree in mathematical sciences from UC Santa Barbara and a masters degree in industrial engineering and operations research from UC Berkeley, has been a driving force behind the program and was named the Dublin Unified School District 2012 Teacher of the Year. Ms. Chou is also the Dublin High Gael Force Robotics Club advisor, donating many weekends in support of the team at robotics competitions across the Bay Area.
As part of our popular Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Series, which most recently featured Disney Imagineer Molly Rinke, OneDublin.org recently met with Ms. Chou to learn more about what inspired her passion for science, technology, engineering and math.
OneDublin.org: What influenced you to pursue math in college?
Eugene Chou: “I was always interested in problem-solving. My dad is a mechanical engineer, working more on the software side now, and was the type of person where if something broke in the house he would open it up, figure out what was going on and try to fix it, rather than buying a new one. I would be pulled into these adventures, trying to fix the VCR, so to the extent anyone sparked my interest in math and problem-solving, it was my dad. He taught me to be inquisitive about the world around me, and not just accept things the way they are.
“As far back as I can remember I’ve been interested in the way things work. I was educated back east where the schools I attended had great math and science programs, and I was doing a lot of cool math stuff, a lot of problem-solving rather than rote arithmetic. I remember math being my favorite subject and from a very young age I never thought about doing anything else other than getting into math. I always thought I’d be some type of mathematician, a problem solver.”
OneDublin.org: What did you get out of your undergraduate degree in math and what led you to pursue engineering for your masters degree?
Dublin High School Homecoming 2013 Schedule of Events
DHS Class of 2013 Homecoming Float
Dublin High School’s Homecoming is an annual opportunity for students to learn real world skills in collaboration, problem-solving, time management and team-building, while having fun and unleashing their creativity. The event involves students from across Dublin, including elementary and middle school students that participate in the parade and carnival, along with Dublin High alumni and the community. The Dublin High School Homecoming 2013 theme is Disney “Lands”, with each class competing for coveted Homecoming points:
- DHS Class of 2014 Seniors: “Fantasy Land”
- DHS Class of 2015 Juniors: “Tomorrow Land”
- DHS Class of 2016 Sophomores: “Adventure Land”
- DHS Class of 2017 Freshmen: “Toon Town”
Dublin High School Homecoming Schedule 2013
Dublin High Homecoming kicks off Monday October 7 and concludes on Saturday October 12 with the Homecoming dance. There are events every day giving all students a chance to participate. Several events including the Homecoming parade, carnival and football game are open to the community. The Dublin High School PFSO has prepared a “Homecoming for Dummies” guide available here. Below is a full breakdown of planned events:
Dublin High School’s Annual Club Faire Inspires Students to Get Involved
Dublin High UNICEF Club
Dublin High School recently hosted their annual Club Faire. The Club Faire is an opportunity for the diverse student groups on campus to promote their organizations and attract new members. As City of Dublin Mayor and Dublin High Student Activities Director Tim Sbranti stated, the Club Faire is “one of our single biggest activities that we do to get the most amount of students involved.” Dublin High has over sixty clubs this year, ranging from academics, services, hobbies, special interests, and religion. In other words, there is a club for everyone to join on campus! Students are also encouraged to create their own clubs and bring new perspectives to students at DHS.
Dublin High Drama Club
Among the clubs that participated in this year’s Club Faire were the Drama Club, the American Red Cross Club, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Club, and the California Scholarship Federation (CSF) Club. President Rachel Gregory and Vice-President Melany Scannell run the Drama Club, which organizes three major plays each year. They arrange the Fall Play (Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’), which is in rehearsals and opens Thursday October 24, the One-Acts, which will have a casting call around November for early-January performances, and the Spring Play. Students who join this club can expect to “have fun and find people who are very accepting. Everyone is really close and it is a nice way to get people to branch out and come out of their shell a little bit.”
Valley High School Challenge Day 2013 Opens Hearts and Minds
Valley High School Challenge Day 2013 Volunteers
As an exercise, imagine that you have been asked to express some of your innermost feelings, admit to mistakes that you’ve made in your life, and pledge changes that you’ll make from this day forward – all in public. This is precisely what occurred for the students at Valley High School this past Tuesday. Valley High is the alternative high school in the Dublin Unified School District. Valley High provides a supportive and constructive environment for students that are striving to complete their high school education in a setting that differs from Dublin High School.
OneDublin.org had the privilege to attend the previous edition of Challenge Day earlier this year, and was invited back by Counselor Liz Buckley. At VHS, a conscious decision was made to move up this event in the calendar so that the benefits from the program could provide a positive impact throughout the remainder of the school year. As with any externally provided program, the event is not free. Funding for Challenge Day came as a result of grant requests that were written by the Dublin Partners in Education (DPIE). As in previous years, the primary benefactors were Kaiser Permanente and the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. The presentation is also not possible without the assistance of volunteer facilitators consisting of Valley High staff, parents, community members and DPIE staff.
On Tuesday, the primary facilitators from Challenge Day were Randy Fortes and Jolana Hertz-Bishay. Mr. Fortes is a Livermore native and has worked with Challenge Day for seven years. Ms. Bishay is from Southern CA and had previously worked with the organization for five years. She recently took a break to raise her children and her visit to Valley was her first day back at work. As we had previously observed, the facilitators are a key ingredient to a successful day. It requires tremendous stamina, excellent listening skills and overflowing enthusiasm. This was certainly the case with both Randy and Jolana.
The day begins: The entire student body is welcomed into the Valley High gym with music blaring through mounted loudspeakers and an eager group of co-facilitators. All of the students take a seat in folding chairs that had been pre-arranged into a circle. Randy and Jolana each take turns at the microphone and try to give the participants an inkling of what the day may include. Mr. Fortes encouraged the crowd to “let go”, “be honest” and to ultimately “be the change.” Ms. Bishay asked the students to dream about the school that they wanted Valley to become and to fantasize about the life that they would like to lead. From there, the entire group went on to engage in group and individualized exercises designed to remove any apprehensions and to promote looking at one’s own life – whether through positive or negative experiences.
OneDublin.org recently met with Congressman Eric Swalwell, a Dublin native and Dublin High School Class of 1999 graduate, as he prepared to lead a town hall discussion on the Affordable Care Act. Swalwell shared his whirlwind of experiences since joining Congress earlier this year.
OneDublin.org: How has growing up in Dublin and serving as an Alameda County prosecutor helped you represent California’s 15th Congressional District?
Congressman Eric Swalwell
Congressman Eric Swalwell: “Growing up in Dublin, which was a middle-class, blue collar community when I was a child, has grounded me. Even though Dublin has changed a lot since I was a child, coming back home helps keep me connected to my roots.
“I’m fighting for the middle class in Congress. The middle class in America is shrinking, whereas in other countries like Brazil, Russia, India, and China the middle class is doubling. It’s a good thing for those countries as the gap between the rich and the poor has narrowed, but it’s not a great thing for the American worker. We’ve seen huge losses in California and the Bay Area.
“The economy’s still fragile and in a recovery mode. So when I talk about the middle class, I think I can talk credibly because that was my upbringing. My mom still works as a secretary. I still live in Dublin – the community where I grew up. I know what kind of toll the economy has taken on our current workforce and I know that if we don’t get more of our kids up to speed in science and math we are going to have a hard time competing for high skilled jobs.
“As a prosecutor I learned about a sense of fairness and justice, doing what’s right and standing up for victims; standing up against bullies. You encounter a lot of different bullies in Congress, and I’ve taken that sense of justice from the District Attorney’s office to Congress. I’ve spoken out a lot about equality when it comes to LGBT individuals and those who would seek to deny equal benefits or the right to marry. I relate my work in support of the LGBT community to my work as a hate crimes prosecutor in the D.A.’s office where my job was to represent the people and protect the victims of hate crimes.”
OneDublin.org: For students who only see Congress as polarized theatre that plays out on cable television, what is Congress actually like? What is a typical day, if there is such a thing?
Imagineer Molly Rinke on Creating Immersive Experiences at Walt Disney Imagineering
Disney 23 Expo Pavilion
In the likely event that you’ve visited a Disney theme park, stepped on to a Disney attraction, sailed away on a Disney cruise ship, or enjoyed Disney’s unique brand of immersive entertainment in other ways, you’ve experienced the end result of a Walt Disney Imagineering project. Walt Disney Imagineering was founded in 1952 as WED Enterprises to oversee the creation of the original Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, and is the creative and development arm of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. The word “Imagineer” (a portmanteau of the words “imagination” and “engineering”) has become synonymous with the team of artists, technicians, engineers, and scientists that work on location around the world to bring Disney-branded stories to life.
As part of OneDublin.org’s Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Series of interviews, I recently had the privilege of speaking with Imagineer Molly Rinke about her experiences creating Disney attractions, and what it means to be an Imagineer at the Walt Disney Company. Mrs. Rinke is a Class of 2004 graduate of the University of Southern California (USC) where she earned a bachelors and masters degree in computer science, focusing on intelligent robotics.
James Morehead: Describe your role at Walt Disney Imagineering.
Disney Imagineer Molly Rinke ©Disney
Molly Rinke: “I’ve been here for almost nine years now, and my official title is Ride Controls Systems Engineer. We are the group within Ride Engineering that is responsible for the hardware and software in all of our attractions through the entire lifecycle: design, build, install, and test.”
Morehead: How did your college education at USC help prepare you for Imagineering?
A Jump Start to Life at the University of British Columbia
Planning for university comes with stress, but planning for university as an international student brings with it even more pressure. Earlier this year I committed to attend the University of British Columbia north of the border in Vancouver. On top of registering for classes, getting housing, and figuring out how to get all my belongings onto a plane, I was also investigating how to get health insurance, choose and sign-up for a new cell phone plan, and set up a new bank account. The emotional aspect was also a big factor because leaving the country you’ve called home is a daunting thought.
Fortunately, the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC gives the opportunity for international students to adjust and figure out everything they need to. On August 14th, I left San Francisco and flew to Vancouver’s International Airport to join over 1,100 international students from over 150 countries to begin my orientation (in total there are 7,927 freshman in the UBC Class of 2017, with 2,082 attending from outside Canada). The program I attended is called Jump Start, a two-week program specifically designed for international students.
Immediately upon arrival at the university, I was greeted by multiple smiling faces ready to help me get settled. I was assigned to a learning community (a group of students with a similar major) that I would meet up with almost every day. I also learned of my jam-packed schedule of activities that would help me feel connected and at home in UBC.
OneDublin.org 