Unfortunately, drug and alcohol abuse by minors occurs in every large and small community across the United States. Dublin is not immune to this problem. In an effort to proactively open the discussion about this problem, the Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) has commenced a public program for its citizens to address this issue and others that are our impacting our youngest citizens. Under the umbrella title of “Courageous Conversations”, the District hosted an event at the Dublin High School Student Union on Thursday evening. The subject of this presentation was an open and candid conversation about how to talk to one’s children about drug and alcohol abuse.
Through the cooperation of several organizations, an impressive roster of speakers was assembled to help parents understand the impact and consequences of substance abuse. Assistant Principal Theresa Rodgers presided over the evening and served as the facilitator. The presenters included: Tim Bartley from Teen Esteem, Sergeant Dave Snider, April Rovero of the National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse, Nikki Montez of Mothers With a Purpose and John Tompkins of Team Edserve.
Dublin Integrity in Action (DIIA), a 501(c)3 charity, supports the Dublin Unified School District Character Development Program. The 4th Annual Bowl-A-Rama funds will help DIIA accomplish their primary goal of supporting teachers and school administrators with character development materials for the classroom, and to honor students who demonstrate Integrity in Action character traits. A fundamental tenet for DIIA is to promote Integrity within the Dublin community through the students at every school.
The Bowl-A-Rama will be held at the Earl Anthony Dublin Bowl on Sunday March 3rd. The event organizers are seeking event sponsors, lane sponsors and five person bowling teams. Registration forms for sponsors are available here, and for teams are available here.
Please support INTEGRITY in our community!
Related articles:
- Dougherty Elementary Chalk Art Festival Celebrates Dublin Integrity in Action
- DHS Recognizes Students With Integrity In Action
- A City with Integrity
Dublin Integrity in Action, a non-profit, is partnered with the Dublin Unified School District, Dublin Partners in Education, the City of Dublin and the Dublin Chamber of Commerce
Megan Rouse Wins Provisional Appointment to Dublin School Board
Megan Rouse
As previously reported by OneDublin.org, the Board of Trustees was slated to both nominate and to elect a Provisional Appointment. This vacancy was created when former Trustee David Haubert resigned his position in order to elevate to the Dublin City Council by virtue of his election win last November.
The Board of Trustees consists of five members. Mr. Haubert’s term had two years remaining which prompted the appointment scenario versus incurring the high cost of a special election. Interested applicants were requested to deliver a completed application by January 11th and all applicants were interviewed during the week ending January 25th. Trustees Sean Kenney and Amy Miller directed the work of the nomination committee and were not permitted to divulge their feedback with their fellow Trustees as required by the Brown Act.
Two finalists were forwarded to Superintendent Dr. Stephen Hanke and to the remainder of the Board for consideration. A final public interview was conducted at the District Boardroom on Tuesday evening. Regina Hancher, a business systems director and Megan Rouse, a financial planner, were the last two candidates standing.
Dublin School Board Provisional Appointment to be Decided Tuesday
The open seat on the Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) Board of Trustees will be filled with a provisional appointment on Tuesday January 29 at the Dublin School Board meeting (6:30pm, DUSD Board Room – 7471 Larkdale Avenue). DUSD recently announced the shortlist of two candidates from a field of seven: Ms. Regina Hancher and Ms. Megan Rouse. The provisional appointment fills the seat vacated by David Haubert, who resigned after winning the election for a Dublin City Council seat.
According to information published by DUSD “A nominating committee, made up of Board Vice President Sean Kenney and Trustee Amy Miller reviewed applications and interviewed all available candidates between January 22 and January 25, 2013. There were seven applications submitted. Seven interviews were held during the week of January 21, 2013.”
At the December 11, 2012 meeting, the Board determined that a provisional appointment would be made. From DUSD, “The process involved announcing the vacancy and calling for nominations followed by a review of applications and potential interviews of candidates. Interviews were held with all seven candidates. Two candidates were nominated to be interviewed by the entire Board. Following the interviews, a majority vote of the Board will select the provisional appointee. The provisional appointment will be posted within 10 days for public review for a period of 30 days. Notice will also be made if no petition calling for a special election is filed in the office of the County Superintendent of Schools in that time frame, the provisional appointment becomes effective.”
by Monica Moorjani (Dublin High School Class of 2012 and University of California, Davis freshman)
At 5:45 AM (Eastern Standard Time), my alarm buzzed. It was time to make the journey across Washington D.C. to attend the 57th Presidential Inauguration. I gulped down a hot cup of coffee, piled on the layers, and grabbed my festive ‘Obama’ beanie as I headed out.
The walk to the metro station was bitterly cold. Street lamps provided the only source of light in the darkness of the early morning, but the city was as busy as if it were noon. I shivered past the security guards and policemen who were assembled along the streets, prepared for the long day ahead. Troops of Boy Scouts huddled together, probably discussing their volunteer schedule for the day, and hundreds of middle and high school students (on their school trip to D.C.) made their way toward the National Mall, where they would find a spot in the general admission section. I was surrounded by people of all ages and races, from an elderly man with a walking stick to a young child wrapped in bulky clothing. It may have been six in the morning, but there were no feelings of tiredness in the air, just pure excitement.
By 6:40 AM, I made it to the security checkpoint of the Northwest Standing area. The line was long, and as I waited, the sun began to come up from behind the Capitol Building, painting the navy-blue sky orange and pink. The sunrise marked the official start of this very exciting day.
OneDublin.org recently met with Chris Harral (Dublin High School Class of 2012 and Pace University freshman) to talk about his first few months in college and the transition from Dublin to New York City. Chris was in town visiting with family and friends, and catching his peers perform in the Dublin High Drama Club Student-Directed One Acts. Chris had a busy senior year before heading off to college – performing in the Contra Costa Civic Theatre production of “Rabbit Hole”, the Pacific Coast Repertory Theatre production of “Hairspray”, winning first place at the Ohlone College Theatre Festival for an excerpt from “The Merchant of Venice” and directing fellow students in the Dublin High Student-Directed One Acts 2012.
OneDublin.org: Why did you end up selecting Pace University in New York City to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Acting?
Chris Harral: “I chose Pace University out of the colleges I was accepted into, including Ithaca College and the University of Michigan, for several reasons. Pace offered me good scholarship money and I felt like they wanted me the most. They kept calling me, asking me if they could help with the application process, and when I started to research the program and the location (lower Manhattan) I felt it was going to be the right school for me. Pace also allows students to audition outside of the school, if you have time in-between your classes; they want you to start your career before you graduate. They want you to get the experience of auditioning, hopefully getting some roles and maybe failing (since that’s good experience as well) – experiencing the whole process of auditioning in a professional setting.”
OneDublin.org: Describe the process of getting accepted into an acting program. Did you have to audition?
Harral: “I went down to L.A. because a lot of schools will hold unified auditions where 19-20 schools go to one location, in 5-6 different cities, and stay for 4-5 days to audition applicants. The schools usually ask you to prepare two contrasting monologues, some will have you perform both, some one, usually followed by an interview. One of the things most schools say is that it’s just as much an audition for them as it is for you, because they are also trying to sell the school and their program to you. That part of the process made me feel more empowered than just going into an audition hoping they will choose me. If the school representatives liked what they saw in the audition then during the interview they are really trying to get you to go to the school.”
Common Core Standards Coming to the Dublin Unified School District
If you have a student in elementary school, middle school or just starting high school, a significant change is coming that will impact how your child’s academic progress is measured. A whole new set of standards and assessments are coming our way, starting in 2014-15, when the Dublin Unified District is officially implementing the new Common Core State Standards. Full implementation will take several years, replacing the current standards and STAR testing.
California is one of forty-five states embarking on this new educational initiative. Alaska, Nebraska, Virginia, and Texas are not following suit and Minnesota has only adopted the English core standards. The District of Columbia, as well as four of the US territories (Guam, American Samoa Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands), are on board as well.
The Common Core State Standards are an initiative coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). The list of standards was developed collaboratively with teachers, school administrators and other experts with the intention of preparing our children for the rigors of college and of the workforce.
As these standards are common, all students living in the US (excluding the states mentioned above) will be exposed to learning environments demanding higher-level thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.
Two different national consortiums are responsible for developing the assessments our children will take in place of the current Standardized Testing and Reporting (Star tests). California will be using assessments developed by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. Each year our students in grades 3 to 8 will be tested in English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics and in high school grade 11 students will also be given a summative assessment to determine whether they are college and career ready. Interim assessments will also be used to inform students of their progress towards learning of the standards. New and interesting will be the use of computer adaptive technology which will adjust the difficulty of questions throughout the assessment depending on how well a student is doing.
To better understand the purpose and impact of the Common Core State Standards, I met with Dr. Tim McCarty, Assistant Superintendent for the Dublin Unified School District.
Mary Morehead: Why did the Common Core State Standards come about?
Expanding Your Horizons Science Program for Middle School Girls Returns to UC Berkeley
Is your middle school daughter interested in science, technology, engineering or math? If so, there is a terrific local opportunity to further that interest being held on the UC Berkeley campus Saturday March 2. “Expanding Your Horizons” (EYH) is a national non-profit program created to motivate women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. Over 26,000 young women participate in Expanding Your Horizons events every year, with UC Berkeley hosting an event for the second time this year.
“Expanding Your Horizons is about providing strong female role models in sciences, math, and engineering to middle school girls and showing them that science is fun! We want to empower and inspire young women to follow their dreams and pursue careers in math and sciences. We are so excited to host this conference on March 2, 2013 and hope to see you there!” -Sydney Glassman, PhD candidate– Dept. of Environmental Science, Policy and Management – UC Berkeley
Last year’s UC Berkeley event attracted 221 middle school students who participated in 18 different workshops supported by 58 workshop leaders. In all 150 UC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate student volunteers helped make the event a tremendous success. This year 25 workshops are planned covering a diverse range of science, technology, engineering and math topics (see below for more details).
During the day long event, participants will hear from UC Berkeley professors, graduate students and industry professionals covering biology, chemistry, physics, engineering and other STEM-related fields. The event includes fun, hands-on activities. Students choose three different workshops from a broad selection, attend a keynote presentation and end the day with an undergrad college panel.
Parents are recommended to register their child early as this event is expected to be very popular; online registration is available here (registration closes February 25) and is only $15 (thanks to donations and sponsors).
“Rent”, Jonathan Larson’s Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical is coming to Pleasanton’s Firehouse Arts Center for a 9 performance run (opening Friday January 25 and closing Sunday February 10). OneDublin.org was recently invited to a rehearsal to see the production in development – while the sets were incomplete and the staging details still being refined the passion and power of the cast was evident (photos and video included below). During the run of the show, theatre lovers can also enjoy a special opportunity to interact with the cast during a free “Inside the Show” discussion with the actors and director after the Sunday Matinee performance on January 27th, 2013.
The Pacific Coast Repertory Theatre production, led by award-winning director Jasen Jeffrey, brings a fresh vision on this contemporary piece of musical theatre. Rent is about “community, support, love.…the telling of personal stories we can all relate to. Jason goes on to explain, “in the show, we have gay/lesbian couples, transgenders, drug addicts, the topic of HIV/AIDS, but it’s not about that; it’s about the relationships….it’s about community, true relationships, and how they ultimately end up changing our lives.”
Life at UC Berkeley – A Day in the Life of a Cal Bear
by Tatum Wheeler (Dublin High School Class of 2012 and University of California, Berkeley freshman)
The application process was over and my decision was final: UC Berkeley would be my educational home for the next four years. Little known secret: Berkeley was not my dream school. Having grown up in the Bay Area, UC Berkeley was not even on my radar; I had hopes of going somewhere on the East Coast, although fate said otherwise. I had not even toured Berkeley until I was accepted and as many had said before, it was really my tour guide who helped me fall in love with the campus. Looking back, although it was not initially my dream school, UC Berkeley has become my dream school. Dublin High School’s counseling staff is always saying you will get into the school you were meant to go to and although that may not be what you want to hear amidst stressful applications and letters of recommendation, it really is true.
Cal Women’s Crew Team
The day had come. I had said my goodbyes, had decorated my room and I was on my own. During that first month, I joined the Cal Women’s Crew team as a coxswain, something I had never done before college. Though walking onto a team is atypical of the college experience, it shows just how many new opportunities are available in college. Through AP credit from the AP’s I took, I was also able to receive 24 units (over a semester’s worth of work) and fulfill some general requirements. Throughout the first semester, I also learned some of the nuances of Berkeley: the inconsistent weather, Berkeley time, and the Mainstacks system. I also developed a daily schedule, which although no one can ever predict a day in college, is generally as follows:
OneDublin.org 