Mountain Views News          Saturday, March 19, 2011

8

EDUCATION & YOUTH

 
Mountain Views News Saturday, March 19, 2011 

SCHOOL DIRECTORY

BLAIR HIGH SCHOOL AND CHINESE MIDDLE SCHOOL EXCHANGE

On March 10th, Blair High 
School and No. 161 Middle 
School of Beijing, China held 
their 11th year of cultural and 
educational exchanges between 
the schools. Fifty-four students 
and their director, Mr. Liu and a 
few teachers, spent an afternoon 
at Blair visiting various 
classrooms and exchanging 
information with each other to 
foster continued camaraderie 
between our students, and this 
year, the visiting 10th grade 
students of school 161. Each 
year the Chinese students 
venture to the United States 
and visit some of our key cities 
– New York, Los Angeles, Las 
Vegas, and finally Pasadena, 
where they spend some time 
with the students of Pasadena 
Polytechnic School and at Blair. 
The exchange is fostered by 
the members of the Pasadena 
Sister Cities Committee with 
major logistical planning and 
arrangements made by Cathy 
Wei, who also teaches Chinese 
at Pasadena City College. 
Various grade levels are chosen 
for the annual trip.

This year, at the conclusion 
of the visit at Blair, School 161 
presented a check to Blair in the 
amount of $1,000 to be used 
over time to help pay for future 
cultural promotional activities.
Additionally, this year, 
the Pasadena Sister Cities 
Committee has paid for 
a scholarship to send one 
gregarious Blair student, Cairo 
Briceno, a junior, to join a 
group of Poly students who will 
be going to China for a visit 
March 17-26. Cairo was chosen 
from applicants at his school 
for the honor and privilege 
of representing Blair in this 
exchange of cultures. All of the 
students have been busy over 
the last several months studying 
some basic Chinese language 
skills, and about the culture and 
history of China.

On March 4th Jiang Xinhua, 
the Vice Chairwoman of the 
Xicheng District Committee of 
the Chinese People’s Political 
Conference (similar to our 
Deputy Mayor who supervises 
the Education field). Board along 
with the Assistant Director, 
Daqing Wang, the principal of 
school 161, Dawei Ding and 
the director of Curriculum and 
Instruction at Beijing Middle 
School #4, Hongyan Yu and a 
teacher at the Xicheng Foreign 
Language School, Yani Tang 
came to Blair to celebrate our 
long-standing relationship

which was initiated through 
computer conferencing between 
the schools started by retired 
Blair teacher, Rich Miyagawa 
. The delegation was warmly 
received by Blair staff and over 
a breakfast of fresh sweet and 
savory Chinese baked goods 
and tea there was reminiscing 
about past trips, sharing about 
each of the school’s education 
and culture. There was an 
exchange of gifts and photos to 
be treasured by all.

In order to further promote 
and enlarge the exchange 
program, Mr. Ding, principal of 
#161 school, announced at this 
meeting that they would like to 
cover the land expenses

 of room, board and travel 
for 1 teacher and 3 students 
from Blair to visit their school 
for the years 2011, 2012 and 
2103. Morning Bridge, the 
travel agency who has made the 
arrangements for School 161 for 
all of their trips has additionally 
offered to cover the air expenses 
for one teacher and one student 
from Blair as well. Ms. Christina 
Deng, the General Manager 
of Morning Bridge, made this 
generous offer in honor of her 
father, Mr. Deng Hao, who was a 
former director of school 161. In 
addition, Mrs. Trudell Skinner, 
principal of Blair, was invited by 
Principal Ding to be their guest 
at School #161 in celebration of 
their 100th anniversary.

Alverno High School

200 N. Michillinda Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

(626) 355-3463 Head of School: Ann M. Gillick 

E-mail address: agillick@alverno-hs.org

Arcadia High School

180 Campus Drive Arcadia, CA 91007

Phone: (626) 821-8370, Principal: David L. Vannasdall

Arroyo Pacific Academy

41 W. Santa Clara St. Arcadia, Ca, 

(626) 294-0661 Principal: Phil Clarke

E-mail address: pclarke@arroyopacific.org

Barnhart School

240 W. Colorado Blvd Arcadia, Ca. 91007

(626) 446-5588 Head of School: Joanne Testa Cross

Kindergarten - 8th grade

website: www.barnhartschool.com 

Bethany Christian School

93 N. Baldwin Ave. Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

(626) 355-3527 Principal: James Lugenbuehl

E-mail address: jml@bcslions.org

Carden of the Foothills School

429 Wildrose Avenue, Monrovia, CA 91016 626/358-9414 
626/358-5164 fax office@cardenofthefoothills.com

The Gooden School

192 N. Baldwin Ave. Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

(626) 355-2410 Head of School: Patty Patano

website: www.goodenschool.org

High Point Academy

1720 Kinneloa Canyon Road

Pasadena, Ca. 91107 626-798-8989

website: www.highpointacademy.org

LaSalle High School

3880 E. Sierra Madre Blvd. Pasadena, Ca. 

(626) 351-8951 

website: www.lasallehs.org

Monrovia High School

325 East Huntington Drive, Monrovia, CA 91016 

(626) 471-2000, 

Email: schools@monrovia.k12.ca.us

Norma Coombs Alternative School

2600 Paloma St. Pasadena, Ca. 91107

(626) 798-0759 Principal: Dr. Vanessa Watkins 

E-mail address: watkins12@pusd.us

Odyssey Charter School

725 W. Altadena Dr. Altadena, Ca. 91001

(626) 229-0993 Head of School: Lauren O’Neill

website: www.odysseycharterschool.org

Pasadena High School

2925 E. Sierra Madre Blvd. Pasadena, Ca. 

(626) 798-8901 Principal: Dr. Derick Evans

website: www.pasadenahigh.org

Pasadena Unified School District

351 S. Hudson Ave. Pasadena, Ca. 91109

(626) 795-6981 website: www.pusd@pusd.us

St. Rita Catholic School

322 N. Baldwin Ave. Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

(626) 355-9028 website: www.st-rita.org

Sierra Madre Elementary School

141 W. Highland Ave, Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

(626) 355-1428 Principal: Gayle Bluemel

E-mail address:gbluemel220@pusd.us

Sierra Madre Middle School 

160 N. Canon Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

(626) 836-2947 Principal: Gayle Bluemel

Contact person: Garrett Newsom, Asst. Principal

E-mail address: gbluemel220@pusd.us

Walden School

74 S San Gabriel Blvd

Pasadena, CA 91107 (626) 792-6166 

www.waldenschool.net

Weizmann Day School

1434 N. Altadena Dr. Pasadena, Ca. 91107

(626) 797-0204

Lisa Feldman: Head of School

Wilson Middle School

300 S. Madre St. Pasadena, Ca. 91107

(626) 449-7390 Principal: Ruth Esseln

E-mail address: resseln@pusd.us

Pasadena Unified School District

351 S. Hudson Ave., Pasadena, Ca. 91109

(626) 795-6981 Website: www.pusd@pusd.us

Pictured from left to right: Hongyan yu, Judy Boehr, Yani Tang, Cathy Wei, Dianne Moore, 
Dawei Ding, Alan Lamson, Xinhua Jiang, Valencia Jones, Trudell Skinner, Elizabeth 
Pomeroy, Daqing Wang, Josephine Chong, Christina Deng, Bob Aronoss

Catholic Schools Week at La Salle

La Salle High School participated in National Catholic 
Schools week by organizing various and massive community 
donation drives. 

 Following the School’s theme ‘”Get in the Game” students 
were asked to bring in Teddy Bears and other new or gently 
used stuffed toys on Monday to donate to the Department 
of Pediatrics at Huntington Hospital. Tuesday was Book 
Donation Day and students dressed as their favorite author 
or literary character while donating books to Madison 
Elementary School in Pasadena. 

 Wednesday was Teen Issues Day and students were 
informed, motivated and entertained by various speakers 
who talked about important issues and challenges faced 
by young people every day. Thursday was Hat Day where 
students donated new hats, caps and beanies to City of Hope, 
while wearing all sorts of colorful and creative chapeaus. 
Friday was Blanket Day and students donated blankets to the 
Door of Hope, a transition home in Pasadena.


Top back row; from left, Sophia Ratkovich ’11, John Auer ’11, 
Henry Smither ’11 Connor Jenkins ’12, Hayden Picker ’12, Kelly 
Ikeda ’12, Kyle Brumm ’12, Pamela Nankani ’11. Middle row; 
Cynthia Louie ’12, Christian Regalado ’12, Kathryn Haderlein ’12, 
Leanne Bishara ’11, Liz Sepetjian ’11. Front row; Luke Piscitello 
’11 and Chloe Cross ’11 Photo courtesy John Blackstock


Looking Into The Life Of A Teenager

 By Meaghan Allen

Last Sunday, we turned our clocks one hour forwards. Many of 
you, like myself, were probably wondering “Why?” or “What is 
the purpose?”. It is a pain to change our daily rituals and sleeping 
patterns an hour, because most of us are still functioning at the 
previous time, arriving to appointments and get-togethers one hour 
off of schedule. Well, I did a little research on the topic and my 
results were quite interesting. 

Daylight Saving Time (DST) was not proposed until the late 
nineteenth century, when New Zealand entomologist George 
Vernon Hudson approached the concept of advancing the clock two 
hours to lengthen the amount of sunlight available for his studies. 
But it was not until William Willet, an English builder, conceived 
the concept of why the clock should be moved forwards in 1905. 
He believed that people were wasting precious sunlight during the 
summer by sleeping in, and on February 12, 1908, he and Robert 
Pearce convinced England to pass the first Daylight Saving Bill. 
Today, England, America, most of Canada and Russia still practice 
DST, whereas most of Asia and South America no longer practice 
the time transition due to a rise in energy consumption, public 
safety, and the simple hassle of people adjusting. 

Luckily, when we change our clocks in the fall, we will gain an 
hour’s rest. If only we could always gain an extra hour instead of 
lose one, at least we would be getting the better part of the bargain. 
Then we won’t have anxious students rushing into class a half hour 
late because they forgot to change their clock (true story). All in all, 
DST is a fairly new concept in history, and it will be interesting to 
see how long it will last.

PUSD REOPENS ENROLLMENT 

PERIOD FOR 2011 – 2012 SIGNATURE 
PROGRAMS 

Applications Accepted February 28-March 4 for Limited Spots 
in College & Career Pathways and Spanish/Mandarin Chinese 
Dual Language Immersion Programs 

The Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) announced that it 
will accept student applications for its Signature Programs that 
offer themed or specialized instruction for elementary and high 
school students during a second priority open enrollment application 
period from February 28-March 4, 2011. 

A limited number of spots remain available for students who 
wish to attend one of the District’s Signature Programs but do 
not reside in the attendance area for that school. The two Signature 
Programs are:

• College & Career Pathways at PUSD high schools that 
offer a college preparatory curriculum with specialized course 
study in the following areas: 

o Health Careers 

o Creative Arts, Media & Design 

o Information & Technology 

o Engineering and Environmental Science 

o Business and Entrepreneurship 

o Arts, Entertainment and Media

• Dual Language Immersion, starting in Kindergarten, 
where students learn core academic subjects in English and another 
language: 

o Spanish at San Rafael Elementary 

o Mandarin Chinese at Field Elementary

The 2011-2012 Open Enrollment second priority application period 
for PUSD Signature Programs begins Monday, February 28 
and will end Friday, March 4, 2011 at 5 p.m. Applications are 
accepted online at www.openenrollment.info. 

Families who need internet access or help completing the online 
application can visit PUSD’s District’s Welcome Center, located 
in Room 121, 351 South Hudson, Pasadena. Computers and assistance 
are available Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 
To contact the Welcome Center-Office of Permits, call 626-396-
3600, extension 88340.

Students must reside within the areas served by PUSD: Altadena, 
Pasadena and Sierra Madre. Students applying for Pathways 
must be current 8th graders or current 9th graders who do not 
reside in the attendance area of the Pathway they are choosing. 
Students applying for Dual Language Immersion Programs must 
enter Kindergarten in Fall 2011 and be 5 years old on or before 
December 2, 2011. Students accepted into a signature program 
are granted a permit which will not be renewed if the student 
declines to remain in the program.