Mountain Views News          Saturday, October 8, 2011

8

EDUCATION & YOUTH

Mountain Views News Saturday, October 8, 2011

SCHOOL DIRECTORY

PUSD WINS MAJOR ARTS EDUCATION GRANT

 $1 Million Three-Year Grant Connects Arts Education with Math

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: Gilbert Barraza, Jr.

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

Phone: (626) 396-5890 - Fax: (626) 355-0388 

Principal: Esther Salinas

Sierra Madre Middle School 

160 N. Canon Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

Phone: (626) 396-5910 - Fax: (626) 836-2964

 Principal: Garrett Newsom

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

The Pasadena Unified School District 
(PUSD) Superintendent Jon R. Gundry 
today announced that the district, in 
partnership with Pasadena’s Armory Center 
for the Arts, the Pasadena Educational 
Foundation (PEF), and UCLA, has been 
awarded a three-year $1 million U.S. 
Department of Education grant to fund 
a program that connects arts education 
with math. PUSD’s grant is one of only 13 
federal Professional Development for Arts 
Educators (PDAE) grants awarded across 
the country this year. School districts must 
partner with local non-profit agencies to 
qualify.

“Connecting arts instruction with 
mathematical concepts develops the critical 
thinking skills that are so important for 
the jobs of tomorrow,” said Superintendent 
Gundry. “Coming on the final year of 
the PUSD/Armory Center for the Arts 
Artist/Teacher Collaborative, this grant 
continues to provide access to high quality 
arts instruction and to closely connect our 
students with the nationally recognized arts 
resources of Pasadena.”

The federal grant will fund Artful 
Connections with Math, a project that 
was co-designed by PUSD’s math coach 
and Arts Education Department, with the 
Armory Center for the Arts. The UCLA 
National Center for Research on Evaluation, 
Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) 
is the project’s evaluation partner. The 
Pasadena Educational Foundation 
supported the application process.

The grant expands a program piloted 
at San Rafael Elementary School in the 
last two years by the district’s math coach 
and teaching artists from the Armory that 
uses innovative standards-based visual 
arts lessons to target key math learning 
standards. The program has yielded notable 
improvements among underperforming 
students based on pre- and post-test findings 
at the second and third grade levels. The 
pilot was funded with a seed grant from the 
Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation, 
which also provided the seed funding 
for the Armory/PUSD pilot that won the 
Artist/Teacher Collaborative federal grant 
three years ago.

Artful Connections with Math 
transforms the program into a professional 
development model that builds competence 
among elementary school multi-subject 
teachers to use the visual arts as a vehicle 
for providing memorable and engaging 
experiential learning opportunities that 
deepen students’ understanding of the way 
that math works.

“Art can play a transformational role 
in student achievement by opening the 
door to learning. Within math, art helps 
to make abstract concepts more concrete, 
understandable, and approachable,” said 
Scott Ward, Executive Director of the 
Armory Center. “The Armory’s vibrant and 
long term partnership with PUSD allows 
this effort and others to flourish and this 
partnership will again be proven to be a 
true key to student success.”

Armory teaching-artist specialists 
are all practicing artists with advanced 
degrees chosen for their teaching ability. 
They will collaborate with participating 
PUSD classroom teachers to develop 
skills and strategies that support effective 
and sustained delivery of California and 
national standards-based arts education 
instruction, in alignment with the visual 
and performing arts curriculum adopted 
by PUSD in 2007.

“Award of the grant for Artful 
Connections with Math reflects upon the 
high quality work completed through over 
the past two years in the previous federal 
arts professional development,” said Patrick 
Conyers, Executive Director of PEF, the 
foundation that provides grant-writing 
services for the district. “The PUSD, 
Armory, and UCLA CRESST teams have 
maintained both a careful stewardship of 
the federal funding and a productive and 
collaborative working relationship between 
the three organizations. The success of their 
earlier work augurs well for the future of 
arts education in our public schools.”

The federal grant will benefit an estimated 
1,800 elementary school students at 16 Title 
1 schools in PUSD. Schools are designated 
for the federal Title 1 program when more 
than 81 percent of students participate in 
the free and reduced school lunch program.

ALVERNO XCOUNTRY SPIKERS WIN LEAGUE OPENING MEET

By Lara L. Larramendi

Led by its top two runners, Eryn Blakely and Katherine Haysbert, 
Alverno’s Cross Country Varsity team bested Bishop Conaty with 
a score of 33-79 at the Horizon League opening meet held on 
Wednesday September 28th at the Griffith Park course.

To earn the varsity win, Alverno’s runners finished 1, 2, 7, 11, and 
12. They were in order of finish, juniors Eryn Blakely & Katherine 
Haysbert both clocking in at 19:08, freshman Rachel Achterman 
(23:33), sophomore Jessica Lopez (25:14) and junior Adrianna 
Martinez (25:20). Junior Ashley Haylett and sophomore Brett 
Richey helped their varsity teammates by finishing ahead of Bishop 
Conaty runners that counted towards their team’s final score.

The Junior Varsity runners led by freshman Sophia Villalovos, 
sophomores Victoria Pintado and Bella Daniels-Campos, freshman 
Rose Boubion and sophomore Reagan Dowd, also scored a win 
over Bishop Conaty, 39-42.

On Monday, October 3rd, Alverno and Westridge School (Pasadena) 
met at Crescenta Valley County Park. Once again, Alverno was led 
by its top 2 varsity finishers, Katherine Haysbert and Eryn Blakely, 
both with a winning time of 20:58 besting Westridge 20-32. Rachel 
Achterman, 4th, Ashley Haylett, 6th, and Sophia Villalovos, 7th. 
Brett Richey, Victoria Pintado and Rose Buobion finished 10th, 
13th, and 14th respectively.

Coach Berry is very optimistic about Alverno’s chances of 
continuing its winning ways in League meets. The team has 
progressively improved its finishing times as they race. This past 
week’s meet against Holy Family was cancelled due to too much 
rain and has been re-scheduled for a very busy week of racing in 
mid-October.

That week, the Alverno spikers will race on Wednesday, October 
19th against San Gabriel Mission High School; participate on 
Friday, October 21st at the rugged and challenging Mt. Sac 
Invitational and the following morning, Saturday October 22nd at 
8 A.M. against Holy Family at Crescenta Valley County Park.

Coming up next Wednesday, October 12th at 4:00 P.M is the 
League meet hosted by Sacred Heart of Jesus at a new course at 
Griffith Park. Alverno XCountry runners will be ready!


Looking Into The Life Of A Teenager

 By Meaghan Allen

Turning

 The faintest hint of the fall is in the air. The nights are cool 
and have a small chill that nips at your heels to let you know that 
autumn is coming. The days are either crystal clear or overcast; but 
both have an almost reminiscent feeling of turning leaves and soft 
breezes that bring the smell of pumpkins and nutmeg to mind. My 
body warms at the thought that soon we will be wearing scarves 
and jackets, tights and boots to celebrate the season and embrace 
the knowledge that the holidays are coming ever closer. This is 
my absolute favorite time of the year because it feels as though the 
world has stopped to take a breathe; that the calm is only the world 
trying to remind us to appreciate the gifts that we have in our lives 
and remember those who are far from us. 

 The leaves as they turn and fall are tiny gifts that the world 
is presenting so that we may jump in them and take our breathes 
from the busy and hectic world. That we may forget tests, college 
applications, and work and instead walk through the crisp leaves or 
have tea in the evening against the clear starry nights. This is the 
calm before the rush of shopping, cooking, baking and family – the 
calm before the storm. 

 It’s magical. 

Alverno’s Katherine Haysbert and Eryn Blakely finished with 
identical times of 19:08 to capture 1 & 2 for Alverno against Bishop 
Conaty in the varsity race.


PUSD COLLEGE FAIR TAKES PLACE SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15

The Pasadena Educational 
Foundation invites students 
and parents to a PUSD College 
Fair that takes place Saturday, 
Oct. 15 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. 
at Pasadena City College’s 
Galloway Plaza. The College 
Fair is free and open to the 
public.

With college reps on hand 
from more than 80 colleges 
and universities from around 
the country, including the 
Historically Black Colleges 
and Universities (HBCUs), 
students and families can 
explore a diversity of higher 
education opportunities. 
Institutions will include 
UCLA, USC, UC Berkeley, St. 
Johns University, University of 
Arizona, Morehouse, 
Tuskegee University, 
Morgan State 
University, Oregon 
State University, 
University of New 
Mexico and many 
more.

Participants can 
attend a variety of 
workshops to prepare 
for the college 
admission process 
and meet experts 
who can answer 
questions about the 
process, financial aid 
and more.

Jack & Jill of 
America Inc. 
will host several 
workshops that 
include: “Advantages 
of Applying to HBCUs,” “Find 
out the Secrets Others Have 
Used for Making it Through 
College Successfully,” and 
“Navigating Financial Aid 
Sources and Deadlines. (How 
to get institutions to bid for 
your admission.)”

Information on the location 
and time of each workshop 
is listed on the PEF web 
site:Pasedfoundation.org.

The free event is sponsored 
by the Pasadena Educational 
Foundation in partnership with 
the Pasadena Unified School 
District, Pasadena City College, 
and Jack & Jill of America, Inc.

WHAT: PUSD 2011 
College Fair

WHERE: Pasadena City 
College Galloway Plaza (south 
of Shatford Library) 1570 E. 
Colorado Blvd. Pasadena, CA 
91106

WHEN: Saturday, 
October 15, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Pasadena Educational 
Foundation is a nonprofit 
organization that advocates 
for public education, engages 
the community, and develops 
resources to support excellent 
education for every Pasadena 
Unified School District student. 
For more information call 626-
396-3600, ext. 88350 or visit 
www.pasedfoundation.org