Submitted By Cathy Garnica

On Wednesday, April 19, 34 Piru School fourth graders and their adult chaperones traveled to the Santa Cruz Island Academy on the largest island of the Channel Islands National Park. The trip was made possible by the “Every Kid in a Park” National Park Foundation Grant. Piru Elementary School was only one of three schools in the county invited to participate in the program after receiving the grant, which the school qualified for when fourth grade teachers took part in the Hollings Grant and MERITO training at the Channel Islands National Park center in Ventura last November.

The trip began early as the Piru students took a bus to the Ventura Harbor and climbed the Island Packers catamaran, taking more than an hour to arrive at the Scorpion Anchorage 20 miles from Ventura but actually located in Santa Barbara County. Fourth-graders from Debra Louth and Delia Silva’s classes had never been on a boat before but managed to avoid seasickness by following the advice of National Park Service Ranger Monique Navarro to “walk out on deck and look out at the horizon.”

Once on the island and the students began walking on the main trail, a small Island fox, the largest mammal on Santa Cruz Island – no bigger than a house cat -- sniffed the ground and peeked out from under a picnic bench at the group of children and adults eagerly snapping photos near the entrance of Scorpion Ranch before trotting away into the brushy hillside.

It was the first of many sightings of the fox – who lives only on six of the eight Channel Islands – San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, San Catalina, San Nicholas and San Clemente -- off the California coast. During the daylong Channel Islands National Park Service-sponsored trip to lush Santa Cruz Island, the Piru Elementary fourth graders and their chaperones enjoyed a full day of hiking, identifying unique plant life and observing the rare fox as they learned first-hand about how unique flora and fauna have managed to survive in the vast Pacific Ocean. More than 2,000 plant and animal species live on the Channel Islands, with about 145 found nowhere else in the world.

The students pulled out their field guide notebooks and began documenting their observations of the sea lions, the island scrub-jay, insects, and especially the elusive fox, who welcomed them within minutes of arriving on Santa Cruz, California’s largest island. Trekking more than a mile on a rocky trail towards the top of the island, noting succulents like the Giant Coreopsis and clusters of North Island Buckwheat, the students found discarded abalone shell left by the Chumash. At noon the students rested in Delphine’s Grove for lunch, careful to pick up their paper lunch sacks and leave no sign that they had visited the pristine habitat.

A visit to the canyon campgrounds led to more encounters with curious Island Fox as National Park Service rangers made sure the students and other visitors maintained a safe distance. As winds ruffled grassy hillside meadows, the students, teachers and rangers offered ideas about how so many species arrived on Santa Cruz Island. As they wrapped up their visit they viewed remnants of ranching life in the historic Scorpion sheep Ranch, which offered a glimpse of the past complete with ranch house, blacksmith and work barns and vintage farm implements.

Piru students will turn their island observations and photos into an upcoming presentation to the rangers and their families during the May 4 Open House, sharing their observations and field experiences in interactive science notebooks and photo collections.

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CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) Computer Science students who placed third in the nation in the Second Annual NASA Swarmathon competition will demonstrate how they developed their winning algorithm during the SAGE Research Conference Saturday.

The NASA Swarmathon team traveled to NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the competition, which took place April 18 through 21. The CSUCI Swarmathon team, whose motto was “We can log in!” were competing against 19 other college teams across the nation.

Each team was given the task of developing an algorithm that would power a swarm of sample-collecting robots on Mars. NASA is using this contest to crowd source effective approaches from universities, which could be used on upcoming missions to Mars.

The competition was open to Minority Serving Institutions across the nation, who had to compete for a spot in the April competition.

Under the guidance of Assistant Professor of Computer Science Jason Isaacs, Ph.D., Computer Science students volunteered their Friday afternoons all year to develop a search algorithm that would power a swarm of robots to pick up a sample in a mechanical claw, then take it back to a central spot in the red planet. Computer Science Lecturer Kevin Scrivnor and graduate student Nicholas Dolan-Stern also mentored the team.

After a nail-biter tie-breaker round that got them into the semi-finals, the team won third place. First place and a $5,000 prize went to Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in New Mexico and second place and a $3,000 prize went to the University of Houston. CSUCI’s team won a trophy shaped like Mars and $1,000.

The team was also awarded $200 from NASA engineers and competition organizers for “Best Technical Report,” a significant win, Isaacs said.

“I am so incredibly proud of our computer science students,” said President Erika D. Beck. “Their countless hours of hard work and determination really paid off. They are shining examples of what we like to call the ‘CI Way.’”

Team member and Computer Science major Luis Torres, 23, admits he was in shock.

“I honestly feel amazed,” Torres said. “The fact that we made it to the next round and then the semi-finals and third place? It took our breath away!”

While they were there, the students got to see the launch of the Atlas 5 rocket, which carried a supply ship to the International Space Station. Many of the students had not seen Florida before, to say nothing of seeing a space launch.

“When they’re ready for liftoff, the ground shakes,” said Crystian Marron, 21, a Computer Science junior. “There is a loud sound and it vibrates all the trees and leaves! It’s so loud! It’s like hearing thunder in the distance.”

Marron said placing in the top three in the nation was “the greatest feeling I’ve had in my entire life.”

“Everyone in the competition felt it was otherworldly,” Torres added. “It made me so proud to be a Dolphin. And we had the most girls on our team compared to the other teams that went. We not only encourage minority students but females who want to pursue computer science.”

Their mentor was thrilled with the win, and with the way the students conducted themselves.

“I am extremely proud of our students, not just for their performance in the competition, but for how well they have represented CSUCI during the entire journey,” Isaacs said.

Isaacs said he definitely plans to enter the next Swarmathon team in the 2018 competition.

If you would like to see how the robots work, the 9th Annual SAGE Research competition is from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the North Quad on the CSUCI campus.

About California State University Channel Islands
CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) is the only four-year, public university in Ventura County and is known for its interdisciplinary, multicultural and international perspectives, and its emphasis on experiential and service learning. CSUCI’s strong academic programs focus on business, sciences, liberal studies, teaching credentials, and innovative master’s degrees. Students benefit from individual attention, up-to-date technology, and classroom instruction augmented by outstanding faculty research. CSUCI has been designated by the U.S. Department of Education as a Hispanic-Serving Institution and is committed to serving students of all backgrounds from the region and beyond. Connect with and learn more by visiting CSUCI’s Social Media.

With their families by their sides, 70 high school and middle school students will gather at the Performing Arts Center at Oxnard College on May 11 to enter into a pact with Oxnard College and/or CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI).
Oxnard Union High School District students will sign a STEMpact, which requires the student to keep up his or her grades, start researching career choices in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) and completing college preparatory work, among other promises.

Middle school students will commit to one of the STEM academies at Hueneme or Channel Islands High School. Channel Islands has the Marine Science Academy and Mechatronics Engineering Academy and Hueneme has the Academy of Engineering and Design. They will also commit to STEMpact once they enter high school.

In return, CSUCI and Oxnard College will guarantee entry into one or both institutions, provided students meet the minimum admission criteria. The institutions will provide a wide-ranging support network, undergraduate mentors, information about financial aid and other academic and emotional guidance to help the student successfully enter and complete college.

“As part of STEMpact, CSU Channel Islands will provide college students as academic coaches who will help students develop social and cultural capital related to going to college,” said CSUCI Professor of Chemistry Phil Hampton, Ph.D. “Families of the STEMpact students may not have gone to college and need support in how to help their children succeed in college.”

The idea behind STEMpact is to create a college-going mentality and provide a clear pathway to college for the high school and middle school students. Designed for underrepresented minorities, the STEMpact program is the result of a collaboration with CSUCI, Oxnard College, Oxnard Union High School District and the Ventura County P-20 Council.

“The Ventura County P-20 Council is committed to building new pathways to higher education. I applaud CSU Channel Islands and Oxnard College for partnering with area middle and high schools on this collaboration that will allow more students to achieve their dreams of a college degree,” said Ventura County Superintendent of Schools Stan Mantooth, Chair of the Ventura County P-20 Council.

With STEMpact, the students will agree to embark on one of three pathways to college: 1) Enrolling in Oxnard College and transferring to CSUCI; 2) Enrolling in Oxnard College; or 3) Enrolling in CSUCI as a freshman.

The STEMpact program is part of CSUCI’s Project PROMESAS (Pathways with Regional Outreach and Mathematics Excellence for Student Achievement in STEM), which is aimed in part at strengthening STEM pathways to and through college.

Hampton believes one of the strongest components of the program will be the mentoring STEMpact students will receive from CSUCI students.

“What’s powerful is the near-peer mentoring where you have a college student able to interact with a high school or middle school student—sharing with them the pathway they took to college,” Hampton said.

Middle school students will participate in a formal ceremony where they have a personalized STEMpact contract signed by representatives of CSUCI (Vice President for Business & Financial Affairs Ysabel Trinidad), Oxnard College (President Cynthia Azari), Oxnard Union High School District (Superintendent Penelope DeLeon, Ph.D.), and superintendents for each student’s middle school.

The STEMpact event will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center at Oxnard College is at 4000 South Rose Ave., Oxnard.

About California State University Channel Islands
CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) is the only four-year, public university in Ventura County and is known for its interdisciplinary, multicultural and international perspectives, and its emphasis on experiential and service learning. CSUCI’s strong academic programs focus on business, sciences, liberal studies, teaching credentials, and innovative master’s degrees. Students benefit from individual attention, up-to-date technology, and classroom instruction augmented by outstanding faculty research. CSUCI has been designated by the U.S. Department of Education as a Hispanic-Serving Institution and is committed to serving students of all backgrounds from the region and beyond. Connect with and learn more by visiting CSUCI’s Social Media.

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Submitted By Kelly Myers

Mountain Vista 3rd grade held their CondorKids Parent Night last Thursday, April 27. Thanks to the Santa Barbara Zoo and the connection to Hopper Mountain Wildlife Refuge, students have been working on a 6 week unit covering the history, geography, biology, and conservation of the California Condor.

Several groups attended in support of this special night for the students. Dorothy Horn-Condor Park Ranger from Fish and Wildlife, Devon Pryor-a biologist from the Santa Barbara Zoo, and Helen from Friends of the Condor Wild and Free set up tables with actual Condor artifacts and information about being a biologist for all in attendance. The connection with these groups has provided a wonderful learning experience for all. The 3rd grade in FUSD will culminate this unit in a visit to the Santa Barbara Zoo where students will learn about the feeding of a condor, how to track with gps, meet biologists who rappel into Condor nests, metal detect microtrash, use scopes, and handle artifacts.

FUSD 3rd grade would like to thank the Santa Barbara Zoo for their continued support, both with staff and with financing the projects, unit, and trips to their zoo. Our students are better for it.

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On Saturday, April 29th over thirty members of the FHS freshman class of 2020 gathered to chalk the F. Directed by 5 parent volunteers and their freshman class advisor, Kellsie McLain, the freshmen hoisted three truck-loads of 80lbs gypsum bags up and down the mountainside. The students were excited to participate in this long-standing FHS tradition, and worked extremely hard to bring the historic F back to life. Great job Flashes! Submitted By Freshman Class Advisor Kellsie McLain.

Fillmore Unified School District

Board Recognition
The Board of Trustees recognized the Fillmore Women’s Service Club for their work to champion and support programs and services throughout the community. The organization was started in 1964 and in that time they have donated over a half million dollars to various groups that support Fillmore residents. Fillmore youth have directly benefited from the group’s philanthropy with graduating seniors being awarded over $300,000 in educational scholarships. Thank you Fillmore Women’s Service Club for your dedicated service to enhancing the Fillmore community.

Fillmore Unified Preschool Update
The Board received an update on the Fillmore Unified Preschool program. Information was presented by Assistant Superintendent, Martha Hernandez, and Director of Child Development, Holly Harvan.

Core/Basic Materials
The Board received a report on the Core/Basic Materials pilot for grades 6-8 English Language Arts/English Language Development materials and process for public review. Information was presented by Assistant Superintendent, Martha Hernandez.

Fillmore Adult School Update
The Board received an update on Fillmore Adult School. Information was presented by Assistant Superintendent, Stefan Cvijanovich, and Director of Special Projects and Student Services, Tom Chan.

Information Only: Start and End Dates for 2017-2018
On November 15, 2016 the Board of Trustees approved the start and end dates for the 2017-2018 school year. Per the approved agenda item, “the start date for staff will be on August 14, 2017, followed by the first student day held on August 17, 2017.”
The calendar is a negotiated item for the Fillmore Unified Teachers Association (certificated bargaining unit). FUSD and Fillmore Unified Teachers Association are in negotiations on this item.

Personnel Recommendations
The Board approved all personnel recommendations including new hires, promotions, resignations and leaves.

Fillmore, CA May 1, 2017:
Due to the decrease in projected enrollment for the 2017-18 school year at Piru Elementary School, the District is encouraging requests for Intradistrict transfers. Students transferring from Fillmore elementary schools will have the opportunity to participate in the Piru Apple ConnectEd program. This program provides each student with a 1:1 device (iPad). For additional information regarding the Apple Connected program, contact Piru principal, Diana Vides. (Ph: 805-524-8251 or email dvides@fillmoreusd.org)

The District will consider providing bus service to and from Piru, based on the number of students who would use the service daily. There would be 1 bus daily picking up at a central location in Fillmore, and 2 buses returning to Fillmore, dropping off at the same location, on a daily basis. This bus service would continue if there are adequate numbers of students that are using this transportation service.

Please be advised of the timeline for this process:
Application Window: May 1 – May 12
Notification of Acceptance: on or before May 24, 2017
Confirmation of Enrollment: no later than June 7, 2017

Please contact, Stefan Cvijanovich, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources and Pupil Support, 805-524-8037 or scvijanovich@fillmoreusd.org for more information.

Submitted by Kim McMullen

On April 18, 2017 Mr. Chavez, English and Street Law teacher from Sierra High School, attended Entrée to Employment with five Sierra students. Sarai Vargas, Lupita Villareal, Luis Arillano, Brandon Nava and Edward Peralta had the privilege of attending the event which took place at California Lutheran University. This was an opportunity for students to engage and ask questions with leaders in Ventura County including judges, lawyers and law enforcement about their careers.

Submitted By Kelly Myers

Please join our 3rd grade classes as we share with you our learning about the California Condor and conservation.

Student displays, hands-on activities including artifacts and art projects for kids of all ages Thursday, April 27 from 6:00-7:00 pm (Along with our school open house) Come early and buy pizza too!

*Joining us will be representatives from Fish and Wildlife and the Santa Barbara Zoo (Creators and supporters of CondorKids curriculum)

Thank you for supporting our 3rd grade at Mountain Vista.

The Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) has named California Lutheran University faculty member Trudy Tuttle Arriaga its Professor of Education of the Year.

Arriaga, the Distinguished Educator in Residence in Cal Lutheran’s Graduate School of Education, will receive the state award at a Nov. 3 dinner during the association’s annual Leadership Summit in San Jose.

The former superintendent joined Cal Lutheran’s faculty full time in 2015 after serving as an adjunct for nine years. She teaches in master’s and doctoral programs as well as the university’s new Institute for Executive Leadership in Education certificate program for administrators who would like to become superintendents. The Ventura resident has taught at the university level for more than two decades.

“She is one of the strongest educators I have come across in my many years in education,” said Michael Hillis, dean of Cal Lutheran’s School of Education. “She draws students into the program, provides them with relevant and provocative instruction, and cares deeply about how they develop through the experience.”

Since the 2015 release of the book she co-wrote with Randall P. Lindsey, “Opening Doors: An Implementation Template for Cultural Proficiency,” Arriaga has traveled across the country to help districts improve student engagement and achievement by focusing on diversity, equity, access and inclusion.

Arriaga coordinates professional development for new superintendents and mentoring programs for administrators through ACSA. In 2013, the California Association for Bilingual Education named her State Administrator of the Year and ACSA presented her with its Marcus Foster Memorial Award for Administrator Excellence. She was a 2015 Woman of the Year for the 37th Assembly District and 19th Senate District and the city of Ventura’s Citizen of the Year in 2012.

She joined Cal Lutheran’s faculty full time after retiring as superintendent of the Ventura Unified School District, whose headquarters was named in her honor. She served as the district’s first female superintendent for 14 years and in other roles, including teacher and principal, dating back to 1975. She earned a bachelor’s degree from San Diego State University, a master’s degree in educational administration and supervision from California State University, Northridge, and a doctorate in educational policy, planning and administration from the University of Southern California.

Cal Lutheran’s Graduate School of Education has helped prepare more than 8,000 teachers, counselors, administrators, principals and superintendents for careers in K-12 and university systems. It offers multiple master’s degree, doctoral and credential programs in Oxnard, Santa Maria, Thousand Oaks, Woodland Hills and online.

FUSD received one thousand 2 in 1 laptop / tablet devices for student use. These devices are in the process of being delivered to school sites, providing access to technology for our students.

The first phase of implementation is to provide Mountain Vista, Rio Vista and San Cayetano Elementary schools with 7 devices per class at the 3rd grade level, and 10 devices per class at 4th and 5th grade. At FMS and FHS the district is deploying 10 devices per classroom, 310 and 370 devices respectively. Sierra High School is piloting a take home program, where each student will be assigned a device to support their daily studies. Piru Elementary school currently has a 1:1 iPad deployment, from the Apple ConnectEd grant.

With recent upgrades to the district-wide infrastructure each school campus has a robust wireless network. The laptops will be available to students in the classrooms to enhance the learning environment. District Superintendent, Dr. Adrian Palazuelos stated, “the new technology coupled with our wireless network will create new opportunities for student engagement and collaboration throughout the district.”

Our teachers are being supported by Educational Services to help them integrate digital curriculum into their classrooms. The work to create this opportunity for students has been a joint effort of the district Business Services, Instructional Technology, and Education Services divisions.

These improvements to our technology on campus are very exciting for our students and staff. Dr. Palazuelos added, “Fillmore students using these devices will be provided access to new learning opportunities available through the use of technology. Our students will thrive in classrooms where technology is another tool to support their learning.”

The 11th Annual Festival of Scholars at California Lutheran University will showcase a range of work by undergraduate and graduate students and faculty from Monday, April 24, through Friday, April 28.

Research, creative work and projects that apply theory to real-life situations will be featured. Many of the about 200 scholarly projects reflect months or even years of focused work with faculty mentors.

Oscar Alvarado, a psychology major from El Monte, examined how gender affects perceptions of a job applicant. Erin Miles, a Camarillo resident earning a master’s degree in education, studied the effects of small cooperative groups on the self-efficacy of life science students. Miranda Hutt, a chemistry major from Santa Clarita, explored siderophores – small molecules that are secreted from bacteria to retrieve iron to help bacteria thrive.

A student panel from the Criminal Justice Department will share results of experiential learning projects. The panelists include Emily Legrand of Simi Valley and Amanda Juan of San Bernardino, who studied the effect of educational interventions and community policing on at-risk children as part of the Project Safe Passage project.

The Latin American Culture Research Presentations session will showcase the works of students in Spanish 405 including Paulina Nunez, an Oxnard resident who examined the environmental significance of deforestation in Latin American countries.

English majors will deliver papers and presentations as part of their year-long senior capstone experience. For example, Ayla Afshar-Tavana of Woodland Hills researched rhetoric used by pharmaceutical companies in the United States to sell vaccines that is increasingly questioned by the public and Isabella Iliff of Pacific Palisades wrote about literary accounts of epilepsy by epileptic authors including Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Charles Dickens and Alfred Tennyson.

Faculty members with the Center for Equality and Justice will present their research on subjects related to social justice issues. Political science professor Jose Marichal is analyzing the social media networks of progressively oriented groups such as Flippable, OurRevolution and Indivisible that came about a result of the presidential election. Assistant professor of religion Rose Aslan studied the impact of Islamophobia on the ritual practice of Muslims in the U.S.

Cal Lutheran’s Office for Experiential Learning, Research and Faculty Development is presenting the free festival. For a complete schedule of events, go to CalLutheran.edu/fos. For more information, call 805-493-3795.

It’s a very exciting time for Fillmore High School as it moves towards becoming a technologically advanced school. The school has 99% wifi coverage and will be going live soon. The carts are set up and the Lenovo devices are almost ready to go. In addition to IT staff, 2 Lenovo reps came out to speak about the features of the Lenovo Yoga devices that come with the carts. An actual COW is a cart with room for up to 36 laptops or tablets and individual charge connections built into it. The COWs would be set up in the room and the students can access the internet from there eliminating lost time from having to walk to a computer lab.

The winners of the 2017 Ventura County Science Fair were announced at an awards ceremony this evening at the VCOE Conference and Educational Services Center in Camarillo. This year’s science fair featured 720 entries from 850 middle and high school students from throughout Ventura County. At tonight’s ceremony, awards were presented in 13 scientific categories including microbiology, engineering and chemistry. In addition, local companies and organizations selected 50 winners in 13 special categories. The winning entries were chosen by approximately 150 local science, engineering and industry professionals who volunteered their time to serve as judges.

• View the complete list of Science Fair winners http://www.vcoe.org/Portals/7/Communications/Documents/News-Releases/201... VC Science Fair Full Results.pdf

• View photos from the 2017 Ventura County Science Fair https://www.facebook.com/pg/VenturaCOE/photos/?tab=album&album_id=732671...

• Learn more about the Ventura County Science Fair http://www.vcoe.org/ScienceFair

About the Ventura County Office of Education
The Ventura County Office of Education provides a broad array of fiscal, training and technology support services to local school districts, helping to maintain and improve lifelong educational opportunities for children, educators and community members. VCOE also operates schools that serve students with severe disabilities and behavioral issues, provides career education courses, and coordinates countywide academic competitions including Mock Trial and the Ventura County Science Fair. Learn more at: www.vcoe.org.

Submitted By Jeremiah MacMahon

On Thursday through Saturday the intrepid engineers of the Fillmore High School Robotics Club ventured forth and competed for the first time in the Ventura Regional Robotics competition. This annual competition is run by FIRST Robotics and features 42 public and private schools of varying sizes. There were even two teams from Hawaii and one team from Chile this year. The team placed 38th and overcame many obstacles on their journey.

The Flashes competed very well for their rookie outing, and have taken to heart lessons learned this year. Having started two weeks late, they only had 4 weeks to design, build, and test their robot. The competition parameters were tough, but the team showed their true character and fielded a durable and functional robot. On Thursday, the practice day, the team discovered their robot was 4 inches too wide. Thanks to some adept metal shop work and some timely assistance from the mechanical lead of the Sparktronics team from Orcutt, the robot was cut down four inches and reassembled under intense time pressure. The team continued into the qualifying matches on Friday and Saturday and consistently scored points both in the programming phase and the human remote operated phase in each match.

The engineering accomplished for this season, the team is already brainstorming ideas for next year’s funding sources as well as drafting designs for new electrical, control and drive systems. Fillmore High School couldn’t be prouder of the accomplishments of these 20 budding club members from 8th to 12th grade, who sacrificed countless hours, overcame their initial lack of experience, melded with team members they might not otherwise socialize with, and rose to the challenge of building a 3ft x 3ft wireless robot from scratch, utilizing their own ingenuity and persistence.