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March 2002 News Archive
Thursday, March 28, 2002
Abalaye African Dance Ensemble to Perform at GVJHS
On April 10, 2002, the Goleta Valley Junior High School PTA will present the Abalaye African Dance Ensemble, a group based in Orange County. Seventh-grade students will attend the cultural arts assembly at 10:40 a.m. and 8th graders will attend the same assembly at 11:35 a.m.
Abalaye means "remember your ancestors" in the Yoruba language of Nigeria. This company of dynamic dancers and musicians expertly weaves this important theme throughout their program. Abalaye’s performance will focus on the cultures of the Mandingo, Jola, Wolof, and Serer peoples of Senegal, Guinea, and Mali as well as the Yoruba people of Nigeria.
Goleta Valley Junior High School is located at 6100 Stow Canyon Road, Goleta.
Academic Decathlon
For the third year in a row, the Dos Pueblos High School Academic Decathlon team will represent Santa Barbara County at the California Academic Decathlon Championships. The competition will take place in Modesto during the last weekend in March. Team members are Tiffany Yuen, Melanie Michalak, Chen Zang, Elizabeth Kelly, Mitch Levay, Steven Bowers, Capri Scott, Ryan Sloane, Kate Rogalsky, Jason Liu, Susannah Kelly, Sheila Kelly, Kevin Evans, and Tim Nelson.
Goleta Valley Students Take Second Place in State Mathcounts Competition
Question: Two standard six-faced dice are rolled. Jean wins if the product of the two numbers rolled is odd or a multiple of three, otherwise Allen wins. What is the probability that Jean wins? Express your answer as a common fraction.
If your name is Hannah Savage, Sue Lin, Adam Zok, or Evan Liu, chances are that the answer to this and numerous other math questions is a cinch. On Saturday, March 16, 2002, these 8th grade Goleta Valley Junior High "mathletes" represented their school and their community at the state 2002 MathCounts competition at U.C. Irvine. The team took second place. Goleta Valley’s team competed against over forty chapter winners from throughout the state. According to MathCounts coach Fred Soltysik, "Goleta Valley’s team vaulted to their highest finish in school history. They endured a rigorous three part contest which included a timed Sprint Round of some thirty questions, an eight question Target Round followed by a ten question Team Round." Soltysik continued, "UC Irvine math professors were effusive in their praise and enthusiastically invited the students to become part of the UCI student body when they graduated from high school."
Following their first-place win at the chapter level in Ventura in February, the team earned the right to compete at the state competition in U.C. Irvine. MathCounts is a nationwide program, infusing the junior high math curriculum with fresh problems every year. Members of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) develop these materials in accordance with NCTM Curriculum Standards. Almost 6,000 schools participate, reaching some 500,000 students. It is sponsored in part by the American Society of Engineers and various corporations, including Verizon and Raytheon.
Incidentally, if your response to the question posed at the beginning of this article was 2/3, you answered correctly.
Goleta Valley Students Headed to Mathcounts State Finals
Goleta Valley Junior High School students Adam Zok, Hannah Savage, Sue Lin, and Evan Liu aced the Mathcounts Chapter Competition on February 23 in Ventura. They competed against 13 other junior high and middle school teams from Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Los Angeles County. The team will soon be headed to the Mathcounts state finals on March 16 at U.C. Irvine. They will be accompanied by their Mathcounts coach, Fred Soltysik.
Goleta Valley has traditionally had a strong showing in this competition. According to Mr. Soltysik, "A combination of well-motivated students and an ambitious, sustained curriculum set the stage for these results. We have 30 kids in geometry this year. In addition, some 26 students spent extra hours after school, learning high level problem solving! These four who competed were at the apex of a highly subscribed program."
Flight and Fancy in Goleta Valley Junior High’s Performance of Peter Pan
Tinkerbell, Peter, Capt’n Hook, and the Lost Boys will be part of Goleta Valley Junior High’s production of Peter Pan. The musical will take place in the school’s auditorium. It will begin at 7:00 p.m. on March 21, 22, and 23. Peter Pan is based on the play by James M. Barrie. Music is by Mark Charla and lyrics are by Carolyn Leigh.
There will be plenty of fairy dust in this high flying adventure, directed by Shana Lynch. More than 90 students are part of the cast and crew. The stage performers received musical direction from Sarah Phillips and choreography guidance from Mindy Horowitz. The Peter Pan set was designed by Ted Dolas.
Admission is $5 for students and $8 for adults. For ticket information, call Goleta Valley Junior High’s theatre arts department, 967-3486, ext. 601.
Goleta Valley Junior High School is located at 6100 Stow Canyon Road, Goleta.
A Hawaiian Interlude at Washington Elementary School
On Thursday, March 21, 2002, from 10:00-11:00 a.m., a group of approximately 10 students, ages 8-10, from Blanche Pope Elementary School in Hawaii will visit Washington Elementary School and participate in a cultural exchange assembly. The students, part of a group called Na Keiki ’O Waimanalo, will sing and play the ukulele and are expected to share their knowledge of Hawaiian dance. The assembly will take place in the school’s cafeteria.
Following the assembly, the students will visit classroom PB, where the Hawaiian students will teach students of Marsha Honnold’s 6th grade class how to sew a lei. At noon, students in classroom PB will honor their guests with a pot luck luncheon, where they will share a dish typical of their own cultural heritage.
Washington Elementary School is located on the Mesa at 290 Lighthouse Road.
Science Meets the Middle Ages: La Colina Celebrates a Week of Excellence
La Colina Junior High School students and staff are preparing for a March 18-22, 2002 Week of Excellence. Students are creating displays that reflect their best science, social studies, English, and mathematics skills with two high profile projects: A Walk through the Middle Ages and the annual Science Fair. At the beginning of the week, the 8th graders will be hard at work, finalizing Science Fair presentations and all 7th graders will be putting finishing touches on their medieval journey. Then, on March 21 and 22, the culmination of their efforts will be on public display.
The Science Fair will take place in the cafeteria from 10:30-11:30 a.m. and 1:30-2:30 p.m. on March 21 and March 22. All 8th graders participate in the event, performing independent science experiments and creating displays that document those experiments. This year, research topics include an investigation of fire ecology of the chaparral, creation of a cloud chamber to investigate radioactive particle decay, and an investigation of the physical properties of local watersheds. Several of these projects are expected to advance to the Santa Barbara County Science Fair. If they are award winners at the county level, the next advancement would be inclusion in the 2002 California Science Fair, held in May.
While 8th graders display their knowledge of science in the cafeteria, 7th graders will conduct a living history exhibit with A Walk Through the Middle Ages. Wearing colorful period costumes, from 9:00-11:00 a.m. and 12:30-2:00 p.m., on March 21 and 22, students will gather in the west campus parking lot to demonstrate various aspects of medieval life across the globe.
For further information about these events, call Ron Pembleton, La Colina Junior High School science teacher and department chair, (805) 967-4506, ext. 403. La Colina is located at 4025 Foothill Road, Santa Barbara.
Gisele Ben Dor To Conduct Franklin’s Evening Of Music
Franklin Elementary School will host "An Evening of Music" on Thursday, March 14, 2002, from 5:00-6:30 p.m., in the school’s auditorium. The public is welcome to attend.
The event will begin with a performance by students in Franklin’s instrumental music program. Then, Gisele Ben Dor will conduct a preview of a March 17 Santa Barbara Symphony concert. Violinist Dylana Jenson will perform.
All guests at "An Evening of Music" will receive a complimentary ticket to the Santa Barbara Symphony’s matinee concert on Sunday, March 17.
Franklin Elementary School is located at 1111 East Mason Street.
Dos Pueblos High School’s 33rd Annual Jazz Festival
On Saturday, March 9, 2002, Dos Pueblos High School will host its 33rd Annual Jazz Festival. The event will take place from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. in the school’s cafeteria. Junior high and high school jazz bands from the tri-county area will participate. Following each band’s performance, a clinic will be provided featuring instruction from Gray Pratt, Cal State University-Northridge, and Isaac Jenkins, Chair of the Dos Pueblos High School Music Program. Local jazz choirs will perform. Additionally, UCSB’s Jazz Ensemble will conduct an exhibition performance.
The judges for Saturday’s event will be Jon Nathan from the University of California-Santa Barbara and Dr. Chuck Woods and Jim Mooy from Santa Barbara City College.
Admission is $5 for adults (18 years and over). Admission is free for students and children. Parking is free. Food and refreshments, prepared by the Dos Pueblos High School Band Boosters, will include a barbecue, baked goods, and soft drinks. Proceeds from this event will benefit the school’s band program.
Dos Pueblos High School is located at 7266 Alameda Avenue, Goleta.
For more information about this event, contact Jan Traphagen, Band Booster parent, (805) 899-3272, or Isaac Jenkins, (805) 968-2541, ext. 257.
2002 Honor Band
On Tuesday, March 5, approximately 270 young musicians from throughout the Santa Barbara Elementary and High School Districts will assemble for a performance of the All City Honor Band. The performance will begin at 7:00 p.m. in the Santa Barbara Junior High School auditorium, 721 E. Cota Street. The public is invited to attend. Admission is free.
Almost 75 students from Adams, Cleveland, Franklin, Harding, McKinley, Monroe, Roosevelt, and Washington Elementary schools will come together to perform Declaration and Dance, Fantasy on an Irish Clogging Tune, The Funky Turtle, Minka, and American Fantasy. They will be directed by Karen Dutton and Nancy Mathison.
The Elementary District Honor Band will be followed by 70 middle/junior high students, who will perform Jubilations, Shenandoah, Northpointe Fantasy, God Bless America, and Excalibur. Students from Santa Barbara Junior High, La Cumbre Middle, La Colina Junior High, and Goleta Valley Junior High will participate. The middle/junior high school performance will be under the direction of Jim Mooy, Santa Barbara City College.
For the twelfth consecutive year, Dr. Charles Wood, Santa Barbara City College music instructor, will return to the podium as guest conductor of the All City High School Honor Band. This year, the High School Honor Band will be comprised of 125 students from Dos Pueblos High, San Marcos High, and Santa Barbara High. The High School Honor Band will perform Incantation and Dance, and Fate of the Gods.