Magnolia Schoolsr e f l e c t i o n s f r o m

Magnolia Schools Quarterly Newsletter

Volume 1 Issue 3

Spring 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Message from CEO Page 2

CAO’s Corner Page 3

MSA-1 Reseda Page 4

MSA-1 Reseda Page 5

MSA-2 Valley Page 6

MSA-3 Carson Page 7

Magnolia Schools Science Fair Page 8

Sherif Baca visits MSA-1 Page 9

MSA-4 Venice Page 10

MSA-5 Hollywood Page 11

MSA-6 Palms Page 12

MSA San Diego Page 13

PTS Orange County Page 14

PTS Orangevale Page 15

Magnolia Parent Testimonial Page 16

Sheriff Leroy Baca Delivered Keynote Address at Magnolia Science Academy

On May 25th, 2010, MSA-Reseda hosted Los Angeles County Sheriff, Leroy Baca at a

luncheon that brought to a close another successful year at Magnolia Schools. Teach-

ers, parents, and students were treated to a wide range of insightful and motivational

commentary as Sheriff Baca shared stories from... Continued on Page 9

Magnolia Science

Academy - 8 Bell

Exper ienced SCIENCE, MATH and TECHNOLOGY School

to Consider in T h e Pu b l i c S c h o o l C h o i ce R e s o l u t i o n

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Rigorous Math and Science CurriculumRegoroso plan de estudios de Matemáticas y Ciencias

English Language Development Program

Programa de Desarrollo del Idioma Inglés

Technology Integrated EducationEducación Con Tecnología Integrada

Small and Safe School EnvironmentPequeñas y de Seguridad Escolar para el Medio Ambiente

Online Access to All Student Records

Acceso en línea a todos los registros Estudiantiles

Free After-School ProgramsProgramas Gratis Después de Escuela

NUESTRAS ESPECIALIDADES / OUR DISTINCTIVE FEATURESThe opportunity to improve your child’s public school choices!

MAGNOLIA SCIENCE ACADEMY -7MAGNOLIA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is coming to SAN FERNANDO VALLE Y

with emphasis on M ath, Science & Technolo gyTUITION FREENOW ENROLLINGK, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, AND

6TH GRADESmore information atwww.magnoliacharterschools.orgor call : (818) 257-4662

tuitionfree

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March 27th Saturday1:00 pm -3:00 pmDr. Roberto Cruz Alum Rock Branch Library

3090 Alum Rock Ave.San Jose, CA 95127

Magnolia Science Academy - Santa Clara

Inspiring students to choose career paths in science and technology Inspirar a nuestros estudiantes a escoger una carera en ciencia y tecnologíaNow Enrolling 6th and 7th gradesInscribiendo los grados 6 º y 7 º

Open enrollment March 5 - April 2 / Inscriptiones abiertas marzo 5 -abril 2

You may apply online or mail the application form to the mailing address or submit it at one of information

sessions. / Usted puede solicitar por el internet o envíe por correo el formulario de solicitud a la dirección

postal o presentarlo en una de las sesiones de información.

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2635 Homestead RoadSanta Clara,CA 95051

March 13th Saturday3:30 pm -5:30 pmCentral Park Library

March 20th Saturday 2:30 pm-4:30 pmBiblioteca Latinoamericana Branch Library

921 South First St.San Jose, CA 95125

New Magnolia Schools in Fall 2010

Message From the Chief Executive Officer

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Dear Magnolia Schools Family Members,

As we approach the end of another successful school year, I want to give thanks to everyone who helped make this year special and give proper recognition to some great programs and events that took place this spring.

The Magnolia Foundation held three Luncheon Fo-rums that brought some distinguished guests to our schools. Diana Gonzalez, a Community Rela-tions Staff member at the FBI in Los Angeles, gave an informative presentation on Internet safety, im-pressing parents with the information she provided. Our second guest was Tom Periac, Board Member of the Advisory Commission on Special Education at the California Department of Education, who talked about what makes an effective school. Finally, Sheriff Leroy D. Baca, Los Angeles County Sheriff, gave an inspirational talk on his life and career to an audi-ence made up our students, parents, and staff. We will all carry with us his sincere and wise insights into the value of education, the importance of having dreams, and having a balanced and positive attitude toward life. I want to thank them all for making time in their busy schedules to visit the Magnolia Founda-tion schools and for sharing their experiences in edu-cation with us. Additionally, it makes us very proud to hear positive feedback from our guests. After vis-iting, Mr. Tom Periac said, “I am deeply impressed with both the results and the culture of Magnolia Schools. One sees the components of success every-where, from the dedication and passion of its leader-ship to the connectivity and energy in its classrooms. Magnolia stands well positioned to make an impor-tant contribution to America’s global competitiveness in the 21st Century, all the while positively impacting its stakeholders and local communities.”

Such feedback about our school culture and perfor-mances gives us greater motivation to succeed in the future and to provide the best learning environ-ments to our students. A special thanks should go

out to our guests; we learned a great deal and appreciate their time they spent with us.Aside from the luncheons, we had many fun and education-al activities for Magnolia stu-dents this spring. In March, we held the second annual Science Fair where students exhibited their knowledge of all aspects of science through a variety of intriguing projects and experiments. Following the Science Fair, we held the second annual Magnolia Schools Ping Pong Tournament in April. Participants in this contest enjoyed the challenging competition and special con-gratulations should go out to the winners. Finally, the last week of April saw students compete in the Mag-nolia Schools Typing Contest, which tested students’ abilities on the keyboard.

I want to close with great news. The Magnolia Foun-dation was given the go-ahead this week to operate a new elementary school serving the San Fernando Valley. The unanimous decision to approve the Mag-nolia Science Academy - 7 (MSA-7) was announced by the LAUSD following a board meeting on June 15. This is a significant milestone for us and adds to our pride in the launch of three other new schools; MSA-8 in city of Bell and MSA-SD High School in San Di-ego, and MSA-SC in Santa Clara will be open their doors to students in Fall 2010. We are excited about the new schools and are looking forward to working with new families to replicate Magnolia’s success in the new campuses.

As always, Magnolia continues to strive toward its goals of academic success as we come to the end of this school year. I want to thank everyone who helped to make this year a success and to all Mag-nolia students: Good luck on your upcoming exams!

Dr. Suleyman BahceciChief Executive Officer

“We were born to succeed, not to fail.” Henry David Thoreau

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Some success stories from MAGNOLIA SCHOOLS

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Magnolia Schools have suc-ceeded on both national and international platforms. The students have won more than 40 awards in nation-wide math and science com-petitions like the USA Com-puter Olympiad, American Computer Science League, and American Mathematics

Competitions and in local science fairs like the LA County Science Fair.

In 2004, Magnolia Science Academy-Reseda was the first school from California to participate in the American Computer Science League. MSA-Reseda won their region for the junior division, which includ-ed schools from Texas, New Mexico, and California.

The first student in the history of charter schools, Zarathustra “Zeb” Brady – a 10th grade student at Magnolia Science Academy in Reseda –qualified to be one of the six students on the U.S. National Team for the International Mathematical Olympiad in 2006. As the only US team member from South-ern California for over 20 years,Zeb represented the United States at the 2006 Olympiad held in Slovenia and took home a gold medal.

MSA-Reseda earned first place honors at the Future City competition in Southern California and repre-sented Southern California at the National Finals in Washington D.C. MSA-Reseda was the only charter school at the National Finals in 2009.

In addition to this, the state released a sepa-rate one to 10 ranking for how well a school does compared to schools with similar stu-dent, teacher and school characteristics, including demographic information(10 is the highest score).

MSA-Reseda did especially well in the simi-lar schools rankings and was ranked in the state’s top 10 percent.

Local publications have acknowledged these achieve-ments and the over-arching goal of Magnolia schools: to provide a better education to the community. The success of this first school system has been replicat-ed by the Magnolia Foundation by establishing other charter schools in San Diego, Santa Clara, Carson, Culver, and the San Fernando Valley within a few years. These young replicates aim to serve the com-munity based on the vision of the Charter School Movement and are on a path to follow in the foot-steps of MSA-Reseda’s achievements.

Two students from MSA-Carson won third place (Bronze Medal) at I-SWEEEP, the International Sus-tainable World (Energy, Engineering, and Environ-ment) Projects held in Texas.

Pacific Technology School, in its first year, has con-tinued on the successful pathpaved by Magnolia Schools. Two 8th grade students won prizes in the Orange County Science Fair. One of them took home first place and a cashprize in the environmental cat-egory and also took third place in the California State Science Fair on May 18, 2010 for the Junior Division (Grades 6-8) in Environmental Sciences. The other student earned a cashprize for his efforts. Addition-ally, Pacific Technology School won 3rd PLACE at the San Diego Mayor’s Cyber Cup Finals on Saturday, March 27, 2010 at the UCSD Campus.

The Magnolia Educational & Research Foundation is devoted to serving students and inspiring them to choose career paths in science and technology.

VarolGurlerChief Academic Officer

Magnolia Science Academy - Reseda

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UNFORGETTABLE TRIP TO EUROPE

On March 26th, four MSA-Reseda students were ac-companied by two chaperoning teachers on a won-derful trip to the country of Turkey in Eastern Eu-rope. Students spent nine days—from March 26th to April 4th—immersing themselves in Turkish culture. They visited many historical places, tried different varieties of Turkish cuisine, and even learned a little bit of the native language. MSA-Reseda students and teachers also had the opportunity to engage with many locals. One student reported, “The peo-ple were so nice and very hospitable. Staying in the dormitories was exciting as well. I met many girls and made many friends.”

As they traveled, the group also encountered some customs that they weren’t used to. “As a tourist, bargaining was something I needed to learn. Al-though in the beginning the teachers helped us with bargaining, I have to admit that in the end, all four of us students were pretty good at it.” From interacting with local primary students to eating their fill of Turk-ish cuisine, the students had fun, learned a lot, and returned to MSA-Reseda with a great number of vivid memories from this unforgettable trip to Europe.

PING-PONG TOURNAMENT

The MSA-Reseda table-tennis team competed in the second annual all-MSA-school Ping-Pong Tournament

this spring. Among the participating students were Carmine Armenta (8C), Rolando Sarceno (6D), and Billy Koutsovasilis (8C). Carmine participated in the quarterfinal match and Billy Koutsovasilis placed first among all the ping-pong enthusiasts. Congratula-tions to Billy and everyone who participated!

A TRIP TO ARIZONA TO COMPETE IN THE TURK-ISH CONTEST

On the weekends of April 3-4, the Turkish Language Institute held the Third Annual Turkish Language and Performing Arts Contest in Phoenix Arizona. 13 stu-dents, three parents, and four teachers from MSA-Reseda traveled to Phoenix to participate in the con-test and to take in the sites of the great Southwest. Following a trip to the Grand Canyon, the group at-tended the Turkish contest where students compet-ed in the poetry, skit, and special talent categories. Overall, the trip was a great success and an invalu-able way for these students, teachers, and parents to spend their spring break!

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SPRING CARNIVAL

The 2010 Spring Carnival was a smash hit! Every-one involved enjoyed a day of dunking the teachers, shooting hoops, and eating great food. This year, mu-sic blazed relaxing, summertime tunes to spark the mood and as the sun shone down, the extra water falling from the dunk tank helped to cool the carnival atmosphere. The event helped raise money for the 8th grade graduation and thanks to everyone’s help, this goal was achieved!

BIG SUNDAY

On Saturday May 1st, 2010, MSA collaborated with the Big Sunday organization to host a special event:

Big Sunday. Throughout Los Angeles on May 1st and 2nd, there were over 450 community projects to help better LA. Although a Big Sunday is held every year, this must have been the best one yet. Paint donations were given to MSA by the All City Sign and Lighting Company to beautify our school. The City of Los An-geles loaned tools to clean up our central areas on campus. There were over 55 volunteers who arrived bright and early to help make the MSA-Reseda cam-pus amazing. Volunteers included MSA students, the Reseda Neighborhood Council board members, and the Community Redevelopment Agency. The volun-teers were divided into two teams, Team A and Team B. Team A was in charge of painting the front of MSA and Team B was in charge of cleaning up the back portions of the school.

All participants received a Big Sunday shirt, break-fast, lunch, and other refreshments. Participating in Big Sunday was a great way to help our community, by cleaning up and beautifying MSA-1. Participating students had fun and felt pride in knowing they were positively affecting their neighborhood and making their community a cleaner place. Overall Big Sunday was a great event, and there is no better way to start the month than by participating in the Big Sunday event.

-Janeth Banos, Community Activism Vice President

TYPING CONTEST

On Friday, April 30th MSA-1 held a typing contest among Magnolia Schools. Valeria Torres (8A), Nor-ma Velarde(8A), and Arevik Davtian(6B) participated in the contest. They did a wonderful job and Arevik and Valeria made it to the final round where Valeria earned second place. Students also had a fabulous time with the fun games.

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LA COUNTY SCIENCE FAIR

Two MSA-2 students—Amanda Arst and Israel McIntosh—were invited back to the Los Angeles County Science and Engineering Fair (LASF) for final interviews, after judges determined that their projects were worthy of fur-ther recognition. Both Arst and McIntosh earned Honorable Men-tion for their projects in two dif-ferent categories.

Amanda Arst, a 7th grade stu-dent at MSA-2, was selected for her project “Roots and Seeds Re-sponse to Water, Isopropyl Alco-hol, and Hydrogen Peroxide” in the Plant Biology category. Israel McIntosh, also a 7th grader at MSA-Valley, was selected for his Engineering Application project entitled “Building Bridges.” Both Amanda and Israel were spon-sored by their Life Science teacher Mrs. Saglam and also supported by the Get Ready For Life teacher Mr. Simsek. Both Amanda and Israel won Honorable Mention medals and other awards, includ-ing cashprizes. Amanda was in-terviewed by Time Warner for a forthcoming student showcase program, which will be aired on CNN. Congratulations Israel and Amanda; Great work!!

JV GIRLS SOCCER TEAM WINS CHAMPIONSHIP

The last game of the season came down to a nerve-wracking penalty shoot out for the championship of the first ever Charter School League junior varsity girls soccer season. In a demonstration of great focus and determination, Trisha Estrada blocked two shots from the oppo-nents, and Karina Somarriba—with her low dribbling shot into the left corner—and Gloria Garcia—smacking another strong shot to the left of the goalie—left the players from the Multicultural Learning Center stunned as they led MSA-Valley to victory. But of course, the season’s success came down to a team effort. All year long the girls played great defense and steadily improved their offense to rise to the top of the league standings. This was MSA-Valley’s third appearance in the finals and their second championship in two full years of competition. Congratulations and Go Mustangs!!!

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Magnolia Science Academy - Carson

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MSA-CARSON STUDENTSCOMPETE IN 2010I-SWEEP SCIENCE FAIR

This spring, Kyle Thermos (8A) and Steven Colado (7A) traveled to Houston, TX to compete in the 2010 I-SWEEP Science Fair. I-SWEEP, the International Sustain-able World (Energy, Engineering, and Environment) Projects, is a groundbreaking science fair com-petition open to middle and high school students. It’s the larg-est science fair event of its kind worldwide. 706 projects from 70 different countries were displayed in this year’s I-SWEEP science fair which was held in the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston.

Kyle and Steven worked very hard and were very happy with their result. “Before the judging at the fair, Dr Karaca had us practice the speech until 3:00 am. It was very tiring, but worth it all the trouble at the end. We won third place and a bronze medal for all of our hard work!”

Aside from the competition, Kyle and Steven also got to do some site seeing in Houston. They vis-ited the Houston Zoo where they saw all sorts of exotic animals. They traveled to the Natural His-tory Museum where they explored dinosaur fossils and purchased souvenirs for their families. And they went to the NASA space cen-ter and saw the Saturn 5 Space-ship. All in all, the trip was a great success and something the two MSA-Carson students will not

soon forget. Congratulations Kyle and Steven!

CAREER DAY

MSA-3 celebrated Career Day on Friday, April 23rd. It’s first impor-tant to thank all of the speak-ers who came to career day and shared their experiences. To kick off the day, the Mayor of Carson, Jim Dear, delivered the keynote speech. Among the ranks of the Career Day speakers were an animator, a movie producer, an aerospace engineer, a stuntman, and an author.. Every speaker delivered a lot of important and inspiring information. Students, teachers, and presenters, all had

a very good time and learned a great deal about prospective op-tion in the professional world. It’s important to remember, through-out Career Day, that Magnolia students are all greatly talented individuals and they must make something out of the natural tal-ents they are given.

MSA-Carson could not have had a successful day without the help of our PTF (which provided breakfast and lunch for our speakers,) our coordinator Mr. Kim, and every-one else who helped out. Thanks for everyone’s assistance!

Magnolia Science Fair

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MAGNOLIA SCHOOLSSCIENCE FAIR

Magnolia Schools held its 6th an-nual district-wide science fair on March 6th. Each individual school held a school-wide Science Fair to choose projects to represent their school at Magnolia Science Fair. Students competed in four differ-ent areas: Ecology, Engineering, Life Science and Physical Science.More than 70 projects from sev-en Magnolia schools competed in MSA Reseda’s Gym. Judges from the schools and the industry rec-ognized the top five students in each category for their outstand-ing individual science fair projects. Evan Bozanic from Pacific Technol-ogy school-OC was the winner of Ecology category. Israel Mcintosh from Magnolia Science Academy-2 in Reseda was the winner of Engi-neering Category.Dominic Pletcher from Magnolia Science Academy in San Diego was the winner of Life Science cat-egory and Austin E. Grande from PTS-OC was the winner of Physical Science category.Congratulations to all of the win-ners!

MAGNOLIA SCHOOLSSECOND ANNUAL TYPING CONTEST

Magnolia Schools Second Annual Typing Contest was held on Fri-day, April 30th at Magnolia Science Academy-1 in Reseda. Magnolia Schools students competed to be the fastest and the most accu-rate typists. Among 25 students from all Magnolia Schools, Eric Jerome, Cameron Franco, Valeria Tolmes and Thor Jossem made it to the finals. Eric Jerome from Pa-cific Technology School earned 1st place, Valeria Tolmes from Mag-nolia Science Academy in Reseda got 2nd place, and Cameron Franco from Magnolia Science Academy in San Diego received 3rd place honors. The evening culminated with an awards presentation that honored both the participants and the winners.

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Magnolia SHERIFF LEROY D. BACA DELIVERS KEYNOTE ADDRESS AT MSA-1

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On May 25th, 2010, MSA-Reseda hosted Los Angeles County Sheriff, Leroy D. Baca at a luncheon that brought to a close another suc-cessful year at Magnolia Schools. Teachers, parents, and students were treated to a wide range of insightful and motivational com-mentary as Sheriff Baca shared stories from his own life, asked students about their experiences with responsibility, and most im-portantly, gave students impor-tant topics to think about as they progressed through their young lives.

The luncheon began with an ad-dress from the C.E.O. of Magnolia Schools, Suleyman Bahceci, Ph.D. Dr. Bahceci gave a short back-ground about Sheriff Baca, and

set the stage for his keynoteaddress. Following an enthusiastic round of applause, Sheriff Baca stepped in front of the microphone and immediately addressed the students seated in front of him.The theme of Sheriff Baca’s ad-dress was personal responsibility. He asked students which careers they wished to follow when they became adults, and what sorts of responsibilities these careers would require. He then asked for some volunteers to speak about the responsibilities they currently have within their households. He went on to explain that the link between responsibility as a young person and responsibility as an adult is strong; he said that the more one is prepared for challeng-es and responsibilities as a stu-dent, the more one will be ready for the positive and negative as-pects of adult life.

Next Sheriff Baca shared some an-ecdotes about responsibility from his own life. He shared a story about how he first started a sav-ings account, and how, from this account, he purchased his first lifeinsurance plan. He explained that

this financial responsibility as a child set the foundation for further responsibility as an adult. When he came to work at the Sheriff’s de-partment, he was able to cash out the life insurance plan he started as a child to put a down payment on a house for him and his new wife. The personal responsibility as a child had paid off later in life. “The art of responsible living leads to great success,” Baca said. “It’s all about the love of being a re-sponsible human being.”

When Sheriff Baca was finished with his motivation address, stu-dents asked questions about the road he took to his current place in society and the challenges he faces as a sheriff. Baca further em-phasized the importance for lov-ing one’s job and of loving learn-ing, a point that surely resounded with Magnolia students.

Before the luncheon, Dr. Bahceci explained the reason for such an event: “Looking back on the aca-demic year, we have much to cel-ebrate. We are meeting the needs of families who often don’t have access to a good education and we are proud of our successes and look forward to more.” Sher-iff Baca’s address to the students of MSA-1 is just another example of how Magnolia Schools are go-ing above and beyond to fulfill the needs of their students.

Magnolia Science Academy - Venice

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MSA-VENICE STUDENTS TRAVEL TO SAN FRANCISCO

In March, seven MSA-4 students and two teachers ventured to the beautiful city of San Francisco, California. On the first of three days, the group visited the famous Pier 39 and the Fisherman’s Warf along the coast. Next they traveled inland via a long walk to exotic Chinatown. After lunch, they continued their educational journey with a stop at the Exploratorium where they learned all about special setup of specific scientific de-vices. Finally, the group ended their day with a trip across the Golden Gate Bridge, where they took in the great views of the northern California coastline. The next day, students got up early and went straight to the Aquarium of the Bay, where they saw many amazing creatures of the sea. To test the teachers’ driving skills, the group then traversed the famous zigzag motorways of Lombard Street and stopped at the Golden Gate Park for some leisure activities that took advantage of the park’s great expanses. The group’s last activity was the travel to the beach to watch the sun set. As they watched though, a surprising turn of events caught many of the students off guard. Nobody expected the waves to get so close and some of them got close enough to shower students with a douse of seawater. While funny in retrospect, many students were worried that this shower would ruin their cell phones. In the end, nothing was damaged and the students returned to their hotel in good spirits. To wrap up the trip, students visited the campus of the University of California Berkley on their last day. The group observed the campus environment and got a glimpse of what it would be like to be a student at the university. Overall it was an amazing trip and everyone involved looks forward to similarly great experiences on future trips.

MICROSOFT STORE

On April, select students from MSA-4 traveled to the local Microsoft company for an exciting field trip. It was a great opportunity for all of the students to get a behind the scenes peek at some of the new technology that Microsoft is working on. Included in the new technology were voice and movement recognition video game software and a giant 103-inch touch screen TV/computer. Students participated in many hands-on activities and concluded the day with a Microsoft scavenger hunt that saw MSA-4 students scurrying around the building looking for technology answers. It was an amazing trip and students learned a great deal from this cutting edge corporation.

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MSA-5 HOSTS L.A. FIRE DEPARTMENT

On April 22nd, several firefighters from station 52 of the LAFD visited MSA-Hollywood and spoke to stu-dents about what it’s like to be a fireman in Los An-geles. Aside from answering questions, the firefight-ers held demonstrations and told exciting stories of their most harrowing times in the fire department. Students were included in the demonstrations and one MSA-5 student was timed to see how long it took him to put on a fire suit. Both students and firemen were grateful for the interaction and MSA-5 students left the presentation with a newfound respect for the LA Fire Department.

THREE DAYS IN FABULOUS LAS VEGAS

Ten MSA-Hollywood students, two teachers, and a chaperone visited the exciting city of Las Vegas, Ne-vada in late March. The group saw local historical sights and various cultural expositions around the city. Included in their trip were visits to the Hoover Dam and Calico Ghost Town, a hike through the Val-ley of Fire, exciting amusement park rides outside of the Bellagio and Paris hotels, walks through down-town Las Vegas, and a trip down Fremont Street by the world’s largest outdoor screen. The students were amazed by the size and beauty of Las Vegas’s architectural wonders and are very thankful to Mr. Emin and Mrs. Mendez for all that they did during the trip

FBI PRESENTATION ON INTERNET SECURITY

MSA-5 welcomed Diane Gonzalez from the FBI on Friday, April 30th. She made a presentation to all students regarding Internet security. She covered topics ranging from information security to Internet predators. She also told real-life stories on each of these topics. Since social networking websites are prevalent, most students felt the presentation was very informative for their well-being. The FBI is in-volved with community outreach programs that pro-vide positive law enforcement role models to stu-dents.

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CULTURAL FOOD FESTIVAL 2010

MSA-6’s Parent Task Force suc-cessfully organized the first ever Cultural Food Festival in the spring of 2010. This food festival saw parents, students, and teachers come together to present a won-derful variety of ethnic cuisine. Patrons traveled throughout the festival from one booth to another, sampling native dishes from far-off locales. Foods from countries like Uruguay, Turkey, Mexico, Isra-el, Jamaica, Argentina, and Korea were represented at the festival.

Not only did students get to fill their bellies, but they also had an opportunity to learn a little bit about different countries across the globe. Each station provided a native dish and some interesting

information on the history of the local cuisine. The Cultural Food Festival was an amazing success and a special thanks goes out to all the parents that helped.

NINE DAYS IN EUROPE

Students and teachers from MSA-Palms traveled to se-lect locations in Europe over spring break this year. Throughout their nine days, they visited the Eiffel tower and the Louvre in Paris and then continued on to many points of cultural significance throughout cities in Turkey. Not only did students get the chance to interact with the local people, but they had an oppor-tunity to share in their customs by learning a bit of their language and sampling their na-tive cuisine. Students left Europe with vivid memories and amazing stories from their ad-venture.

A TRIP TO ARIZONA

On the first weekend in April, the Turkish Language Institute held the Third Annual Turkish Lan-guage and Performing Arts Con-test in Phoenix Arizona. Students, parents, and teachers from MSA-Palms traveled to Phoenix to par-ticipate in the contest and to take in the sites of the great South-west. Students visited the amaz-ing Grand Canyon and competed in a variety of cultural competi-tions. The trip was a great success and an invaluable way for these students, teachers, and parents to spend their spring break!

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GUEST SPEAKER/PRESENTATION SERIES:• Who: Docent Leean Knetzer from the San Di-ego Museum of Art

Mrs. Leean Knetzer, outlined the significance of the use of plants and animals in the Asian works of art to E.D.I.T. (Elements of Design in Technology) classes.

• Who: ThinkFirst program in collaboration with Sharp Memorial Hospital

Students learned about the nervous system, how it can get injured, and how to prevent these injuries from occurring. It was an opportunity for students to learn about their bodies, how to protect them and to have empathy and understanding for people who are different from themselves.

• Who: Steve Tahmahkera, the Great Great Grand-son of the last Comanche Chief, Quanah Parker

Students learned about the importance of nature in the lives of Native Americans. Students will be creat-ing Indian tribe artifacts depicting either nature or designs of geometric shapes.

• Who: Harmonium Counseling

A presentation was given on the effects of bullying and students signed a petition against this behav-ior. This presentation was part of the “MSA Stands Against Bullying” program.

SELECT EVENTS:FIELD OPENING CEREMONY

Parents at MSA-San Diego donated about $15,000 within two years to help the school construct a grass P.E. field for its students. A ribbon-cutting ceremo-ny was held for the new grass field. MSA-San Diego staff and students thank parents for their generous donations in these tough financial times which have made a dream come true.

MSA OLYMPICS

MSA-San Diego hosted its second annual Olympics this spring. Eleven homeroom classes each repre-sented a different country and spent several weeks creating flags, posters and jerseys for their respec-tive countries. The campus resembled a famous Olympic arena like the Los Angeles Coliseum on the day of the event. Representing countries included the USA, Canada, Madagascar, Fiji, Bhutan, South Korea, Mexico, Djibouti, Germany, Jamaica and Ja-pan.

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Magnolia Pacific Technology School - Orange County

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3RD PLACE IN THE CYBER CUP FINALS

Students from Pacific Technology School won 3rd place at the San Diego Mayor’s Cyber Cup Finals on Saturday, March 27th. The finals competition lasted six hours and was truly a grueling affair. During the event, students were expected to remove vulnerabil-ities and maintain critical services in their Windows servers while repelling live hacker attacks. PTS-OC students did this at a top level, and with their 3rd place achievement, they had the opportunity to meet the Mayor of San Diego, Mr. Jerry Sanders and were presented with a $750 check from Darin An-derson, the COO for ESET LLC. Additionally, the PTS students joined the mayor and Mr. Anderson for din-ner that evening.

FIRST PACIFIC TECHNOLOGY SCHOOL HISTORY FAIR

In May, Pacific Technology School its first ever History Fair. The 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students researched and wrote 3-4 pages about a historically important person, born before 1960.

Students were required to make note cards, an out-line, write a thesis paper, and use in-text citation and a works cited page. They then put all of these items plus pictures on a presentation board. Finally,

all students dressed up as the person they had re-searched and performed a 15-line skit to the judges.

Eight wonderful judges, who worked in pairs, rated all the students’ projects. Our history and acting experts were Ms. Tina Fells, Ms. Nora Castaneda, Mr. Duane Murphy, Mrs. Stephanie Murphy, Mrs. Cathy Roos, Mr. Simon Kings, Mr. Okan Cakir, and Mrs. Sumeyra Avsar.

Students, staff, and parents had a lot of fun doing this project and learned a lot about history and how to write a research paper.

3RD PLACE AT CALIFORNIA STATE SCIENCE FAIR

After a great showing at the Second Annual Magnolia Schools Science Fair, Pacific Technology School also participated in the Orange County Science Fair and California State Science Fairs.

Pacific Technology School students Evan Bozanic and Raleigh Lynaugh were given awards at the Orange County Science Fair on April 7, 2010. Evan Bozanic took home a first place in the environmental cat-egory.

Other winners and their projects included:

Evan Bozanic, Differential Fish Count: Rebreather vs Open Circuit, First place and Cash prize

Raleigh Lynaugh, Solar Bottle, Cash prize

Evan Bozanic represent-ed PTS when he partici-pated in the California State Science Fair and took Third Place on May 18, 2010 for the Junior Division (Grades 6-8) in Environmental Sciences. His project was entitled “Differential Fish Count: Rebreathers vs. Open Circuit.” For the project, he built a rebreather (an advanced type of diving equipment), and used it to count fish, comparing the results to those found on normal scuba equipment. Congratulations Evan!

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Magnolia Pacific Technology School - Orangevale

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PTS-OV

PTS-ORANGEVALE SCIENCE FAIR

PTS-Orangevale held their annual science fair in spring of 2010. The goal of the fair was to provide students with an opportunity to practice science investigation and invention. Students created 20 projects and displayed them for parents and peers. Topics ranged from aerodynamics to bacteria and creativity and critical thinking abounded as students demonstrated their scientific knowledge to the com-munity.

Thanks to all who participated and supported the fair. Remember: an important part of learning science is doing science!

SAN FRANCISCO TRIP

PTS-Orangevale students traveled to beautiful San Francisco this spring. On their trip they visited the Academy of Sciences where they witnessed incred-ible displays of wildlife—both stuffed and living. The learning continued as the group proceeded to the King Tutankhamun Museum. Here they learned all about King Tut through dramatic displays, unique exhibits, and informational demonstrations. It was a great trip and an experience the students will not soon forget.

REGIONAL SCIENCE FAIR

Colin Jaraba, 6B, won two different awards—the US Navy/Marine award and the US Air Force award—at the Sacramento Regional Science Fair this spring. Magnolia schools would like to congratulate Colin and send out a special thanks to his parents for their great support during the science fair.

CAMPUS BEAUTIFICATION DAY

PTS-Orangevale’s second Campus Beautification Day was a great success. Over 20 families volunteered on Saturday, April 17th to give the campus some greatly needed TLC. After a full day of weeding and plant-ing, the PTS-Orangevale campus is ready for spring. Thanks to all who helped out and a special thanks to the Wilkerson family for not only volunteering on Campus Beautification Day, but watering and weed-ing PTS flower beds every weekend.

Magnolia Schools Vision‘Inspiring students

to choose career paths inscience and technology‘

EditorsDr. Suleyman Bahceci

Mr. Mathew ShirleyMs. Derya Hajmeirza

Designed byRasul Monoshev

MAGNOLIA SCHOOLS MAIN OFFICE

555 W Redondo Beach Blvd STE 100Gardena, CA 90248

Phone: (310) 327 - 2841Fax: (310) 327 - 2941

contact@magnoliafoundation.org

www.magnoliacharterschools.org

MagnoliaMagnoliaEducational & ResearchEducational & Research

FoundationFoundation

MAGNOLIA PARENT TESTIMONIAL

We will begin by saying that we believe things happen for reason, we were so tired for the last two years trying to helped our son to have a good time and learned as much as he could at school, but very frustrated when you don’t have the help that you need from the teachers, all we wanted was a fair shot for our son. I knew public school was losing him with the big size classes, and I started looking for a new school without any luck.

One day on my mail was a envelope with a name that I never see-ing before, I almost put it in the trash can, but for some reason that I don’t know I put it on the side and opened later. I was really surprised when I saw it that was an information letter for a new charter school in Orange County, right away a called to take all the information that I needed, and enroll our son.

This is our first year at the Pacific Technology School, and we can tell how happy our son is, we see such a big improvement. Now he has good grades, he understood his projects and enjoys his new fried. He look forward to go to school every day, and every day he always have something new to tell us about how good the teacher and friends are. We are truly grateful for the dedicated Principal and teachers. It is a plus all the great after school programs that they have available for the kids. My son is becoming an indepen-dent student with loads of opportunities.

Everyone we have met at Pacific Technology School seems to go to the extra mile in order to help you. We are lucky to found this small dedicated school and to be a part of it.

Sincerely,

Carolina Herrera, PTS parent