The Vine October 5, 2016 From the desk of Superintendent Chris Williams

The Power of Belief

“The highest levels of performance are empowered by the deepest level of belief. Belief creates vision. It sees the goal and the pathway that are required to accomplish the goal. Belief is an essential element of exceptional team performance. Shared belief empowers a team to operate at full capacity.” - Urban Meyer

We had an outstanding homecoming week and look forward to the Pioneer Day

Parade this weekend. I had the pleasure of meeting Steve Kalar last week, PRHS class of 1970. He came out to restore the bearcat painting at Flamson Middle School. Our future Bearcats are lucky to live in a community such as Paso Robles that has a rich history and incredible community support from its past Bearcats. This promises to be an outstanding weekend celebrating that Bearcat spirit.

Original Bearcat Painting Restored In honor of homecoming week, we’d like to share a great Bearcat story with everyone! Last week, Steve Kalar (PRHS class of 1970) came by Flamson Middle School to restore a painting that he originally did back in 1969 (when the high school was located there). During the summer, as the gym was being remodeled, staff uncovered the painting which was hidden under a framed picture on the wall. Mr. Miller posted the photo on Facebook and, through the magic of social media, word got back to Mr. Kalar. He offered to come to the school and not only restore the painting, but work with the students on future projects. Mr. Kalar has been a professional artist since the age of 11. As a student at PRHS, he was a member of the marching band and was asked to draw his version of the bearcat onto the football field for the band’s halftime show. Gil Asa, the football coach at the time, liked it so much that he asked Mr. Kalar to paint it for all the home games. The school secretary, Marilyn Hansen, also asked him to draw the bearcat onto some stationary thus formalizing the bearcat drawing as the mascot for PRHS. Mr. Kalar will be working with the advanced art class at Flamson to add the Flamson Cougar logo to the other side of the gym. In addition, he is going to help create another mural on campus, again using students as the artists. He said, “If I have a chance to work with young minds, then I’ve been successful here.” What an honor to have one of our own come back to help students. Thank you, Mr. Kalar!

@pasoschools @pasoschools Paso Robles Schools @PasoSuper

PRHS Homecoming Homecoming Spirit Week has been a “BLAST”! Thank you to everyone who participated! We will have lots of pictures in next week’s issue. Don’t forget about the big game this Friday against Arroyo Grande. If you can’t make it to the game, be sure to go to the Pioneer Day Parade on Saturday to see all of our schools participating in the parade.

PRHS Senior Named Commended Student in National Merit Scholarship Program Mr. Martinez, PRHS Principal, announced that Matthew Horne has been named a Commended Student in the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program. Matthew was presented with a Letter of Commendation from the school and National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), which conducts the program. About 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Although they will not continue in the 2017 competition for National Merit Scholarship Awards, Commended Students placed among the top 5% of more than 1.6 million students who entered the competition by taking the 2015 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®). “The young men and women being named Commended Students have demonstrated outstanding potential for academic success,” commented a spokesperson for NMSA. “These students represent a valuable national resource; recognizing their accomplishments, as well as the key role their schools play in their academic development, is vital to the advancement of educational excellence in our nation. We hope that this recognition will help broaden their educational opportunities and encourage them as they continue their pursuit of academic success.”

PRHS Student is Finalist for National Scholarship Another one of our PRHS class of 2017 members has received national academic recognition. Sadie Mae Mace is a finalist for the Samsung Scholarship Award. Sadie received a $1,000 scholarship when she attended Girls’ State this summer. Every high school in the state of California chooses one girl to attend Girls’ State. Sadie was then selected during the conference to receive the scholarship of all the state representatives in California. By winning the state award, her scholarship application was automatically forwarded to nationals and qualified her for the $20,000 national award. Congratulations to Sadie and best of luck!

Liberty Students Register to Vote This week, Liberty High School hosted the League of Women Voters to increase student voting registration and to get the word out that our students’ voices matter. If you have not yet registered to vote, you have until October 24th. You can go to this link to sign up: http://registertovote.ca.gov/. The general election is on November 8th – be sure to get out there and vote!

Pioneer Day Parade FFA is getting their float ready for this Saturday! Parade starts at 10:00 AM. Come out and see all of our students!

Pat Butler Students Prepare for Walk to School Day Last week, Pat Butler Elementary 4th and 5th grade students were given a presentation about bike safety in preparation for the annual “Walk & Ride to School Day”. The students learned all about how to properly wear a helmet and how to use hand signals when making a turn. Last year, Pat Butler was the school in our district with the most students participating in the Bike to School Day. The Safe Routes to School Program awarded the school with a new bike rack. Student council members held a ribbon cutting ceremony.

Walk to School Day Here are some pictures of our students and parents who participated in Walk to School Day. Principal Carol Stoner from Winifred Pifer Elementary dressed up as the panther mascot and took students around campus for a walk, encouraging them to be healthy and active. We had over 1800 students participate district-wide. Great job PRJUSD!!!!!

Independent Living Skills The Independent Living Skills students are hard at work being self-advocates and learning to narrow their focus for employment. Students Katie Moore and Anselmo Contreras work one day a week in our learning start preschool

at Pifer Elementary. Other employment opportunities are Chili's, The Garden, Children's Museum, and culinary. Come visit Katie Moore on Thursday mornings at the Academy Cafe, she will serve you a delicious breakfast! We are hopeful to land future employment opportunities with Foods 4 Less, Kohl’s and Paso Police Department.

PRHS Students Learn About Careers in Horticulture Students in plant production and environmental horticulture researched different careers in the horticulture industry. They studied the education required, degrees needed, special certifications, salary ranges, working conditions and more. The students then presented their findings to their class.

Frog Jog at Kermit King Here are a few pictures from the annual Frog Jog at Kermit King including Mrs. Drummond's 1st graders. The Frog Jog raised over $15,000! Great job by the Kermit King PTA.

PRHS FFA Update Submitted by: FFA Reporter Recently, 54 FFA students from Paso Robles High School went to San Luis Obispo High School to compete against other schools in San Luis Obispo County. This Included San Luis Obispo High School, Templeton, Coast Union, Shandon, Atascadero and Morro Bay. This FFA competition was called Opening and Closing. This is where 6 members form a team, and compete to successfully open and close an FFA meeting. Every member has an officer position, which are President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Reporter and Sentinel. They practice for weeks before in order to be in sync with their fellow team mates and officers, they also have to remember their officer’s part in the opening and closing of the meeting. This is a great way for first time members to learn how and what FFA officers do and how they run a meeting. We took two teams of all Freshmen and three teams that ranged from Sophomores to Seniors. One open team and a freshmen team made into the final round of the contest! The open team, whose members where Isabella Bermingham, Mikaila Brinar, Justin Smith, Serae Collins, Natalie Nicolay and Brandon Pacheco, won third overall out of the advanced division of the contest! Along with that accomplishment Brandon Pacheco went on to win Outstanding Sentinel, which means he performed his officer part the best and earned the most points out of all the teams in our county that were competing. This is a great way for first time members to get involved in the public speaking branch of FFA and helps boost members ‘confidence! Hailey smith, who is a Paso Robles High School Junior, competed In Opening and Closing for the first time this year said, “I was incredibly nervous about the competition but as soon as I started to do my lines I felt way better and super confident.” This also helps get new members more involved in FFA like, Freshman Kendall Savage, who's never competed in a public speaking event said, “I was amazed with how supportive everyone was of me and my teammates, the upperclassmen went out of their way to give us tips, which helped boost my confidence and I can't wait to participate in the next FFA public speaking event”. Paso Robles FFA is incredibly proud of how all our teams did and look forward to our next public speaking event!

Paso Robles FFA Officer team, after Competing against all other FFA Officer teams in San Luis Obispo County!

Isabella Bermingham, Mikaila Brinar, Justin Smith, Serae Collins, Natalie Nicolay and Brandon Pacheco were the members of the advanced/open division team that placed third in the county, with Brandon Pacheco winning high point sentinel.

One Cool Earth Corner Did you know October is National Farm to School Month? Schools across the nation are celebrating connecting children with local agriculture through starting school gardens, bringing local produce into cafeterias, and having farmers visit classrooms, just to name a few. One Cool Earth will be sharing events and stories happening across the district for both children and families. This radiant bunch of radishes was harvested by a Virginia Peterson student and hand delivered to the cafeteria to be featured in the salad bar! Pretty rad stuff. As a member of the cruciferous vegetable family (same family as broccoli and cabbage) radishes contain phytonutrients, fiber, vitamins and minerals that are cancer protecting. One student commented, “They are crisp with just the right amount of spice.” Georgia Brown Elementary School will also be kicking off Farm to School month with “Candidates get Growing” this upcoming Thursday! Seven student council representatives will plant and unveil their new herb bed in front of the office at lunch. They will deliver an herbal bouquet to the Culinary Representative, Rita, at their school. These herbs will be incorporated into school food throughout the year to promote flavorful, nutritious, and low sodium meals. Also, a golden shovel will be placed in the ground for them to plant a ceremonial herb with. October is a great month to get involved! Join a Healthy School Team Committee to guide our actions, coordinate our efforts, and create lasting changes in the district. Or better yet, come volunteer to support garden lunch clubs and lessons on campus. From planting, to cooking, to painting signs, there is an activity for everyone! Remember to check out One Cool Earth on Facebook to see when they’ll be hosting community garden events at your school: www.facebook.com/onecoolearth or www.onecoolearth.org Please contact our FoodCorps AmeriCorps Member, Mariah Marten-Ray, at mariahr@onecoolearth.org for further opportunities and information.

PRJUSD Attendance Award Winner September 16 ended our first month of attendance with the District’s regular education attendance rate at 97.13% as compared to last year’s first month of 96.91%. Congratulations to PRHS, who had the highest attendance for Month One at 97.66%. Pictured are PRHS Principal Mr. Martinez, and District Attendance Officer Mr. De Leon.

Special Olympics Update Students are gearing up for Special Olympics! Leadership students from both middle schools and PRHS are helping to train our athletes. Special Olympics will be held on May 5th.