Follow-up Story: Baldwin Park Unified’s Bursch Elementary School is launching after-school classes exploring science and the arts, as well as free after-school tutoring to expand student access to enrichment opportunities and study help, starting Tuesday, Feb. 20.The idea started with an art class offered as an incentive through Bursch’s Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports program, which rewards good behavior, Principal Russhell Martinez-Ortega said. Student interest surged, and the teacher, who has a background in art, said she could teach a weekly after-school class. That plan spawned the idea for a hands-on science experiment class and a dance class focused on ballet folklorico. In addition, two teachers will provide after-school tutoring on Tuesdays and Thursdays in literacy and math.
Holland Middle School’s fledgling robotics team has made Baldwin Park Unified history as the first team to qualify for the VRC Middle School State Championship, set for Sunday, Feb. 25 at Fairplex in Pomona. Holland’s Bulldogs demolished the 28 competitors at the second annual Rancho Del Rey tournament on Feb. 3 to snag fourth place overall and earn the right to compete in the State Championship. The team secured the Excellence Award, the highest honor given by VEX Robotics.
Charles Bursch Elementary School will host its first-ever Family STEAM Night from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23, bringing students and their parents together to explore science, technology, engineering, art and math through hands-on activities. Participants will create slime, learn about mass using fidget spinners, explore math with dominoes, build towers using just toothpicks and marshmallows, create an art project and make costumes out of butcher paper. Bursch is at 4245 N. Merced Ave., Baldwin Park.
More than 20 students in transitional kindergarten through sixth grade shared their favorite poems in English and Spanish, memorizing stanzas and including gestures and props, during Margaret Heath Elementary School’s annual Poetry Festival. The event, held Feb. 15, has been a Heath tradition for more than 25 years and instills in students an appreciation and passion for poetry and spoken word. Students recited short poems on topics ranging from seeing teachers outside school to thinking from a cat’s perspective. The event included one student who read an original composition.
Students from Baldwin Park and Sierra Vista high schools have submitted 30 entries for the Baldwin Park Unified School District’s seventh annual Youth Film Festival. Entries will be narrowed to a dozen short films and experimental projects, which will be screened from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16 at the Performing Arts Center, 4640 N. Maine Ave., Baldwin Park. Prizes will go to the top three short films, to a fan favorite film and to the top experimental project.
Follow-up Story: More than 100 students and their families attended Foster Elementary School’s inaugural STEAM night on Feb. 1. The event expanded on an annual event celebrating science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) topics by adding art. The school provided 12 project stations ranging from designing a boat and operating a gyrocopter to making slime and building a spaghetti tower.
Follow-up Story: Ninety Baldwin Park Unified fifth-graders cheered wildly on March 9 as Ariana Ramirez’s glittery cat-driven car edged out Andrea Salazar’s sleek red speedster and Leslie Hernandez’s heart-festooned block of wood on wheels to win Walnut Elementary School’s first-ever Pinewood Derby. The students built and raced the cars as part of a broader lesson on the contributions of women to STEAM fields.
The Baldwin Park Adult and Community Education (BPACE) Older Adult Program, in association with the City of Baldwin Park, will welcome 400 community members to a Year of the Dog celebration of the Lunar New Year from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 16. The event, held at the Performing Arts Center, 4640 N. Maine Ave., Baldwin Park, will feature a traditional lion dance and other cultural presentations. At the end of the program, dim sum, rice, green tea, oranges and fortune cookies will be served.
Follow-up Story: Baldwin Park High School junior Ashlie Chaidez is being honored as the Bilingual Student of the Year-High School by the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE) in recognition of her pledge to use her language skills to serve families in need. Chaidez was chosen from 250 students based on an essay she wrote in her second language – English – on how her language skills will boost her effectiveness as a social worker. Chaidez, a native Spanish speaker, has attended Baldwin Park Unified’s Dual Language program since elementary school. Chaidez will receive a $500 cash prize and e honored at NABE’s annual conference, set this year for Feb. 28-March 3 in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Baldwin Park Unified will hold the last two of three Family Science Nights exploring the evolution of massive star clusters. Cal Poly Pomona Associate Professor Matthew S. Povich and his team will show families how to examine the clusters using telescopes. The events will run from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 6 at Sierra Vista High School, 3600 N. Frazier St., Baldwin Park; and Thursday, March 8 at Elwin Elementary, 13010 E. Waco St., Baldwin Park.
