Two Baldwin Park Unified schools were named this week to the Campaign for Business and Education Excellence (CBEE) Honor Roll in recognition of their overall performance and narrowing of the achievement gap on California standardized tests. Santa Fe School – which spans grades three through eight – and Kenmore Elementary School were named Star Schools, a category honoring higher-performing schools that have a third or more students from high-poverty households.
Thirty-two Baldwin Park Unified middle school students are getting a jumpstart on their dreams of working in the medical industry by shadowing physicians, assisting medical students with sheep dissection and practicing CPR through a partnership with Kaiser Permanente. The Olive and Holland middle school seventh- and eighth-graders are being mentored throughout spring semester by local medical professionals in Kaiser Permanente’s Hippocrates Circle, which seeks to expand opportunities for youths in underrepresented communities and encourage students to pursue medical studies. Photos are available.
Follow-up Story: Artwork from more than 500 students at Baldwin Park Unified’s Geddes and Margaret Heath elementary schools filled the cafeteria at Heath on April 12 in an art gallery celebrating a yearlong pilot program to integrate visual art into core curriculum. The event included student interpretations of artists from Vincent van Gogh to Frieda Kahlo, from sculpture to mixed-media collages. One class even provided performance art, reciting poems to drumbeats. Photos are available.
Vineland Elementary sixth-graders Silence Jackson and Ria Santos will represent Baldwin Park Unified at National History Day-California on Saturday, May 6 and Sunday, May 7 at William Jessup University in Rocklin. The students qualified for the state competition after winning the Junior Individual Exhibit Division at the History Day L.A.
A teacher at Baldwin Park Unified’s Margaret Heath Elementary School has been honored for her commitment to diversity, the arts, student development and her community by Dual Language Schools, a group that promotes dual-language instruction. Laura Reyes, who teaches a fifth-/sixth-grade Spanish dual-language class, received the group’s Teacher of the Month award for February.
Three Baldwin Park High School culinary arts students will compete against 37 students in the final round of the Careers through Culinary Arts Programs (C-CAP) cooking competition from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday, April 28 at Mission College in Sylmar. The students are guaranteed scholarships to post-secondary culinary schools for making it to the finals.
Baldwin Park Unified's Geddes Elementary School, which offers a dual-language immersion program, will receive a 2017 Seal of Excellence School from the California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE) on Friday, March 31 at the CABE annual conference in Anaheim. The honor recognizes the school's commitment to graduate students who are bilingual and culturally diverse. Geddes is the fourth Baldwin Park Unified school to be honored.
Sierra Vista High School will host a Southern California School Band & Orchestra Association Festival featuring 33 music groups, including concert bands, orchestras, wind ensembles and symphonic bands, from 9 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, March 7 and from 9 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, March 8. As many as 1,000 student performers will perform three selections in 30 minutes for a three-member panel as well as perform a previously unseen selection with just four minutes to prepare. The panel will rate each performance and offer feedback. Groups present include three each from Sierra Vista and Baldwin Park high schools, plus nine groups representing Sierra Vista and Jones junior high schools and Olive and Holland Middle School. Holland’s combined orchestra includes Santa Fe School students. Sierra Vista is at 3600 N. Frazier St., Baldwin Park.
Follow-up Story: Baldwin Park Unified’s Tracy Elementary drew more than 200 parents for its annual Colonial Festival on March 30, when the school’s fifth-graders gave presentations, sang and danced – all while dressed in Revolutionary Era outfits. Guests enjoyed servings of tea and cookies, a reference to the Boston Tea Party, while observing what their children had learned about the birth of the U.S.
Baldwin Park Unified will host its sixth annual Youth Film Festival from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, March 3, showcasing seven short films and five experimental projects by students at Baldwin Park, Sierra Vista and North Park Continuation high schools. The 12 films were selected from among 20 entries from students, including those in media arts programs at Baldwin Park and Sierra Vista high schools. All 12 will be screened during Friday’s event, which will be held at the Baldwin Park Performing Arts Center, 4640 Maine Ave., Baldwin Park. The short films, which run from five to 10 minutes, will be awarded prizes for first, second and third place. The best short film will also receive an award. During the March 3 screening, audience members will vote for a fan favorite.