May 18, 2007

Evergreen SchoolScene

Two of a kind

Lynne Gates and Addie DeMedeiros, a pair of original LeyVa teachers, are set to retire from careers spanning more than 30 years

By Carol Rosen
Staff Writer

Two of the three remaining original teachers at LeyVa Middle School will retire when the school year ends this June. Lynne Gates and Addie DeMedeiros will end teaching careers spanning more than 30 years, with the bulk of those years spent at LeyVa.

“They each are such an important part of their departments, but also of the school as a whole,” said Principal Christopher Corpus. “They are deserving of the LeyVa spirit award each year. Parents who went here and whose children now attend the school come back and want to see them.”

Corpus acknowledged the two will be hard to replace.

“Both Lynne and Addie are consistently upgrading their craft, volunteering extra time,” Corpus said. “When they leave they will leave a big hole. They are two very special people.”

Both teachers began their careers at Quimby Oak Middle School. Gates worked there for a year and DeMedeiros for five years before they transferred to LeyVa for the school’s first year in existence. Gates worked as a PE teacher while
DeMedeiros taught French and social studies.

“I taught French here for 20 years before substance abuse and self-esteem programs sent French by the wayside,” said DeMedeiros, who has taught her entire 37-year career in Evergreen School District.

Gates has taught for 33 years in Evergreen, and spent a couple of years substituting prior to taking the faculty position at Quimby.

DeMedeiros still teaches social studies and Gates teaches three periods of PE, one leadership class, as well as serving as the school’s activities director.

Memories
The two have many happy memories. DeMedeiros said her favorite memory happened four years ago when LeyVa received a technical grant from No Child Left Behind, giving each student a laptop.

“It was like a dream come true to have these computers and wireless connections,” she said.

“As a teacher it added a huge resource for student research,” she added. “They can research anything anywhere in the world with the touch of a button. With these tools, student reports become Power Points rather than just a single form. It’s incredible.”

Gates said her favorite memories about her career has been developing the heart and soul of students and being able to be part of making the school like a family.

“We all [teachers, administration and students] wear our purple with pride. Everyone feels connected,” she said.
Parents of current students often return at Christmas time to see the Jingle Bell Rock, a dance Gates has taught for the past 30-plus years to LeyVa students.

Close to each other
The teachers were similar to an old couple, with each reminding the other of specific memories and adding facts to each other’s speeches. And while there’s a healthy respect for each other, most of their appreciation landed on the school, with both effusively praising the positive aspects of LeyVa.

Lynne Gates holds up a Bulldog Bag for Lucky Ducky Week. She said the project will allow each student to choose a differently dressed duck and them mix and intermix with each other. Meanwhile, Addie DeMedeiros checks out the LeyVa staff handbook to see what the Lucky Ducky rules are. Both women will retire at the end of the school year after spending more than 30 years each at LeyVa. Photo by Carol Rosen

“We’ve been so lucky to work with such dedicated teachers,” said Gates, who lauded many of the school’s championship sports teams, as well as the science fair and the LeyVa-thon, held annually to raise money for student activities.

Gates also noted how DeMedeiros had kept other school events going, like the geography bee and the honor role.

“We have a lot of kids working hard to make the honor roll because if they make it all year, they get to go to Raging Waters,” she said.

DeMedeiros noted the recognition ceremonies held three times a year for students who achieve GPAs of 3.0 or better, as well as students that combine athletics and art. LeyVa, she said, managed to keep art as part of the curriculum by incorporating it into classes. In addition, there are three huge poster contests featuring the school mascot—a bulldog named George.

There are career, historical and multi-cultural bulldog poster contests each year. A number of these posters have ended up at the Santa Clara Office of Education. For the past 10 years, the office holds an annual art contest among all the schools in the county—public and private, kindergarten through grade 12. A number of the winners have come from LeyVa’s bulldog posters and are still hanging in the county office.

Both teachers also cited the multi-cultural aspects of the school; DeMedeiros through her classes and Gates through music and drama.

“Lynne has made everyone a star.” said DeMedeiros, “and she gets everyone to work on it together.”

Lots of activities
Both women have numerous things planned for their retirement. However, DeMedeiros also plans to be back at LeyVa, helping out in the library, which only has a part-time librarian. In addition, she plans to travel and devote more time to the teaching sorority of which she is currently the co-president. She plans to spend more time helping as an interpreter—she is a certified administrative hearing interpreter in Portuguese.

In her spare time, DeMedeiros plans to do some oil painting, which she hasn’t done since her children were born.
“I’m an avid gardener and I want to learn Vietnamese and how to play the piano,” she added. “I’m getting energized just thinking about it. I love my job, but it has been all consuming.”

Gates said she has plans to see California first and then possibly visit all the world capitals and each of the U.S. National Parks.

“I want to enjoy the opera in downtown San Jose, visit the wine country again, spend time at the Gilroy Garlic Festival and spend time doing physical fitness activities, like snorkeling,” she said.

She also plans to help her husband, a contractor, give back by working with Habitat for Humanity as well as continue to travel the world.

“We’re travel bugs,” she said.

But retirement also means there are things the two will miss, such as the creative interaction with other teachers and the kids.

There are other things, however, they won’t miss. Gates has a master key to all the doors at school, and said, “I’m tired of locking and unlocking doors and taking roll.”

DeMedeiros’ list consists of three things.

“Not being so bound to a desk at home on weekends when I have to do grades, which are due every five weeks. Making calls to parents about their children’s work and watching the clock. I don’t like to watch the clock,” DeMedeiros said.

Gates’ husband, whom she met on a trip to Holland, will also be missed since he helps out a great deal at the school. DeMedeiros has two grown children, a 29-year-old daughter who is a civil engineer and a 25-year-old son who is studying political science.

Local student to attend Johns Hopkins Program for Academic Excellence

Sanjeet Raman, a Silver Creek Country Club resident, has been accepted to attend the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth academic programs for gifted second through twelfth graders this summer.

Sanjeet Raman

Raman joins several thousand other students this year from across the U.S. and 80 countries who, because of their outstanding academic abilities, qualified for the Hopkins program. Archaeology, Oceanography, Robotics, and Existentialism are just a few of the over 100 CTY courses available in two three-week sessions over the summer. This format permits students to work at a challenging pace, explore topics in depth, and study subjects not often available to students their age.

Classes are offered at 26 sites, from Johns Hopkins University in the east to Stanford University on the west coast. CTY has also filled its new international summer programs at the Johns Hopkins Nanjing Center in Nanjing, China, and at the University of the Americas in Puebla, Mexico. Residential programs, available to students in grades 5-12, provide the opportunity to live, study, and socialize with other bright, motivated students.

Like over 10,000 other gifted students last year, Raman qualified for this special program by participating in CTY’s academic Talent Search, which accepts applications from early September to late May. Students in seventh and eighth grade take the SAT or ACT—the same tests taken by college-bound juniors and seniors. Students in second through sixth grades take the SCAT--similar to the SAT and ACT but scaled for younger students.

Raman will be taking Cryptology at Loyola Marymount University.

Squirrel goes on the offensive at Evergreen Elementary School

Evergreen Elementary School had an unwelcome guest on May 9 when a squirrel went on the offensive, biting two adults and one student on campus.

The squirrel attack occurred when the squirrel ran into one of the school’s open portable classrooms, which contained students, teachers and parents getting ready to leave on a field trip, according to Principal Kathy Shepard, who added that the door to the classroom was open because of the warm weather. The squirrel jumped on to one of the adults in the room, and quickly became agitated when another adult tried to push the squirrel away, biting both adults.

The squirrel then ran out of the classroom and came across fifth-grade student Kathy Nguyen, who was headed toward the restroom. The squirrel jumped on Nguyen and left the fifth grader with bite wounds on her right arm and one of her fingers before running away toward the school’s grass playing fields. Both adults and Nguyen were treated at Regional Medical Center of San Jose for bite wounds and were undergoing a series of rabies shots as a precautionary measure, Shepard said.

And while Shepard said all three were no worse for the wear in the end, the incident gained plenty of attention in San Jose, noting that local television news vans peppered the school’s parking lot the evening of the incident and the morning after. News of the squirrel attack apparently also traveled the globe, said Shepard, who has received messages from a former colleague in Florida, as well as friends in England and Sweden about the squirrel attack.

Always a teacher first, Shepard said the incident imparts an important lesson to her students.

“What we really need to remember is that we have wild animals here,” Shepard said. “We think we live in the suburbs where we don’t even have to think about those things. Cute, little cuddly looking animals such as squirrels can be a menace or a bit of danger to us.”

All in all, Shepard said, the school took the incident in stride, noting that students have been making “No Squirrel Zone” notices as a light-hearted pun, and mentioned that the business of learning returned to normal the day after the incident, albeit with the classroom doors closed.

“They’re going to be closed for a while,” Shepard said with a chuckle.

—By Diego Abeloos

Rock-it Science camp registration now open for summer sessions

Rock-it Science, located in Santa Clara at 2110 Walsh Avenue, recently announced an expanded schedule of their summer science camps. Camp sessions are still available for June 18-22, June 25-29, July 2-6, July 9-13, July 16-20, July 23-27, July 30-August 3, and August 6-10. Registration is open now at www.rockitscience.com.

The Rock-it Science summer camps utilize storytelling and innovative science experiments to capture the children’s attention and imagination. Camp themes run the gamut from experiments that fly to experiments that bubble and smoke! The camps serve children ages 5-12.

The goal at Rock-it Science is to spark, nurture and develop young people’s enthusiasm and ability to learn science successfully. Each camp day begins with a scientific concept introduced through a zany tale involving Jack, Jill, and The Evil Mr. Fred. Then the kids begin hands-on experimentation to determine possible solutions to the cliffhanger story.

Kids are encouraged to think creatively, to try things out, make mistakes, make corrections and discover how to solve problems. They don’t just reproduce a pre-determined result – they experience the joy of discovery for themselves.
To learn more about Rock-it Science and this summer’s camp offerings, go to www.rockitscience.com or call Rock-it Science at (408) 969-1900.

Evergreen Valley College President recognized by his alma mater

Central Washington University recently recognized the philanthropy of long time supporter and alumnus, Dr. David Wain Coon, President of Evergreen Valley College, by renaming the CWU Center for Excellence in Leadership in his honor.

The “David Wain Coon Center for Excellence in Leadership,” located in the Student Union and Recreation Center, was unveiled Tuesday, May 1. The ceremony began with a welcome by Central President Jerilyn S. McIntyre.

Dr. David Wain Coon

The Center for Excellence in Leadership is comprised of two professional staff members and a team of paraprofessional student programmers.

“The Center provides broad-based leadership education for the CWU campus community, including individualized training, leadership resources and recognition,” said Leslie Webb, director, CWU’s diversity education center. “Staff at the center engage students in a variety of team-oriented programs, from small group retreats to large scale keynote speakers on leadership in the 21st century.”

Prior to moving to San Jose, Coon served as a state trustee and regional board member for Children’s Home Society of Washington, as a board member and volunteer counselor for Camp Opportunity, as a board member for the CWU Alumni Association, and as chair of a state-wide Citizen’s Advisory Council on Alcoholism and Drug Addiction. Coon was recently appointed to the board for Asian Americans for Community Involvement in San Jose.

When Coon received the CWU Alumni Association’s Special Achievement Award last fall, he announced a plan to give back to his alma mater. His gift, the David Wain Coon Leadership Endowment, provides support for leadership development programs for Central students who are historically on the margin of society based on their gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, immigration status or disability.

“It is my hope that this endowment will in some meaningful way empower, provide a voice, or provide skills to students who otherwise would not have the opportunity to develop their leadership potential,” said Coon.

With a bachelor’s degree in communications and public relations from Central, a Master’s in college student personnel administration from Western Washington University, and a doctorate in educational leadership from Seattle University, Coon’s professional career in higher education includes serving as vice president for student success at Cascadia Community College, Green River Community College executive dean of student services, vice president/dean of student services at the Art Institute of Seattle, director of student development at Pierce College and director of residential services at CWU.

Coon, in looking back on his professional career in higher education, said he is reminded of how his experiences at Central helped build the foundation from which he now leads and interacts.

“Both the in-class and out-of-class experiences greatly influenced the shaping of the values, beliefs and integrity that I attempt to bring to my own interactions with the students and other members of the educational communities to which I have belonged,” said Coon. “ With each interaction, I draw upon the knowledge and skills introduced to me through my study of communications and public relations at Central.”

LeyVa Middle School Band earns 2nd place finish at "Music in the Parks" band festival

LeyVa Middle School Band participated in the "Music in the Parks" band festival on Saturday, May 5, at Peterson Middle School and Great America. By all accounts, the band gave an outstanding performance with a rating of "Excellent" and received 2nd place over a band that was three times their size with much more experience. Karen Kolber, Director of Bands and Choir at both Chaboya and LeyVa Middle Schools, said the band, “performed beautifully, with accuracy and musicality. We are so proud of LeyVa Band!”

Evergreen School District psychologist honored by statewide association

Jennifer Rocabado, a school psychologist with the Evergreen School District, has been named Outstanding School Psychologist for the Greater San Fran-cisco Bay Area re-gion by the California Association of School Psychologists.

Jennifer Rocabado

The award honors school psychologists for going beyond their job descriptions and offering expanded services to their schools and students. Rocabado has been instrumental in developing more awareness among district staff members of special education issues.

She has also given back to the profession by being elected president of the Santa Clara County Association of School Psychologists, an affiliate of the statewide organization.

CASP, with 3,000 members, is the largest state association of school psychologists in the nation. For more than 55 years, CASP has advocated on behalf of all of California's students. School psychologists offer student assessments, classroom management, program development for at-risk students and many other education and mental health services to schools and their communities.

For more information about school psychology, visit the CASP web site at www.casponline.org.