Riding the Bus!

One of my goals this year is to join our bus drivers on each of their routes to better understand what their journey is like through the beautiful countryside of Aromas and San Juan Bautista as they pick up our children each school morning.  I also want to understand our large rural communities and feel what it is like to make the journey to school each day. My first adventure was with Jesus on his route through the relatively flat agricultural fields near Lucy Brown Road and adjacent to route 156. 

I boarded the bus at 7:15 and one hour later we returned to the bus yard having picked up and delivered about 67 students to San Juan School and Anzar High School.  I was impressed by the politeness of our students, the dedication of their family members who waited at various stops with their children until the bus arrived, and the assistance that older students gave to younger ones still trying to get used to the bus trip. I know it was morning and everyone was still half asleep, but it was a polite, well-mannered group of young scholars.  My next trip will be one into Aromas.  I am eager to learn more.

Why ANZAR?  (the first in a series to appear in Parent Newsletters, containing information about our flagship school)

Anzar is a small, rural public high school that feels like a private school. 

We have the smallest class sizes of any area high schools in the tri-county area. Average class is 19:1. Our small size is our secret sauce. We are not a large comprehensive high school and we actually like it that way because it allows us to more easily “know our students by name and need.” Each student in our high school is part of a small class (Advisory) that stays together for four years and meets during a dedicated advisory period. Each advisor is a certificated teacher on staff who takes the time to help students navigate high school and who celebrates their progress along the way. Research reinforces how important it is for a student to have an important adult in the school who knows them well. These relationships are often life-changing and are what alumni talk about when they visit. You usually find advisories like this in elite private academies. I will share more information about Anzar in future newsletters.

Dual Enrollment on Anzar Campus in our Hawk Academy

This year we have doubled the general education free college course offerings from Gavilan College on Anzar’s campus. They are taught by Gavilan professors with support provided by an Anzar teacher who meets with students to assist with homework completion and study skills. This year there are four courses offered to two cohorts of students:

1. Introduction to Psychology;

2. Personal Finance

3. Early Child Development

4. Mexican-American Cultural History.

All courses are CSU and UC transferable. All who take all four courses will leave with one semester of college credit for free! They also receive high school credit for these courses, as well!

Partnership with Hartnell College

We are beginning a partnership with Hartnell College to offer our students Mechatronics. We are now transporting 5 students to Hartnell for this course that runs two days a week, period one and two. Mechatronics is an “interdisciplinary branch of engineering that focuses on the integration of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, electronic engineering and software engineering,  and also includes a combination of robotics, computer science, telecommunications, systems, control, automation and product engineering.” We are excited to support the growth in this program.