K-12 News & Updates

K-12 Health & Wellness in the New Year

We want to enter the New Year and 2nd semester with a healthy school community. As such, we will be conducting COVID testing for students and staff throughout the week when we return to school. With the new Omicron variant, coupled with folks traveling and visiting family and friends during the Winter Break, we feel this is an important step to ensure a safe and healthy environment for everyone.

The COVID test is a quick and painless self-administered nasal swab (we can help younger students). All students MUST be registered in ordered to receive a test on-site. Please help us be prepared by registering your student as soon as possible. Thank you!

If we have a positive case in one of our classes, we will respond in the following ways:

  • Conduct contact tracing and identify who was in close contact (within 6 feet for more than 15 minutes) with the person who tested positive.
  • Contact families whose student was in close contact.
  • Conduct follow-up testing with students and staff who were in close contact.
  • Respond accordingly with quarantine or isolation protocols, depending on the case and vaccination status of close contacts.

Read the Full E-Newsletter

Scholarships for Graduating Seniors

Below is an ongoing list of the most relevant local, county and state scholarships, categorized by due date. However, due to Covid-restrictions and changes, please note that availability and due dates are subject to change. This list is by no means all there is. YOU can definitely find many more by putting the effort in. Call the office for questions or more information.

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

  • The Italian Catholic Federation is offering several $400 scholarships to graduating seniors. For more information visit www.icf.org.
  • Rotary Club of Gualala – two year scholarships of $3,000 ($6,000 over 2 years). More information at the Gualala Rotary Club website.
  • Marie A. Calderilla Scholarship: Silicon Valley Community Foundation is offering twenty (20) $20,000 awards to graduating high school seniors planning to attend a college in San Mateo Community College District (Canada College, San Mateo Community College and Skyline Community College). Visit the Silicon Valley Community Foundation Website for more information.
  • Stifel, The Fabric of Society scholarship started in 2008 and offers one $2000 scholarship. The program highlights 50 high school seniors from around the country as they reflect on school, work, and their communities. Visit the Fabric of Society Scholarship Facebook Page for more information.
  • California Retired Teachers Association Division 55 Hilmer Finne Music Scholarship Fund is awarding $1000 to a Mendocino County public high school senior who plans to attend college to pursue a career in music. More scholarships can be found on the Community Fund of Mendocino County website.
  • The California Association of Collectors is offering three scholarships (1) $2,500.00, (1) $2,000.00 and (1) $1,500.00 to graduating seniors and High School Juniors. Students must write 700-1000 word essay on “The Importance of Establishing and Maintaining Good Financial Credit During Your College Years.” For more information www.cacesf.org.
  • James G. Cummings Foundation of Ukiah offers three scholarships of $8,000 each for the study of marine technology. James G Cummings Foundation, 519 South School St, Ukiah, CA 95482; 707-964-6782.

APRIL

  • Druidic Scholarship Award is offering twenty (20) $2,000 scholarships to Graduating Seniors. NOTE: Need letter of recommendation from local Druid member. Return application to your counsellor and they will obtain letter for you. More information about the Druidic Scholarship can be found by visiting the Druid website
  • Gualala Arts Young Artist Scholarship. The Young Artist Scholarship program is open to graduating seniors who reside in Gualala Arts’ region, from Fort Ross to Elk, and intend to pursue a career in some field of art. Individual scholarships have ranged from $500 to $2,000. More information about the Gualala Arts Young Artist Scholarship.
  • Knights of Columbus is pleased to offer an educational grant of $1,000 to a PA senior. You can write Knights of Columbus, PO BOX 816, POINT ARENA, CA 95468
  • The North Coast Section Foundation Scholarship is a prestigious program recognizing two (2) student athletes based on excellence in athletics, academics and character. One male and one female statewide winner will each receive $5,000 as well as a visit to the State Capitol in Sacramento where they will be honored in front of the legislature. Visit the the NCS website for more information.
  • The Robert Miller Scholarships are available to graduating seniors who want to make their career in the Central Coast grape and wine industry and plan to attend Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo ($1,000) or Alan Hacock Community College ($500). More information on the Robert Miller Scholarship is available on the California Wine Growers Association Website.
  • The California Wine Grape Growers Foundation is offering two $8,000 scholarships to students planning to attend a CSU or UC, and four $2,000 scholarships to students planning to attend a California Community College. The student’s parents or legal guardians must be employed by a California Grape Wine Grower. More information available on the California Wine Growers Association Website.
  • Joshua Perez Memorial Scholarship – Offering one $500 scholarship. More information can be found in the counseling office.
  • Sanctuary Forest is offering scholarships to local high school graduates college-bound seniors with a demonstrated interest and an active involvement in environmental issues.! There are six $1,000 scholarships available through Sanctuary Forest, thanks to generous donations from the Dimmick family (producers of local lumber for four generations), the Maria & Robert Kelly Stewardship, the Humboldt/Mendocino business community, Humboldt/Mendocino Redwood Company, and friends of Sanctuary Forest & Rondal Snodgrass. More information can be found here.

MAY

  • Gualala Community Center Scholarship Program is offering $1,000 to two graduating seniors living in the coastal corridor between Manchester and Timber Cove. Contact the Gualala Community Center for current scholarship information.
  • Mendocino County Deputy Sheriff’s Association is offering three $500 and one $1,500 scholarships. 
  • Warren Jones Memorial CITYART Scholarship application is available online. $500 in scholarship funds is available to graduating high school seniors who attend school in Southern Mendocino County (including homeschool students) and are interested in furthering art studies or pursuing careers in the arts. The goal of the Warren Jones Memorial CITYART Scholarship is to acknowledge students with outstanding art talent and to aid them in further study in their field. Art is broadly defined to include painting, sculpture, music, drama, dance, writing, performance, media, film and/or video. Applications for the scholarship can be downloaded at www.godmeat.com/cityart.htm.
  • Point Arena Lighthouse – $ 2,000 in scholarship funds for local graduating Seniors and previous graduates to support post-secondary education. More information can be found on the Point Arena Lighthouse website.
  • Gualala Lions Club – two $2,000 scholarships for graduating seniors. More information can be found in the counseling office. Visit the Gualala Lions Club webpage here.

K-12 December E-Newsletter

SCHOOL NEWS & UPDATES

  • Hometown Holidays
  • Oddfellows Toy Drive
  • K8 & High School Family Forums
  • Redwood Coast Education Foundation Grants
  • Family Handbook
  • Mark Your Calendar

Hometown Holidays

Our High School students will be participating in this year’s Hometown Holidays on Main Street in Point Arena on Saturday, December 11. They will be in front of the theater from 1:00 – 5:00 with candles, baked goods and fresh greenery. We are asking high school families to contribute to the bake sale by dropping off baked goods at the school this Friday, December 10 or at our Hometown Holidays table in town on Saturday, December 11 at 1:00.

Funds from the day will help support a student-led school beautification project and the Catalina Environmental Leadership Program. It should be a festive day, be sure to stop by!

Read the Full E-Newsletter

K-8 November E-Newsletter

SCHOOL NEWS & UPDATES

Teacher Feature: Ms. Tresla

Welcome to our 4-5’s and 6-8’s ELA and Social Studies classroom! It was wonderful to have our students back into our school building this Fall. The initial awkwardness of reuniting after a long separation soon fell away and back to the business of reading, writing and learning.

Our 4-5’s have written a number of poignant and often humorous reflections on our writing prompts such as “Who is someone (no restrictions; alive or dead, real or not) you would like to meet?” All of us have been working on our keyboarding skills with a typing learning program and are typing up some of our own writings for print. Our class reading is a historical fiction book set in the Sonoma Valley in the year leading up to the Bear Flag Revolt. This puts us in close proximity to the history of CA that we are learning in class. All the students have selected the biography book they will be reading for the written report due shortly before our winter break. Also, they will be doing a presentation of their biographical choice. I am looking forward to seeing those.

Our 6-8’s class began this year reading the book Flush. Written by Carl Hiaasen and set in the Florida Keys it mixes engaging characters, adventure and misadventure and a focus on pollution, both legal and illegal, damaging the life in our ecosystems. We followed that up with a researched essay assignment addressing an environmental issue. In our Social Studies class we have been learning the back stories of the peoples from the North American, European and African continents at their point of confluence on the North American continent 400 years ago. Now we have pinpointed “the story” to the 13 British Colonies and the aftereffects of the French and Indian War. Wrapping up these last weeks before Winter Break students will be preparing a researched inquiry paper, (either a scientific or historical inquiry) along with a visual presentation of their findings and/or conclusions. Once again I am looking forward to reading those.

The 4th-8th graders recently spent their outdoor learning day together at the Gualala Regional Point Park. They discussed the art of Andy Goldsworthy & created their own nature-based pieces.

Read the Full E-Newsletter

K-12 November E-Newsletter

SCHOOL NEWS & UPDATES

  • High School Kayak Field Study: November 14
  • K8 Playground
  • COVID Vaccines: MCOE Town Hall & RCMS Survey
  • School Van Fundraiser
  • Family Volunteer Hours
  • Mark Your Calendar

High School Kayak Field Study: Sign Up!

Arena Cove
Sunday, November 14
10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Middle school students went kayaking with North Pacific Adventure in September. This month our high school students are invited to participate in a guided kayaking trip at the Arena Cove. Interested students should contact Nathan or Jen to sign up (waivers are available at the school and will be sent home with students).

ACORN Partners in Education is hosting these kayaking trips as part of their environmental stewardship program, Students Protecting the Coast.

Read the Full E-Newsletter