Puma News Dec 08

Go Pumas!!!

The LPS-Richmond PUMA Newsletter

December 2008

Issue 3, Volume 1

Shawn Benjamin Principal

Jamie Kim

Lower School Dean of Students

Jesse Madway

Upper School Dean of Students

Shree Ram

Intervention Counselor

Julia Hollinger

Academic Dean/BTSA

Omar Bryan

Campus Supervisor

Ximena Montes

School Manager

Sara Wolfe

Enrollment & Outreach

Andy Hatcher

After School Program

Marvin Figueroa

College Counselor

Inside this Issue: *Note from the Principal *Community Service *Important Dates *Teachers & Classrooms *College Column *Sports/Activities Page *Enrollment Update *PGA Information *PUMAS of the Week *PGA Announcements

Note from the Principal Greetings Families, As we move into December, there is both tragic and exciting news to share. As you may have heard, we lost a dear member of our community on November 11, 2008. Dameyon Robinson, a senior, passed away. Dameyon was a very well-loved student and his presence is missed greatly. With the loss of Dameyon’s, however, our student and staff community have come together to support one another through this difficult time and we have witnessed the tremendous amount of love that exists amongst us. The exciting news is that we will move into our new site at the Nystrom campus over winter break. When school starts again on January 6th, we will begin classes in our new facility. We will have a special ribbon cutting ceremony on the 6th to mark the beginning of our new facility and celebrate all of the hard work that you, the staff, and community have done to help us earn our new campus. We will communicate more information about the move at the Dec 1st PGA meeting and throughout the month of December. We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, Sincerely, Ms. Benjamin _______________________________________________________________________________

Community Service Opportunities How are you getting involved and earning your 35 hours of community service? Here are some ways!! * House of Hope: St. Marks Church: Volunteers needed for committees, office assistance and special events. Call 234-5886 for more information. * Familias Unidas: Volunteer at the Youth Center * Habitat For Humanity: Work with a team to help build a house for a family in need. * Volunteer at your local church, YMCA, library, pre-school, etc. * Come to LPS during Winter Break to help us move to our new campus!!! * Volunteer at Richmond Library: Contact Angela at 510-620-6562

Important Dates to Remember!!!! • • • • •

Monday, December 1: PGA meeting 6:30-7:30 Thursday, December 11: Full day of school Monday, December 15: Benchmark #2 Friday, Dec. 19: No School: Pack up for move Dec. 22 – January 6: NO SCHOOL: Winter Break

For more info visit: www.LPSrichmondpumas.com * phone: 510-235-4522 * Fax: 510-588-4593

College Column Excitement is in the air this month as college applications are being completed and our seniors are receiving acceptance notifications. Thus far this month:  Three more students were accepted into college, bringing our total to twelve students and we are only in November.  Holy Names, Sacramento State, University of San Francisco, and St. Mary’s College visited our campus to learn more about our students in hopes of recruiting some of our students.  Our seniors are preparing to apply to University of California schools. As always, if you have any questions about your child’s college planning, please feel free to contact me at (510) 235-4522.

Teachers and Their Classrooms In Ms. Kaser & Mr, Russel’s English 1 Intensive, we are reading Fallen Angels, a novel about the Vietnam War by the ever-popular author Walter Dean Myers. We’ll also be reading non-fiction accounts of the war and drawing connections with more current events, including the terrorist attacks of 2001 and the ongoing engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq. Students will look at how symbolism and imagery are used to create mood in literature. We would welcome a guest speaker with firsthand experience as a soldier during wartime, especially a Vietnam vet. So, if there are any LPS family members out there who would like to share their story, please contact Ms. Kaser at [email protected] or leave a message on my voicemail: 510. 235-4522, ext. 301

Sports and After School Activities Dec. 1

LPS-Richmond Pumas DECEMBER Basketball Schedule @ LPS Hayward (4:30) AWAY

Dec. 2

vs. John Swett High School (5:00) HOME

Dec. 3

Amador ValleyTournament in Pleasanton (TBA)

Dec. 4

vs. Jewish Community High School (4:30) HOME

November

Dec. 5-7

Continue Amador Valley Tournament (TBA)

10/31/08

Dec. 15

@ Santa Rosa High School (7:30) AWAY

Dec. 16 (tentative)

@ Oakland Military Institute (4:00) AWAY

Dec. 17

vs. Quarry Lane High School (5:00) HOME

Marvin Figueroa College Counselor

PUMAS of the Week & Month!!

9th:

Aviana Teal 10th: Yadira Rodriguez 11th: Lizette Lopez 12th: Jessica Lopez

11/07/08 9th: Jocelyn Arambula 10th: Jose Rosales 11th: Maggie Vargas 12th: Ivonne Martinez

11/14/08 12th: DAMEYON ROBINSON

Congratulations!!!!!! !!!!! Please Note: Our New Address as of December 19, 2008!! LPS Richmond 251 S. 12th St. Richmond, CA 94801

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Enrollment Update

•

Applications for the 2009-2010 school year have been mailed out to interested families. We plan to receive MANY applications in December so if you know a current 8th grade, please pick up an application for him/her today! An interest form is attached.

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PGA Announcements

The next PGA meeting will be on Monday, December 1 from 6:30-7:30pm. Please be sure to attend (and your child gets a FREE DRESS PASS)! Our agenda includes: • Move to Nystrom Details (opportunities to volunteer) • Vacation schedule for Winter Break • English class for parents: Starts December 2

We Need Your Support!!!

PLEASE RATE OUR SCHOOL AT: www.greatschools.net/modperl/browse_school/ca/12278 For more info visit: www.LPSrichmondpumas.com * phone: 510-235-4522 * Fax: 510-588-4593