Jonathan Brestoff, who grew up in Woodland Hills and Calabasas, has been awarded a Mitchell scholarship for a year's study in Ireland. Brestoff, whose family now lives in Valencia, was student body president at Skidmore College before entering a joint M.D./PhD program in genetics and gene regulation at the University of Pennsylvania. His focus is preventing Type 2 diabetes and obesity, and he is in the process of patenting an anti-obesity compound he discovered.
The 10-year-old Mitchell program, named for former U.S. Senate majority leader George Mitchell, rewards 12 Americans with scholarships to study at Irish and Northern Ireland universities for one year. Sponsored by the U.S.-Ireland Alliance, the awards were announced over the weekend.
Also this weekend, Rhodes scholars were named, including Noelle R. Lopez of Tucson, the first student from Santa Clara University to receive the award. Lopez, a philosophy major and captain of the women's track team, has taken part in community service projects in Guatemala, Mexico and rural California.
Other Rhodes scholars included Timothy A. Nunan of Palos Verdes, a Princeton graduate currently on a Fulbright scholarship to Germany, who has translated articles and primary source materials on the rise of the Third Reich. Nunan is an actor and debater and wrote regularly for a Princeton weekly cultural and intellectual newspaper.
UCLA students claimed two Rhodes scholarships: Scott W. Hugo of Alamo, a rugby player who has conducted research on U.S.-China relations, and Christopher D. Joseph of Santa Barbara, a varsity football player who has conducted ecological and geographic research with a focus on the causes of deforestation. Hugo also was a leader in the Bruins for the Obama campaign.
Rhodes scholarships, created by philanthropist Cecil Rhodes, provide two to three years of study at Oxford University in England for students from around the world.
-- Gale Holland
The tradition started 29 years ago, when Garden Grove teacher Ellen McLeod had her special-education students whip up a modest Thanksgiving meal. But the festivities at Bell Intermediate School  have grown every year, and on Friday, her 28 students outdid themselves.
Under McLeod's supervision, they roasted 15 turkeys and 80 pounds of yams, mashed 100 pounds of red potatoes, cooked 60 pounds of green beans and prepared all the other traditional sides. They decorated the multi-purpose room, sent out invitations and served as hosts and hostesses for the special meal.
The nearly 300 students, teachers and family members lucky enough to snag invites to the feast were very thankful.
-- Seema Mehta
Photo Credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times
At a Charters and Innovation Committee meeting Thursday afternoon, LAUSD board members lamented a potential budget cut because of the state's worsening economy. The district, which has already slashed almost $400 million from this year's budget, could face a similar mid-year cut. Board members discussed increasing lobbying and public relations efforts and said any additional cuts could be catastrophic.
Board member Julie Korenstein likened the situation to a live lobster placed that doesn't realize that it's getting boiled alive because the temperature increases so slowly.
Frog, you mean, said Supt. David L. Brewer. The saying involves a frog, not a lobster.
"I've only seen lobsters, never seen a frog" being boiled alive, Korenstein said.
--Jason Song
The Wildwood School takes seriously its commitment to developing students who are also engaged citizens. Case in point: All classes at the independent, K-12 school were suspended today to allow students to participate in Human Rights Day, a daylong examination of child soldiers, genocide, and ways that people can make their voices heard.
Highlights at the West Los Angeles campus include:
-- A debate in which five teams take different positions on actions by the United States used to combat genocide, exploring such questions as when should the U.S. get involved and what should U.S. involvement looks like.
-- A discussion of child soldiers, in which students will be encouraged to draw out their emotions and thoughts on giant posters.
-- A “Camp Darfur” installation that features tents where students can learn about genocides in Darfur, Rwanda, Armenia, Bosnia and Myanmar.
-- An address by guest speaker and activist Gabriel Stauring, co-founder and director of StopGenocideNow.org.
-- A workshop in which students can write letters to the United Nations.
One of the most compelling aspects of the day is that it was organized by three students: Poppy Archer, Olivia Gold and Kelsey Weber, who co-lead the school’s Human Rights Watch Student Task Force, one of the most active clubs on campus.
The students, all seniors, have taken on human rights as a major cause both inside and outside of the classroom.
We’ve “invested ourselves in human rights and believe that we should give back to our community through educating them on what’s happening in communities globally,” said Kelsey, 17, who grew up in Japan. “I feel an obligation to people all over the world because I feel connected to them. Also, to be able to wake up and not fear for my life every day is something kids my age cannot do in Darfur and the Congo.”
Part of what spurred the trio is to shake the complacency from some of their jaded classmates.
“Olivia and I realized that only students that watch the news and are passionate about worldly issues knew about the injustices happening in the world today,” said Poppy, 17.
Added Olivia: “This day will hopefully inspire the Wildwood students to get involved and join us in our quest to spread awareness and enact change.”
-- Carla Rivera
The Westridge School in Pasadena has named Elizabeth J. McGregor as the next head of the independent girls campus effective July 1, 2009. She will become only the 11th head since the school’s founding in 1913. McGregor currently serves as associate head of school at the Buckley School, a co-ed Sherman Oaks campus where she has held teaching and administrative positions for 16 years.
Westridge began a national search in 2007 to replace Fran Norris Scoble, who retired in July 2008 after serving for 18 years as Westridge’s head of school. Rosemary C. Evans, an alumna and assistant head of academic affairs, has been occupying the post in the interim.
“The Search Committee was impressed from the outset with Elizabeth’s professional experience and personal qualities,” said Richard H. Patterson Jr., chairman of the Westridge Board of Trustees. “Her ability to connect with students, faculty, parents and other constituencies at Westridge was immediately apparent during her campus interiews and visits.”
McGregor received her master of education degree from Columbia University and a bachelor of education degree from the University of London. Before joining Buckley, she was a teacher in New York, Connecticut and Johannesburg, South Africa.
She attended an all-girls school the final two years of high school and considered it a formative experience.
“I am so impressed by the girls — their enthusiasm, their confidence, their intellectual curiosity and their concern for others,” McGregor said. “I am honored to have been named the next head of school.”
--Carla Rivera
Three years ago, Ashlee Smith lost all her possessions in a house fire. That’s when she noticed that charities tended to be geared toward assisting adults. Ever since, the 9-year-old has collected toys for children whose belongings have been devastated by natural disasters. Ashlee’s Toy Closet has dispersed more than 10,000 toys across the country.
“I know how [these kids] feel, and I want to give them something to help them smile again,” Ashlee said in a statement.
Now Ashlee is in need of donations for the children of Southern California, where fires have destroyed hundreds of homes. Items can be mailed to Ashlee’s Toy Closet Inc., c/o Custom Aire Inc., 2205 Glendale Ave., Suite 143, Sparks NV 89431.
--Corina Knoll
--Photo by Ericka Smith
There was a time in not-so-long-ago Los Angeles when teachers risked their careers if they spoke openly about political beliefs that did not conform to mainstream views. They also were in danger if colleagues or officials merely suspected they harbored an unconventional outlook.
During the 1940s and 1950s, hundreds of local teachers may have lost jobs during the McCarthy-period campaigns to find and root out Communist sympathizers. A panel on that period, with archival photos and film, takes place tonight at the headquarters of United Teachers Los Angeles, the teachers union for the Los Angeles Unified School District.
The program will include narratives of those who lost jobs as well as what organizers characterize as current threats to academic freedom. Participants include teacher blacklist expert Ellen Verdries and Martha Kransdorf, author of "A Matter of Loyalty," the story of blacklisted teacher Frances Eisenberg. Also on hand will be former teachers David Curland and Muriel Goldsmith, as well as Arlene Inouye, a teacher and activist who has opposed military recruitment efforts. The event is free.
Here are the details:
"The McCarthy Period and Its Impact on Teachers"
Date: Nov. 20, 2008 (Tonight)
Time: 6:00 p.m.: view materials, enjoy light snacks; 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.: program
Where: United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) headquarters, 3303 Wilshire Blvd. (Wilshire Boulevard and Berendo Street -- two blocks west of Vermont), 2nd floor auditorium
Free parking in lot behind the building, enter on Berendo.
-- Howard Blume
Antero Garcia, an English teacher at Manual Arts High School, writes:
Earlier this month, a group of researchers at the University of Oxford released a list of the Top 10 Most Irritating Expressions in the English Language. The colloquialisms listed (“at the end of the day” and “shouldn’t of,” for instance”) are exactly the groan-worthy revelations that you realize creep all too often into one’s everyday language. The list, however, sparked in me an interest into education-related annoying phrases. And now I’d like to suggest perhaps the phrase that needs to be finally done in, within the world of education: “In the trenches.”
I’ll accept blame for using this phrase in the past. Likewise, it creeps into the language of my administrators, my peers and researchers. A typical phrase would be something like, “With all due respect, those of us in the trenches know how difficult the day-to-day challenges of teaching a class bigger than 30 students....” (Note that “with all due respect” ranks as the No. 5 most irritating expression.)
My concern with the phrase is its connotation about what it means to be a teacher and what the profession, as a whole, values. I recognize that “in the trenches” and its war-laden connotation is supposed to depict teachers as the valorized heroes; we are the ones “holding the line” and the ones fighting the education battle first-hand. It is also a phrase that excludes non-teachers from participating in this battle: Education is hard work and the teachers -– in the trenches –- are the only ones doing it.
It’s no secret that I’ve had my fair share of run-ins and heated discussions with other colleagues, administrators and researchers. However, at the end of the day (No. 1 most irritating expression!), progressive, positive changes in education are going to require collaboration. Similarly, the phrase connotes teaching as an ugly and treacherous experience –- it’s a nightmare (No. 7!). For many of us, that image couldn’t be any more incorrect; education is an exciting and beautiful super-organism when up and running efficiently in our classrooms.
At this moment in time, I personally, and with all due respect, request the banning of “in the trenches” when referencing the activities of teachers in classrooms –- it’s not rocket science! (Note this sentence included Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 10 of the most irritating expressions in the English language.) I’m curious what other education phrases you think should be abolished.
A math teacher in San Diego County was selected to represent California in the National Teacher of the Year competition, the state Department of Education announced Wednesday.
Alex Kajitani, whose use of music in the classroom has earned him the moniker “the rappin’ mathematician,” teaches at Mission Middle School in Escondido and was one of five teachers nominated for California Teachers of the Year last week.
“On any given day, I am weaving lessons about the math the students are learning with issues important to them, such as advertising, the Internet and popular music,” Kajitani wrote on the application he submitted earlier this year. “Never will a student leave my class thinking that they will not use the information we have discussed.”
The winner of the national program will be selected next spring by a panel from the Council of Chief State School Officers.
--Corina Knoll
With student fees expected to rise and many families’ incomes and savings funds dropping, financial aid for higher education is becoming more important. Recognizing that, University of California officials unveiled a new on-line calculator to help students and their parents plan for the costs of attending a UC campus and receive an early estimate on how much aid they might receive.
Estimators for each UC campus can be found at: www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/paying.html.
A student enters basic information about family, such as income and assets, family size and the number of other family members enrolled in college. The tool then displays a possible financing plan, including estimates on grant assistance, the amount the student would be expected to contribute through work and loans and expected parent contribution.
The 10-campus University of California last week released a report that projected a 9.4% hike for most in-state student fees for the 2009-10 school year. That would bring undergraduates’ average system- wide and campus charges to $8,670, not including housing and food. Room, board, books and other expenses can add $12,000 to $14,000 to that.
Beware, however, that the on-line estimators is just that, an estimator that comes with no guarantees. To receive financial aid, students must still apply by filing a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and a Cal Grant GPA Verification Form before March 2, 2009, to be considered for aid for the 2009-10 academic year.
The university says it dedicates one-third of all fee increases to financial aid and reports that more than half of its undergraduates receive aid.
“We want to reassure parents and students that as California’s only public research university, UC takes very seriously its responsibility to keep a world-class education within reach of the state’s families,” UC system president Mark Yudof said in a prepared statement.
--Larry Gordon
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