THE GEAR MONTHLY PARENT NEWSLETTER ISSUE 43 JANUARY 2015
BOSCO TECH’S FALL OPEN HOUSE DRAWS ALUMNI, FRIENDS & FUTURE STUDENTS (SEE PAGE 4)
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL “Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true.” In an inspirational poem he wrote to comfort a grieving family member, Alfred Lord Tennyson reminds us all that we need to let go of the past and look forward to the opportunities the future holds for us. The new year holiday is always a good time to consider what you want to accomplish in the coming months and to make plans for how to attain those goals. The new year arrives with hope; it gives us a refreshed sense courage and an encouraging new start. As we look toward 2015, the faculty and staff of Bosco Tech wish you and your family a very Happy New Year! Sincerely, Xavier Jimenez Principal
SENIORS GAIN VALUABLE COLLEGE INSIGHTS COLLEGE RECRUITER & RECENT GRADS SHARE WHAT THEY HAVE LEARNED Bosco Tech seniors were recently treated to informative sessions provided by five young alumni and a seasoned professional regarding preparing for college life and planning college finances. The recent grads formed a panel who spoke about their college experiences and answered questions about their respective universities, majors, and how to prepare for university life. The following week, Robert Godinez, Sr., father of Mr. Rob Godinez, addressed college financial aid options. Mr. Godinez is a retired high school counselor with more than 35 years experience helping young people prepare for college. For the past five years, he has volunteered to make presentations to Bosco Tech students and parents. A big ‘thank you’ to Mr. Godinez and the following alumni (left to right in group photo below): Brendan Shah (CSEE ’10, now Rochester Institute of Technology), Sal Salceda (CSEE ’10, now UC Berkeley), Joseph Delgado (MAT ’13, now CSLA), Richard Flores (IDEA ’10, Whittier College graduate), and Joseph Tafalla (CSEE ’12, now UC Irvine).
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IDEA STUDENTS COMPETE IN NASA 3D PRINTING CONTEST Students in Integrated Design, Engineering & Art (IDEA) are participating in the first-ever NASA Design a Space Tool Challenge 2014, a high-school level competition that will judge the feasibility of tool designs that can be printed in space via 3D printing; winning entries will actually be printed aboard the International Space station while in orbit. 3D printing is using computer software to design an item that is printed by a machine, much like your computer printer at home, except the device ‘prints’ small bits of plastic instead of ink with each pass, slowly building up to a completed, 3-dimensional prototype object. After developing, designing and printing their equipment ideas, the IDEA students submitted their designs to NASA for judging. The space exploration organization will select the most feasible entries from among nationwide entries in early 2015. “It’s a great opportunity with a very practical application,” says Mr. Rene Romero, IDEA instructor. “Being able to produce crucial equipment in space is a new advancement for space exploration. 3D printing is the perfect combination of design and effective manufacturing. And having plans chosen for this experiment would be a very exciting prospect.”
IMPORTANT REMINDER: FRESHMAN TECHNOLOGY SELECTION —BY MR. JEFF KRYNEN, ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL, CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION Saturday, January 10, is the Freshmen Technology Placement day, when freshmen choose the technology major they will study for their remaining three and a half years at Bosco Tech. At that time, students will be interviewed and placed in the technology program of their choice, based on grades and an acceptable evaluation from the technology faculty. A few days prior to the placement day, students will be given a letter to take home that has the time they are to report to campus (the time they are assigned is based on their current GPA, calculated from a special grade collection which will occur over the Christmas break). They should be accompanied to the appointment by at least one parent. Please plan to arrive 10-15 minutes early. Students should dress neatly and expect to be at the school for 45 minutes to an hour. This will be a day to make several important decisions regarding your son’s Bosco Tech education! In preparation for their sophomore year, freshmen will also be taking Foreign Language placement tests and making their Fine Arts course selection immediately after their tech placement interview. If you have any questions, please contact me at jkrynen@boscotech.edu or (626) 940-2012.
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FALL OPEN HOUSE Hands-on technology workshops, hologram demonstrations, robots and scanning electronic microscopes were highlights of the Fall Open House when prospective students, current families and returning alumni got a glimpse of today’s Bosco Tech. More than 230 families visited campus that day and students from 41 schools participated in the workshops.
SPRING OPEN HOUSE IS SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2015. 4
43RD ANNUAL MATHEMATICS COMPETITION IS FEB. 7 Do you have or know a middle school student who would like to participate in Bosco Tech’s 43rd Annual Mathematics Competition on Saturday, Feb. 7? The competition is open to all students in grades 5-8 from public and private schools. The event will offer awards for the highest scoring individual and school teams. During the competition, a workshop will be provided for middle school teachers, examining problems used on the test, to facilitate classroom discussion of the concepts. The workshop will be led by instructional expert and textbook author Michael Hattar, a longtime Bosco Tech math teacher and professor at Rio Hondo Community College and Mount San Antonio College. This year, for the first time, the $1,000 Michael M. Hattar Excellence in Math Scholarship will be awarded to the top scoring Bosco Tech incoming freshman participant. Check in begins at 7:45 a.m. and the one-hour test starts at 9 a.m. Free fun activities will be offered, and food will be available for purchase. An award ceremony will be held immediately following the competition. The cost is $8 each participant or $5 for teams of 4 or more. Participants can pre-register by Feb. 3 using the following link: http://goo.gl/forms/UlpxLPeZw3. For more information, contact Ms. Valeria De Luna at MathCompetition@boscotech.edu.
CHRISTMAS BREAK IS THE PERFECT TIME TO GET AHEAD Just a reminder that Christmas break is a great opportunity for students to complete major assignments, begin to study for final exams and get a head start on their science fair projects. Take care of the work early; enjoy more of the holiday stress free. Christmas break is from December 20 to January 4. School resumes on Monday, January 5, and final exams are Tuesday to Thursday, January 20-22.
CELEBRATE THE NEW YEAR AT BOSCO TECH BINGO —EXCITING CHANGES KEEP THE FUN GOING Starting in January, there will be exciting changes to Bosco Tech’s popular bingo program. Encourage family and friends to join us every Saturday night for an eventful evening! Contact Mr. Paul Garcia for more information at pgarcia@boscotech.edu or 626-940-2147. • Specials Nights (3 packs for $20) now twice a month - 2nd and 4th Saturdays when there are five Saturdays in a month - 1st and 3rd Saturdays when there are four Saturdays in a month • Double Action Coverall now pays $250 • Multiple Power Balls • King and Queen Raffle • Bonanza and Odd/Even Blackout will have a progressive payout with a $500 maximum • Wild Day Payouts—three regular sessions games will now pay $300 each. Date determines games: 1/3/15 — Games 3, 13 and 23 1/24/15 — Games 4, 14 and 24 1/10/15 — Games 10, 20 and 30 1/31/15 — Games 1, 11 and 21 1/17/15 — Games 7, 17 and 27
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SALESIAN SPIRIT GAMES A long-standing Bosco Tech tradition, the Salesian Spirit Games, had students competing in sports activities simultaneously across the campus on Monday, Dec. 7. The games followed a student body Mass to celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, honoring the Virgin Mary. Always a close competition, the results of the games had MSET taking third with 17 game points, MAT taking second with 19 points, and ACE with a narrow win of 20 points. Congratulations to all of our tech teams for their efforts and their demonstration of Salesian spirit!
NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY Congratulations to newly inducted members of Bosco Tech’s chapter of the National Honor Society. The NHS is the nation's premier organization established to recognize outstanding high school students. More than just an honor roll, NHS serves to honor those students who have demonstrated excellence in the areas of scholarship, leadership, service, and character. These characteristics have been associated with membership in the organization since its beginning in 1921 (from www.nhs.us). Director of Counseling Roberto Dimas and Academic Counselor Paul Ortiz are the advisor and co-advisor of the Bosco Tech NHS.
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SPORTS UPDATE —BY SOCCER COACH DIEGO BACK, BASKETBALL COACH DOMINIC SERMENO & CROSS COUNTRY ASSISTANT COACH BRAD STOLZ Cross Country Celebrates the End of a Successful Season—In early December, the cross country team, coaches, and parents celebrated the completion of the successful 2014 season with dinner at the Pomona Valley Mining Company. The team impressively finished third in league and advanced to the CIF Southern Section Prelims, with senior varsity member Michael Gonzales making All League and advancing to CIF Southern Section Finals. All runners set new personal records. At the awards dinner, each team member was presented with a personalized t-shirt indicating the number of miles he had run from the beginning of summer practice to the end of the season. The impressive mileage ranged from 300 to an amazing high of 1,250 miles for three varsity members and 1,500 miles run by Mikey Gonzales! “Our team’s running broke the speed Sophomore Matt Lewis won the JV Scholar Athlete award, and limit,” says Coach Brad Stolz. senior Ian Dominguez, with a GPA of 4.6, won the varsity Scholar Athlete award. Mikey Gonzales was named the team's Most Valuable Runner. This award ceremony was a fitting end to a successful season. Bosco Tech Soccer Kick Starts Their Pre-season Play—The soccer team has been training diligently since September, and that hard work paid off when they came out kicking in a preseason game against St. Paul, winning our season opener 2-0. The second road game against Salesian was challenging and, although the team fought well, we lost. Our first home game was against Verbum Dei, a tough team. Team captain Henry Ayala kicked the winning goal at the 89th minute, allowing us to beat Verbum Dei 1-0. Other tough games followed, including a match with Bishop Amat, followed by the annual Winter Tech Classic in mid-December. This season, the team is led by captain/senior Henry Ayala and senior Mixcoatl Burrola. Head Coach Diego Back says that, “The soccer team is eyeing the Camino Real League Championship and I’m confident they’ll make it to CIF playoffs this year.” League play starts in January with the first game against Cantwell. We wish the team luck on reaching their goals. Basketball—The varsity basketball team is in pre-season play, consisting primarily of tournaments with teams outside our league. Our own 6th Annual Bosco Tech Varsity Tournament in early December was our largest tournament with 16 teams playing. We beat worthy competitors Pius X and Los Altos. In the finals, we beat La Salle in a close game (61-58), winning fifth place. Erfan Samaei won the All Tournament award. In mid-December, the varsity team won Pasadena’s Polytechnic Tournament. In the last minute of the championship game against La Salle, our team drew ahead by five points to win the entire tournament. On December 17, the team took their talents to Kona, for competition on the Big Island of Hawaii. (See more about this in the next issue of The Gear.) During the first week of January, we will be playing at Salesian and Bishop Amat. Our players are getting a lot of great preparation in hopes of a very successful season.
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BOSCO TECH MUSIC PREPARES TO RING IN THE NEW YEAR —BY MR. RICHARD RANGEL, BAND BOOSTER The final 2014 performance by Bosco Tech’s Marching Band was epic in scope. The band provided musical entertainment at the school’s Fall Open House event on November 23. In past years, the band performed a short set at the start of Open House. This year, the band played multiple times throughout the four-hour Open House and, during their break periods, the members were available to meet with prospective students and parents to answer questions about the music program. They were in uniform and ‘on duty’ for the length of the event. It was a very busy day for Music Director Daniel Almanza, the Music Booster parent volunteers, and the band members. But judging by the number of people taking photos and asking questions, it was also a successful day for everyone involved. Most of the members of the Marching Band have now transitioned to the school’s award -winning Concert Band and performed at the big Winter Concert in mid-December. That event featured festive and reflective performances from every level of the music program including the Musical Gear-Up students, the second-year Music Appreciation students, and the Concert Band. The members of the marching band were also featured prominently in a new promotional video created for the school. Entitled “Who Are We…Bosco Tech!” the video can be viewed on the school’s website and will be used to inform prospective families about the many benefits of choosing Bosco Tech. The professionally-made video features comments from students and faculty, including Mr. Daniel Almanza. The marching band is shown toward the end of the three-and-a-half minute video, practicing their drills in dynamic fashion! HAPPY HOLIDAYS from the DBTI Music family! Our school’s music program offers several opportunities for your son to excel. Remember that prior knowledge of an instrument is not required. At this time, the Concert Band is well into rehearsals, to be followed by the Jazz Band in the spring. You are invited to check out the band's YouTube channel, DBTI Music at www.youtube.com/dbtimusic. For more information about the band program, contact music director Mr. Almanza at dalmanza@boscotech.edu or dbtimusic@gmail.com .
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LIQUIDATION SALE! Due to a school logo modification for this school year, aUniform Company, your school uniform provider, is liquidating its inventory of pants, shirts, sweatshirts and jackets with the 2013/2014 school logo. These items are approved for sophomores, juniors and seniors. Please order online only at www.aUniform.com. Item sizing and colors are limited and sale will continue only while supplies last. Orders over $100.00 ship for FREE. All sales are final, NO RETURNS.
Liquidation Pricing Pants $10.00 Shirts $10.00 Sweatshirts - $15.00 Jackets $20.00
BOSCO TECH SPONSORS Bosco Tech would like to thank the following businesses for their support. For information about sponsorship levels and commitments, contact Mrs. Cathy Rivera at crivera@boscotech.edu or (626) 940-2028.
We are grateful to our generous sponsors! 9
JANUARY 2015 Please note that these dates and events are subject to change. Check the school’s full calendar at www.boscotech.edu (click the General Calendar link on the far left-hand column) for the latest updates on important events. Thursday Thurs.-Fri. Monday Tuesday Friday Saturday
1/1 1/1-1/2 1/5 1/6 1/9 1/10
Monday
1/12
Wednesday Thurs.-Fri. Thursday Friday
1/14 1/15-1/16 1/15 1/16
Saturday
1/17
Monday 1/19 Tues.-Thurs. 1/20-1/22 Friday 1/23 Saturday Mon.-Fri. Monday
1/24 1/26-1/30 1/26
Friday Saturday Monday Tuesday
1/30 1/31 2/2 2/3
Thursday Saturday
2/5 2/7
Wed.-Thurs. 2/11-2/12 Wednesday 2/11 Friday 2/13
New Year’s Day (Happy New Year!) School office closed School resumes Parent Gala Committee meeting at 6 p.m. (at the Quiet Cannon) Winter sports assembly Technology selection day for current freshmen from 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon Gear Up #1 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon Freshman parents standardized testing results meeting at 6 p.m. in the CCRC Sophomore and junior parents standardized testing results meeting at 7 p.m. in the CCRC Alumni Association board meeting at 6 p.m. Technology final exams (regular class schedule) Club photos Technology rotation #3 ends Locker cleanout for freshmen Incoming freshmen interviews Music program walk-a-thon Martin Luther King Jr. holiday (no school) Academic final exams (noon dismissal) Semester break (no school) Make-up exams SAT exam (off campus) St. John Bosco Week Drug & Alcohol Awareness #2 Second semester orientations Student body Mass to celebrate Feast of St. John Bosco Feast of St. John Bosco Tuition assistance applications due Blood drive Parent Gala Committee meeting at 6:30 p.m. Financial aid & FAFSA workshop at 6 p.m. ACT exam (on campus) Math competition for 5th-8th grade students at 9 a.m. (check in begins at 7:45 a.m.) Science Fair Alumni Association meeting at 6 p.m. Dance #3
SAVE THE DATE—UPCOMING EVENTS Yurak 5K Run Spring Open House Black & Gold Gala Jazz Night Out Golf Tournament
Saturday, 2/14 Sunday, 3/1 Saturday, 3/28 Friday, 4/24 Friday, 6/26