Extra Credit
SHS faculty and staff collect honors, accolades, and advance professionally In addition to daily delivering a world-class, rigorous, and relevant education to SHS students, Sacred Heart faculty and staff remain active scholars who continue to further their own professional skills and experience through a variety of ways. Below is a sampling of recent faculty and staff activity. Director of Mission Initiatives & Institutional Planning James Everitt has been named to a teen mental health steering committee, serving an intiative of the Children’s Health Council. The effort, which provides public programming targeting awareness and early intervention to combat a prevalent local trend, includes members from the educational, medical, and social work fields. Deborah Farrington Padilla, SHP director for global education and initiatives, was awarded her Ed.D. through the University of San Francisco’s International & Multicultural Education program, with an emphasis in human rights education. Farrington Padilla’s dissertation, Exploring the Emergence of Global Citizen Identity in Youth, drew from an in-depth study of Sacred Heart students participating in SHP’s international exchange program. Robotics and computer science faculty member Clint Johns received “Teacher of the Year” honors from Tutor Corps Foundation. Nominated by one of his current students, Johns earned the award for his “combination of passion and innovation, and overall commitment to challenging students to excel.” SHP English teacher, instructional technology coach, and author Diana Neebe was honored this spring by her alma mater—the University of San Diego—for her extraordinary work with blended learning and student enrichment through technology. Currently pursuing a doctoral degree at the University of San Francisco, Neebe received USD’s prestigious Alumni Emerging Leader Award.
Using acrylic paints, Gabriella Sarrouh (SHP ’17) presented incoming dean Lamont Quattlebaum with a one-of-a-kind portrait.
Beginning his tenure over summer, Lamont Quattlebaum has been named the new Dean of Students for Sacred Heart Preparatory, responsible for student leadership, discipline, and experential education, among other programs. A former Gator basketball coach and longtime assoicate dean of students, Quattlebaum has served at Sacred Heart for a collective 18 years. Sally Vance-Trembath, a Catholic theologian who heads parent education programs exploring faith, is well-known among media for her expertise in contemporary religious matters. In recent months, she appeared on local broadcast television KQED to discuss Pope Francis’ letter on families, on KCBS radio to contextualize the canonization of Mother Theresa, in the Los Angeles Times regarding the Pope’s historic journey to Mexico, and in the San Jose Mercury News regarding the “politics of faith.”
Stellar Experience Begun just about a decade ago, “Space Day” brings together fifth grade students with high school juniors and seniors taking Guy Letteer’s physics class for an afternoon exploration of basic physics principals such as planetary motion, astronomy, and gravity. Constructed as a “teach-in,” the event introduces scientific concepts through stations of fun activities created by the physics students themselves, enabling the older students to teach and inspire the younger ones. Highlights from this year’s lineup included a t-shirt cannon, speed gun, and solar oven. According to organizer Letteer, “It’s always a huge success because it ends up being about equal as to who learned the most from whom!” Pictured at right, at one intergalactic station, fifth graders paint their own keepsake from the day—a ceramic planet.
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