Design an Ad/ Sweetheart 2021 by Healdsburg Tribune Special Publications

Celebrate the

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The Healdsburg Tribune

230 CENTER STREET, HEALD

SPECIAL SECTION

Best of... Design An Ad

BEST OF DESIGN AN AD

2017

A special publication of The Healdsburg Tribune, The Cloverdale Reveille, The Windsor Times and Sonoma West Times & News

SBURG • 707-433-4451

Olivia Stevens

6th grade • 12 yrs old

• St. John’s

February 11, 2021

Mixing play, art and a little business by design By Mary Fricker

ur readers have loved our Design an Ad special section every year, where school children draw ads for local businesses. Companies give teachers some paper with the business name on it, and teachers take it from there. Sometimes students research the business, sometimes they draw from their own experience, sometimes they just use their imagination. Do you remember last year, when fourth grader Emely Valdivia Aleman at Brooks Elementary School in Windsor drew happy people lifting weights and jumping rope at the Airport Health Club in Santa Rosa? A professional advertising executive couldn’t have done a better job. Then came COVID-19. And the dreaded Distance Learning. What were we to do? Give up Design an Ad? Let the pandemic win? No way! Here at Sonoma West Publishers, Design an Ad is one of our favorite community involvement projects. We love working with the business people and teachers who want to participate. You should hear the chuckles and cries of delight in our newsroom as the ads pour in. Every year we can hardly wait to share them with you. So this year, faced with empty schools, overworked teachers and struggling businesses, we are proud to present you a walk through the past. We promise you these ads, designed by area students over the past 30 years, will bring you joy. We hope, too, that as you enjoy the children’s wonderful artwork, please also recognize and support the businesses and non-proﬁts that enrich our community in so many ways, including by sponsoring these children and their drawings and making it possible for our local publication to bring you the news that connects us all. And one more thing. Before you go, we also ask you to think about our educators. Our classrooms may be empty, but our educators are busier than ever. As many of you know ﬁrsthand, teaching and learning by Zoom,

CAMP CREATIONS

Google Docs, YouTube and Facebook isn’t for everyone. News reports tell us that students are failing, teachers and parents are at their wits end and we’re in danger of losing a whole generation of kids. Yet many of our educators are hitting it out of the park. Here’s just a small sample: “Every day starts with a fun, interactive lesson where students greet each other in different languages, virtual high fives or with a little dance,” said Windsor Unified School District Superintendent Jeremy Decker about some classes at Mattie Washburn elementary school. Each morning students share likes, dislikes, experiences with family and friends or favorite items. Though distanced, they’ve made snow, completed directed drawings, dressed up for Spirit Days, conducted science experiments, listened to stories, read aloud to friends and completed complicated math problem. They enjoy clubs like the Lego Club, Playdough Club, Reading Club, Academic Sharing Club, Art Club, Lunch Bunch Club and Coloring Club. For these students, sheltered doesn’t mean isolated. Music teachers at Analy and Windsor high schools have held digital concerts, with talented musicians playing their hearts out at home alone, yet blending digitally on zoom calls with their classmates or by combining individual tracks and recordings. Want to be inspired? On YouTube check out “Pavanne from the Capriol Suite by Peter Warlock” performed by the Analy High School String Orchestra December 23 and Windsor High School’s WHS Video Bulletin 2.1.21 that was filmed February 1. Windsor teachers have arranged zoom calls with elected officials like U.S. Representative Jared Huffman and state Senator Mike McGuire, giving their students a rare opportunity to talk personally with political leaders about issues like environmental policy, the electoral college, specific legislation, and the importance of youth being involved in the legislative process. At Windsor’s alternative schools North Bay Met Academy and

HOLLY JOLLY ARTS AND CRAFTS

Photo Katherine Minkiewicz — The Healdsburg Community Center hosted a holiday-themed arts and crafts

workshop for kids in 2019. Kids painted their own little ornaments and Christmas tree star toppers complete with glitter and a bendable wire to create a tree shape. Windsor Oaks Academy, students have kept their focus on real world learning. They still have internships at organizations that relate to their career interests including Ryan’s Automotive, Cookie Take A Bite, Art Diaz Construction, Green Paw Dog Rescue, Windsor Fabrication and others. Thanks to zooming, career fairs have expanded to include a web designer from Boston, a public defender from Massachusetts and a U.S. army musician from Chicago. El Molino High School did not want to give up their beloved traditions. So they went virtual. The El Molino Dance Program had a virtual dance show that featured individual dance ﬁlms and got rave reviews. On the last day of class before winter break the office staff performed its traditional “Jingle Bells” over zoom into homes instead of over the public address system

Photo Katherine Minkiewicz — Geyserville New Tech Academy student Ciara Torres, left, shows off her hair scrunchies that she

made in addition to her group project during a two-week Tinker Academy at Sonoma State University in August 2019.

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into classrooms. With no calculus students on campus to sing the annual Calculus Carols, the office staff again stepped up to the zoom mike. AP government seniors zoomed their presentations on the Nov. 3 ballot propositions and took questions from the public. An art teacher turned the annual art show into a slide show. Physical education teachers filmed Werk Wednesdays, often with their own families and pets, to inspire their homebound students to move. How do you distance-teach courses like automotive, construction, art and culinary, popular classes at Healdsburg High School that teachers say require 85100% hands-on learning? Teachers found computer programs that simulate real world situations in restaurant management. They taught student artists how to paint with crushed-up leaves when paint was unavailable at home. Kids worked on family cars in their garage. “The knife skill quality of all of my students is probably 150% better than it normally is, because usually I have students engaged with groups of four to five around a table doing knife skills together, but they're having conversations and getting distracted,” said Healdsburg High School culinary teacher Derek Corsino. That’s not a problem when they’re the only person in the kitchen. Windsor Middle School Principal Brian Williams says some parents find their children are actually doing better in distance learning. “Parents usually aren’t as connected once their kids are in middle school. Because everything is happening at home, parents are able to see what their kids are learning. When parents are involved, it helps build connections and reinforces the learning," Williams said. Another plus: His school had struggled every previous year to have enough devices for students. They are now one to one with Chromebooks. At Jefferson Elementary School in Cloverdale, many students take part in poetry, songs, chants and readers' theater. The library continues to offer story time to students, and the school has virtual clubs after school each day,

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including Chat with the Counselor, Homework Help, Zumba, Story Time with the Librarian and Club Connect, a hands-on arts and crafts club. They have partnered with the Santa Rosa Symphony to participate in the "It's Elementary" music program, which provides music listening curriculum, assemblies, and instrumental and choral music instruction. A team of teachers has developed plans for a Spring Planter Project, and people should see painted flower barrels around town this spring. At Washington Middle School in Cloverdale a physical education teacher had a schoolwide Jump rope Zoom session for all grades, and the school has Zoom Awards assemblies for Student of the Month and Eagle Awards. A fifth grade has a “Morning Meetings” to address the social and emotional needs of students. The school started a Cooking Club, where students prepare different dishes via Zoom. Later this month they’ll partner with St. Joseph Health to offer yoga and art with seventh graders once a week. Cloverdale High School holds weekly “Wellness Wednesdays” and more than 100 students participate each week. The agriculture program has started an FFA program, and a new work-based learning coordinator is exploring careers virtually with students. Small groups of students with the greatest needs come to school each day and love spending time with the resident certified therapy dog. Real-world learning in career, maker and science classes happens at home with materials like mason jar kombucha kits, solar notebooks, ornamental horticulture, herb kits, art kits and new cameras for digital photo and yearbook students. Students are preparing a virtual “This I Believe Gala” that includes English language arts, art, poetry, drama and maker projects. These teachers keep innovating, under the most challenging circumstances, and they have inspired us to do some innovating of our own, so we could bring you an entertaining 2021 Design An Ad special section in spite of the pandemic. We hope you enjoy it.

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