Student Donates Hair to Children with Cancer

Frank had very long hair. I joked with him once about how he should cut it and donate it to Locks Of Love. He actually liked the idea and approached me later about cutting his hair and donating it. If you aren't familiar with them, Locks of Love takes hair donations (10 inches minimum) and makes them into hair pieces for children with cancer.

A couple of days ago Frank came to school with short hair, and though he took a few days to part with the actual pony tail, he gave it to me so I could help him mail it off. If you see Frank, though he'll be embarrassed, I think a non-chalant "That's a great thing you did" is in order.

DNA Extractions as Recruitment

My advanced Biotechnology students have begun a new project based unit where they have to recruit 8th graders from Le Conte into STEM by demonstrating a very entertaining DNA extraction. The students began by researching what type of things they can use for DNA extraction. They have performed DNA extraction from their own cells three times before, but now they are branching out! They also have to figure out how to make their demonstration both entertaining and educational. The students were very excited to perform extractions with many different types of fruits and vegetables - all of which they discovered from their own research.

Take A Hike!

The STEM Environment Club

organized and sponsored a local hike into the Griffith Park Hills this May. We bussed over to the Ranger Station, received an introduction about the history of the park, and then headed out for a hike in our local mountains. The hike took us along popular trails, through the Old Zoo, and back out to Shane's Inspiration (a special park that serves children of all abilities). The highlight of the hike was the tasting of the many plants that grow naturally and locally in our hills. Many of these plants were used by the Native Americans of this region and many of which are still used today.

Chalking to Make HBHS a Better Place

This spring the students of the great Helen Bernstein High School campus, including a great number of STEM students, chalked our breezeway and lower quad with messages meant to inspire and uplift. The students researched significant quotes throughout history and 'chalked' them for all to see. One of my favorite squares was the PEACE square with PEACE written in the many languages that represent our students: English, Spanish, Armenian, Thai, Urdu, Arabaic, Hebrew, Russian, and I'm sure others I'm forgetting. All in all this was a great activity!

Environment Club Goes to the Farmer's Market

Today the Environment Club had an unofficial field trip to the Hollywood Farmer's Market. The kids voted to do it on Mother's Day and as Avi and I waited out front of the school, I started thinking nobody decided to come.

Eventually Manny Sagastegui showed up along with Gina Limas and Mr. Pieschel and his wife. Manny's mom joined us and Esperanza and her sister met up with us over at the market. So we were a nice little group.

We headed down Sunset at about 11:00am. We had a really great time. It was most successful because of Avi though. He's great with the kids. He sort of guided us around asking vendors inquiry type questions in order for the kids to learn about the environment, locally grown foods, organic, raw, vegan, etc. The kids said the neatest thing they learned about was Raw Milk and how it's produced and how it's different from pasteurized. They also liked learning about Organic meat and free range eggs. The kids were great! They sampled all sorts of fruits and veggies; even things I don't care for like Wheat Grass juice and sprouted beans.

At the end of our visit to the Farmer's Market we stopped at one of mine and Avi's favorite food booths, "Taste of Life"-a vegan restaurant. I suggested to the kids to request samples. Since Avi and I have visited both their booth and restaurant, we sort of know the people there. They were so great to our HBHS students and gave them two large meals and a ginger juice to share! That's $30.00 in healthy food, free. We all sat down and munched on BBQ Tofu, Kale, Vegan Mac N'Cheese, Vegan Roast, Cornbread, Black Eyed Peas. I'll be sure to have them write a little thank you to send over.

I thought I'd share this little experience because it went very well and the kids learned! This is something that would be easy to make a monthly Environment Club activity. I'll be asking the kids if that's something they'd like to start doing. And, as I said before, fliers went home with kids that explained that we were walking (including the route we walked), said who was going teacher-wise, and explained that this was an unofficial event. One parent did ask to speak to me to make sure her daughter wasn't lying, which I think is great! And, one parent came which is even better. As a matter of fact, Manny's mom seemed interested in doing more things with the school and suggested inviting parents more often to things like this.

Hope everyone else had a great Sunday and Mother's Day!

STEM Awards Ceremony

Awards were given for exemplary students at an Advisory assembly today. Results of the STEM student officers election were also announced.

Kenneth Chancey, President

Wendy Mejia, vice-President

Amber Guerra, Secretary

Brian Jaimes, Treasurer

Candy Mendoza, Junior Representative

Phasara Khotchasanee, Sophomore Representative

Kimberly Ramirez, Freshman Representative

Congressional Art Contest

Here are two of the entries we submitted for the annual Congressional Art Contest. One is by Alessia Asiedu, and the other is by Chachataporn Kimakorn.