Marina High has talent

Students at Marina High participated in a talent show to raise funds for their prom.

And what talent!

Montana Billings signed "Climb" by Miley Cyrus.

Everyone got together at the end of the show to sing Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours."

And they all had a grand time!

 

The Matsiko Children’s Choir returning to Marina

The Matsiko Children’s Choir will be visiting the Marina area from March 30 through April 8. They are a group of 25 orphaned African children who sing and dance a hope-filled message about the power of education to transform their lives. Their tour is sponsored by the International Children’s Network, and when they go home they try to make a difference in their communities.

The community concert will take place at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 6, at the Marina High School Auditorium, 298 Patton Parkway. For more information, contact Darlena Ridler at 384-1968.

Or click here or here.

Marina High students spend their spring break doing service

Last month, Marina High students spent a Saturday planting native plants and beautifying the school all around. It was all part of a service learning component the school has been developing with CSUMB, and the stars and several community members have aligned to bring this project to the school.

The project continues this week when students devote their week off to more service learning in ecologically-oriented project. They've been to the MEEarth Campus in Carmel Valley, helped serve meals at Epiphany Church and renovate their garden, and tomorrow, they'll help build an organic garden that will provide food for the school's cafeteria.

What a thoughtful way to spend spring break! Mariners rock!

Marina council to host townhall meeting on Marina schools

Marina Mayor Bruce Delgado and Councilman Frank O'Connell will be co-hosting a town hall meeting to discuss Marina Schools' facilities, the future plans for Marina High School and the concerns of the residents relating to the same. Additional time will be available for discussion on other city related matters.

The meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m Tuesday, February 12 at the Community Room of the Marina Library, 190 Seaside Circle, Marina.

Marina High trains 48 student leaders in the Plus Program

John Vanderburgh, developer of the PLUS program to create safe school environments, kicked off Monday a two-day training for Marina High students. Forty-eight students were chosen by teachers and other students as the "natural influencers," those who have pull among their peers. Over the training, they'll be taught strategies that will result in creating a more inclusive campus. As you'll see in this video, Vanderburgh is a very engaging speaker, the students seemed completely hooked in his message. What he said resonated with them: when young people are facing pressures, their peers can help develop connections with each other that will help ease their burdens. The PLUS training is being paid for with a grant Marina, Seaside and Monterey high schools received last year from the California Department of Education. Vanderburgh said he's taken his program all over the country and that it's shown great results. I look forward to visiting Marina High in a few months and see what effect it's had. Stay tuned.

Ramon Resa at Marina High

Pediatrician and inspirational speaker Ramon Resa will be talking to students at Marina High in two assemblies on Nov 30.

His visit is sponsored by Festival in the Schools, a branch of the Carmel Authors and Ideas Festival.

For more information about Dr. Resa, click here.

Marina, one of the best cities for young people again?

Marina residents and cheerleaders are crossing their fingers they are once again named one of the "best 100 cities" for young people in the United States.

You may recall they received the honor last year, so expectations are high. The award will be announced nationally on Sept. 12 at 9 a.m. eastern time. Stay tuned.

Solved: the mystery of where John Schilling went

Well, almost.

After John Schilling was appointed on June 18 to serve as assistant principal at Central Coast High, he instead took a job in San Jose, MPUSD's Sharon Albert told me. She didn't know where he went, though.

Schilling worked at Pioneer High in San Jose since 1995, later becoming assistant principal at two schools up there. He'd been with MPUSD since Aug 2005, first as assistant principal at Monterey High, then as Marina High's principal.


Marina High will now be led by Sean Roach, who previously worked as social studies teacher and coach for the girl's softball team. Second in command will be interim assistant principal Alan Crawford, the former college and career planning specialist at Marina High School and Central Coast High School. He helped design one of the new SAILS academies.

It'll be interesting to see what's in store for Marina High, with such fresh leadership and three academies being unfurled. Stay tuned.

Where did Marina's John Schilling go?

Well, it could have been that John Schilling, the popular principal at Marina High, decided to take a very good offer at another district, but now that he's gone -- and another person appointed to replace him -- tongues are wagging.

One of the speculations: that the person appointed to replace him has not experience, therefore the school will be set to fail and then close, like many have been fearing will happen.

It's hard to believe that administrators want to set the school for failure, when so much work was invested into launching the SAILS academies. But stranger things have happened.

One thing's for sure, and for the record: MPUSD trustees appointed Alan Crawford on Monday as interim principal of Marina High. Crawford was until last school year the "college and career planning specialist" as you can read from the school's description in the SAILS website.

That clarified, there's still the mystery of John Schilling. Where did you go, Mr. Schilling? Inquiring minds want to know...

Marina high set to launch new academies

Administrators with the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District are inviting community members to become "partners" in the development of their three SAILS academies: The Marina Academy of Sustainable Science and Technology (MASST), the Marina Academy of Scholarly Arts, Innovation and Creativity (MoSAIC)and the Marina Academy of Applied Technology and Engineering (MAATE).

A parent information meeting will take place after the "community partners" meeting.

 • The Marina Academy of Sustainable Science and Technology (MASST) will offer a sustainable science and technology program of study for students ready for Geometry in their freshman year, or Algebra II in their sophomore year. The program will offer a capstone during the junior/senior years through a partnership with Moss Landing Marine Labs.

 • The Marina Academy of Scholarly Arts, Innovation and Creativity (MoSAIC) will offer students a program of study focused on the visual, performing and media arts.

 • The Marina Academy of Applied Technology and Engineering (MAATE) will offer students a program of study focused on science, technology, engineering and math.

 
The Community Partners meeting is an invitation to local business, industry and educational institutions to become involved in the design and development of learning experiences that will help students connect the classroom to the real world.

For more information about the Marina SAILS Academies, please visit their webpage here.  Or attend the community partners meeting: Wednesday, May 2, from 5:30 to 6:30 The parent information meeting: Wednesday, May 2, a 7 p.m. At Marina High, 298 Patton Parkway, Marina.

What's the future of Marina High?

Rumors are running rampart that MPUSD wants to close Marina High. Although we don't have official word yet, the students have suffered for years from having to attend a campus that was designed for very different needs. The school was supposed to be greatly improved with funds obtained from development, but now that development has come to a halt in the area, so have the funds.

Superintendent Marilyn Shepherd is scheduled to talk tonight about two upcoming strategic planning meetings during the regularly scheduled board meeting. If you want to find out what's going to happen, drop by.

The strategic plan meetings are scheduled for this Wednesday, Feb. 1, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the multipurpose room in Marina High. Same hours, same place for the second meeting, which will take place Feb. 9.

Tonight, open session of the board of trustees begins at 7 p.m. at the Instructional Materials Center, 540 Canyon del Rey, Del Rey Oaks.