Area schools will welcome students back Sept. 7 for a new year of education, enrichment and friendships. Each school has its own unique programs in place for the coming year. Here are some of the noteworthy items at the local campuses. Mission Bay High School (MBHS) will sport some new changes to staff and new educational offerings. Principal Fred Hilgers said he is eager to welcome back students. “I get excited going into classrooms and watching the students and staff interact and learn,” Hilgers said. During the 2009 school year, 78 percent of students came from outside of Pacific Beach, Hilgers said. The highest concentrations of students were from the San Diego High, Lincoln High and Crawford High regions of town. Hilgers estimates 1,650 students will attend MBHS for the 2010-11 school year, which would represent an increase of about 50 to 60 students. “We have a lot of things going on this year,” Hilgers said. “It will be exciting.” The school offers the esteemed International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program, which emphasizes comprehensive curriculum with a global focus. This is the first year the program will have a full-time coordinator. Each year, the program expands, giving students more IB classes, allowing them to delve further into topics and apply what they learn on an international level. As such, the school has learning relationships with the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and San Diego State University. “Our goal is that students will be spending a lot of time researching,” Hilgers said. This year, a teacher will spend a week on a UCSD research boat. He will blog about his experience and video conference with students via Skype. That techer will run live experiments that the students will be able to participate in real time. “He will be [the students’] arms on the boat,” Hilgers said. Also new this year is the position of dean of students. Aaron Farmer will fill the role, assisting with a variety of areas with attendance, monitoring programs and serve as a transportation liaison for parents. He will also be a resource for students and parents. Pacific Beach Middle School (PBMS) expects about 700 students to enter the campus on the first day of school. The school’s sixth- through eighth-grade population will arrive to school on buses, bikes and skateboards. PBMS has a special skateboard lock-up for students who choose that form of transportation. “We are really going to be continuing to build the things that we have already been working on,” said PBMS Principal Dr. Julie Martel. The school will continue to build on its International Baccalaureate program, optimizing the K-12 continuum, Martel said. This year, the IB program at PBMS will be evaluated over the course of two days by a team of visiting teachers and administrators from across the country to monitor how the school is living up to the philosophies of the IB program, she said. “They’re kind of like a critical friend,” Martel said. Martel said she is proud of her school’s IB program. IB classes can be in any subject and are added gradually over time. “We want our kids to be prepared to go to Mission Bay [High],” Martel said. In the IB program, each student is issued a planner used to keep track of classes and community service. PBMS students volunteer in a variety of areas across the community, from adopting and maintaining a portion of the beach to reading to senior citizens. “When kids graduate with IB courses or full IB from the high school, they are pretty much going to the college or university of their choice,” Martel said. Kate Sessions Elementary School (KSES) will hold a new student orientation Friday, Sept. 3 to help ease children into the routine for the school year. “The first week of school the teachers help the kiddos know their way around, so everybody feels welcome,” said Principal Susan DeVicariis. Nearly 50 percent of students at KSES come from the nearby military housing. “The military has been very supportive of our school,” DeVicariis said. KSE also participates in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. Many of the students who are from military families add to the richness of the program and are able to share with other children the international experiences they have had, DeVicariis said. New for the year will be a preschool program, which will be run on campus through Say San Diego, a local nonprofit group dedicated to supporting the development of youth. “They are also going to be taking over our after-school program,” DeVicariis said. Crown Point Junior Music Academy (CPJMA) is a K-5 elementary school that focuses on music education, in addition to core curriculum subjects such as math, science and social studies. The school introduced the Suzuki Method of violin into its repertoire of offerings, which gives students a solid foundation in music comprehension. CPJMA offers several student clubs from which children can learn the foundations of leadership. Pacific Beach Elementary School (PBES) has music instruction for all grade levels, a garden science program in which students plant and tend to a garden, and many extracurricular activities such as Spanish, dance and a math club. PBE has an active parent involvement network, which organizes events such as family math night, book fair and field day. SCHOOL CONTACT INFO
• Mission Bay High School Principal Fred Hilgers 2475 Grand Ave. (858) 273-1313 www.sandi.net/missionbay1 • Pacific Beach Middle School Principal Dr. Julie Martel 4676 Ingraham St. (858) 273-9070 pbmiddle.sandi.net/ • Kate Sessions Elementary School Principal Susan DeVicariis 2150 Beryl St. (858) 272-3111 new.sandi.net/schools/sessions • Crown Point Junior Music Academy Principal Barbara Boone 4033 Ingraham St. (858) 273-9830 new.sandi.net/schools/crownpoint • Pacific Beach Elementary Principal Sherry Turner 1234 Tourmaline St. (858) 488-8316 old.sandi.net/pbe/