By Elizabeth Gillingham

New women’s basketball head coach

PHHS is thrilled to have named Branisha Jones as our new women’s varsity head coach. Branisha is a native San Diegan and began her career in basketball as a young girl playing at the Skyline Recreation Center. She fell in love with the game and began building valuable friendships with girls on her team and with her coach at the time, Patrick Tabor.

Branisha stated, “Throughout my time playing at the recreation level, my coach made it a point to instill a lot of discipline in us as a team. I personally took all of the lessons I learned from basketball and implemented them into real life situations. Coach Pat always reminded us that basketball was a privilege, so to treat it as such. I learned that respect, discipline, hustle and attitude were not only the tools I needed to play the game, but also to succeed in life. Coach Pat is the reason that I have the respect, knowledge and love for the game of basketball. May his knowledge and legacy live through me moving forward.”

Following recreation level basketball, she began to play for Morse High School as a freshman. She played one year of freshman basketball and followed that up with three years on varsity. She continued playing at the collegiate level at Southwestern Community College. She also began her coaching career by assisting at her high school alma mater for the next four years. She also started working at the city of San Diego Park and Recreation Department, where she now coaches multiple sports including basketball and volleyball for youth ages 6-15.

Banisha stated in an interview, “I am honored to now step in as the head coach of the Patrick Henry women’s basketball team and wish to create not only a genuine bond with my team but also challenge each and every player to reach their personal goals. I am excited to pass on every bit of expertise that was introduced to me.”

Open enrollment for SDUSD

Schools in San Diego Unified School District may enroll pupils who do not live in the neighborhood through the School Choice process. The Choice application period for school year 2020-21 will be from Monday, Oct. 1, through Nov. 13, 2019.

Choice applications to any Henry Cluster school should be submitted at this time:

Incoming TK/K sibling of current Choice pupil.

Child of any employee at our school who is interested in having their child(ren) attend any school in the Henry high school cluster.

Currently enrolled students who have recently moved, or will be moving out of our neighborhood but would like to continue enrollment at our school.

Currently enrolled magnet pupils who wish to articulate to the next level magnet program.

Students originally enrolled via Choice as SDUSD residents, who have moved, or are planning to move outside of the SDUSD boundaries into a different school district (Poway, La Mesa/Spring Valley, Chula Vista, etc.).

Students whose parents are interested in transitioning from a different school into ours.

Choice applications are not necessary for resident students, or students already accepted to our school via Choice who currently reside in the SDUSD boundaries.

If you know of any family that may be interested in our school, please invite them to attend a school’s tour. PHHS hosts tours on the first Wednesday of every month. For more information about our schools, please view any school’s website.

The 2020-21 Enrollment Options applications may be submitted online at sandiegounified.org/apply. For personal assistance, contact or visit the Family Welcome and Enrollment Center located at our district headquarters at the Eugene Brucker Education Center, 4100 Normal St., Annex 12, San Diego, 92103. Questions regarding the Choice process may be directed to 619-260-2410. The center is open to the public Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Student of the Month

Senior Brandon Reynolds was nominated for the Kiwanis student of the month and was honored last month at the Kiwanis Breakfast.

Principal Elizabeth Gillingham accompanied Brandon and his mom and she presented to the club why Brandon was selected. Brandon was nominated because of his initiative to make changes in a positive way. He doesn’t wait for someone to give him direction; if he sees something that needs to be done, he does it.

According to AP Environmental Science teacher Lara Dickens, “Brandon is a hero on campus. Yesterday, he put buckets under the AC condensation water drips. He’s collected a substantial amount! He plans to water the garden with it. Last year, he volunteered with the thrift store and performed campus cleanups regularly. He has photos that document the construction progress on campus over the last few years. He passionately follows its progress. Last year, in the late afternoons, he would volunteer to go weed and garden around campus and pick up trash.”

According to PHHS teacher Elise Morgan, “The effort I believe deserves the most recognition is his determination to eliminate weeds on campus. The appearance of the campus matters to him. He would often borrow a bucket from me and head to the parking lot to pull weeds out of the landscaping. He would work around the PHAME building. He did this on a regular basis, on his own. Brandon loves PHHS, and would love to share his passion with others.”

Brandon has also helped maintain the worm bins around campus and the compost bins. He is noted by all of his teachers for being very thoughtful and a genuinely decent person.

College information from Henry Counseling Team

College applications have opened up. Seniors interested in applying to four-year universities should be actively applying to campuses now. Below are three links for three different university systems. Patrick Henry counselors will be hosting a senior college application student-and-parent meeting Oct. 17 at 6 p.m. in our PHAME building. The meeting will go over specific university systems as well as applications. Everyone is welcome to attend and it’s free.

CSU application: Open Oct. 1, 2019; deadline Nov. 30, 2019. Application at calstate.edu/apply.

UC application: Open Nov. 1, 2019; deadline Nov. 30, 2019. Application at bit.ly/336R1mr.

Common application: Currently open; deadline on various dates. University application found at commonapp.org.

— Elizabeth Gillingham is principal of Patrick Henry High School.