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ESUHSD Student Governing Board, IHS SGB Representatives and Call to Action!
ESUHSD Student Governing Board, IHS SGB Representatives and Call to Action!
How can we uplift student voices to be heard at the school and district level? In decision making, we aim to bring all voices to light- staff, community, and most importantly, students.
There are different ways decision makers can use data to inform decision making:
Satellite Data → Things like test scores, attendance rate, and graduation rate.
Map Data → Student voice through survey data, like the Panorama Survey.
Street Data → Your student voices in the form of group and individual interviews and collected stories.
Your representatives, students Katie Hion (senior), Adelynn Le (junior), and Davin Saini (sophomore) actively work to ensure student voices are heard at the district-level. Twice a month, they meet with Student Governing Board (SGB) representatives of East Side high schools to discuss student concerns and issues. You can even catch Katie representing students at every ESUHSD Board meeting, as the SGB Chairperson! Feel free to reach out to them at any time, as they represent your needs!
The purpose of the East Side Union High School District Student Governing Board is:
Provide a forum for Student Governing Board members to review and discuss upcoming agendas for the East Side Union High School District (ESUHSD) Board of Trustees meetings and to meet and discuss school district and school site issues with the ESUHSD Board of Trustees’ designated liaison.
Advise the ESUHSD Board of Trustees on items such as, but not limited to, district policies, community/school-wide initiatives, and student activities.
Provide student input and opinions on upcoming points of business and/or issues.
Foster and develop an informed relationship between the ESUHSD Board of Trustees and the school district’s student body.
Read more about the ESUHSD Student Governing Board on the ESUHSD website.
We want our student voices to be heard!
We urge students from Independence HS and across the district to engage in the:
ESUHSD Student Governing Board Student Survey
Please fill out this student survey that the district-wide Student Governing Board has created! SGB wishes to understand the needs and concerns of students on a deeper level so they can continue to represent and work on initiatives to improve student life. This short survey will only take a few minutes and provide valuable insight.
Earth Day 2024, Ms. Hinchey, AP Environmental Science, IHS Beautification
Earth Day 2024, Ms. Hinchey, AP Environmental Science, IHS Beautification
On Monday, April 22nd, Ms. Hinchey and her AP Environmental Science classes hosted Earth Day at IHS!
Students were able to participate in gardening succulents, trash pickup, yoga, recycled art projects, and thrifting. It was a magnificent afternoon with students engaging with each other and learning about how to respect our environment and community around us.
Special thank you to Mr. Sergio Diaz Luna, Director of Communications and Community Engagement of East Side Union High School District for visiting and documenting this event.
Click on the photo to view a short video!
SCCOE Prom, Teaching Academy
SCCOE Prom, Teaching Academy
On Wednesday, April 17, 2024, the IHS Teaching Academy hosted the Santa Clara County Office of Education’s Prom at the I-Cafe! The theme was “Under the Sea” and students and their families from SCCOE’s Special Education Program enjoyed dancing, games, and friends.
“We want to include [SCCOE Special Education students] so they can express themselves and be included in our society. Even if it’s not fully in, at least they know what it’s like so they can just have fun.” ~Jaylin Villanueva, Senior
SCCOE Prom 2024 TA.mp4“I think it’s really important for [SCCOE Special Education students] to feel included. They have to go through a bunch of different ways that they have to learn through, than what we have to learn through. Just being with a bunch of other kids, it’s really important for them to socialize more and have that out-of-the box experience.” ~Sunny Ruiz Guzman, Senior
“We are very thankful to continue collaborating with Sylvia Ramirez and her staff and classes in bringing our students together for events such as these. It is one very small way that we can try to bridge the gap between the special needs student population and our mainstream student population, learning from each other and celebrating together.” ~Ms. Harriet Garcia, Teaching Academy, Lead Teacher
GAPP- German American Partnership Program, Herr Lynch
GAPP- German American Partnership Program, Herr Lynch
Since 1992, Independence High School and Ravensberger Gymnasium in Herford have been exchanging on a (mostly) yearly basis through the German American Partnership Program (GAPP). Over 700 students have participated in GAPP exchanges between our schools. The powerful lifelong impact on participants cannot be measured by any standardized assessment. GAPP's core values are:
Fostering international friendships
Developing intercultural competence and interculturality
Promoting German / English language study
Gaining perspectives, encouraging empathy, and building understanding
“One of the best things about being an exchange student in Germany is learning about how people live in different parts of the world and seeing how it varies from country to country.” ~Ellissa Cartwright, Junior
“My favorite part about being an exchange student is getting to know [Ellissa’s] family and building the connection because it’s so beautiful to be welcomed into their home, eat their food, see what they love to do, sit in their car, get to know their dog, everything like that…Just the connection you can build interculturally. I love that.” ~Tadeja, Ellissa’s exchange student from Germany
“I want our exchange students to know that San Jose and Independence is mixed culture, where there is a lot of ethnicities, race, and cultures, and this is a really good thing. You don’t have to travel far to meet other people and new ideologies, cultures, and people, and that’s really a good thing.” ~Huyen Ha, Junior
GAPP March 2024_2.mp423 of our Independence High School students are serving as host families for 23 German students! Thank you to: Juan Camilo Agudelo, Ayesha Camp, Ellissa Cartwright, Leticia Chen, Jacob Cingolani, Issac De Anda, Katrina Dinh, Huyen Ha, Diep-Van Pham Nguyen, Owen Rosslee, Tyler Tran, Jiachen Tai, Chloe Truong, Oliver Weber, Ashraf Mohammed, Amy Bradford, Angelina Camacho, Ellissa Cartwright, Sebastian Castro, Camille Fuqua, Areli Ramirez, Isabel Reinke, Megan Tran.
*Thank you to Herr Lynch and Ms. Dang (coordinating teachers for GAPP) who traveled to Germany with our students in the summer of 2023 and are currently hosting the German Teacher-Coordinators.
Change Makers: Student Equity Council meets with Associate Superintendent Ms. Marquez
Change Makers: Student Equity Council meets with Associate Superintendent Ms. Marquez
Our students are engaging in community discussion to positively impact the student experience at East Side! On February 27, 2024, Associate Superintendent Ms. Teresa Marquez and Director of Curriculum and Instruction Ms. Martha Guerrero met with members of the IHS Student Equity Council. At this meeting, students learned about ESUHSD’s Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) and gave input and feedback as to how the district responds to the following:
What are the system responses needed to ensure ALL students achieve at high levels and how do we ensure those system responses are prioritized with funding and resources including the LCAP funding ($20M) allocated for our target populations (Foster Youth, Homeless Youth, ELL, Low-Income)?
LCAP quick bits of information:
LCAP stands for Local Control and Accountability Plan - for more information please visit https://www.cde.ca.gov/re/lc/
The LCAP is a three-year plan that describes the goals, actions, services, and expenditures to support positive student outcomes that address state and local priorities
The LCAP funding allocated to our district is approximately $20 million
Goals and action items are aligned to the following areas:
College and Career Readiness
Graduation Rate
Increased Achievement for English Language Learners, Foster, and Homeless Youth
Decrease Student Absences
Decrease Suspensions
LCAP Community Guide (Final).pdfBased on student, staff, and community input in over 42 data gathering meetings, our LCAP was created for 2025 - 2027.
Construction Academy-- Learning Partnership with Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
Construction Academy-- Learning Partnership with Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
On Friday, March 10, Mr. Ellison and the Construction Academy welcomed Whiting-Turner Contracting Company to 3rd and 4th period.
WT IHS March 2023.mp4Whiting-Turner hosted three station rotations that allowed the students to learn about construction management and the scheduling process, virtual design, ask questions about the industry, and hear stories of how younger employees experienced different pathways from high school to construction management.
At the end of the workshop, students participated in a “Plus/Delta” evaluation feedback session, a practice that the company uses after all events and milestones, as well as heard some advice on how to stay involved in school and community activities to keep developing skills that employers look for in prospective employees!
IHS Beautification Days and Earth Day 2023
IHS Beautification Days and Earth Day 2023
On Saturday, April 22, 2023, over 100 SIXERs joined together for Sixers Earth Day on campus.
Together, students, staff, and community members beautified our campus by adding plants and other greenery, clearing areas for new plants, weeding common areas, and picking up litter to improve our campus community environment!
Thank you to students Tony Dang and Kasey Cheung for taking many of the photos used in the video.
Sixers Earth Day 2023.mp4Under the leadership of Ms. Hinchey, Ms. Maggie, and student Kayla Tran many clubs collaborated to organize this event, including Student Governing Board, Student Equity Council, IHS Beautification, Recycling Club, Mural Club, Unicef, ARK, Greenhouse Club, and Key Club.
It was an exciting day to see so many Sixers engaged in beautifying our campus community. Sixers know that learning happens both in and out of the classroom and events like this help us connect with each other! We engage together to leave a positive impact on our environment and our school.
By working together, we can make a difference, and have a brighter future!
Academy of Finance Mentorship Program
Academy of Finance Mentorship Program
By Chau Quach, Academy of Finance Coordinator
The Academy of Finance at Independence High School kicked off the third year of their mentorship program in January! Finance Academy juniors and seniors who sign up for the program get paired up with volunteer mentors from a variety of professional backgrounds in the local community (sometimes even from the East Coast!). Pairings are made based on student interest in a certain profession or based on student needs if possible (depends on volunteer availability).
Mentor sessions are completely virtual and total about 6-7 sessions. Students meet with their mentors for about 1-1.5 hours each session. An agenda and activities are provided for each meeting and focus on topics such as self-esteem, smart goals, career explorations, job shadow experience, resume and mock interview support.
Our mentors have ranged in professions such as chief finance officer, accountant, small business owners, product design engineer, art director, product manager, nurse, scientist, architect, lawyer, chef, and more. Companies represented by our mentors include: Google, Apple, Excite Credit Union, Microsoft, Cradlepoint, Meta, Deloitte, Levi's, Nike, Paving Your Way Forward, La Papillion, and more. Since 2020, we've had 70 students and 70 mentors participate in the program. Several pairs have reported back that they still keep in touch with each other.
As an added bonus, we have a few Sixer alumni (Jessica & Jocelyn Yu, Chelsey Cartwright (Prewitt) , Sabrina Truong, Lam-Anh Le, Kathryn Coehlo, etc) return to participate and give back to their community each year!
IHS Solar Suitcase Club present the Water Walk 2023 and 2024
IHS Solar Suitcase Club present the Water Walk 2023 and 2024
waterwalkad copy.mp4Mr. Stone and 2 former IHS students, Amy Hua and Kyle Mondina, traveled to Kenya in 2017 to deliver and deploy solar suitcases. In the village that they were living in, they had to carry HEAVY pales of water (33 pounds!) for MILES back and forth every day IN THE HEAT with the women in the village. This created a massive impression on Mr. Stone and the 2 students because here in the U.S., we can easily get fresh, usable water right out of the tap. And yet in other countries around the world, people still struggle to get the essentials they need, especially water.
IHS Solar Suitcase wanted to bring this same experience back home by creating the Water Walk. The Water Walk serves as an educational event spreading awareness of the scarcity of water and the importance of teaching others about water conservation and drought. We aim to give students and teachers alike an experience to walk in solidarity with almost 2.2 billion people around the world aiming for one necessity everyone needs to survive: WATER! All proceeds at the event go straight back into constructing and deploying Solar Suitcases to developing countries in need of energy.
Participants at this event walk a mile course around campus carrying buckets of water. Throughout the course, participants have to memorize facts about water conservation and drought. To complete the course, and prove they have learned something, participants will take a test on the water facts and have a chance at receiving PRIZES! After completing the course, participants will enjoy food, games, performances, and other activities at the Water Resource Fair!
All to share a crucial message: WATER IS LIFE!
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Thanks to everyone who documented this event, who aided in the preparation of the event, those who sponsored the event with prizes, and to all who participated! We hope that next year's Water Walk will be even better!
~ IHS Solar Suitcase 2021-2022, Check out the 2021-2022 Video HERE.
Photos by Darrell Salinas and Inde ASB; Videos by Darrell Salinas and Kyle Mar; Drone Footage by Matthew Guardiano
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