It was thanks and more thanks last Friday when the San Antonio High School community celebrated their annual Thanksgiving Feast.
Students and employees queued up for a meal of turkey with all the trimmings, served by teachers and staff. Some special guests also showed up for the holiday repast, including Claremont Unified School District Superintendent Jim Elsasser and other district personnel and administrators, various school board members, San Antonio High School alumni and a few parents. COURIER photo/Steven Felschundneff
The Thursday, November 21 school board meeting represented the last time board president Mary Caenepeel and board member Jeff Stark would take to the dais to deliberate the future of Claremont schools.
Ms. Caenepeel’s current term expires this December after eight years of service. Mr. Stark has been on the board for four years. Neither of them opted to run for a seat on the board in the local and municipal election held earlier this month.
Their departures did not go unnoticed as an array of local luminaries, district stakeholders and well-wishers took to the podium to say goodbye.
The school budget situation may have improved a bit, but Claremont students could still use some help. With this in mind, the COURIER decided to reach out to each of the schools in the district this holiday season with a simple question: What do you need?
The answers ranged from big-ticket items like computers and other technology to smaller but still crucial school supplies like markers and copy paper.
If you are a resident or business owner looking to make an impact in the community, donating to a local school might be just the ticket.
As integral as computers have become to our daily lives, we often forget the experts who help us navigate this brave new world: technical support staff.
This crucial role was acknowledged at the November 7 school board meeting when Michael Patrick, a desktop support tech with the Claremont Unified School District, was awarded the district’s annual Spotlight on Excellence award.
Mr. Patrick travels to CUSD’s 11 school sites on a rotating schedule—on Wednesday, for instance, he was at Condit Elementary School for much of the day—responding to work orders and trouble-shooting for anyone feeling technologically flummoxed.
For the fourth consecutive year, The Chronicle of Higher Education named Pitzer College as the top producer of Fulbright students and alumni among all US colleges in the “bachelor’s institutions” category. At 22 Fulbright Fellows, Pitzer had more Fulbright winners than many major research institutions, including Yale University, Stanford University and Columbia University.
At the last school board meeting, Claremont Educational Foundation President Richard Chute was pleased to present a hefty $201,000 check to the Claremont Unified School District.
The oversized check was merely ceremonial, the nonprofit having already given the funds to CUSD for the 2013-2014 school year. There is nothing phony, however, about the steady support the foundation provides to the district.
Thursday’s school board meeting started with great news in the form of an oversized check.
Richard Chute, president of the Claremont Educational Foundation, used the prop to inform meeting attendees of the sizeable donation the nonprofit is giving to Claremont schools this year: $201,000.
The money will be used to fund technology and art and music education at local elementary schools as well as technology at El Roble Intermediate and Claremont and San Antonio High Schools.
Great struggle affords great opportunity to those willing to seize it. This is the guiding principle that led Carol Corwin and her husband, Pete Bekendam, from their battle with alcoholism to the founding of Claremont’s thriving nonprofit Crossroads, providing transitional housing for incarcerated women.
Her recently debuted memoir, A Spacious Place, is about the journey.
The Claremont Educational Foundation (CEF) will be recognized for its ongoing support of the Claremont schools at the next meeting of the Claremont Unified School District Board of Education, set for Thursday, October 16 at 6 p.m.
The weather may be cooling down, but things are heating up at The Claremont Colleges.
If you’re looking for intellectual stimulation, look no further than our local schools of higher learning. This month they feature one or more fascinating lectures scheduled nearly every night of the week. Here are some COURIER recommendations covering October 14 through 26.
Hiram E. Chodosh, who was inaugurated as the fifth president of Claremont McKenna on Saturday, has some distinct goals as he takes the reins of the prestigious liberal arts college.
The first of these is to moderate the cost of a CMC education by marshaling more means to aid students and their families. He considers it equally important to ensure that every possible resource is shepherded to meet students’ needs “in an extraordinary way.”
The Reverend Dr. Kah-Jin Jeffrey Kuan, who will be inaugurated on Wednesday, October 23 as the seventh president of the Claremont School of Theology, is looking forward to helping the local theological school grow both in the number of students and scope of its vision.
CST has evolved in recent years to become an institution where the study of faiths other than Christianity is not just an elective option, but an integral part of the school’s curriculum.
Members of the Claremont High School marching band do a little dance as part of their performance on Saturday during the “Take Note!” all band concert at CHS. The free concert featured music from the El Roble band, El Roble orchestra, CHS marching band and CHS orchestra. COURIER photo/Steven Felschundneff
Dave Nemer believes the ability to work smoothly as a group, communicating cordially even in times of disagreement, is an important quality for a school board member.
Mr. Nemer has spent decades serving on committees within the Claremont Unified School District, such as the District Advisory Committee and the School Site Council at San Antonio High School.
While, as he jokes, “It may not be that exciting to say, ‘Vote for me. I’ve been on committees,’” he feels such collaborative experience would serve him well.
