CCUSD’s Green5 Group Celebrates Earth Day Districtwide Culver City Unified School District’s Green5 campaign group has spearheaded a variety of Earth Day projects throughout the District. The Green5 group, composed of teachers, students, parents and more, is designed to increase awareness about recycling, reducing energy consumption and reusing materials on-site. The goal is to educate all participants and as a by-product save the school district money and, in addition, reduce the amount of district-produced trash that is going to the landfill by 25%. Middle and high school students participate in the advancement of this initiative through community engagement activities and school awareness campaigns. Culver Park High School• On April 9, Global Sustainability and English teacher Karen Lanier, Principal Veronica Montes and Environmental Sustainability Committee Co-Chairs Shea Cunningham and Todd Johnson conducted a pre-Green5 waste audit at Culver Park to determine how much landfill waste and recycling (if any) was happening on that campus. Green5 found that over a three-day period, Culver Park had 68.8 lbs. of landfill trash, with no recycling. Another audit will be conducted before the end of this school year to determine if the Green5 program and new sorting stations will significantly increase recycling and composting rates. The group anticipates that at least 2/3 of the campus’ waste will be diverted from the landfill. In addition, a Green5 My Actions Count survey was administered to the students to track changes in their Green5-related behaviors. Another survey will be administered at the end of this school year. • On April 13, the Green5 was officially launched at Culver Park. Green5 banners,

posters and sorting stations were installed and CCUSD Sustainability Coordinator Shea Cunningham held an interactive assembly for the students. A majority of participants made a goal of becoming a Zero Waste Campus (which means no more than 10% of waste going to the landfill). CCUSD’s Solar PV System generated over Three million KwH of solar renewable, non-polluting solar energy in its first year of production (Feb. 2014-Feb. 2015)• This means CCUSD avoided emitting a lot of climate change-inducing greenhouse gases – nearly five million pounds of carbon dioxide, nearly 8,000 pounds of nitrogen dioxide and more than 18,000 pounds of sulfur dioxide that was not emitted• This is the equivalent of planting nearly 5 million tree seedlings grown over 10vyears!• The project also saved CCUSD more than $700,000 by becoming a generator of renewable energy.

CCMS and CCHS• At CCMS, ASB students (led by ASB Teacher Monica Vielman) and the Green5 Club (led by Green5 Club Teacher Leslie McVay) will host an Earth Day event on Tuesday April 21. The event will include: a recycling quiz (to be entered in a raffle to win a skateboard), recycling games, and a collective recycled art project. • Led by Senior Evan Dumas at CCHS, the Green5 and Ballona Creek Renaissance Clubs are hosting a Zero Waste Spaghetti dinner on Friday, April 24 from 4 to 7 p.m. in the Cafeteria. Tickets are $5. In addition, facts about Reducing, Reusing and Recycling are being announced all week. What You Can Do? • Practice the Green5 (REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE RIDE RETHINK) Every day!• Landfills are the largest human-made emitters of the greenhouse gas (GHG) methane (CH4) in the U.S. – representing about 35% of total GHGs. Methane as a greenhouse gas has 20 times the potency of carbon dioxide (CO2). By reducing our landfill waste across CCUSD we are making a BIG positive impact for our community and the environment!• Get involved and join the Environmental Sustainability Committee! Www.ccusd.org/sustainability

FIRST Robotics Team Qualifies for National Championships, Seeks Funding The Culver City High School FIRST Robotics Team 702, the Bagel Byes, has qualified to attend the 2015 FIRST Robotics Championships in St. Louis, Missouri, from April 22-26.

“It is quite an honor for our high school and will be a life changing experience for those who are able to attend,” said Coach Alex Davis. “We must raise $11,000 by April 20 to send 11 team members, our coach, four mentors and our robot to St. Louis.”

This year, nearly 2,500 teams constituted of 60,000 high school students from all over the world have been competing in 70 regional and district championships with the goal of being one of 600 teams chosen for the final championships in St. Louis. This season, the CCHS team competed in two regional competitions, one in San Diego and the other in Los Angeles.

This is the school’s 15th year of participating with the non-profit FIRST Robotics. This year’s team is made up of students who have never been tovchampionships.

To help send the CCHS FIRST Robotics Team 702 to championships in St. Louis, you can make a donation either online by visiting the team’s website at www.planet702.org Donors can also mail a check made out to “CCHS Robotics” to the high school in care of Alex Davis, 4401 Elenda Street, Culver City, CA 90230.

El Rincon to HoldScience Rocks Fair & Festival Save the date. El Rincon Elementary School will be hosting its largest event, the Science Rocks Fair & Festival, from 2 to 8 p.m on Friday, April 24. There will be tons of fun for everyone to enjoy, including an engineering contest, bake-off, live music, food, silent auction, astronomy dome, wild animals, asteroid presentation, engineering zone, mobile museum, and so much more!

For more information about this event, please contact El Rincon Booster Club President Bunny Saavedra at bunnys@erboosterclub.com or visit the Booster Club’s website at www.erboosterclub.com.

The Wizard of Oz Comes Back to Culver City! By Ruth Morris, Teacher on Special Assignment - Student Gifts, Enrichment and Support Culver Park HS, Culver City Adult School, CCUSD iAcademy

There’s no place like home, and Culver City has been home of “The Wizard of Oz” since MGM (now Sony) Studios released the film 76 years ago. This year, Culver City Middle School’s own “CCMS Performances,” a production company run by and for students, will follow their (yellow brick) road of successful Broadway productions, which include: “Once on This Island” in 2013, “Seussical” in 2014, and now, “The Wizard of Oz.”

It all started in 2011, when the leadership of Culver City Middle School realized that students would benefit more from specific enrichment and/or intervention activities within the school day than the then-accepted notion of “silent sustained reading.” Just as The Scarecrow didn’t necessarily need a diploma to show he was smart, theatre-loving middle school students don’t necessarily need a “Drama” class to “teach” them how to run a production.

By middle school, many students have pursued their interest in the arts through extra-curricular activities for so long, that they can already share their talents as peer leaders. This is the time of life when students start garage bands, write their best poetry and song lyrics, partake in improv, dance or other arts endeavors, before the seriousness of college-preparatory high school life ensues. For students who already excel at the middle school standards, working together on a musical theatre production is a great answer to the question, “what can we do for students who have attained mastery?” Even students who have not mastered every standard in every subject deserve a chance to be involved in comprehensive enrichment activities such as theatre production, debate club, or student court.

And all students do have a chance. Auditions were held by 8th grade producer Isa Berliner and her student production team early on in the school year. Isa and her team of producers and directors cast Emilien Sahli, playing Mayor of Munchkinland, without realizing that he is actually the son of Culver City mayor Mehgan Sahli-Wells. Other cast members include: last year’s star of Seussical, Frances Horwitz, as Dorothy, in this, her last year at CCMS. 8th grader Erin Hamill, who stole the show in a supporting role in Seussical last year, gender-bends in a starring role as The Scarecrow. 7th grade actors James Kocher and Stanely Funnel round out the rest of Dorothy’s entourage, while 7th grader Rika Nagai plays Good Witch Glinda, and 8th grader Shavit Melamed is the Wicked Witch of the West.

Not just an adaptation, this stage production is said to be true to the film version, with some extra twists. CCMS Performances have never disappointed; the professional quality of the acting, singing, dancing, sets, costumes, stage design, lighting and sound, have astounded audiences year after year. The musical accompaniment has always been a special treat, but this year, there is a full orchestra composed of both CCMS and CCHS students, conducted by CCUSD parent and professional pianist, Dr. Tania Fleischer. This will be a concert in itself, and not to be missed!

The students make all creative decisions, set their own schedules, and cooperate in two coordinated teams: cast and crew. Being minors, adult supervision is still required. The idea of a student-run production company was hatched and nurtured by Ruth Morris, then-Coordinator of the Gifted and Talented Program at CCMS. This year, Ruth moved on to a new position as Programs Coordinator/Gifts Advisor at Culver Park High School, CCUSD iAcademy and Culver City Adult School, and CCMS counselor-extraordinaire Jeanine Lizotte shepherded the production. Both Ruth and Jeanine were joined through the years by CCMS teachers who also believed in student empowerment and enrichment: last year, 6th grade ELA teacher Cathi Green-Bratton and Spanish teacher Raul Hurtado during what was the ground-breaking “AEIOU” (Advisory-Enrichment-Intervention-Olweus-Us), and this year, by 7th grade ELA instructors Brianna Capillo and Jen Ogren, during the current incarnation: “Panther Paws.”

Although there’s no “Drama” teacher involved, as with all productions, there’s “drama” on and off the stage! Until the new “Panther Paws” got off the ground this year, rehearsals only could begin in December/January. This year, bell schedule changes yielded only one 25 minute period during the school day, compared to two during-school hours in prior years. The students advocated for themselves, and worked with middle school administration to arrange for an aide to supervise students on Wednesdays after school. Now that several former members of CCMS’ Performances cast and crew have graduated to CCHS, joint-cooperation between the secondary schools has transitioned from dream to reality. The high school set crew, and Kirsten Opstad, set and lighting designer for AVPA, have been engaged by Isa, and are mentoring their underclassmen to build the sets. The middle school production has also been given access to the high school scene shop. Culver Park High School’s AVPA Cinematographer Kevin Mayorga will assist the show as well. As things sometimes do happen, the cast just received their scripts on Wednesday before spring break! Through various challenges and tribulations, but with the support of all involved, from parents to teachers and administration from all three CCUSD secondary campuses, the cast has gotten very close, and have made lots of friends.

In case there are any doubts about the quality of CCMS Performances productions, DVDs of last year’s Seussical are available for purchase prior to the 25th at the CCMS’ Main Office for $10 (contact Ms. Pealer) and will be sold at Robert Frost before and after the shows, and at intermission.

Come and see one or more of four performances: Saturday, April 25, at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, April 26, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 per person, ages 5 and up, and will be sold at the Box Office from one hour prior to each show, on a first come, first served basis. All proceeds from ticket sales go directly to benefit enrichment programs for Culver City Middle School students.

Please Be Advised This is a very important message about the Tribute to the Stars invitation you received in the mail. If you received an invitation in your mailbox - not your email - please note, the return address was printed incorrectly.

Please return your RSVP to:CCEFPO BOX 4178 Culver City 90231-4178 P.S. If you have already sent your RSVP prior to today, email CCEF at ccef@ccusd.org so your reservation can be recorded. CCEF apologizes for the inconvenience

CULVER CURRENTSCCUSD news

Dear Friends,

The Culver City High School FIRST Robotics Team 702, the Bagel

Byes, has qualified this year to attend the FIRST Robotics

Championships in St. Louis, MO, from April 22 – 26, 2015. It is quite

an honor for our high school and will be a life changing experience

for those who are able to attend. We must raise $11,000 by April 20th

to send 11 team members, our coach, four mentors and our robot to

St. Louis.

This year, nearly 2,500 teams constituted of 60,000 high school

students from all over the world have been competing in 70 regional

and district championships with the goal of being one of 600 teams

chosen for the final championships in St. Louis. This season our team

competed in two regional competitions, one in San Diego and the

other in Los Angeles. This is our 15th year of participating with the

non-profit FIRST Robotics. This year’s team is made up of students who have never been to

championships.

Please help us send the CCHS FIRST

Robotics Team 702 to championships

in St. Louis. You can make a donation

either online by visiting our website -

www.planet702.org Or mail your

check make out to CCHS Robotics to

the high school in care of Alex Davis, 4401 Elenda Street, Culver City, CA 90230.