• Spartans Dress for Success on Halloween

    We have our teachers looking out for great costumes today at Pinole Valley. Ms. Deinhard, Ms. Dibble and Ms. Blades are all in view of Ms. Schurr who captured a good picture of the crew. We saw a little bit of everything today and celebrate the Halloween tradition in style. We will have a gallery of our workers, monsters, hot dogs and cats available online soon. We are going to have our last day of the Haunted House tomorrow which goes along with the Marching Band who will be in costume one last time for the Senior Show. We expect everyone to have a safe and sane Halloween night and not go overboard on candy, because we want you all ready and on point for tomorrow's College Carnival. The students and Ms. Stephanie, our EAOP coordinator have games, knowledge and prizes. The week culminates in Senior Day on the field, where the Spartans wrap up the regular season in football with a high stakes game vs. John Swett and the last field performance for the Band, the Cheer Squad and the Flag team. No matter how you're dressed, we'll see you here.

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  • Day of the Dead Celebrated

    What a lovely celebration. The Choir kicked things off with a song and we were mesmerized by their version of La Llorona. There were beautiful and heartfelt masks on display and we have winners from the competition. Edwin Zarza took third, Emily Sims was second place and Alicia Nguyen's Culebra took first place honors. We had hot chocolate and were able to look at and admire the altar which featured friends and relations who have passed on. We are so touched to have the whole community together. We are going to have the instillation open through the end of the week. We have winners--Alicia Nguyen wins honors for her work as a sculptor. Evelyn Romo wins first place for the mask project and Natalia Ochoa was named as Best Essayist while Cynthia Ford won for best poem. The real winner was the community which got a great moment to reflect and remember. And have pan dulce!

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  • Winter Sport Meetings Thursday

    Winter Sports are on the way. We start the next season of Spartan sports on Monday November 4,. But before the tryouts, some of our coaches want to check in with students first. Boys Basketball under the leadership of Coach Rynning is going to meet outside the gym tomorrow, October 31st for a check in. The boys have freshmen and JV tryouts starting next week at 6:00 and Varsity at 7:30. Girls basketballers should meet with coach BJ early if they choose. The Girls will be in the big gym from 3:30--6:00 daily. Boys soccer coach Enriquez looks to return his squad to NCS playoffs. He would like to meet with the boys at lunch time tomorrow October 31 in the bleachers. His team will be on the field for tryouts on November 4 starting at 8:00 p.m., that is to allow the girls who are on from 6:00--8:00 to get first practices in .The team doctor will be on site Tuesday for physicals. Bring $25 if you haven't been cleared, and go Spartans!

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  • Alumni Panel is a College Week Highlight

    We celebrated those who had on their college gear today to kick off the week, and though we might have missed a few of you in the excitement, we want to catch everyone on Wednesday for the Alumni College panel that is happening in room C 209 at lunch time. If you've ever wondered how students get from high school to college, this may be the most important lunch meeting you take this year. We are going to have the panel of former Spartans who have become Golden Bears, Gauchos and other institutes of higher learning. We want our current students to ask the Spartans Past about the Process. How many applications did they send out? How was the financial aid process? What was it like living at home? or in a dormitory? or in a fraternity or sorority? What about choosing a major? Joining an extracurricular? Then what about all the questions "you're afraid to ask". That's what the panel is here for. Find out everything you want to know but haven't found the right person to answer. We have the right people right now

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  • Days of the Dead come to Life

    Outstanding displays of art and memory in D 208 today and then later out by the main stairs for our altars. The Day of the Dead is a week long event with masks, and photos and art work that speaks to the departed. We had our teachers and staff vote today on the finest of each of the icons, but it is a very tough choice. Students worked in a multi-disciplinary way, using their art and their language arts classes together to make these memorials come to life. Over the next few days, we invite teachers to add to our memorial with images and items that spoke to their predecessors. We are going to see that Halloween and the Day of the Dead bring out the best in our students self-expression, come see it through our eyes as well.

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  • We Be IB!

    It's official. The IB program is coming to Pinole Valley. Four years in the making, we have done a lot of heavy lifting along with our District administration, our parents and our students past and present. Starting in the 2020-2021 calendar year, we will offer our very first courses in IB History, English Language Arts, Biology, Art, Spanish and Mathematics. We will launch our Theory of Knowledge course and train our teachers in the Extended Essay and Community Service element of the Diploma Program. We can begin to admit our sophomore class as our first cadre of new students and are thrilled to offer this unique option to WCCUSD and the Pinole Valley community

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  • Tuesday school is Open!

    Tuesday October 29 is the first day back after the power outage. We are eager to return and hope you are too. The school will be on a regular schedule with classes starting at A Period and all of the regular courses followed by our extra curriculars including the last regular season game for girls tennis. We are going to have Nacho Tuesday for our judges in our Dia de Los Muertos contest, allowing them to make a good decision on a full stomach. We are excited to then crown our top poet, artist and writer. The Tuesday will be the start of college week and we will try to catch up to our missed opportunity to meet with representatives from San Francisco State later this week. We encourage you to share your college stories and bring out your college swag to show our current students what lies ahead. Most immediately--the re-start of school!

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  • Volleyball Girls Earn North Coast Section Bid (updated!)

    The Spartan girls have gone further than any squad in the past seven years. Thursday night Big Blue is staying HOME. We have a North Coast Section home game now vs. El Molino High School and we are so excited to have our own court (where we are undefeated) to be hosting this prestigious game at. We would love you to come to our gym and provide the girls the emotional support and loud gym to get us ready for this elite competition. We originally were going to play in Forestville but the fire situation necessitated the game be moved. We will be hospitable hosts but still want this win. Also, we honor Delaney Knight, our Spartan athlete of the week, coach Melanie says, "Without her, we don't win the title game". We salute all the girls, who are also being honored at Pinole city hall on November 19 for their great season and representing us so well. We are Spartan proud

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  • Pinole Valley closed for students Monday October 28

    Due to the power outage in the community, Pinole Valley High School will be closed for all students on Monday. Our staff reports to duty for a teacher work day at DeAnza High School. We are going to get some professional development work done and we anticipate teachers getting some grading and prep work done as well. We are hoping to resume school and the festivities of both College Week (we hope San Francisco State is willing to reschedule) and the Day of the Dead Festivities. Why not Nacho Tuesday? We are also hoping that our athletes get back on track (or in the gym). But safety first. We hope all of our students find a place to spend Monday and come back rested and ready as soon as we get word that Pinole Valley will be re-open. It is also senior night on Friday, with our Band, our cheer squad and our football team doing a last victory lap on the field. We'll let you know as soon as we know about the plans for re-opening school and picking up where we left off.

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  • Homecoming Brings it all Together

    We had a great time on Friday thanks to the whole Pinole community coming together. We honored Earl Combs as our Grand Marshall, for his work building the first Pinole Valley and chronicling the transition from Portables to Permanent in photos over the years. We then highlighted the Emperor (Coach Bodwin) and the Empress (Ms. V) who looked very commanding from the top of a tank! We had Kings and Queens, Princes and Princesses, Dukes and Duchesses and Counts and Countesses. Then we had the great class floats with the theme of Past, Present, Portable and Future. We had a loud and raucous rally put on by Leadership and then a game for the ages, with the Spartans rolling Richmond High 51-8. We are moving our dance to this Friday., because why should a good party end in a weekend?

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  • Homecoming Dance Postponed!

    Due to the PG and E power situation, the District has told us not to hold any on campus events, including our Homecoming Dance. But the Dance is only Postponed, not cancelled. We are scheduled to have the Dance next Friday November 1 after the last home game of the season. We are prepared to honor any and all tickets already sold, and refund any for students unable to attend. We are going to celebrate in style, as soon as it is safe to do so. We had a great homecoming day, and are even more ready for a great Homecoming Dance

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  • Homecoming Day, Night and Weekend

    Friday morning we celebrate with an all school rally in the gym. After 4th period, we want everyone to cheer, sing and take part in a day to let the world know we've got Spartan pride. it is a Color Day for Spirit, with the Freshmen wearing Blue, the sophomores in Gold, the juniors in White and the seniors in Black. After the rally, we will begin the largest parade in years. Over 300 students and nearly 40 clubs and entities will march down Pinole Valley Road with us. Then at 4:00, JV football wraps up their season with a contest against Richmond High, followed by Varsity at 6:00 p.m. We will have festivities galore with the Homecoming Court announced, the floats taking a victory lap around the field, a singer from choir doing a solo National Anthem, the Band playing their best, our cheer squad which will come out and dance 38 girls strong at halftime. And the new flag team.

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  • Girls Take TCAL Title!

    The Spartans are on top of the Tri County Athletic League Stone Division after an epic four game, come from behind victory over Jesse Bethel High School on Thursday in Vallejo. The Lady Spartans will move on to the North Coast Section to continue their magical season. After falling 25-20 in the first game, Pinole Valley began to turn the tide with a 25-21 win in game two. The host Jaguars pulled ahead in game three and were serving for game, when the Blue and Gold ran off three late points to take the game and a 2-1 lead. The fourth game was closer still. The teams were tied at 24, 25, 26 and 27 when the visiting Spartans finally put their hosts away. The win was sweet revenge for Pinole Valley which had the one-seed last year but fell to Bethel at home. With the win, Coach Melanie brings the first flag to the new gym (where the girls were undefeated all season). We are going to honor the girls at Friday's rally and then again at the Pinole City Council. A great win for the program and for the school too. Stay posted for the next post season challenge for the best team at the net!

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  • End of October is beginning of Fun

    The Haunted House is Back. It's actually a Haunted Dance room. We are so pleased that some traditions travel from campus to campus. Of course, the bad news is that the haunted element seemed to have followed us to the new campus too! We are going to build all this week and use the team of actors, re-enactors and spooky spirits. The Haunted House is due to be open for boosness on Wednesday October 30 through November 1. We are excited to see what new scares are here. On the same end of the week, we have our Dia de los Muertos celebration featuring everything from student art, poetry and writing to an altar and display of ancestral memories. We are excited to see the clothes and the color of this most spirited time of the year

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  • Monologue Festival Opens New Theater

    Thursday night is the grand opening of our Grand Theater. We have been working overtime to have it ready. The lights are in place and the inspection has been made, it looks like its time! Pinole Valley is hosting district students in the third annual Monologue Festival. We are raising the curtain at 5:00 p.m. and going to see what each theater crew has to offer. We want to invite the Districts' top thespians to this judged competition. We are thrilled to have the theater in heavy use throughout this quarter. We are hosting Band nights, Choir nights and the Fall Play. That and the District Science Fair, a Debate tournament and more. We look forward to seeing you at the show, and the shows to follow. The Monologue festival is a blend of students doing scenes from plays that have been published and some doing original work. They would love to have an audience for this as well. If you have time on Thursday (if you're not going to the water polo senior night, or the volleyball playoffs that is) we would love to have you here cheering us on.

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  • Great Night to be a Spartan Girl

    Girls Water Polo secured the top seed in the TCAL playoffs with a convincing 12-5 win on Tuesday vs. St. Patrick. Playoffs start on Wednesday of next week, and if the Spartan girls hold serve, they will be TCAL champs and able to move on to the North Coast Section. America Munoz in goal continued her dynamic season by racking up saves and blocks. Then it was off to Volleyball where the lady Spartans swept the DeAnza Dons in three, completing a perfect home season and earning the right to play in the TCAL finals Thursday night vs. Jesse Bethel. This is a rematch of last year's finals, and we owe the Jaguars! The ladies would love your support, as they have earned it with their hard work and strong commitment to teamwork. Kudos to coaches Jim and Melanie who have the girls playing at top level all season. Just in time for the playoffs! We are looking forward to the next season of girls sports--Basketball, Soccer and Wrestling begin their tryouts on November 4, giving our girls another season to dominate. Make sure grades are good, as we are checking the eligibility lists for the first quarter to see who is ready to play

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  • Majorettes meeting!

    Now for something totally new! Not only will we have Cheer and the Band, but this game will be featuring the first look at our Flag Team who have been working to show their Spartan pride at the Rally, the Parade and the Game. We figure that is good, but is it good enough? So starting Monday, expect the newest troupe, the Spartan majorettes to take the next step in game time and spirit time entertainment. We anticipate they will be dancing with the band and pumping up the crowds at future Spartan sporting events. We are going to be meeting and practicing in the Dance Room Mondays and Wednesday for the near future. Looking forward to even more students with the Spirit beat!

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  • First Quarter Ends Tuesday. Time to Finish up Strong!

    The first quarter of the school year is coming to an end, and with it the first marking period of the year. We are going to honor this milestone with a number of effects. First, we will publish the first quarter Honor Roll and have a celebration for the students who earned a 3.0 or better. Also it is time to check eligibility for all of our Fall and Winter athletes. Ability to maintain a 2.0 Grade Point Average will be sufficient to keep on the field. But wouldn't it be better to also be on Honor Roll?! After that, we start the second quarter of the school year. Wednesday will be a minimum day so that teachers can do a re-set and can carefully mark grades for the quarter. The next quarter takes us to the semester break--so stakes are even higher~students will receive two marks, one for the quarter and one for the semester (which is the Transcript). We have tutoring Monday--Thursday and will start peer Spanish tutoring on October 28. There is a lot of work, but also a lot of help. Your grade is on the line!

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  • Spartans Crush Albany, now look for more

    Spartan football got off to a fast start and then finished up strong. The Blue and Gold beat Albany 55-0 on the Cougar's homecoming and now return to Deuker Field to make our own Homecoming a happy return this Friday. Lots of highlights from the game. With sophomore wideout Tony Freeman scoring three times and the stalwart Spartan defense slamming the door on any of the hosts' drives. With the win, Pinole Valley runs their league record to a sparkling 3-1 and if victorious over the next two weeks positioning itself to a return trip to the North Coast Section. This is a huge week for Spartan sports. Girls volleyball is home Tuesday for the semifinals of the TCAL playoffs and also on Tuesday, both boys and girls water polo take on St. Patrick in what will be a battle for top seed in those sports as well.

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  • Robotics and Forensics make for a Full Saturday

    The first robotics competition of the school year is happening Saturday at UC Berkeley. We have many returning students and a handful of new ones, who are going to build the robot to perform the tasks required by the judges this season. We are thrilled to be back at Cal, where engineering students from the university are assigned to work with high school teams to give students a true learning experience. We are also traveling with our Debate team to a tournament this Saturday. James Logan High school hosts our debaters and we are ready! In December, Pinole Valley will host the first tournament it has held in six years. Wonder why that might be? We look forward to having all of you here to join us either as a participant, a judge or as a watcher. We are always looking for new team members of all the squads. So listen to our daily announcements to find out more, or go to your counselor and say, I want to build a better robot! Or debate the ethics of building one.

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