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President's Week means Time to Catch Up or Get Ahead
West Contra Costa schools take off the week of February 17-21 to honor the Presidents. No matter which one you choose, we encourage you to spend some time thinking about them, their policies, their legacies, and maybe more. In the same spirit, we task the student body at Pinole Valley to be ready to reflect and pursue their academic prowess over this mid-winter break. The school will be open "buisness hours" during the week off from school, and there will be practices and sporting events throughout the week as well. Look at this very website for updates on North Coast Section playoffs and the like. We are going to be getting ready for the last part of quarter three, which includes progress reports almost immediately after we return to school. Our recommendation is that this a great week for students to catch up to assignments that haven't been completed. A chance to get ahead and to make progress toward new assignments. It's time to get ahead or catch up. Also if you are doing reading or writing for pleasure, we know this is a great time where new work isn't being introduced and students can do their best to be ready for the big finish
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Girls Basketball Advances to Quarterfinals
The Pinole Valley girls keep rolling. The Lady Spartans jumped out to a big lead early and then ran away and hid from Elsie Allen Tuesday night in the big gym and blasting the visitors 69-22 to win their first round match up in the North Coast Section division III playoffs. With the win, the team advances to the quarterfinals and a date with the Alhambra Bulldogs on Friday night in Martinez. Tuesday's effort was paced by league Most Valuable Player, DeDe Prim who scored twenty. The girls are flying high, with one of their best performances in years, and have won nine of the last ten. In fact, the last setback the Spartans suffered was to Alhambra. So there is plenty on the line and we know that you will want to be there to support. The team has two banners to hang in the new gym thanks to their magical season--one for their regular season title and the other for winning out in the Tri County Athletic League playoffs
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Lions Club Speech Contest ends with Spartan Winner
One of the aspects of our vision is that Pinole Valley High will be a vital and important part of our community. We are going to be showing up tonight at the El Sobrante Christian School for the local Lions Club Oratorical contest. The Club has a new topic each year, this year it about Homelessness. We are hoping that we can advance a student to the District level, where in addition to winning recognition, students can also win cash toward college. The Lions Club asks students to prepare a speech of no more than ten minutes and tasks them to have the speech memorized by the next level. it is a contest of skill and courage to stand before a group of adults who hope their club can represent well. This year was no exception, Lily Johnstone '20 won the first round contest Thursday in El Sobrante and we are celebrating her win. She moves on to the next level and will compete on February 27 at the Richmond Mechanic's Bank and try to advance all the way to the State Level. Lily speaks about the Housing First plan and argues that it is a good first step in addressing the situation. Lilly was also our school's Poetry Out Loud school representative and we are excited to hear what she has to say. Spring time is your best chance to see what our students can do. The service clubs are just one of many organizations that support students locally. We are confident that you will be able to see our Spartan students throughout the Spring at various events and competitions. Look here for results from the Lions Club, and stay online to search out new opportunities.
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District Science Fair tonight
The culmination of a year's worth of projects happens tonight at Pinole Valley High School. The District Science Fair is on at our brand new theater Thursday at 7:00 p.m. After the ceremony, we encourage our guess and visitors to make the cafeteria the next stop on their tour as they will have a chance to see the top projects from around West Contra Costa Unified. The students have prepared hypothesis and answers in life science, physical sciences and behavior sciences. Walk through the tri-folds and video displays that will highlight the process of how students speculated and then set out to demonstrate whether their best guess was true, false, or somewhere in between.Students who score big tonight earn the right to move on to the Bay Area level and if they excel after that, can earn the right to participate at the state level. Many of our teachers and students work after hours to create the projects. This is science come to life. We salute the staff that helped to put the Science Fair together and presents it to us for all to learn from.
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Spartan Freshman is MVP!
Great day to be a Spartan. Freshman basketball sensation DeDe Prim is being honored as the best player in the Tri County Athletic League and unanimous first team starter for her amazing breakout season in basketball. To'Shia Reynolds, our athlete of the week, and her freshman teammate was named to the second team. And showing strength in numbers, Burcin Kuru, Stephania Salazar, GeCe Buggs, Michelle Gomez and Corrine Fosterr received honorable mention. The Spartan girls ripped through the regular season with a 12-0 record and go into the TCAL playoffs this week with a bye, then a second round game home on Thursday vs. the Richmond Oilers. After that, if we win, it will be Championship Saturday The boys finished with a terrific 8-4 record in league and advance to the semifinals of TCAL with a convincing come-from-behind win over John Swett Wednesday night, the guys are now in the TCAL semifinals with a huge game Thursday night at Vallejo. If we can get past the Red Hawks, the Spartans will earn a place in the finals Saturday night here in the big gym.. We are so proud of the hard work and wins Looking forward to a great post-season as well.
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What a Show!
The Black History Commemorative Jubilee made Saturday shine. We had the African American Student Union out in force and students served in a variety of capacities. Everything from making the cafeteria look classy to decorating the campus made it clear that this special event was back in a big way. Ms. Michele Lamons coordinated the event with multiple moving parts. She managed to recruit a whole team of people to help the celebration. We had the jazz band in the lobby, we had waiters in the kitchen, we had singers, dancers, orators (like Fortune Nwadike above). The whole school turned out to see a show, celebrate academics and art and the accomplishments of our Black students and community. The talent and the energy was evident. We are so proud to be hosting, and will have a gallery of images and video available soon so that if you missed it this year, you will see why you will move whatever is in the way, so you don't miss out next or future years. Jubilee!!
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Strike Up the Band
What would Pinole Valley be without Music? We are not prepared to ever answer that question. Earlier this week, we had our District's Honor Choir practicing right here in our new Theater space bringing a lovely sound. Then it was Karoake Friday, which is not to be confused with Music in the Mall, that meant that students needed only wait a few hours for the basketball game and the pep band which brought the pep to Senior Night. Then Saturday it is the Black History Jubilee featuring the Band, the Choir and Dance. We are planning to be everywhere in the Spring from school shows to District performances (the choir at the School Board Meeting) and then you'll see us in the City at our Day on the Green. And did we mention Pinole Valley's Got Talent? The music programs will also be performing at school rallies, visiting middle schools and making the case for all of our feeder schools to send their students to our school to further their musical skills. Who knows what else is out there? Whatever it is, we guarantee it sings!
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Winter Sports Still Rising, Spring is Here!
Spartan Basketball is going into the post-season on a winning roll. The boys went to Richmond HIgh and paced by Alex Otis' seven three-pointers in the first quarter (Read that again!) blew out the Oilers 93-46 to clinch first place and a first round home game in the Tri County Athletic League playoffs. Meanwhile the girls finished their perfect season perfectly by crushing Albany on Senior NIght, 79-41. With the win, the Spartans are guaranteed home playoff games for the next week and a chance to sweep TCAL and head into North Coast Section. Meanwhile, it's Spring sports for everyone starting Monday, students will need to have their permission packets ready by then, otherwise, you don't suit up. We are going to be everywhere from the home gym and home track to Ellerhorst Elementary, Contra Costa College, Pinole Valley Park and we have coaches ready to assess and select their teams for this busy season. Make sure that you bring the right equipment to the right event. Swimming, Boys Tennis, Baseball, Softball, Boys Volleyball, Golf, Track and Field and Badminton. If you can't find a sport this week, you just aren't trying. Play Ball!
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Engineers Build it to Fail
How much can you carry? These are questions that are asked in real life to engineers and mathematicians. We are growing the next generation of builders. Students learn in their introductory classes that even the best built structure has weaknesses, but to work around and with that, is the first step in proper construction. So, this is a great time to fail! Ms. Johnson's Engineering class is working every Friday with University of California engineers to perfect the art and science of building a better bridge. We are testing how the many different type of bridges are built and how much they can carry. Students worked in teams taking bridge quizzes and taking notes from our guests and Friday was the day of the big test. A stress test. Bricks were laid on the bridges to see how much they could carry. One team exhausted all of the bricks. So we piled on books and then assorted other items until it finally began to give way. Our crews will now build bridges for inter-school competition and we are confident that even if we don't build it for first, we can build it to last!
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Make Mine Music
Do you want music with that? Thursday the band sent a tenor sax and student to serenade the student body with a version of All of Me. After school, we will gather in our choir space and have the County Honor Band performing along with our own top singers to bring a lovely sound. Then tomorrow, Friday we have a soloist prepared to sing on the morning announcements. Not enough for you? OK, also Friday is our monthly Karoake day in choir class. Students and teachers (yes, teachers!) from around the campus gather and choose songs to belt out and let loose. So much fun. Also it's music on the mall Friday to celebrate the lovely weather and the fact that we made it to the end of the week. The students will be able to hang out with our musical crew and maybe even make a request. Then Friday night the Band also celebrates Senor Night on the hardwood, with the girls entertaining Albany High in the gym (12-0? Anyone. Then after all that on Saturday, we host the Black History Commemorative Jubilee and that show features Music with music from the band and the choir and the stage. Get your groove on at Pinole Valley today, tomorrow and every day
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Welcome to PVHS--HOME OF THE SPARTANS!Inside Pinole Valley-February 17-21, 2020Look here for updates and sports schedules
- Non Discrimination Policies
- 504 Coordinator, Mr. Amar Nalic 510 231-1442 ext 11578 analic@wccusd.net
PVHS 2019?VISION
Pinole Valley High School’s vision is to become recognized as a California distinguished school. We will become a vital part of our community—a school that serves our city by sharing our work and talents while utilizing the city and its resources to best serve our students.
MISSION
Pinole Valley High School strives to prepare its graduates to succeed in both the academic and professional worlds. Our high-quality, challenging academic programs enable students to develop the cognitive, emotional, social, and behavioral skills necessary to become both lifelong learners and engaged, responsible, respectful participants in our diverse local and global communities.
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Back-to-School Paperwork Available Online
WCCUSD is going paperless for its Annual Back-to-School Paperwork and launching a new system that allows families to complete all the necessary information online from their computers or mobile devices.
