Beverly Hills Third Grader Wins State Gymnastic Titles, Moves On To ...

SCHOOLIS FUN!EDUCATIONBEVERLY HILLS COURIER | APRIL 8, 2011Page 20Director of EducationDupé Alerudaleru@bhcourier.comPAGE SCHOOL’S FLOWER SCIENCE PROJECT–Back row: (from left) pre-kindergarten teacherAlexandra Morris, Matthew Ranaei, Hudson MacDonell, Jonathan Cornelio,Cameron Davis, JoAnn Ferro,Sharon Morphew and Tricia Morphew. Front Row (from left): Dior Goodjohn, Sinai Cunningham, GabriellaFrost, Yacob Eyob, Maxwell Morphew, Sadie Wray, Isabelle Cates and Nathan Pena.Page Parents Get Involved, Contribute To ClassroomLearning With Flower Science ProjectBy Dupé AleruHow can parental involvementin schools make a differencein the academic successof its students?Quite frankly, it can makea huge difference. Last montha couple of Page School parentsdecided to be a contributingforce to academic achievementand the learning experienceby bringing in hands-oneducational activities to one ofits Pre-K classrooms.Page parent TriciaMorphew—mother of MaxwellMorphew, and Pagegrandma Sharon Morphew,By Dupé AleruIsaiah Drake,known as “Lord ofthe rings” due to histalent in the Still-Rings category, is athird grade studentat Good ShepherdCatholic Schoolwho will continueon to the Regional1 competition in NorthernCalifornia. He qualified for thiscompetition due to his victoryat the state championship inMarch.Drake was named Still-Rings State Champion in theLevel 5, age 7-8 years categoryat the Southern California StateGymnastics Championship lastmonth in Aliso Viejo.This completion is underthe aegis of USA Gymnastics,the national governing body forthe sport of gymnastics in theUnited States as designated bythe U.S. Olympic Committee.volunteered to come toteacher Alexandra Morris' prekindergartenclassroom for ahands-on engaging flower scienceproject for its students.To add a creative twist tothe educational science project,each student was given acardboard flower box to decorate,and also given three testtubes, three white daisy flowers,a choice of food coloringfor two test tubes, squishy gelorbeez balls (which grow inwater), and water.The purpose was to informand teach children about aflower’s absorbency in relationBeverly Hills Third Grader WinsState Gymnastic Titles, MovesOn To Regional 1 CompetitionDrake alsoplaced third onParallel Bars andthird in the All-A r o u n dCompetition.Drake, who hasbeen a gymnasticstudent for threeyears, is beingcoached andtrained by Henry Vanetsyan atBroadway Gymnastics Schoolnear Playa Vista.Vanetsyan is a formerOlympic coach who for 15years trained the U.S.S.R.’sMen’s Gymnastics team.Drake will representSouthern California at theRegion 1 Championships inOakland on Sunday, competingagainst gymnasts from NorthernCalifornia, Arizona, Nevadaand Hawaii.For further informationcontact Annie Goepel at 323-463-9700.to water and how the color inwater could affect the color ofthe flower petals. The test tubewith the orbeez balls allowedstudents to observe science ona different level due to how theorbeez balls absorb water andexpand 100 times its originalvolume in just a few hours.This quick process is a demonstrationfor children on how aflower would normally grow indays, weeks and months.This goes to show thatparental involvement is a hugedriving force for student successand the learning experience.Above:Nathan Penasmiles for thecamera duringhis scienceexperiment.Left: JoAnnFerro placesher daisy inits test tubes.Good Shepherd Students Get Behind TheScenes Look On Field Trip To Gelson’sGood Shepherd CatholicSchool’s pre-k classroomenjoyed a behind-the-scenesfield trip to Gelson’s Market inCentury City, last week.The idea was to visit a marketto learn about food and seehow food is packaged andstored.The trip began with a visitto the produce section wherestudents observed the vastassortment of fruits and vegetablesand had the opportunity tosample fresh strawberries, blueberriesand cantaloupe.Next, they were taken onthe warehouse tour—the areawhere boxes of food are stored,and observed how these aremoved on a conveyor belt.They then went to the meat andfish area.Each student was given achance to scan a food item tosee how it appears on the registerafter being scanned.One can imagine the smellof fresh bread baking in anoven; at least the students didas they visited the last stops ofthe tour, the bakery and deli.As a last treat, the childrenconcluded the trip by sittingdown at tables to enjoy a nicetreat of breaded chicken andcookies—not together ofcourse.Yum! Yum!Charlene Liebau Talks: ‘College Admissions’By Charlene LiebauCollege Admissions EditorCollege admission decisions are out. Giventhe reports of the record breaking number ofapplications received by colleges this year, theadmission decisions cannot be all that good formany, many well-qualified students. ConsiderHarvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford reportingadmit-rates in the single digits: 6.2, 7.4, 8.4, and7.1 percentages, respectively. True, not all collegesare reporting such statistics but enough arewhich only serves to underscore the everincreasing anxiety surrounding the collegeadmission process.What to do? Let’s begin with current seniors.What does one do if “deny” is the word fromfirst choice college? To share the news that thisyear, for a variety of reasons, was the most competitiveever is of little comfort. The numbers arestaggering: UCLA received 61,000 applicationsfor a freshman class of 5,250; Stanford received34,348 applications for an incoming class of1,725; and Harvard received 34,950 for a classof 2,158. Columbia University announced itreceived 32 percent more applications this yearthan it did last year. Colleges and universitiesacross the country, public and private, are(see ‘COLLEGE,’ page 21)