Principal's Message - May-June, 2013

CHANGES TO THE BELL SCHEDULE FOR NEXT YEAR
Please note: Due to the adoption of the Common Core Standards for the state of California, the staff in preparation for the transition will be using one hour a week to work collaboratively and attend meetings. School will begin at 9am every Wednesday during the 2013-14 school year. Please make all necessary arrangements for the change in the weekly schedule.

It seems incredible that I am writing my final newsletter for this school year. Mission has soared this year with an Intel Science finalist, Sixty five National Merit Finalists, competition winners in science, economics, art, English and the list goes on. It seems every year we reach an even higher pinnacle than the year before. 

Our students are amazing and this month has been no exception. Congratulations to:

• Christie Chong for her Scholastic Art and Writing Award for her book design, and to
• Teacher Ms.Katie Kuei as advisor to students Ruchit Majmudar and Vivek Calmbur who are finalists and awarded a trip to Houston, Texas for an Innovation Summit for the Conrad Spirit of Innovation Challenge.
• Also kudos to Ms. Risha Krishna who supported the applications of Rachel Chang, Peter Werner, Nihal Hakim and Marisa Lenci as research assistants to Dr. Carson of Stanford University for ten weeks this summer. What an incredible learning experience for them!
• Also, congratulations to Alankrita Dayal and Leah Dickstein for their recent recognitions. Alankrita attended the California State Summer School for Mathematics and Sceince (COSMOS) and Leah for her participation in a bioinformatics internship where she developed a phylogeny with the support of a professor from the University of North Texas. Both were recognized by the Bay Area affiliate of the National Center for Women and IT.
• Anuj Desai was also honored for his volunteer activity by the Prudential Spirit of Community Award as a top honoree in the 2013 PruKids.
• Congratulations continue for Priyanka Mahapatra and Raghu Dhara for being regional finalists and, therefore, winning a spot at the Intel International Science Fair as well as the California State Science Fair.
• Ivonne Shih, Margaret Shen as the regional runner ups will now participate at the California State Fair as will Rachel Choi, Vikas Peddu, Katherine Tian and Lillian Zhao.
• And once again, Warren W. Tian has accomplished the unusual in having a composite score of 36 on the ACT.
• Mr. Brucker does it again! The BAMO (Bay Area Mathematical Oympiad) resulted in Mission student Lewis Chen winning the individual Grand Champion award, Lewis, Jerry Wu and Aaron Lin won the team award for highest total of top three scores and Albert Zheng, Brian Xie, Tiancheng Qin, and Spencer Yee also won awards.

Mission’s strengths are found in our students’ continual excitement and motivation as well as the support and dedication of staff to encourage all.

It is bittersweet that this is my last Principal’s message to the Mission community. It has been my greatest pleasure in serving the families of Mission High and the Fremont Unified School District for the last twenty five years. I take with me wonderful memories of the students, staff and parents that I have had the pleasure to meet and collaborate with over the years. I wish all of you the very best in the coming years and know that the traditions and values we have established will thrive.

With gratitude,
Sandy Prairie
Principal