Hello BVM Community,

Good morning and I hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful weekend! This quarter, our primary focus is to ensure that all students at Bonita Vista Middle School are working towards improving their academic standing. We aim to help our students build strong study habits that will prepare them for Bonita Vista High School and maintain focus on their purpose in middle school. It's important to note that all 8th grade students must pass all their classes in order to participate in the promotion ceremony at the end of the school year and receive their promotion certificate.

School-Wide Academic Improvement Efforts begin Next Week:

To support academic improvement, we have planned several initiatives including Credit Recovery starting on 10/14 (Science and PE), Credit Recovery Math (10/19), Parent Shadow Days (10/21), and Mandatory Academic Tutoring on 10/21. We have been and will continue to contact parents if students are enrolled in any of our intervention efforts listed above. We ask for your support at home by reviewing homework and assessments with your student, especially in classes where they may be struggling. Our focus from now until the next progress report (11/1) is on academic improvement.

Student Engagement and Leadership Development:

In addition to academic support, we are creating more platforms for student engagement and leadership through various clubs and opportunities such as the I Love Myself Club, Chess Club, 7th Grade Council, 8th Grade Council, Builder's Club, Robotics, Knowledge Bowl, BSU, Athletics, and more. We encourage you to support your student's active involvement in our school as studies have shown that students who are more connected to school and have positive adult relationships tend to perform better academically (and tend to be best supported at school). The question, we always want to ask our selves is: how am I ensuring that my student is developing both academically and socially-emotionally by using existing opportunities available at my student's middle school?

Turkey Trot (11/21) Support Needed:

BVM Community--please read below more about our annual Turkey Trot and how this year, we are asking help from our community. Please contact me directly if you would like to help us support this event this year or write out a check to: BVM ASB (memo: Turkey Trot) and we will send home a donation form for you to fill out. Our goal is to raise $500 (Cost of our T-Shirts).

Let's all work to improve 1% every day and we look forward to an exciting and awesome week full of opportunity, development, and growth for our students! Let's go BVM!

Sincerely,

Alex Salazar

Please take a couple of minutes to review the powerpoint presentation presented at last week's Coffee with the Principal. Our presentation included some 1st Quarter Data and information about our Tobacco Use Prevention Education Program. Thank you!

Parents and guardians, to report a student absence, please make sure to fill out the following form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScLJrFXTi9s9G9nIzEOJSMEn2NeMLbDqMYUseHAKr5YRwJmYQ/viewform.

For any absences extending to 5 or more school days, please contact Ana.Monge@sweetwaterschools.org, our Attendance Coordinator, to complete an short-term independence study contract.

Please contact Ms. Rubi.deleon@sweetwaterschools.org, our attendance technician, to report any attendance errors.

The Acknowledgment Corner will be continued to be used to highlight and celebrate our students at any opportunity that we can! If you would like your student acknowledged for something we may not be aware of, please feel free to contact me (include a picture or video if possible).

Nominated by Ms. Lathan, Isaac Garcia. For a previous assignment, students were learning about how molecules move differently in cool or hot water. Isaac went out of his way to create a cool and interesting animation for his General Science 7th Grade c;ass fpr {eropd 5 tp re[resemt this phenomenon. Thank you for your hard wok and creativity, Isaac! Let's go BVM!!! #IBCandidateSchool #IBProfileCommunicators

Nominated by Ms. ramirez, Athena Fortin. Athena Fortin is not only a hard working student who has 100% of the points possible in my class, she is also a very polite and friendly person. She is always smiling, upbeat, and ready to work. She is consistently engaged in our English lessons and willing to participate. Athena is a true role model for all students and a pleasure to have you in my class. Let's go BVM!!! #IBPROFILECOMMUNICATORS#IBCANDIDATESCHOOL

Our awesome 7th Grade Principal's Council met last week to begin discussing issues and challenges around our school culture at Bonita Vista Middle School. These students will discuss any issues, concerns, or practices they feel should be called in to question at Bonita Vista Middle School. Council will also seek to look for solutions to any challenges, related to our school culture, at our school.

8th Grade council over met, but we did not take pictures during their meeting but will take a picture next month.

We want to congratulate Sofia Moreno Ranon (7th) Axel Valdez (8th) Milah King (8th) annd Karine Jimenenz who will be this year's BVM Student Health Advocates. Through our district's Tobacco-Use Prevention Education Program Grant, the aforementioned students invested their time on Saturday from 8:30 am - 2:30 pm where they received professional development on how to become a Student Health Advocate (SHA) and were officially certified! Also, thank you to our very own Dr. Lilia Meza for attending the training with our students! Let's make BVM a healthier place for all!

Thank you to Azalea and Jackarie Elago-Edwards who attended BSU Officer training last Thursday at our district's Professional Development Center! Our students had a great time getting to know other students across our district and participated in the following:

*Our students participated in four different ice breaker activities (and learned how to use these ice breaker activities for their own meetings)

*Our students watched videos of examples of what to show our BSU club on historical events, educational institutions, the significance of fraternity/sororities and the difference between HBCUs and PWIs

*Our students were given time to plan out events through the remainder of the semester

*Our students discussed important issues that students felt were important and wanted to discuss in a safe environment (N-word, racial slurs, negative interactions with teachers, vaping, and fighting were some of the topics our BVM/BVH cohort discussed)

*Our students worked with the BSU at BVH to plan a day for the BVH students to come and speak at the BVM meeting

Other important takeaways that our BSU Officers and Advisor shared were:

*Mrs. Schroeder invited BSU to participate in the costume contest on Halloween. She also offered to supply our club with supplies if we need them in the future

*We were highly encouraged to plan Black History Month events to include but not limited to: announcements during the bulletin, spirit week, speaking at faculty meeting/s

It was suggested for the clubs to sell shirts prior to February and pitch it to teachers as a way to display allyship. They emphasized the importance of the adults on campus to lead a culture of acceptance so all students feel included.

We want to also thank Ms. Monge and, once again, Jackarie and Azalea for representing our school at the district-wide BSU meeting!

Our BVM Dancers were busy this weekend reharsing with BVHS Dancers for the big BVHS Homecoming haltime show next Friday, October 18, 2024 at Bonita Vista High School! It was an awesome day of celebration! Thank you to our awesome Dance Director, Ms. Timmons, who is also the BVHS Dance Director, for creating these wonderful platform for our students to truly shine! Let's go BVM!!!

We would like to bring back our annual Turkey Trot tradition where we have students, per grade level and gender, race each other during their PE periods. In the past we have been able to give BVM Turkey Trot T-Shirts to the following groups (40 Total T-Shirts like the ones you see above):

Top 10 7th Grade Girls

Top 10 8th Grade Girls

Top 10 7th Grade Boys

Top 10 8th Grade Girls

10 T-Shirts for Teachers who partake in the Turkey Trot

We also give Turkeys to the Top finishers in the four categories above and the 2nd and 3rd place finishers receive pumpkin pies/apple pies (4 Pumpkin Pies and 4 Apple Pies)! This year, we are asking for donations and sponsorships to support this longtime BVM tradition.

Therefore, if you are interested in donating money toward the medals or pies, or would like to sponsor 40 T-Shirts, please contact me at alexander.salazar-arbelaez@sweetwaterschools.org.

Again, please contact me directly if you would like to help us support this event this year or write out a check to: BVM ASB (memo: Turkey Trot) and we will send home a donation form for you to fill out. Our goal is to raise $500 (Cost of our T-Shirts).

Thank you!

Character building is embedded in an IB education. We want our students to learn and embody 10 Learner Profiles (See attachment below). Our Third Learner Profile: Communicators means that we express ourselves confidently and creatively in more than one language and in many ways. We collaborate effectively, listening carefully to the perspectives of other individuals and groups.

You can email me pictures and stories of how your student has exemplified being an Effective Communicator if you'd like your student to be featured in our weekly newsletter: alexander.salazar-arbelaez@sweetwaterschools.org.

IB Learner Profile Communicator: We express ourselves confidently and creatively in more than one language and in many ways. We collaborate effectively, listening carefully to the perspectives of other individuals and groups.

Let's celebrate Ms. Veronica Sandoval for her outstanding leadership in our counseling department at Bonita Vista Middle School. As our head counselor, she has played a pivotal role in introducing Social Emotional Lessons on Anti-Bullying, Empathy, and Acts of Kindness to all our students. Ms. Sandoval's hard work and dedication have made her one of the strongest pillars of our leadership team, and we are grateful for her unwavering support for both our students and staff. Let's keep shining, BVM!

BVM Crusaders, Prepare for the Southbay Pumpkin Smash! 🎃💥

Get ready to unleash your inner medieval warrior at the Southbay Pumpkin Smash, Game of Throws! We're calling on courageous Crusaders to join the ultimate pumpkin-launching showdown. We'll design, build, and test a trebuchet – a type of catapult – to throw our gourd into oblivion!
Think you can handle the challenge? Do you have the brains and brawn to help BVM crush the competition and dominate the other schools? 👑

Sign up with Mr. Romero in Room IA2 by Thursday (10/17) and let's show them what a Crusader trebuchet can do! ✍️ or send a message directly through here with your NAME and GRADE.

Join Bonita Vista High Cheer for a youth clinic for ages 5-14 on Sunday, October 20th 2024 at 12:00pm at the Bonita Vista High Stadium.

Participants ages 5-8 will attend from 12:00-2:00pm. Ages 9-14 will attend from 12:00-3:00

Cost is $20 can be paid in the form of cash or check made out to Bonita Vista High Cheer on the day of the clinic.

Online registration closes on 10/20/24. Walk in registration is subject to availability on 10/20 clinic day.

Click here to register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdIF78bik9dFH79Qdqtm_w7fqUyqeayuHgOxTBQ00lfDwKH9w/viewform

Cybersecurity Awareness Month is in October. Beware of hackers and keep your personal information safe. Be cautious of what you do online and use strong passwords for your accounts. It's easy to stay safe online.

Filipino Americans are the second largest Asian American group in the nation and the second largest ethnic group in California. The celebration of Filipino American History Month in October commemorates the first recorded presence of Filipinos in the continental United States, when Luzones Indios, native Filipino sailors conscripted into the Spanish navy as labor during the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade, came ashore from the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Esperanza and landed at what is now Morro Bay, California, on Oct. 18, 1587. After years of advocacy by individuals and organizations, in 2009 the United States Congress recognized October as Filipino American History Month. Various states, counties, and cities in the U.S. have established proclamations and resolutions declaring observance of Filipino American History Month.

Reach out and communicate with us!

Email: alexander.salazar-arbelaez@sweetwaterschools.org
Website: http://bvm.sweetwaterschools.org/
Location: 650 Otay Lakes Road, Chula Vista, CA, USA
Phone: 619-397-2200
Twitter: @BVM_Principal