Monday Message: 4/15/2024
April 15, 2024
Dear PYLUSD Community,
Our great nation, established in the year 1776, is a mere 248 years old. In this time, we have only had 46 Americans serve as President of the United States of America. Remarkably, one of the 46 leaders of our country was born here in Yorba Linda, California. Richard Milhous Nixon was born on January 9, 1913, in what was then the township precinct of Yorba Linda, in a house built by his father, located on his family's lemon ranch.
Today the Richard Nixon Library & Museum, built in 1990, serves as a community treasure with thousands of people coming to visit our city and learn about United States history. It also serves as a vivid message to all of our PYLUSD students that being the president of the United States of America is within their reach. Nixon was a man with a modest upbringing who worked hard, went to law school, and served our nation in the Navy. Ultimately, he became our country’s 37th president. With hard work, determination, intelligence, and passion, our young students can also grow up to be the next president one day.
This past week, I had the pleasure of meeting Jim Byron, the president and CEO of the Nixon Library Foundation, with hopes of establishing a stronger relationship between our district and the library. As a former superintendent of San Marino Unified School District, I established an honors humanities course in partnership with the local Huntington Library and Gardens. As a part of the course, students frequented the library and gardens, met with curators and botanists, and learned about art and nature in a very tangible way. This award-winning program is now a staple of the school district and an example of how public schools can leverage community resources to benefit kids.
I have similar aspirations for PYLUSD in partnering with the Nixon Library to enhance the educational experiences for our students. To start, and with the support of Mr. Byron, the Nixon Library has agreed to allocate up to five summer internship positions for PYLUSD high school students beginning this summer!
High school students, typically entering their junior or senior year during the 2024-2025 school year, who are interested in this opportunity should submit a letter to my office stating their interest. The letter should be no less than 200 words and should describe yourself, your interest in civics education, and/or your interest in working at the presidential library. Please send this letter to me at acherniss@pylusd.org and put “Nixon Library Internship Interest Letter” in the subject line. The deadline to submit this letter of interest is Friday, April 26. Finalists will be interviewed and selected in May 2024.
Who knows, one of these summer interns may one day be the next president of the United States of America!
It is an honor to serve as your superintendent of schools!
Respectfully,
Dr. Alex Cherniss
Superintendent of Schools
Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District
Putting Kids First
Big shoutout to Valencia High School’s Academic Decathlon team for an excellent showing at the California Academic Decathlon in Santa Clara from March 21-24. The Tigers rocked it, making school history with their best-ever finish!
The Tigers competed in Division 2 and snagged first place overall and first place in the Super Quiz. Coach Calen Rau couldn't be prouder, noting they even outperformed over half of the Division 1 teams, earning the 7th highest score out of the top 53 schools who competed in California.
Academic Decathlon brings together teams of high school students to compete in the ten areas of art, economics, essay, interview, literature, mathematics, music, science, social science, and speech. This year’s theme was “Technology and Humanity.” A unique aspect of the program is that teams are composed of students from all academic achievement levels. Kudos to the VHS decathletes!
