Patriot Post

Keep an eye out for the March 2021 issue of Parenting OC magazine where our own Mr. Chow will be on the cover!!! He was recently named Top Teacher of 2021!!!

Click the image above to read more...

Orange county Artist of the year is any nominated student by a high school teacher that demonstrates these characteristics: Talent & Technique, Artistic Vision, Growth & Impact, and Heart.

After roughly 60 nominees in all of Orange County, the judges, which are comprised of high school art teachers, nominated Ariana Choi, Katie Adamson and Ashlee Okamura. The final decision will soon be made by the professional community and local college professors.

As many of you have heard, outdoor sports that are listed under the Red and Orange tiers were given the ability to begin competing as of February 26 under strict parameters. This was after our number got below the 14/100,00 positive cases in the county. Here are some of the updated guidelines:

• Athletes must wear masks when not engaged in competition
• Certain high-contact sports will have weekly Covid testing @ BHS
• A limited number of attendees will be allowed. Attendance procedures will be based on the venue and the space available. Stay tuned for more!

With Cross Country and Tennis already competing, we've seen how positive the experience is for our kids to be out there. Prior to this announcement, all Purple tier sports had been given approval to compete this year which are Cross Country, Tennis, Track, Swim and Golf. We can now add Soccer, Football, Lacrosse, Baseball, Softball and Water Polo to that list.

We're hoping to hear an update in the next few weeks and a plan to allow our indoor sports to compete this year. That includes Basketball, Volleyball, Wrestling, Cheer and Dance.

Please continue to be safe in our community so the numbers continue to decrease!

Alumni are coming back to Beckman to show off their talent! PTO has commissioned 6 mural artists to interpret our Tru Blu traits. Each artist will be working on our "garage" storage doors to liven up our campus. Megan Swieton was our first artist to finalize her designs in the 300 wing. Jessie Pak will be the next to paint Trustworthy. Jessie will be starting after school on Thursdays to paint the garage door that leads to the math and science wing. Kimmy Birdsell will be starting March 29 and working each day until she has completed her art. Below are a few images of concepts that the artists will be using.

Megan Swieton-United

Jessie Pak (class of 2010) Trustworthy

Kimmy Birdsell- Benevolent

Caleb Hocking-Leadership

The College Board released important information regarding this year’s AP Exam administration. Students will still have the opportunity to earn college credit this year by taking AP Exams. The testing window has shifted in order to accommodate the in-person World Language exams and the online exams for all other subject areas. The World Language exams will only be offered in-person. All precautions will be taken in order to provide a safe and secure testing environment. All other exams will be offered online and will be taken from home during the assigned administration date and time. The College Board’s shift in the exam schedule has resulted in a later testing window. Some of the exams will take place after the last day of school.

TUSD will make all efforts to ensure that all seniors who are scheduled to test will have the opportunity to keep their school-issued device in order to complete their exams and will have the opportunity to participate in graduation activities, which are currently in the process of being planned. Students will have the opportunity to cancel their exam for a refund, minus the $5 processing fee, through March 5, 2021. Additionally, Beckman students enrolled in an AP Course that would still like to take the exam can complete a late registration for all online exams through March 5, 2021 by signing up through Total Registration.net, paying the exam fee plus the $40 late registration fee. Reduced rates for late registration are no longer available.

Beckman High School’s Academic Decathlon team is in its second year competing in Orange County and has already had great success. In their first year, they won 40 individual medals and first overall in their division. Academic Decathlon is an annual high school academic competition made up of three subjective and seven objective tests that focus on the same topic. To prepare for these tests, captains Eric Chen and Alara Balasaygun began preparing and strategizing back in May 2020 how they would succeed in this year’s competition. Working with our other founding members, they began conducting outside research, meeting for Cat’s Cradle book club over the summer, recruiting new students in Fall, and having each founding member teach a different subject to the rest of the team. All of which was conducted through Zoom during a pandemic.

At the awards ceremony on February 17th, our students earned 52 individual medals, sixteen of which were first place in the respective subjects. We also won first place in our division (for the second year in a row), sixth place overall, and have qualified to compete in the CAD state competition. These kids are resilient in their academic efforts and have worked incredibly hard to achieve so much. They deserve to be recognized for their hard work and accomplishment to this point.

Please congratulate the following students on their achievements, and wish them luck in the CAD State competition. Founding Members: Megan Chen (12), Eric Chen (12), Alara Balasaygun (12), Jaya Athluru (12), Ashlyn Huyhn (12), Andres Carillo (10). New Members: Dylan Phan (11), Uma Iyer (11), Alexia Gallon (11), Megha Nair (12, won second overall for individual awards)

Beckman Ed Fund would like to express our sincerest gratitude to the continued support and donations that we are continuing to receive! This is an exciting time of the year as our children are getting ready to work with their counselors for next year's classes. There is never a wrong time to give and your donation only will enhance the programs that Ed Fund supports. Let's continue in working together to provide amazing opportunities for our kiddos and their future!

Beckman PTO brings parents and teachers together to work actively for the benefit of every student. On behalf of our membership, PTO Co-Presidents Sandy Huebner-Chan and Eleni Karnowski recently presented Mr. Brad Bohn a $1,000 check as Beckman’s 2021 Teacher of the Year (see the photo by clicking here). A special ‘thank you’ to our generous Patriot community for the opportunity to honor this deserving Patriot!

Parent involvement is critical to the success of our school. We are currently seeking interested parents and caregivers to join our 2021-22 Board! Co-involvement with a partner is also encouraged If you are interested – or know of a great candidate – please contact PTO Parliamentarian Cathy Quach at catquach@yahoo.com

Please circle the date… and join us at our next General PTO meeting Wednesday, 3/24 @ 6:30 p.m. via Zoom link.

Our orchestra class recently held a socially distanced superhero themed concert. Students were masked, spaced, and sanitized while they performed various superhero themed songs in honor of our own first responders and "super heroes."

Listen (and watch) below.