By Dave Fehto, Principal, CVCHS
Albeit only 28 days, February was certainly a busy month at Clayton Valley Charter High School. Our students are focused not only on academics but preparing for an entire Spring season involving athletic competitions, Academy project presentations, as well as theatrical and musical performances heading our way. For the Class of 2022, it means making those final plans for senior activities, graduation, and post-high school futures.
At CVCHS, we celebrated Black History Month, a time to explore the many historical achievements of African Americans in each academic field from engineering and science to the arts and politics. For our teachers, this month served as a venue for extending a powerful learning experience out of the classroom and into the real world.
We are grateful for leaders such as Ervin Anderson, a Mathematics teacher and advisor to CVCHS’ Black Student Union. His passion provides our students with the opportunity to learn beyond the history books and acknowledge the connection between racial justice and educational justice.
This year, CVCHS students visited the Black History 101 Mobile Museum at nearby Diablo Valley College. Founded by Dr. Khalid el-Hakim, the gallery is an award-winning collection of over 10,000 original artifacts of Black memorabilia dating from the trans-Atlantic slave trade era to hip-hop culture. As the nation’s premiere Black history traveling exhibit, the Black History 101 Mobile Museum has visited 41 states sharing “our story” at over 500 institutions reaching tens of thousands of visitors in diverse spaces including colleges, K-12 schools, corporations, conferences, libraries, museums, festivals, religious institutions, and cultural events.
Thank you to Mr. Anderson for expanding our students’ learning experience and helping us honor the importance of Black History Month.
CVCHS also hosted several activities around campus acknowledging Career Technical and Education (CTE) Month. Each week in February, CVCHS showcased our amazing CTE programs on-campus: sports medicine, computer science, engineering, culinary arts, and automotive service to name a few. CTE provides our students with not only a solid foundation in academics, but also hands-on, technical experience, and know-how.
CTE is education that directly prepares CVCHS students for high-wage, high-demand careers. CTE covers many different fields including health care, information technology, advanced manufacturing, the construction trades, culinary, and hospitality management. Our CTE programs encompass many different types of classroom learning and lead students to certification programs to work-based learning opportunities outside the classroom.
Regardless of whether our students are headed for a 4-year college or the workforce, CTE helps prepare them for their unique futures. In fact, many of our college-bound students get employment experience learning a trade or skill which later defines their career plans or identifies an appropriate course of study. CVCHS is proud to partner with CTE national organizers and local employers for exposing our students to amazing careers.
And finally, Winter Sports playoffs are here! Congratulations to the CVCHS Girls Basketball, Boys Basketball, and Boys Soccer Teams who made it to the first round of Division 1 NCS Playoffs. Each year, these playoffs become more competitive which is no easy task for our student-athletes. I also want to congratulate the CVCHS Boys Wrestling Team who competed in the Division Championships with 7 members qualifying for the NCS Championships. If you have an opportunity to turn out to any of these athletic competitions, please join us. Let’s go Uglies!