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Menlo School graduates its 102nd class
About 140 Menlo School seniors graduated on Wednesday, June 9, on neighboring Menlo College’s Cartan Field in Atherton.
During the ceremony, Head of School Than Healy said the school’s 102nd graduating class “had a unique and difficult set of experiences” over the last 15 months, according to a school blog post. Last year the school held a drive-in ceremony because of the pandemic.
“Unexamined, this can only be a rough period of your life,” he said. “But taking the time to reflect affords us insight into the principles that may guide our lives and the assets we didn’t know we had to lean on in pursuit of the good life.”
He described the pandemic as “far from a blessing,” but praised students for adjusting their expectations.
“No longer is winning a state title your primary goal but having a season together, or just enjoying the inspiration from Coach Smith is what you most pray for,” he said. “Getting the ‘A’ has been replaced by being in the classroom with Mr. Spence or Ms. Orangio. Having a prom to rival what is shown on TV has been traded for simply being together for a night on the quad, singing your lungs out to different songs at the same time during a silent disco. At any moment you could have chosen defeat over victory, but by discerning what really matters most, you have taught yourselves and the rest of us how to find what is core in a situation.”
Speakers at the event included deans Cindy and Tony Lapolla, faculty member Oscar King and senior class President Sareena Sandhu.
The choral program and chamber orchestra shared recorded performances for the occasion.
There were 139 members of Menlo School’s 2021 graduating class, according to the school.
Ubuntu scholarship finalists selected
The faculty advisers to the Menlo-Atherton Black Student Union have announced the awarding of financial grants to assist graduating African American seniors with their continued education under the school’s new Ubuntu Scholarship Program.
The program, established in 2020, had planned to award two $5,000 scholarships; however, because of the high quality of the five students selected as finalists, supporters of the Ubuntu program provided additional funds to allow the granting of three scholarships as well as one-time $1,000 book/miscellaneous expense awards to the two other finalists.
The scholarship winners for 2021 are Ja Corey Stewart, Daujae Degraffenreed, and Keilee Shepard, and the two other finalists are Eric Stuart and Kayli Smith. All three scholarships awardees will be continuing their educations at historically Black colleges and universities. Stewart will study criminal justice, Degraffenreed and Shepard will pursue careers in nursing, and Stuart and Smith will continue their educations at community colleges.
The Ubuntu Scholarship Program is seeking additional support to continue to support worthy students with their educations. Donations can be sent to Menlo-Atherton High School, c/o Alex Egbert, Treasurer, 555 Middlefield Road, Atherton CA 94027; checks should be payable to Menlo-Atherton High School Scholarships, with Ubuntu Scholarship Program in the memo line.
For additional information, contact the Ubuntu Scholarship Program at MABearsUbuntu@gmail.com.
Hillview students receive French honors
Nine Hillview Middle School eighth graders were inducted into the National French Honor Society this year: Stefan Perkovic, Zoe Fong, Mei Miyahara, Isaiah Rassbach, Nia Sadrzadeh, Ella Thomson, Holden Thomson, Callie West and Elsa Teuteberg, according to a Menlo Park City School District press release. To qualify for this honor, students earned A’s in French in at least five out of six, or eight out of nine, trimesters at Hillview.
Additionally, 17 Hillview French students took home honors in the 86th annual Le Grand Concours, a competition sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of French. Nearly 30,000 students competed in the March 2021 event. There were 11 medal winners and six certificate of honor winners from Hillview, said French teacher Amy Kingsley.
-Angela Swartz
Middle school expansion starts
The Ravenswood City School District officially started its expansion of Cesar Chavez Ravenswood Middle School in East Palo Alto, which was celebrated at a groundbreaking ceremony on June 17. The $50 million project is supported through bonds. Once completed, the Ralmar Avenue campus will have two new buildings that cover 23,000 square feet and a 10,000-square-foot courtyard.
The district has teamed up with the Forever Young Foundation and Ghilotti Construction to build a new 8 to 80 Zone Esports Center, a facility for students to build skills in technology, esports, gaming and media, according to the foundation’s website. The center will be one of a handful established by NFL Hall of Famers Steve Young and Jerry Rice. It will be the first of its kind at a middle school, according to the district. It will also include a new playground being created in collaboration with the Magical Bridge Foundation.
“These exciting public-private partnerships will allow us to transform the back of Cesar Chavez Ravenswood Middle School into a restorative, engaging, and active place that our students deserve,” Ravenswood school board President Mele Latu said in a statement.
-Jamey Padojino
Pilot program to boost EVs for Lyft drivers
San Mateo County’s electricity provider Peninsula Clean Energy on Tuesday announced a partnership with Lyft on a $500,000 pilot program to provide a rental incentive to ride-hailing drivers that would make the cost of renting an electric vehicle comparable to a gas-powered one.
The program, which will launch this fall with Lyft’s rental car partner Flexdrive, seeks to expand EV use to about 100 Lyft vehicles in San Mateo County while getting more drivers used to using electric vehicles and collecting data that can better inform how the EV fleet can be expanded further.
“Partnering with Lyft and Flexdrive in this pilot effort represents a big opportunity to reduce a significant source of heat-trapping emissions in our region,” Peninsula Clean Energy CEO Jan Pepper said in a news release. “We believe this can eventually lead to a far greater number of ride-hailing and other drivers on the road who will opt for cleaner electrified transportation options.”
-Bay City News Service
