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valleysentinel.com
May 2011
VOL 16, NO 5
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
SPOTLIGHT
Reducing carbon footprint reduces costs— Athenian shows how By Dana Guzzetti
Athenian School students prove that reducing your carbon footprint can produce better results and can reduce costs. Fulltime Spanish teacher John Harvey says, “In 2003, we were John Harvey discussing how we (the school) could be more financially self sufficient. We looked at the food service and saw that it was carbon emitting. We trained the faculty and students to separate garbage.” Food leftovers from the kitchen and food discarded by students represented a large part of the cost of disposal because the
ECRWSS
Postmaster: Dated Material
PRESORTED STANDARD US POSTAGE PAID DANVILLE, CA PERMIT NO. 70
See CARBON FOOTPRINT page 5
At the Science Alliance Science Faire that was held at San Ramon Valley High School on Saturday, April 23, fifth graders Maren Naegele, left, (“What types of liquids will affect plant growth?”) and Isabel Nieman, right, (“Which types of soil will affect bean plant growth?”) from Rancho Romero Elementary School sit with their experiments while judges and mentors make the rounds. Science Alliance is a student run club at Monte Vista High School that runs a science program for fifth graders during each school year. For more information on Science Alliance, visit their website at www.mvsciencealliance.org.
Alamo teen headed for Brazil By Dana Guzzetti
Teen summer camps and “ambassador” travel programs are great ways for youth to get a taste of other cultures, but they are not long enough to experience a cultural emersion and pick up basic language skills. Thirteen year-old Stone Valley Middle School student Bella Salyer is eager to expand her horizons. “I think it’s a great idea for everyone to really expand your views of the world and experience different cultures,” Bella said. “I was offered a chance to do a couple of ambassador things over the summer, but my parents thought I was too young.” The Salyer family looked for other options and created a
plan for study at Leonardo da Vinci School in Brazil from July through December. The added bonus is that she can explore her roots while she stays with her maternal aunt’s home on the island of Espírito Santo near Rio de Janeiro. Bella’s mother, Heloisa, was a Brazilian exchange student in San Diego when she met John Salyer. Bella has been thinking about medicine as a career. “I want to go to Harvard and study medicine. My aunt is a dermatologist,” Bella says. “I will get a chance to learn more about what it is like to be a doctor. I will go to school during the week and help at the clinic on the weekends.”
For two hours before and after school, Bella will work with a tutor to learn Portuguese. If she has any spare time, Bella says she wants to keep in shape with classes in capoeira.” I do karate now and capoeria is like that, but it is more like a staged fight, lots of flips and blocks.” “She is very organized and persistent,” Mr. Salyer said. “When she first asked to go, I thought she would forget if I put some hurdles up, but everything I asked for she delivered, including the curriculum and the syllabus.” About letting their 13-yearold take a long trip to a distant location, John Salyer said, “We feel excited and sad at the same time. She is our baby and we will miss her terribly.”
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