Good morning DVS Families! Join us on May 22nd as we welcome Kim Girard, an author and life coach, as she shares about how to best prepare students for freshmen year of college and how to recognize the early signs that your student might be struggling. The talk will be hosted in-person at DVS in the Galileo Room at 6 pm on Wednesday, 5/22.
We had a beautiful Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) CD! Thank you to all the staff and students who dedicated their time and shared their talents with us. We enjoyed hula, bhangra, vovinam, tinikling, and fan dance performances representing Hawai’i, India, Vietnam, Philippines, and China, and we learned elements of culture, language, and food from Taiwan and Japan. The CD wrapped up with a fashion show displaying clothing from various AAPI cultures.
Senior prom is tonight! Thank you for being flexible and understanding with the change of venue. We are looking forward to a fun, safe, and memorable night for the class of 2024.
Announcements & Reminders for Week 34:
Teachers especially love hearing from students and families. We encourage students to show their appreciation by writing a note to your teacher or staff member about what you appreciate about them!
This Week’s Schedule:
Important Upcoming Dates:
Helpful Links:
AAPI CD
Teal Blue Mental Health Workshop Flyer
Da Vinci Science held our first Neurodiversity Celebration Week last week. As we continue to strive to be a school that embraces diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, we had lessons and lunch activities to celebrate Neurodiversity acceptance. Thank you staff and student leaders for initiating this week and empowering students to embrace and accept all learners.
Our Sophomores had a great day outdoors at Temescal Canyon. Students built stamina and confidence through rigorous hikes, challenging ropes courses, and archery! Thank you, Fulcrum for leading this team-bonding learning experience for our students.
Da Vinci Science’s Society of Women Engineers (SWE) club was invited to attend the MUSES Woman of the Year Luncheon at the Jonathan Club in downtown LA yesterday. Dr. Laurie Leshin (first woman director of JPL) was the 2024 honoree. This distinguished geochemist and space scientist shared about her journey from a NASA college internship to her current role managing JPL and Caltech teams that explore space. Thank you to the SMET Foundation for sponsoring our girls! What a treat!
This past week, 9th graders had their college visit to El Camino College. Students had a great time getting a feel for college life and getting a feel for the amazing resources that El Camino has to offer. Thank you, Ms. Marquez and Team 9 for providing students with this opportunity.
Last Friday, juniors had a wonderful immersive pathway experience at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Students had hands-on learning experiences as they engaged in Cal Poly’s motto of “Learn by Doing.” Students in all three pathways had the opportunity to learn from Cal Poly professors and DVS alumni.
Announcements & Reminders for Week 33:
Week 33 Schedule:
Please note that Week 33 is a 4-day school week with a special schedule.
Important Upcoming Dates:
Neurodiversity Celebration Week
9th Grade El Camino Visit
10th Grade Fulcrum Day in Temescal Canyon
11th grade Pathways Experience at Cal Poly SLO
SWE at MUSES Women of the Year Luncheon
Hello DVS families, Thank you to all the families and students who attended our Answering the Biggest College Admissions Questions: Academics, Internships, STEM and more workshop yesterday. Here are the presentation slides.
You may also contact Ian Parker from CollegeWise if you have follow-up questions: iparker@collegewise.com
Week 32 Schedule & Updates
We are very grateful to our staff and students for all their hard work and dedication to making our school the best for students. Every week is filled with thoughtful classroom activities, project-based learning, community outreach, and real-world learning through field trips and guest speakers. We encourage students to keep striving and heed every learning opportunity that suits their interests!
This past week, students from Ms. Jessi’s Aviation seminar visited Torrance Airport (KTOA) where they had an opportunity to tour the control tower to learn about what it takes to become an air traffic controller, visited a flight school to talk to instructors and current students, and most excitingly everyone had a chance to put their flight training to the test by flying in the left seat as student pilot in command. That’s right…students flew real airplanes!
Medical Interventions seniors visited the LA Zoo to get ideas for their Capstone Project. This year, seniors are learning about biomimicry, and innovating biomedical designs inspired by nature. The visit to the LA Zoo gave our seniors inspiration from what nature has already designed and perfected through millions of years of evolution and adaptation. Students will partner with a professor and student mentors from Cal Poly SLO on their final design project.
Students from our Robotics Team, the Vitruvian Bots, and SWE (Society of Women in Engineering) volunteered their time to share the love of STEM with younger kids at Washington Elementary School’s STEAM Night. Team 4201 showcased their robot, Forte, and entertained and impressed families by having the robot “play catch” with them. SWE students engaged students in hands-on learning by showing how chemicals mixed with cold water and color dye can coagulate to form fun and safe jelly-like substances to play with. DVS students did a great job making an impact on the broader community!
Announcements & Reminders for Week 32:
This week’s schedule:
Neurodiversity Week:
Aviation Seminar- Flying at Torrance Airport
Vitruvian Bots representing at Washington Elementary STEAM Night:
SWE representing at Washington Elementary STEAM Night:
Important Upcoming Dates:
Helpful Links:
DVS had a very eventful week! Students did a great job with MAP testing and SBAC testing this week. We also had meaningful team bonding activities with led by Fulcrum. With the theme of “Team Building and Communication,” 9th grade built towers from straws, put together boats and raced them, and played other fun communication games together. With the theme of “Overcoming Challenges Together,” Team 11 had an active scavenger hunt throughout downtown LA and enjoyed solving problems and completing their tasks together. Students had a great time on their Fulcrum Days.
11th graders also got a taste of college life in their college visits to LMU and USC. DVS Alumni served as their tour guides and it was so special to see successful DVS Alumni sharing their college experiences with our current students.
We also had our wonderful mentors from Rock the Street, Wall Street. Rock the Street, Wall Street is a non-profit organization that partners with schools to inspire future generations of women to consider careers in business and finance. Cetera provided eight female mentors who held financial literacy lessons and workshops throughout the year. Thank you, Rock the Street, Wall Street and Cetera!
Week 31 Announcements & Reminders:
Week 31 Schedule:
Important Upcoming Dates:
Helpful Links:
9th Grade Fulcrum Day- Tower Building
11th Grade Fulcrum Day DLTA Scavenger Hunt
Rock the Street, Wall Street Mentors from Cetera
College Visit – LMU
College Visit – USC
Join us for Physics Game Day!
Hello DVS families, Thank you to all the families and students who attended our How to Choose the Right Major and Explore your Interests workshop on Monday. Here are the presentation slides.
You may also contact Kate Strzelecki from CollegeWise if you have follow-up questions: KateS@collegewise.com
Hello DVS Families! We hope you had a wonderful Spring Break. Please join us TONIGHT, April 8th at 5pm for How to Choose the Right Major and Explore your Interests: A workshop presented by CollegeWise. RSVP here
Upcoming Event
Answering the Biggest College Admissions Questions: Academics, Internships, STEM and more. Workshop presented by CollegeWise. Monday, April 22th, 5:00pm-6:00pm. RSVP here.
We hope to see you tonight! Please contact Ms. Marquez, College and Career Counselor if you have any questions:
Welcome Back! We hope all families had a wonderful Spring Break. We look forward to welcoming students back to school tomorrow, Monday, April 8th.
Before the break, the Houseplants 101 Seminar visited the Dodgers Stadium Botanic Gardens where they learned about soil quality, propagation, careers in horticulture, and what it takes to care for the only MLB stadium with a botanic garden designation.
Society of Women Engineers (SWE) students participated in the DV Connect STEAM Carnival on March 27th. They represented chemical engineering with popping boba, biomedical engineering by simulating healthy lungs vs. smoker’s lungs, and mechanical engineering by building claws to get trash out of the ocean.
We are grateful for real-world learning experiences and community outreach events. We have a very busy and eventful remainder of the semester and we are looking forward to finishing the semester well!
A lot is happening this week!
Week 30 Announcements & Reminders:
Week 30 Schedule (4/8-4/12):
Important Upcoming Dates:
Helpful Links:
Horticulture Seminar- Field Trip to Dodgers Stadium Botanic Gardens
SWE Outreach Event at DV Connect STEAM Night
Thank you for an amazing Exhibition Night! Seeing the whole school and community together celebrating student work was wonderful! From toy manufacturing to CPR training to democracy in action and poetry, to energy conservation games and Kickstarter projects, to robots, welding, and more, we are proud of all the hard work students put into their projects. Students did a great job sharing their skills and learning with the community.
We hope all DVS students and families enjoy the day off tomorrow in honor of Cesar Chavez Day and have a wonderful Spring Break. The school office will be closed during Spring Break. We hope students can get some rest and enjoy time with loved ones. School will resume on Monday, April 8th. Happy Spring Break!
