It was so great to see all of you this week at Exhibition Night! We are so proud of the work of our amazing students: from the incredible designs of zines and posters, to the thought provoking photography and spoken word, and of course to the awesome displays of architectural models and art work – we celebrate it all! Hats off to our excellent and collaborative teaching staff for the hard work and coordination it took to help our Design students shine so brightly. See some highlights below!
Wishing all of our students, families and staff a restful and amazing Spring Break! School resumes on Monday, April 18th.
Thank you to everyone, including our students, staff leaders and families, who made the CARnival event such a great success last week! Can’t wait to do it again next year.
Next week, Exhibition week is finally here! All families and community guests are welcome to come see all of the amazing work that students have been doing. DVD Exhibition night is from 5:30pm-7:00pm on Wednesday 4/6 for grades 11 & 12, and Thursday 4/7 for grades 9 & 10.
Lastly, here is an important message from our Da Vinci Schools CEO & Superintendent, Dr. Matt Wunder:
Dear Design Families, Students, and Staff,
Here is a video message regarding the incident that took place at the Design Black History assembly on March 4.
Families, if you are interested in joining the Family Equity Council, please email Dr. Allegra Johnson, Executive Director of Educational Services, at ajohnson@davincischools.org.
The council will meet twice a semester and share insights and recommendations around curriculum, creating inclusive school cultures, and supportive programming for students.
Thank you for your time, your honesty, and your commitment to the well-being and growth of the Da Vinci community.
Gratefully,
Matt
Key Dates & Upcoming Events at Da Vinci Design:
DVD Exhibition Nights:
Wednesday, April 6th (for Grades 11 & 12)
Thursday, April 7th (for Grades 9 & 10)
Friday, April 8th: NO CLASSES (Staff Development)
Monday, April 11th – Friday, April 15th: NO CLASSES (Spring Break)
In two weeks, we’re excited to be bringing back our Exhibition Night tradition! DVD Exhibition night is from 5:30pm-7:00pm on Wednesday 4/6 for grades 11 & 12, and Thursday 4/7 for grades 9 & 10. We look forward to welcoming you to campus and giving you an opportunity to see what our students have been doing and learning this year! See the bell schedule for the next two weeks, leading up to Exhibition, here:
This semester, our Exhibition Nights will be “open-house” style, and masks will be required of all participants as these are large indoor events with students, families, staff and community stakeholders present. Please see this email for the comprehensive update on masking.
Finally, we are thrilled to be able to bring back the spirit of the “Overnighter” tradition this year with “Camp Retreats” for our 9th and 10th grade students! These will be full-day (but not overnight) retreats at Camp Pondo, with students leaving the Da Vinci campus at 9am and returning at 9pm. The DVD Camp Retreat days are:
Friday, April 22nd for 10th graders
Wednesday, May 19th for 9th graders
The retreats will include a wide variety events including team-building, meaningful dialogue, and recreational activities including a zipline, skate park, climbing wall, and more! Details of the retreats will be coming soon, but for now you can mark the dates in your calendar if you have a 9th or 10th grade student!
Key Dates & Upcoming Events
DVD Exhibition Nights:
Wednesday, April 6th (for Grades 11 & 12)
Thursday, April 7th (for Grades 9 & 10)
Friday, April 8th: NO CLASSES (Staff Development)
Monday, April 11th – Friday, April 15th: NO CLASSES (Spring Break)
You are cordially invited to the Da Vinci Schools’ first CARnival! We invite you to a day of fun, games, food, and CARS!
This unique show will feature cars from the Automobile Museum, the Corvette of Choice Club, Army Armored Vehicles, and more. We will also have dunk tanks, carnival games, and many local food trucks. It will be an event you won’t want to miss!
The funds raised at the event will be used to support our senior class across all Da Vinci Schools (Science, Communications, Design, Connect, and RISE) and support our prom, Grad Nite, and graduation. Since many of our school activities were placed on hold during the pandemic, we would like for this event to be a way to bring our community together and celebrate our graduating class of 2022!
Happy Friday! This week was full of college and career excitement thanks to the “March Madness” activities hosted by our counselors, Pam and Klarissa! Students connected with alumni, competed for fun prizes, and had time to think about their future goals. For more info, click here to see yesterday’s blog post.
Exhibition Returns to Da Vinci!
Da Vinci Schools is very excited to announce the return of Exhibition! In three weeks, DVD Exhibition Night returns:
Wednesday 4/6 for Grades 11 & 12, 5:30pm-7:00pm
Thursday 4/7 for Grades 9 & 10, 5:30pm-7:00pm
Don’t forget to check out the DVD Calendar for other upcoming events!
Week 28 Preview
Key Dates & Upcoming Events
DVD Exhibition Nights:
Wednesday, April 6th (for Grades 11 & 12)
Thursday, April 7th (for Grades 9 & 10)
Friday, April 8th: NO CLASSES (Staff Development)
Monday, April 11th – Friday, April 15th: NO CLASSES (Spring Break)
DVD is happy to announce that we are offering free, in-person tutoring after school starting this week! Tutoring will be offered on the 4th floor, Mon-Thurs, from 4pm-5pm.
Tutoring is being provided by an experienced tutoring team from Gravity Assist. Students can come after school for help with math skills, test taking, writing help, general homework help, and more! All students are welcome via appointment or drop in.
Week 27 is well under way, and this week is COLLEGE AND CAREER WEEK! A huge shout out goes to our counselors for organizing some outstanding activities and visitors for us during advisory this week!
Monday was all about college: college knowledge trivia, a March Madness door decorating contest, and alumni visitors to share their experiences with students!
Tuesday is all about career: we’ve got different career day speakers, again including DVD alumni, visiting classrooms during advisory. So much good stuff!
See the Week 27 Bell Schedule below, as well as some important announcements:
Key Events and Updates:
Seniors: the deadline to purchase tickets for Grad Nite has been extended until further notice. Tickets for Grad Nite (at Disneyland) may be purchased online via www.MySchoolBucks.com.
Da Vinci Design is offering FREE, in-person, after-school tutoring starting THIS WEEK! Tutor Jay Mitsch will be available for appointment and drop-ins Monday-Thursday, 4pm-5pm. All are welcome!
Week 26 On-Campus Highlight: Spring Dance “A Night Under the Lanterns”!
Last Friday, we were so excited to be able to bring back our Spring semi-formal dance! Congratulations to the student Leadership teams from all of the high schools who helped host the dance last Friday. It was so much fun to dance and be with friends under the stars! Here a few photos from the night of the dance:
This is just a quick announcement to share that dance tickets for the Spring Dance are still available!
Today (Thursday 3/10) is the LAST DAY to purchase dance tickets. Payment for tickets must be made through “My School Bucks”.
A brief tutorial on the steps for creating and paying through My School Bucks is available here. Please contact Irma Rodriguez at irodriguez@davincischools.org if you have any questions.
Tickets can be purchased until 11:59pm. Tickets cannot be purchased on the same day as the dance.
Let’s dance! The DV Spring Dance will be hosted on campus at 201 N. Douglas St. from 6pm to 9pm. Tickets are $15, and are available for purchase via a new app called MySchoolBucks. See more info below.
Here is information on the upcoming “Under the Lanterns” spring semi-formal dance for all DV high schools!
Date: Friday, March 11 from 6-9pm
Location: Da Vinci West Plaza
Cost: $15 (through MySchoolBucks)
Attire: Semi-formal
Payment for tickets must be made through “My School Bucks”, or accessible through the QR code in the flyer.
A brief tutorial on the steps for creating and paying through My School Bucks is available here. Please contact Irma Rodriguez at irodriguez@davincischools.org if you have any questions.
To start: thank you to the Da Vinci Design Black Student Union for hosting our annual Black History Month CD in the gym today! The performances were powerful, and our student leaders should be so proud of hosting such a successful and meaningful experience. See photos below.
Next week is the start of Student Led Conferences (SLCs) which will take place via Zoom from 2pm-4pm. Please remember that next week is a minimum day schedule for students and that students will be released at 1:55pm.
For specific information for each grade level, please click here for last week’s post.
Special 9th Grade Assembly on Thursday
On Thursday of this week, we held a special assembly for our 9th graders meant to address the topic of how we can honor respect for each other in our classrooms and on our campus. The program was run by an incredible group of 11th and 12th grade student leaders, who helped facilitate important discussions, as well as administrators and the 9th grade teachers. This team led 9th graders in confronting important topics such as avoiding dehumanizing language and slurs, appropriate classroom behaviors, and being respectful in our words and actions. We will continue to educate our students in an effort to build a positive and safe school culture for all students. To see some of what was covered, click here.
