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.
Not only did they just win the Chairman’s Award at the Orange County Regional over the weekend which qualified them for the FIRST® Robotics World Championship next month in Houston, but they also are one of four teams featured in “More Than Robots,” a new original documentary that follows four teams from around the world as they prepare for the 2020 FIRST® Robotics Competition. Presented by Supper Club and Disney+ and made in partnership with FIRST®, “More Than Robots” is premiering today at the world-renowned SXSW (South by Southwest) Film Festival and will stream exclusively on Disney+ beginning March 18.
Check out Da Vinci’s 2020 Robotics Team up close in this exciting and inspiring documentary about taking their unique robot design “Jango” all the way to the highly competitive global championships. The film features three additional teams from Los Angeles, Mexico City, and Chiba, Japan. Although they are faced with overcoming challenges along the way, such as having limited resources or putting everything on hold because of a worldwide pandemic, the teams persevere and learn that there is a lot more to the competition than just robots. In 2020, Da Vinci’s Robotics Team took First Place at the L.A. Regional and went undefeated, 17-0, just days before our campuses closed due to COVID-19.
Team 4201: You are true STEM leaders and innovators! We are deeply grateful to all our students, mentors, sponsors, families and staff who support our award-winning robotics program!!
L.A. Regional FIRST Robotics Competition (March 31-April 3, 2022): We invite you to cheer on Da Vinci’s 2022 Robotics Team later this month. Da Vinci is hosting the L.A. Regional FIRST Robotics Competition at our Douglas campus, located at 201 N. Douglas Street in El Segundo. The event will be closed to spectators due to COVID, but you can stream it at The Blue Alliance. Go Team!
FIRST® continues to bring hands-on learning opportunities and mentorship to young people around the world, empowering them to not only think big, but to develop the science, engineering and technology skills needed to be the next generation of innovators.
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:
The El Segundo Fire and Community Services Departments have teamed up to offer this empowering and educational experience for girls within the local community. The “Fired Up!” Girls’ Empowerment Camp will be held on March 26th– 27th and will give girls the opportunity to get hands-on experience with real firefighting gear, as they learn what it’s like to be a firefighter.
Watch Fire Chief Deena Lee introduce the camp in this promotional video!
This two-day camp is open for girls aged 12-19 and is FREE for all attendees.
El Segundo residents can register for the camp beginning Tuesday, March 1st, by visiting esrec.org and clicking on the “Camps” tab. Non-resident registration opens on Tuesday, March 8th.
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.
WDV Athletics is seeking a creative and enthusiastic Social Media Student Intern who will help highlight athletic teams, players, and game highlights. We need a social media student intern who can post content on Instagram and Twitter, and coordinate interactions between our team social channels. This unpaid internship also offers the intern the opportunity to work in partnership with Da Vinci’s Marketing & Communications team.
Qualifications:
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, attention to detail in grammar, spelling and punctuation
Familiar with social media including Instagram and Twitter
Graphic Design experience preferred: Adobe Creative Suite and/or Canva, etc.
Ability to engage with individuals of varying ages and backgrounds
Self-motivated, comfortable in taking initiative
Great attitude – willingness to learn, ability to multitask
Responsibilities for the Social Media Intern:
Assist in managing the WDV Athletics Instagram and Twitter pages with a specific focus on sharing athlete stories, celebrating game results, featuring support for teams, sharing tryout information and upcoming games, and other relevant events
Use graphics and photography/video to create visually appealing and creative content
Interact with the WDV Athletics fanbase
Report to weekly social media meeting, brainstorm ideas
This is a great opportunity for a talented student who is interested in leveraging their passion for athletics and social media/marketing. Interested applicants must be in their freshman, sophomore, or junior year. The internship will start immediately and will continue for the remaining part of the semester. To apply please submit a cover letter, resume and three to five examples of social media posts you have created that highlight your talent as a social media content creator to Donald Moreland at dmoreland@davincischools.org. Time Commitment: Approximately 3 hours per week. Most of the work will be remote.
Student Led Conferences (SLCs) are coming up soon. SLCs will be hosted via Zoom from March 7th-10th (see Week 26 schedule below). Please the see attached documents here for details from each grade level about SLCs:
Happy three day weekend! We hope all of you have a safe, restful, and enjoyable holiday weekend. Because of the Monday holiday, Tuesday will be an all periods day for our students next week. See the schedule below:
Key dates & upcoming events:
Feb. 21st: NO SCHOOL (President’s Day Holiday)
Mar. 4th: Black History Month CD Assembly
Mar. 7th-10th: Student Led Conferences (via Zoom) *Schedules and Details coming soon*
Mar. 11th: NO SCHOOL (Professional Development Day)
DVD was feeling the love yesterday as we kicked off Spirit Week! As each Da Vinci Design student came up the stairs yesterday, they were handed a fresh flower by one of our Leadership students or a faculty administrator. And after that, our Seniors had the opportunity to celebrate their recent win in a grade-level design challenge with some shaved ice as they heard some important Senior announcements. Check out some of the photos below!
We wanted to extend a special thank you to Conroy’s Flowers Redondo Beach for being such an excellent partner for our morning flower event, providing DVD with an assortment of hundreds of beautiful, fresh cut flowers. Thank you Conroy’s!
And, we wanted to extend another thank you to Ray Houser of Philly Gourmet Ice (IG: @phillygourmetice) for providing delicious Italian shaved ice for all of our Seniors. Thank you Philly Gourmet Ice!
And finally, events like this are made possible thanks to our extended Da Vinci Design community for supporting our school with donations so that we can host fun events like these! If you or someone you know would like to make a contribution to Da Vinci Design, you may do so at our giving website here and select “Da Vinci Design”.
In honor of February being Black History Month, our DVD Black Student Union has been working hard to recognize the importance of black history on our campus. DVD BSU has produced a beautiful new display in the display case in the 1st floor atrium, and around our campus. See a photo below of some of our awesome DVD BSU team! This will all culminate in our annual Black History Month Community Dialogue on Friday, March 4th.
And, next week is Spirit Week! Students are encouraged to dress up and participate in the following dress up days – click here to see the Spirit Week flyer: