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Joyful Heart Foundation Vision:

Everybody knows that rape, sexual assault and child abuse happen.  Society is willing to look at this reality from time to time, but is just as willing to forget the horrible truth about how many survivors are walking among us.  The Joyful Heart Foundation is working to build a community that is strong enough not to push this reality away, a community that acknowledges the dark side of the  issue, but endeavors to turn toward to the light of healing, the path to possibility and the clarity of honest dialogue. 

info@joyfulheartfoundation.org

Thank you Joyful Heart Foundation (Marketing & Communications) for the use of your material!   

See tab above for more information.

Reunion

New York/Los Angeles/Hawaii

Chevron SOSA

• Available in the career center and online;Due February 1,2010

DECEMBER

• Comcast Scholarship-http://www.comcast.com/corporate/about/inthecommunity/scholarships/leadersandachievers.html

-Year:High school senior

-Due: December

-Award:$1,000

Eligibility:Full-time high school senior at the time of application;must demonstrate a strong commitment to community service;must display leadership abilities in school activities or through work experience;must have grade point average of 2.8 or higher at the time of application;and must attend a high school in a community served by Comcast.Awards are granted without regard to race,color,creed,religion,disability or national origin. Notes:Applications are sent to eligible high schools.Students should check with their counselor and principal.They can also contact Comcast@applyists.com  to find out if their highschool is eligible.

• Education First-http://educationfirst.org/

-Year:High school senior

-Due:December    

-Award:10,000 or 5,000 honorable mention

Eligibility:Students at Balboa,Marshall,and Mission High schools.Notes: Applications available online or from school counselors.

Region:San Francisco        

• MetroPcs Scholarship Program -http://www.metropcs.com/scholarship/

-Year:High school senior

-Due:December

-Award:$1,000

Eligibility:Students with exceptional involvement in volunteerism and community service. Minimum cumulative 3.0 GPA though might consider slightly lower.Planning to enroll full-time two-or four-year college.

Notes:Questions?Call Michelle Janssen at 214-570-4820

Region:Undefined

Scholarship from:

Italian catholic federation

-March 15,2010

www.icf.org

For more information about scholarships or to learn more about applying for college and paying for it to go:

-www.college.gov

-www.bls.gov

These are helpful websites for students and parents.

By Jose Loera

        Many students at Richmond high school celebrate Christmas. It’s that time of year that can fill you with joy and give you that warm feeling inside. Students and staff get two weeks off from school to celebrate this joyous occasion and spend time with families. Some students such as Zach Syvongsa are going to Las Vegas and Anna Karen Sanchez is going to Reno. Other students prefer to stay home with their families, such as Karolan Medina, Stephanie Sanchez, and Giovana Arellano. They are planning on staying home and having family come over to eat. Stephanie said, “I’m staying home and eating tamales.”  Other students such as Erica Ventura are doing nothing for Christmas. Bah humbug. Guadalupe Guzman is going all the way to Mexico this Christmas. Wow! RHS students do some amazing things when it comes to the holidays.

Helms and Richmond High Schools  LEAPS program are sponsoring a toy drive to provide gifts for kids that are hospitalized for the holidays.  Please help us spread holiday cheer by donating new (not open) toys for boys and girls ages 4-12. LEAPS students will wrap and distribute the toys to local hospitals.  Please stop by the “Holiday Angel Tree” located in the mall and choose an angel to provide a toy for.  Toys can be dropped off at the front office and must be received by Friday 12/18/2009.

LEAPS is a community school collaborative project of the Helms Community and Richmond High School Bridge Program. Please contact Mr. Jones in the counselors’ office or call (510-237-8770 x2324) with any questions.

Are you interested in vampires and werewolves? Then you would like the Twilight Saga:New moon.  It was one of the biggest movies in years!  Edward Cullen (Robert Pattison)  and Bella Swan’s (Kristen Stewart) love story has sparkled the interest of many.  In the movie , Edward Cullen leaves the love of his life Bella Swan, thinking it would be better for her to live a normal life.  Heartbroken, Bella seeks comfort in her best friend Jacob Black (Talor Lautner).  When a muscular Jacob appeared on the screen the audience (the females) were out of their seats cheering!  When Jacob begins begins acting strange,  Bella discovers he’s a werewolf.  Alice comes back to Forks and they have to go to  Volterra to save Edward.   Once they saved Edward they are taken to the volturri and there’s a huge fight.  Overall the movie was good, better than Twilight, but Eclipse is going to be much better!

By: Jose Loera

            “Wearing my ID makes me feel like a freaking dog!” That’s what Karolan Medina, a senior, said about wearing her ID. Most students at Richmond High School (RHS) do not like wearing their IDs because they feel labeled. The policy at RHS, according to the agenda, states:

 Every student and staff member must wear their ID at all times on campus. Your first ID is free, but subsequent ID’s cost $3 for the ID and $2 for a lanyard.

                                Yet, everyday students do not want to wear their IDs. Some students feel the ID rule should be enforced, because it helps keep students safe and lets security personnel know who is supposed to be on campus and who is not.       After the violence at the RHS homecoming dance, some students spoke out about the ID policy. Karolan Medina was asked, again, how she feels about the ID policy after the media blitz. She was angry. “The policy is the same as it was before. . .,” Mr. Ohlman, a teacher at RHS, said,

Everyone should wear their ID’s. It’s not that we tag them like animals, it’s so we can tell who is supposed to be here and who isn’t. If we can’t even enforce this policy what’s the point at even trying to get the students to pass high school.

Now everyday, during the morning announcement, students are reminded to wear their IDs. The policy won’t succeed if the students don’t follow through on their side.

            There are students, such as Marleni Morales, a senior, who say, “I never liked wearing my ID before, but since the rape occurred, I think we should all wear one. Anyone can say they are somebody else, it’s a safety precaution we should all follow.”

Reporter: Brian Mejorado

         Three junior Richmond High students; Lucero Perez, Guadalupe Morales, and Selene Calderón were accepted at Brown University for a summer program on Women and Leadership through the Ivy League Connection (ILC). Brown University is located in Providence, Rhode Island and was founded in 1764. Brown is well known to be the first college to accept students of different religious beliefs and affiliations. According to the Brown University website, since 2002 the school has been following a plan designed to help the school “achieve new levels of excellence in research, education, and public leadership.”
       Moreover, this year is the fifth year of the ILC which for the most part is a privately financed scholarship program that was founded and is mostly run by West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) School Board Members, Charles Ramsey and Madeline Kronenberg. The program aims to provide the students of the WCCUSD with opportunities to attend summer programs at Ivy League Schools in the East Coast. It also provides those students who are selected with several opportunities other than attending an Ivy League school for the summer, among them are meeting with college counselors, local alumni, Ivy League admission staff, and attending college fairs.
      Students are selected for the ILC based on specific criteria among them being an essay, transcript, PSAT scores, and an interview. The essay that Lucero, Guadalupe, and Selene wrote was on the topic of whether or not it is alright and to the benefit of students to be advanced to the next grade level in elementary school even if they have not learned the necessary material. Adding to this they were instructed to connect it to women as well. Furthermore, their transcripts were looked at to see what classes they had taken and how much effort they had given in each of these. Their PSAT scores were reviewed to see the kind of students that were attempting to apply for the program. The most essential part of the application process was the interview that they had to go through individually. In these interviews there was a panel of judges. For the three RHS students this year one of the judges was Antonio Medrado, a WCCUSD School Board Member. The ILC interviews its applicants in order to test them on their critical thinking and to see more of who each student is. Therefore, the interview is a chance for students, who passed the first round which consists of the essay, transcript, and PSAT score, to demonstrate their potential and the reasons why they should be picked for the program.
       After being accepted into the ILC the students had to apply to the summer program at Brown. Luckily, all three students were accepted and are now confirmed to be going on the trip this summer. The program starts on July 9, 2010 and continues through July 23, 2010. At brown the students will be taking a class called Women and Leadership as mentioned before. According to the course description at http://brown.edu/ce/pre-college/catalog/, the class is designed to allow students to “learn about the status and role of women in the world today, [by] exploring both opportunities and barriers for women in educational settings, the workplace, and the political arena. Students will [also] examine how gender and other factors influence women’s leadership styles and their ability to affect positive change.”
      Now that the girls are getting ever so close to the date of their trip, Lucero says “I’m looking forward to meeting new people.” She also stated that “being away from her family for the first time,” will be the hardest part of the experience. “Other than culture shock, to know what it really means to live on a college campus” are Selene Calderón’s expectations of the program. All three of the girls are ever so grateful for this grand opportunity that they are being allowed to have. Their progression through this journey though still a couple of months away will be featured at http://2010-ilc-at-brown.blogspot.com/ along with that of the other ILC students attending Brown this summer.

Greetings Friends!

It is time once again to select a candidate in our area to be awarded the Violet Richardson award!  The Soroptimist Violet Richardson Award is a recognition program for young women ages 14-17 engaged in volunteer action within their communities or schools. The award is given to young women whose activities make the community and world a better place.

I begin by asking for your understanding that these forms are arriving to you very late in the year.  I had an unexpected family emergency that took me out of state for most of October and November to be with my Mother.  I have received permission from our Board to push the due date for this application to January 2, 2010.  Please note this change!

This year the application is being disbursed via a .pdf document (attached to this email)  Please feel free to print these or email them to your candidates ASAP!

If you are not the person responsible for this award, please let me know a name and email address for the person who is.  Or if you have any recommendations of organizations in which to send this form, do let me know.  Currently, I am sending this to the High Schools in our area, Bay Area Rescue Mission, YMCA of the East Bay, WCC Salesian Boys & Girls Club, and Opportunity West.

Let me know if you have any questions!  Thank you for your help in getting the information out for this award!

Sincerely,

Linda

Linda S. Reinhardt
Chair for the Foundation and Fellowship Awards
Soroptimist International of Richmond, CA
925-787-6378

CC: Committee members
BCC: Local contacts of organizations and High Schools