Digital Academy Student Award - CCHS/City of PS

http://data-di.blogspot.com/2010/04/data-di-student-recognized-by-palm.html

PENTA Construction - Veronica Moreno Nicholas

Thank you for the follow up. I was thinking in writing you about it but this week we return to school from Spring Break and I am overwhelmed with getting out the ACE presentations (yesterday) and the NAWIC competition drawings (today).

Let me tell you how the externship is moving along: I visited Penta Group General Contractors and it was very productive, it confirmed that I am going in the right direction with my program. I spent from 10am to 3:30 pm on Monday March 29 at their Palm Desert office, and from 9 to noon on Tuesday at their construction site at the Harrah's Casino in northern San Diego/Temecula area. Visiting time was about 8.5 hours total, and driving time was about 5 hours (almost the same!). The questions are: is this enough visiting time according to the grant? if not, what else can I do?, is the traveling time part of the deal? Feel free to post my comments and questions in your BLOG.


Verónica Moreno-Nicholas
Cathedral City High School

Sheri Tucker - Team Places 2nd! Desert Sun article

Congratulations to Sheri Tucker and her student culinary team from LQHS for placing second in the 2010 Boyd's Coffee Culinary Competition at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School in Sacramento!

Article in today's Desert Sun -- here's the link

http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20104210344

Thought you might want to pass the word to your teams -- best, Kim

sheri post

I had such a wonderful experience working with you and the other educators on the CVEP Faculty Externship. Here are some photos I have from my site visits to IW Club in Indian Wells to meet Chef Chris Olsen and Desert Regional Medical Center where Rick Tinsley was a gracious and informative host. I learned so much from the introspective journaling associated with creating my lesson plans and formulating questions for the industry professionals.
Thank you for the opportunity to participate. The Culinary Arts program at La Quinta High will be even better with the new skills and knowledge I've acquired. I'm looking forward to our All-industry wrap-up.
Best Regards,

Sheri L. Tucker sheri.tucker@dsusd.us
Culinary Arts Institute
La Quinta High School
(760) 772-4150 x 1711
(760) 772-4166 FAX

During the month of April, DATA Digital Imaging instructor Matt Cauthron was fortunate enough to participate in the 2010 Faculty Externship Program sponsored by the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership's Career Pathway Initiative. 

"This experience provided me with an insight into the professional careers of local creatives and expanded the curricular possibilities I can offer my students".


"It was amazing to work and assist on architectural shoots in Big Horn and Indian Wells country clubs, learn about lighting and video while shooting Healthy Living TV  at the Eisenhower Medical Center, go behind the scenes at a concert at  The Show at the Agua Caliente Casino, shoot aerial photography over the 2010 Kraft Nabisco Golf Tournament, and plan student projects in graphic design, photography, and digital media".

-Matt Cauthron, Digital Imaging Instructor

A very special thank you to the following individuals for their support in making this happen!

Chris Miller, Imagine Imagery

Ethan Kaminsky, Kaminsky Productions

Luis Fausto, Synergy Designs

Donna Sturgeon, CVEP Career Pathways Initiative

Kim McNulty, CVEP Program Manager

Dr. Diana Verney, PSUSD CTE Coordinator
_______________________________________

Read more on 
The DATA Di Blog!

Valerie Celaya - Comments

#1 I feel fortunate to have professionals in Forensic Science and Medicine bring real world experiences to our students and take the time to present to and work with them.

#2 It was nice to be able to get out of the classroom and into a working Forensics lab and hospital emergency room and bring those positive experiences back to my students. Being able to speak with the technicians and nurses about current practices sheds a new light on topics I teach and validates the importance of our high school academies.

#3 I want to thank all the personnel I came into contact with who allowed me to ask questions, observe, and collaborate on lessons for my students.

Monica Rodriguez - General Comments

Blog# 2: “After shadowing and being made more aware of the medical industry’s needs, it is so much easier to create lesson plans for my English class”.

Blog# 3: “I have so much more respect for my doctors and for children’s doctors after this experience. I’m so glad that I have such great, intelligent, caring doctors caring for my family, and so willing to help me with my students. I don’t know why I was so surprised...”

Thank you,

Monica R. Rodriguez

Webinar this Thursday 22nd--if you are interested

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/en_US/island/webinar/registrationPost.tmpl?Action=rgoto&_sf=2

I enjoyed my externship immensely at Desert Cardiology Center in Rancho Mirage. My gracious host Laura Allen and John Nelson had set up an amazing schedule which took me from one dept to the next. They are truly amazing in their work. 

My observations of tests and treatments in the office and surgery has provided me with valuable information to take back to my classroom.

Thanks to all
Kathy Pedersen
La Quinta HS
Medical Health Academy

Cal Energy Faculty Tour

There are so many exciting possibilities for students who are interested in pursuing a career in green energy, right here in the Coachella Valley! Geology, GIS, CAD, IT, the list goes on & on.

I appreciate the opportunity to see first hand, up close & personal, some of those possibilities, and my thanks goes out to all those involved in the very informative and interesting tours at IID and CalEnergy!

I just want to express my thanks to Kris Hopping, Mike Emerson, Carlos Perez and everyone else at Coachella Valley Water District for the VERY informative and interesting tour! We truly have some amazing opportunities here in the Coachella Valley for our students who will be entering the workforce, providing thier talents and skills to local companies and agencies!

Cal Energy and IID

Cousins, Colleen B. to me
show details Apr 14 (2 days ago)

Hi,

I just wanted to share with you my excitement about Cal-Energy and IID!
The trip was most interesting and informative; it would be great if all the teachers in the district could have the same opportunity to see the "green" future of the valley.

Thanks so much!
Colleen

waggz again

I have spent most of my time at Desert Mist Farms, both in the office and riding around with Adrian Zendejas. These guys are a great bunch. I am trying to bridge the gap with our Ag program and local growers. This has been a great opportunity for me and our students. Adrain is now on my Ag advisory committe. He has also agreed to speak to my Ag teachers class and our FFA organization.

waggz

This is the first time I have done this, I just got a cell phone 2 years ago. I'm old school, as if you can't tell! Anyway, if you missed the tour of IWP you missed an interesting outing. It was hard to believe some of stuff they do right here in our valley.

Chunky Soup of plastic in Atlantic

Chunky soup’ of plastic in Atlantic

Researchers document trash across remote ocean area


5gyres.org via AP

Researchers tracking garbage in the Atlantic last February came across this collection of plastic debris on Portugal's Azores Islands.

View related photos




By MIKE MELIA



updated 2 hours, 3 minutes ago

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Researchers are warning of a new blight on the ocean: a swirl of confetti-like plastic debris stretching over thousands of square miles in a remote expanse of the Atlantic Ocean.

The floating garbage — hard to spot from the surface and spun together by a vortex of currents — was documented by two groups of scientists who trawled the sea between scenic Bermuda and Portugal's mid-Atlantic Azores islands.

The studies describe a soup of micro-particles similar to the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a phenomenon discovered a decade ago between Hawaii and California that researchers say is likely to exist in other places around the globe.

Story continues below ↓


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"We found the great Atlantic garbage patch," said Anna Cummins, who collected plastic samples on a sailing voyage in February.

The debris is harmful for fish, sea mammals — and at the top of the food chain, potentially humans — even though much of the plastic has broken into such tiny pieces they are nearly invisible.

Since there is no realistic way of cleaning the oceans, advocates say the key is to keep more plastic out by raising awareness and, wherever possible, challenging a throwaway culture that uses non-biodegradable materials for disposable products.

"Our job now is to let people know that plastic ocean pollution is a global problem — it unfortunately is not confined to a single patch," Cummins said.


5gyres.org
The garbage patches in the Atlantic typically looked like this: a clump of Sargassum mats in which a mosaic of plastic was embedded.


Moreover, the debris is not concentrated in huge piles as the term patch might suggest. Instead, experts have referred to the floating pollution as "chunky soup" — where pieces of plastic bob around in mostly open spaces of water.

The first patch investigated by Cummins included a pile of bottlecaps, shotgun shells, crates, toothbrushes and a boxer’s mouthpiece.

The research teams presented their findings in February at the 2010 Oceans Sciences Meeting in Portland, Ore. While scientists have reported finding plastic in parts of the Atlantic since the 1970s, the researchers say they have taken important steps toward mapping the extent of the pollution.

Southern treks coming up
Cummins and her husband, Marcus Eriksen, of Santa Monica, Calif., sailed across the Atlantic for their research project. They plan similar studies in the South Atlantic in November and the South Pacific next spring.

On the voyage from Bermuda to the Azores, they crossed the Sargasso Sea, an area bounded by ocean currents including the Gulf Stream. They took samples every 100 miles with one interruption caused by a major storm. Each time they pulled up the trawl, it was full of plastic.

A separate study by undergraduates with the Woods Hole, Massachusetts-based Sea Education Association collected more than 6,000 samples on trips between Canada and the Caribbean over two decades. The lead investigator, Kara Lavendar Law, said they found the highest concentrations of plastics between 22 and 38 degrees north latitude, an offshore patch equivalent to the area between roughly Cuba and Washington, D.C.

Long trails of seaweed, mixed with bottles, crates and other flotsam, drift in the still waters of the area, known as the North Atlantic Subtropical Convergence Zone. Cummins' team even netted a Trigger fish trapped alive inside a plastic bucket.


Marjolijn Dijkman / 5gyres.org via AP
Researcher Marcus Eriksen checks a plastic bucket with a trigger fish trapped inside after finding it floating in the north Atlantic Ocean's Sargasso Sea on Feb. 3.


But the most nettlesome trash is nearly invisible: countless specks of plastic, often smaller than pencil erasers, suspended near the surface of the deep blue Atlantic.

"It's shocking to see it firsthand," Cummins said. "Nothing compares to being out there. We've managed to leave our footprint really everywhere."

Still more data are needed to assess the dimensions of the North Atlantic patch.

Charles Moore, an ocean researcher credited with discovering the Pacific garbage patch in 1997, said the Atlantic undoubtedly has comparable amounts of plastic. The east coast of the United States has more people and more rivers to funnel garbage into the sea. But since the Atlantic is stormier, debris there likely is more diffuse, he said.

Plastic footprint worse than carbon?
Whatever the difference between the two regions, plastics are devastating the environment across the world, said Moore, whose Algalita Marine Research Foundation based in Long Beach, Calif., was among the sponsors for Cummins and Eriksen.

"Humanity's plastic footprint is probably more dangerous than its carbon footprint," he said.

Click for related content

Condoms, cigarettes among coastal cleanup finds

Plastics have entangled birds and turned up in the bellies of fish: A paper cited by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says as many as 100,000 marine mammals could die trash-related deaths each year.

Earth Day, Earth Week







Celebrating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22? NBC/Universal is by hosting an "Earth Week" across its properties. Send us your images of Earth Day activities or just your environmental lifestyle. We'll be adding them to our existing Green Your Routine gallery.
Earth Week on NBC/Universal

Send us your green routine photos | And check these out

Tweeting from Arctic on Earth Day

Timeline of milestones since first Earth Day







The plastic bits, which can be impossible for fish to distinguish from plankton, are dangerous in part because they sponge up potentially harmful chemicals that are also circulating in the ocean, said Jacqueline Savitz, a marine scientist at Oceana, an ocean conservation group based in Washington.

As much as 80 percent of marine debris comes from land, according to the United Nations Environmental Program.

The U.S. government is concerned the pollution could hurt its vital interests.

"That plastic has the potential to impact our resources and impact our economy," said Lisa DiPinto, acting director of NOAA's marine debris program. "It's great to raise awareness so the public can see the plastics we use can eventually land in the ocean."

DiPinto said the federal agency is co-sponsoring a new voyage this summer by the Sea Education Association to measure plastic pollution southeast of Bermuda. NOAA is also involved in research on the Pacific patch.

"Unfortunately, the kinds of things we use plastic for are the kinds of things we don't dispose of carefully," Savitz said. "We've got to use less of it, and if we're going to use it, we have to make sure we dispose of it well."

Job shadowing at ADS Part 2

Good morning everyone! Im still excited to be taken part of this community. You learn much from job shadowing and my time spend at A.D.S. was taken well. During my visit last week, you could say I got lucky: I took part of a picnic style pot-luck luncheon that included the employee of the year award presentation! I was there and enjoyed the way employees interacted with each other. There's definitely a warm sense of family at this workplace and everyone had a relaxing time. Their production department and accounting get along pretty well, and the management team is friendly to their employees.

One day I was in charge of creating an Imperial Valley Newspaper ad for the Sizzler restaurant co. I was impressed to see how fast their computers are compared to the ones at school. The reaction time between servers and the computer software is tremendous. Most of the graphics (Picture, Logos etc.) are located inside their servers.

Overall, I believe that I had gained the experience that any of my students may get once hired by a company like this one; and I truly believe we are working towards the same goals inside my classroom to bring my students up to par.

Other lessons I learned:

A) Anyone can learn the computer software - not everyone can be fast enough to meet strict deadlines.

B) Newspaper businesses like this one are adapting their workforce with newer technology.

C) Outsourcing. We need to prepare students with enough technology, enough courage and discipline to meet the challenges of companies.

Everyone is looking to outsource their workload since other countries wages are cheaper compared to what we are used to here in the States; and our students must leave school prepare for that too.

Thanks Work Based Learning for this forum of communication ~ I truly enjoyed the experience!

~ Enrique Perez

Digital Imaging and Design Instructor

CTE/CVHS

Monica Rodriguez - General Comment

My post: “I’m so excited to have finally started my hours! I was nervous I wasn’t going to be able to complete them, but my children’s wonderful pediatrician has allowed me into her office to shadow. This is a great opportunity for my students and their future shadowing projects, as well as a great opportunity for me to get to know my children’s doctor and office staff better! I’m loving this!! Thanks for the opportunity!”



Thanks Donna!!!

Monica R. Rodriguez
English II CP / HA
Freshmen Seminar
English Department Chair
Indio High School

How I use Technology in the Classroom

One of the easiest ways to get students involved and motivated is to have the internet open for them. I try to guide my lessons using different media from Books, paper quizzes and instructions on the board, but I have found that students now prefer the interactive methods of the internet.

I am truly lucky to have over 30 computers in the classroom so it's natural to assume the role of the internet class -with some monitoring courtesy of the School district of course.

I coordinate my lessons and project planning with this website:

www.photoshopskillz.blogspot.com I have found this blogger to be helpful and engaging. You can post writings like this one you're reading and also pictures, videos and links to other websites as well, with no extra cost. Having some kind of website can be really helpful as your try to navigate this educational field. And is free. Go check-out the site, explore the many lessons and supportive material I have entered and if you feel adventurous enough create your own! You can do it!

All you need is an email address and follow simple directions. Your students will thank you for it -or in my case- interact with me! (Isn't that what we want from them anyway?)

~ Enrique Perez

Digital Imaging Instructor

CTE/CVHS

Wrap up Questions/Contact Suggestions

Catherine Levitt to me
show details 9:24 AM (6 hours ago)

What exactly do you need from us on Friday?? I still haven't gotten the blogg thing to work for me..me help! I have the names and contact hours for the interviews or presentations (I did not get signatures from IDD). I also have contact info for you on all the ones I visited that were not listed. Highly recommend you contact Robert Corona, and Eddy Sumar, Educational Consultant at Riversity Center for International Trade..they have very exciting training programs and will allow students to attend for free. (robert.corona@rrc.edu and ealberto@aol.com ) They would be major promoter of this faculty externship too. The work with all levels from grade school (grant) to adult business people. They have had very few invitations from schools out here. Can I count the time in phone interviews with the international trade education group in Glendale? Don't suppose, I need th hours but just as a thought. Also, want to recommend that you talk to Diane Dunn (a former student from COD and CSUSN of mine) who is now at Coachella Valley Women's Business Center. They work with small and new business to prepare business plans and do job development. She is an excellent, enthusiastic speaker on what kids can do with their education...she is one who did!!
Cathy

Job Shadowing at ADS Part 1

During our SpringBreak I got the chance to work for the local ADS affiliate (Associated Desert Shoppers) makers of the real estate and classified newspaper White Sheet/Green Sheet. My involvement with them allowed me to network with their Production Manager and Director Ernesto Lopez. I was glad to be there for 3 days and the experience has been invaluable! I had some idea on how technology has improved the newspaper industry but I didn't know how they had adapted to change. Change in the way of communications, personnel and of course the computer system itself.

For instance, do you know at this location they no longer use Negatives to print the pages? By that you have to understand a little background history here. Back in 1994 for instance, if you worked here creating pages for the classifieds the steps were as follows:

1) Customer places an ad.

2) Sales Rep creates a sample "dummy" of the ad. Once satisfied, the ad designer creates the piece and it goes to..

3) edit/proof reading dept. Fax to sales rep for approval.

4) All ads, along with classifieds get "Pasted" with hot wax, onto a bigger piece of paper (Newspaper size) and it gets ready to be 'Shot' (Camera takes a snapshot)

5) The "Negative" of this whole page(s) that includes the ads, classifieds and page numbers called 'folios' goes into a box along with other negatives to be driven to the designated printer or Regional Press to be born as the newspaper you see on the stands -or- delivered to your door.

Fast forward to the present -

1) Steps 1 and 2 are still in place BUT something else changes. Keep reading.

3) Enter the always changing, always so darn expensive software like Adobe InDesign for instance. The ad designer creates the ad, emails the eps graphic file and another person creates a PDF of the ENTIRE newspaper page alongside the classifieds and the page numbers. ALL of it - in one handy computer file.

Bye-Bye wax, exacto knife, paper, camera, chemicals, Negatives, Negative stripper (Editor), Driver, Company Truck, Gas money, Insurance, Liability, etc... HELLO Internet.!

4) The entire page, as a PDF file or graphic gets sent to the presses via internet.

Presto! Done! easy as that.

Of course, you still have to compensate for human error in this type of business but, rest assured, if there's any corrections to be made communication is the key; and these folks at ADS under the watchful direction of Mr Lopez have that covered.

As you can see the newspaper business is alive and doing alright. Not dead because of the Web; but co-existing with each other. Just like any other type of shop you have to observe the #1 rule in the book: KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER -

Who is it? What do they need? By when? but rest easy - that's another story.

~ Enrique Perez

Digital Imaging and Design Instructor

CTE/CVHS

ps: The picture on top shows how simple it is to transfer a file from a computer to another someplace else in the world. This one went from the ADS offices in Palm Desert to the Imperial Valley Press in El Centro, Ca. in a matter of seconds.