0:15

Well, welcome to another

0:15

episode of Sage Studio.

0:18

I am thrilled to bring you this episode

0:18

because we are heading back to school.

0:23

It's such an exciting time of year and

0:23

to kick us off with the new school year,

0:27

we have our first guest, Chelsey Anema,

0:27

the principal of the P L A Academy.

0:32

Welcome Chelsey. Hello.

0:34

Thank you so much for having me. So great to have you.

0:37

And it's so fun to start thinking

0:37

about going back to school.

0:41

I know it's a super busy time for our

0:41

families and for our staff, but we always

0:46

like to hear about the new and exciting

0:46

things that are happening in our programs.

0:51

And just for our families that

0:51

might be new listeners or new to

0:54

Sage Oak introduce yourself again. Let them know kind of who you are and

0:56

what your role is here at Sage Oak

1:00

I'm Chelsey Anema. I'm the principal of the TK-8th

1:00

Grade Personalized Learning Academy

1:04

program, which is where our students

1:04

do independent studies at home and

1:08

they have a credential teacher that

1:08

oversees them, helps support them and

1:13

Is really is their right hand in all of

1:13

their children's educational journey.

1:18

And this is my third year as

1:18

principal at Sage Oak and my

1:22

ninth year with the school. So tell me about the new

1:23

assistant principal that you've

1:26

brought on board this year. Yes, KIley Duncan is going to be

1:28

the assistant principal this year.

1:32

She was one of our coordinators last year.

1:34

She's been a regional

1:34

mentor and a teacher.

1:36

she's , has amazing leadership

1:36

skills and she has really been

1:40

instrumental in our Oak school

1:40

program that we launched last year.

1:44

And so I'm excited to be able to

1:44

have her have more dedicated time

1:48

to work on that as well as working

1:48

alongside me a little bit closer.

1:52

Okay, so talk to me about Oak School

1:52

a little bit, because I know Kylie

1:55

did an amazing job getting that

1:55

program off the ground last year.

1:59

It's been super successful. Tell our families what they can

2:01

expect from Oak School and maybe

2:04

actually for the ones that are new

2:04

let them know what Oak School is.

2:08

So Oak School is our live synchronous

2:08

opportunity for our students.

2:13

We have 15 oak school teachers and

2:13

they are teaching a range of 65

2:19

different classes every single quarter.

2:21

And so there's a lot of options

2:21

and we're Keeping a lot of the same

2:25

ones, but also bringing new ones. This year we're bringing

2:26

in some more core classes.

2:30

We have still a ton of different

2:30

elective classes, like baking and

2:34

writing classes and reading clubs

2:37

We have new art teachers who are

2:37

going to be teaching in-person

2:40

and online a lot more art classes.

2:43

'cause that's always popular in Oakville. And we're also expanding our in-person

2:44

PE oak school class opportunities

2:50

to a few different regions. So the Oak School classes, they

2:51

really kind of check the boxes in

2:55

helping students to explore their

2:55

interests, and they also help to, you

3:00

know, connect them to other students.

3:02

tell me about some of the other

3:02

ways that students can connect with

3:05

other families or see their teachers

3:05

in person throughout the year.

3:08

We are going to continue our field trips,

3:09

which are always very popular.

3:13

We're going to bring back

3:13

all the many different farms.

3:15

I fly is always a big one.

3:17

A lot of different museums. Whale watching's, always popular.

3:21

We've added in a couple missions. And then we also have our

3:23

socials, which have been a great

3:26

success over the last few years. We have our back to school social,

3:29

which is in the beginning of September,

3:32

where students will be able to. See their teacher in person,

3:34

get to play games, do crafts.

3:38

We're going to have a lot of different

3:38

community providers to be able to

3:42

kind of showcase what they offer and

3:42

provide some fun activities there.

3:47

And we're also going to bring

3:47

back our Living History and.

3:51

Social fair and as always, our end

3:51

of the year promotion social that we

3:56

do in June on the last day of school.

3:58

So good. I know that our families, that is really

3:59

meaningful to them because sometimes

4:03

when you're working independently, you

4:03

feel a little bit of that isolation.

4:07

And so getting a chance to connect

4:07

either online through Oak school

4:11

or in person through some of these

4:11

field trips and socials, I know that

4:15

that means a lot to our community. So I'm glad to see those things are

4:16

going to continue Alright, it sounds

4:19

like there are some great things

4:19

happening for the 2023-2024 school year.

4:24

So much to be excited about. Thank you so much Chelsey, for coming on

4:26

today and giving us that quick update.

4:30

Any other final words that you

4:30

want to add before we close

4:33

out? I'm just so thankful to be part of such

4:34

a amazing, supportive school and that we

4:38

get to offer a lot of different programs

4:38

and support students who have a variety

4:42

of different needs that need to be

4:42

personalized and that's why we're here.

4:45

So, excited to start the year as well.

4:48

I love it. All right, well I hope you

4:48

have a great school year.

4:51

Great to talk to you as always. We'll see you soon, Chelsey. I am joined with our principal from

4:53

the Virtual Learning Academy, Mrs.

4:57

Lana Beshara. Lana, welcome to the show.

5:00

Thank you so much for having me. your leadership team is expanding a little

5:02

bit at the Virtual Learning Academy.

5:06

Tell me a little bit about what's happening there. Last year we're able to bring on Mary

5:08

Hizon- Barry, who was previously a

5:13

teacher with our program and this year

5:13

we're, we were able to add Carlene

5:18

Mauer as an assistant principal as well.

5:21

So our leadership team is expanding.

5:23

Carlene comes to us from the special

5:23

education department at our school, so

5:28

she's previously an assistant director. She's got a lot of.

5:31

Experience in general education

5:31

as well as special education.

5:34

And so she really brings a unique

5:34

skillset to the team in terms of

5:39

helping our students who have

5:39

IEPs, helping our students who need

5:43

intervention, working with students

5:43

and parents in that respect.

5:47

And so we're really excited to have her. I think that's going to be such an asset

5:49

to to your students, to your families,

5:53

to your teachers, just to have someone

5:53

with that level of expertise, be able

5:56

to support them and answer questions

5:56

and, you know, just help them to

6:01

maybe acclimate to a virtual learning

6:01

environment if that's new for them.

6:04

So, that is definitely going to

6:04

be a big strength for your team.

6:07

So for our families that may not know

6:07

much about the Virtual Learning Academy,

6:12

tell us a little bit about what V L A is.

6:15

Yeah, so it's our third

6:15

year in this program.

6:18

We're very excited to have

6:18

this part of Sage Oak.

6:21

It's really like a school within a school.

6:24

Students get live instruction Tuesday,

6:24

Wednesday, Thursday, and then they're

6:28

able to have enrichment classes on Mondays

6:28

and office hours with their teachers.

6:32

And then we've got a whole bunch of

6:32

field trips and socials, so it's,

6:35

they're really not on the screen a lot. There's a lot of community

6:37

building outside of class as

6:40

students attend through Zoom

6:40

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.

6:43

And who is providing the instruction? How does the instruction

6:45

work in that virtual setting?

6:48

Yeah, they've got their

6:48

own classrooms, literally.

6:50

the teachers provide

6:50

that direct instruction.

6:52

And then they also provide

6:52

support after live class.

6:55

So they have like support hours, they've

6:55

got office hours and they're really there

7:00

as, as a teacher, like you would have

7:00

an unusual brick and mortar, but online.

7:06

Now in addition to the live instruction

7:06

that students are receiving from a

7:11

teacher I know that they have some

7:11

opportunities to learn on Mondays as well.

7:16

Tell me a little bit about what the

7:16

offerings are for Mondays for students.

7:21

This is where being part of a larger

7:21

school is really such a blessing

7:25

because we're able to offer our students

7:25

enrichment classes through Oakschool

7:30

Our students are able to attend on

7:30

Mondays because they don't have live

7:33

class, live core instruction that day. And so in the mornings from 9

7:36

to 11, they can pick one or two

7:38

classes that they can attend every

7:38

week, and it's pure enrichment.

7:42

And we provide all the materials

7:42

and the supplies and they're

7:45

able to attend with other P L A

7:45

students and other V L A students.

7:49

So it just, it's a really sweet way

7:49

for them to get additional instruction

7:53

and have fun and do things like

7:53

Legos and Art and Music and all sorts

7:59

of different things that the Oak

7:59

school teachers are able to provide.

8:03

I love that and I've seen the cutest

8:03

little videos and screenshots of

8:07

the students working together and it

8:07

really is precious how they connect

8:12

over Legos or an art project and they

8:12

get into these little conversations

8:16

and they love sharing what it is that

8:16

they're working on with one another.

8:19

. You know, within this virtual environment,

8:19

you might think it would be isolating,

8:22

but really you've done such an incredible

8:22

job to build this virtual community.

8:27

so they have the opportunity to

8:27

connect in Oakschool and then in

8:31

their actual classes, the teachers

8:31

really emphasize collaboration.

8:35

So they go into breakout

8:35

rooms and work together.

8:38

The students stay on and teachers

8:38

oftentimes offer lunch bunch.

8:42

So the students will eat lunch together

8:42

online during recess or breaks.

8:47

Students will oftentimes stay on

8:47

and talk to each other and show

8:50

each other their pets and toys So they build a community online and then

8:52

offline we have socials and field trips.

8:58

And so we are kicking off the year

8:58

with beginning of the year social,

9:02

the first week of school, which

9:02

will be really fun, where they can

9:04

connect with all their friends. And every single month we offer

9:06

an all school field trips.

9:09

So places like Pantages t

9:09

o see Aladdin, Sea World.

9:13

We're going to Medieval Times.

9:15

We're doing a ton of just really

9:15

fun and interesting things.

9:19

And then in addition to that,

9:19

every grade level itself goes

9:23

on two field trips as well. So if we were to add all those up students

9:25

have 12 opportunities throughout the

9:31

year to connect with their friends that

9:31

we've provided and that we facilitate.

9:37

So it's very exciting and very fun.

9:39

I know that that's really important

9:39

to our Sage Oak families that

9:43

they're able to get that instruction

9:43

virtually, but they're also able to

9:48

get that connection and to get the

9:48

connection in a virtual environment

9:51

and in person is just such a win-win.

9:54

You know, it's easy to see why V L A is

9:54

such a popular choice, So where can the

9:58

V l A students find information about the

9:58

field trips that are specific for V L A?

10:04

So I send out a newsletter every week to

10:04

all of our parents, and so they get all

10:08

of that information and everything will

10:08

be going live next week on our website.

10:14

Perfect. So for students and parents that are

10:14

interested in all of the things that are

10:18

happening with Virtual Learning Academy,

10:18

they should keep an eye out for your email

10:22

newsletter Lana, it's so great to get

10:22

this update from you and hear about the

10:25

great things that are happening at V L A.

10:28

I'd love to have you back on the

10:28

podcast and continue to update us on

10:30

all the great things you have going on. Thanks So much, Tiffiny.

10:34

Such a pleasure. Always. All right.

10:36

Thanks Lana. Appreciate you being here. Thank you.

10:39

Now joining us on the podcast we

10:39

have our high school principal, Ms.

10:43

Traci King. Welcome to. Thank you, Tiffiny.

10:47

I'm happy to be here. I love talking with you.

10:50

I can't wait to dig into all the things

10:50

that are going on with high school,

10:54

but first I gotta stop for a minute

10:54

and comment on the new backgrounds.

10:57

Both Lana and Chelsey

10:57

have the new backgrounds.

11:01

In the Zoom, you have the new backgrounds.

11:03

Tell me about the new

11:03

backgrounds for this year.

11:05

I'm loving them. Isn't it beautiful?

11:08

I just love it too. These, these watercolors.

11:10

So our theme for this year is "Nurturing

11:10

Roots, Cultivating Excellence."

11:16

So it is our ninth year open for Sage Oak.

11:19

I can't believe that next year

11:19

it's going to be a decade.

11:23

It just unbelievable. It just went. So quickly and so "nurturing our

11:25

roots" is going back to what makes us

11:30

unique and what makes Sage Oak special.

11:32

And "cultivating excellence"

11:32

is in our personalization and

11:35

everything that we bring to it. So that's our theme for

11:37

next year, and I love it.

11:41

Like you said, it's such a great symbol

11:41

of sage oak and it's a good combination

11:45

of both the artistic side of Sage Oak

11:45

and then also too just those core values

11:50

that Sage Oak continues to have too. So well done media team on the background.

11:54

I'm hearing that. I couldn't agree more. It couldn't more so good.

11:57

Okay, so for our listeners that are

11:57

new maybe to Sage Oak or maybe new

12:01

to high school, tell us a little

12:01

bit about who you are and what you

12:05

do in the high school department. Oh, certainly.

12:09

So, I'm Traci King and I'm the high

12:09

school principal, and I've been the high

12:13

school principal for several years now. I start to lose count and, I just

12:15

feel so lucky to be able to be

12:19

in this position and to be able

12:19

to build our high school program

12:24

based on the needs of our students. So we're very flexible in what we

12:26

look like year to year based on the

12:31

student population that we have. I also come from working in the

12:33

high school department, so I have

12:36

firsthand experience just seeing

12:36

how it continues to grow and evolve.

12:39

And I know the innovation is something

12:39

that it really matters to you and

12:43

really matters to the whole department. Always trying to come up with new

12:45

ways to reach the students where

12:48

they are as their needs shift and

12:48

as new opportunities arise for them.

12:52

So, I love that the high school

12:52

does continue to grow in that way.

12:56

And not only are you growing in

12:56

the programs that you're offering,

12:59

but I know you're growing in your

12:59

structure and your staff as well.

13:02

So tell me a little bit about some of

13:02

the new leadership additions and then

13:05

we'll get into some of the new programs. Sure, of course.

13:09

Yeah. So this year we have two new aps in high

13:09

school, I couldn't be more fortunate.

13:15

First we have Kerrie Cody, who

13:15

brings just a wealth of experience.

13:18

She was a principal at a middle school,

13:18

and she was an AVID coordinator.

13:23

And then we also have Laura Glaviano

13:23

and she comes from high school.

13:28

Her background, she was a ASB

13:28

director and she's done a lot of

13:32

the administrative duties in there. She was also in the

13:34

enrollment side of a college.

13:38

So we get that aspect too, like

13:38

what are colleges looking for?

13:41

So she brings a unique

13:41

aspect to high school

13:43

as well. Those sound like great fit for the

13:44

high school program and that they're

13:47

really going to be able to bring a lot

13:47

of expertise to the program as well.

13:51

I know that the college component

13:51

and getting students ready and

13:55

prepared for college is such an

13:55

important part about what you do.

13:58

I. That includes continuing to

13:59

bolster the course offering so

14:02

that students can be prepared for

14:02

all different kinds of pathways.

14:05

So, tell me about some of the AP

14:05

offerings and even some of the C T

14:09

e, those career technical pathways

14:09

that you're offering students.

14:12

So, So we are offering a couple of

14:14

AP classes this year from our own

14:18

teachers, and this is the first year

14:18

that we're, that we're able to do this.

14:22

So we have our AP computer science

14:22

class and we are looking to build

14:28

a C T E pathway with computer

14:28

science and coding and gaming.

14:32

We are starting our gaming club this year.

14:34

It'll eventually be in a, class

14:34

where we can compete for that.

14:38

And as you know, there's a lot of colleges

14:38

now that give scholarships mm-hmm.

14:43

For the eSports and for gaming.

14:46

So I think that, we'll, we'll have

14:46

some pretty excited students and

14:49

we're also going to have a AP art

14:49

class, so that will complete our

14:55

CTE pathway for our Arts academy.

14:59

And speaking of our C T E pathway,

14:59

we are offering a new one this year.

15:03

So our Sports Medicine/ Athletic

15:03

Trainer, we're having that

15:06

pathway as well as expanding on

15:06

our Child Development pathway.

15:12

Three in the works and, and one

15:12

that is building up for next year.

15:15

So we're, we're looking

15:15

forward to those classes.

15:19

Yeah, that's really exciting. And I know that the students like them

15:20

too because it offers them truly not

15:23

only a chance to learn the subject

15:23

matter, but get some insight into what

15:27

a career might look like in that field.

15:30

In addition to that, a lot of our

15:30

students I know enjoy taking classes

15:34

at the community college level

15:34

while they're still in high school.

15:37

I'm a big fan of that type of

15:37

program and that type of learning.

15:40

There's so many, upsides

15:40

to the students in doing so.

15:44

And I hear we have a new partnership with

15:44

a community college, so tell me more.

15:49

We do, we have one with Crafton

15:49

Hills Community College.

15:52

So having the partnership is, It's

15:52

really unique because they will

15:58

have just our Sage Oak students

15:58

in the college class, so Oh wow.

16:03

That's really unique. Yes.

16:05

we have five classes set aside

16:05

specifically for our Sage Oak students.

16:10

So they could be in a college

16:10

class with all of their peers.

16:13

So we're looking at classes

16:13

such as our ASL our.

16:18

English 1 0 1, US History, Econ

16:18

and a College and Career class.

16:23

So we're starting out with those. Are they virtual classes or will

16:26

students attend live on campus?

16:29

They'll be virtual. Okay. And two of them will be synchronous

16:31

and the rest will be asynchronous.

16:34

Oh, that's so great. So students in all regions can,

16:35

can take advantage of that.

16:39

It's a really nice way to bridge the

16:39

opportunity as you mentioned, they

16:41

can, be with other Sage Oak students,

16:41

be with high school students, but start

16:45

working towards that college content

16:45

and earning those college credits.

16:48

So win-win. Love that. Okay, so aside from all the academic

16:50

things that you have going on and all the

16:54

new programs that you've brought to Sage

16:54

Oak, I know that high school community

17:00

still remains of paramount importance to

17:00

the program and that you really do go to

17:05

great lengths to build on the Sage Oak

17:05

community and the opportunity for them

17:09

to get together virtually and in person.

17:11

So tell me what you got going on

17:11

this year as far as that goes.

17:15

Yes. And you know, this is

17:16

my favorite part too. I love talking about the opportunities

17:18

that students have to come together.

17:22

And it's, it's really unique when

17:22

we're in this virtual environment

17:26

that we have such a strong community

17:26

of our high school students and it's

17:29

based on them coming together and.

17:32

Them also planning what interests them.

17:35

So our students are really the

17:35

power behind all of this in

17:39

deciding what they want to do. So we start off the year with our seniors.

17:44

We're so excited for our seniors,

17:44

and we have a senior sunrise, and

17:48

we have that down at the beach, but. We don't want to leave out anybody.

17:51

So a few days later we have our

17:51

welcome back Beach party and Oh, fun.

17:56

That is a big hit. We're also doing some

17:58

overnight trips this year.

18:01

We have a leadership one, so this is

18:01

attended by anybody who is interested in

18:05

our leadership, our ambassadors, our ASB

18:05

council, and we have that up in Pali.

18:10

We have our marine science

18:10

that's overnight for two nights

18:13

and three days in Catalina. We also have our one day trip.

18:17

It's a long day, but it's one day of

18:17

our civic engagement up in Sacramento.

18:23

And then we have our US History college

18:23

tours and museums in Washington,

18:28

DC and of course we have our , our

18:28

grad night and our senior sunset.

18:33

So we really, really do

18:33

celebrate our seniors.

18:36

It's a huge accomplishment, not

18:36

just for the students, but for

18:39

their whole families as well. So we put a lot of a special

18:40

attention on our graduates.

18:44

I love that and I know they all love

18:45

graduation and you guys go to great

18:48

lengths to make it so special. So definitely that's always a

18:50

big highlight of the year, but

18:53

it sounds like there is a lot to

18:53

look forward to all year long.

18:55

A lot of offerings for students, which is great. When we close out here, I'm going to

18:57

put a link in the show notes to our

19:01

website so that if you want to find out

19:01

more about all the different offerings

19:05

that are happening in high school

19:05

this year, you'll be able to go to the

19:08

Sge Oak website and check that out.

19:10

So, so many good things. Traci. I definitely would love to have you back.

19:14

I think we're planning on doing a podcast

19:14

episode coming up here to really dive

19:18

deep into the C T E programs and all

19:18

of those program expansions this year.

19:23

So I'm looking forward to that. But I'm excited to hear about

19:25

all these new things that are

19:28

happening in the high school. So thanks so much for

19:29

sharing with us today. Oh, you're welcome.

19:32

Thank you for letting me come

19:32

in here and brag about high

19:34

school, which I love, love to do always.

19:37

Anytime. All right. Good to chat with you, Traci. Have a great school year.

19:40

Thank you so much. Thanks, Tiffiny thanks.

19:43

Bye-Bye.