In this photo: One of the booths that Granite Hills used for COOL Night.

COOL Night leaves a grand impression on incoming freshman
Sabrina Ziegler | 4/02/08 | News

On Wednesday night, booths, presentations, live entertainment and friendly faces set the stage for activities, information and connection-making at Monache High School. The milestone event was provided for eighth graders throughout Tulare County, and their parents, to discover the abundance of opportunities that await them in high school and college.
  
Porterville High School Drama Club members, dressed in costume, held a crowd of curious observers, while cheerleaders set up their trophies and community service clubs decorated their booths with picture-filled display boards and big signs. Representatives from Porterville College, College of the Sequoias and University of California Merced stood at their booths, ready to answer questions, while counselors, board members and other advisory staff were close-at-hand, to make students feel welcome.

Friday Night Live hosted musical entertainment and announced some of the featured talents that took place in the Campus circle. The Porterville orchestra and Granite Hills folkloric dance group were among the showcased talent.

College Offers Opportunities for Life night -a product of the collaborated efforts of the Tulare County Office of Education, Porterville School District, Porterville Chamber of Commerce and Advancement Via Individual Determination- turned out to be a success this year, Gary Ingraham, PUSD Curriculum and Instruction Director said.

The turnout was close to 1,000 parents and students, Ingraham estimated. This year was especially successful because it was the first year, in three years, that it hasn’t rained, he said.

The event was held at Granite Hills High School last year, where “buckets of rain” caused everything to have to be moved in doors, and people, “almost had to swim out.”

The year before that, COOL Night was held at Porterville High School and it was really cold and windy, “so this is a really nice treat: to have nice weather,” Ingraham said.

Ingraham spent the last couple of months behind the scenes for the big COOL Night production, booking needed facilities, communicating with principals and promoting publicity. As a member of the planning committee, which comprises of TCOE and PUSD staff, he said, “It’s a lot of planning.”

An evaluation was made of last year’s COOL Night, which set forth plans for this year’s. Specific plans were established in mid- November, and committee planning sessions took place in January and February.

In 8 of the classrooms were featured two sessions of informational presentations, delivered by a representative from several student programs. The subjects of the presentations included: What you need to know about high school, Career Tips to Succeed, AVID, LINK Crew, Visual and Performing Arts, Getting Ready for College, and a briefing about college, given in Spanish.

“It’s always been very successful. The parents are really interested in the sessions that deal with going to college, and for the students the Student Activities is a really well- attended presentation,” Ingraham said.

TCOE and PUSD staff members stood by to meet and greet, as did some volunteers, which included the Granite Hills MECHA club.

Dr. Pansy Ceballos, TCOE Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Services, smiled, once she arrived, and glanced around at the site, which bustled with conversation and activity.

Ceballos explained the initiative of TCOE staff in funding the event. “What we’re trying to do is peak [students’] interest in what they can do after high school, because it’s never too early for kids to start thinking about college.”

A lot of students will be so preoccupied with the idea of high school, that they won’t put much consideration into college until the time approaches, she said. “So we’re hoping that by experiencing and meeting people they would remember this event. It’s a way to help them meet people and a way of making connections,” Ceballos said

Eventually, it was considered that COOL Night should offer an opportunity to peak students’ interests in high school activities as well as about college.

“So instead of making this just COOL Night, we also want to talk about how to be successful in high school,” Ceballos said.

The idea of involving parents is also a key feature that COOL Night offers. Granite Hills Counselor, Andrew Plyman gave a presentation to a crowd of mostly parents.

“It was a decent crowd. We talked about a lot of stuff eight graders need to know,” Plyman said.

Ricardo Zavaleta, Granite Hills Art Department Chair, stood back with a smile as he showed off the work of some of his top students. He wasn’t trying to recruit anybody, because the Art 1 class would naturally fill up, he said.

“I don’t have to tell them anything. They see it and say, ‘I want to do that. We get them excited and we get them through the door,” Zavaleta said.

Dillon Anderson, a student at Pioneer Middle School, took full advantage of the chance to get out and learn about his opportunities. He carried a UC Merced plastic bag, filled with brochures and other goodies, and stopped momentarily to browse as he made his way from booth to booth.

“I’m glad I came. This is better than being cooped up at home. I’m tired of being at my school. I want to see new things,” said Anderson, who will be attending Granite Hills this year.