Bonsall West Elementary celebrates $250,000 grant

Bonsall West Elementary officials hosted a festive morning assembly March 7 in celebration of the school winning a five-year $250,000 grant from the Department of Defense Education Activity.

The event was held in the school's multi-purpose room and attended by teachers and staff and the school's 555 students – from transitional kindergarteners to sixth graders.

Also in attendance were representatives from Camp Pendleton (U.S. Marine Corps Col. Chris Richie), the Bonsall Unified School District (superintendent David Jones), the Oceanside Police Department (officer Edward Lane) and the Bonsall community.

Bonsall West principal Tina Calabrese emceed the event that officially announced the Project A.I.M. High grant, which will allow the school to invest more money in its STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) programs as well as provide some social counseling for military dependent students.

"Our Project A.I.M. High grant – AIM stands for academic achievement, innovation and mental health – is going to enable our school to bring our students to the 21st century," said Calabrese.

Calabrese then went into detail.

"This grant allows our students to have access to one-to-one devices, stimulate student curiosity with hands-on FOSS (free and open-source software) science kits, provide our staff with professional development on NGSS (next generation science standards), provide counseling support part time, bring leadership training to all our students via 'The Leader in me,' allow access to My SBAC (smarter balanced assessment consortium) coach for writing support in the upper grades, bring back the highly-engaging (and) successful ST math Jiji to everyone school-wide, pay for reading comprehension support with Read Naturally licenses, provide a Makerspace lab to develop curiosity and let imagination grow, provide access to a 3D printer and Ozobots to build robots," said Calabrese.

Calabrese went on to say, "Our students will now have the access to the tools that will make them globally competitive and provide them the tools to truly make their imagination dreams come true."

Calabrese then introduced guest speakers Major Jacques Rogers, USMC (Ret.), and Commander Joseph A. Beyer, USCGR (Ret.). Both men dispensed advice and encouragement to the students.

"Without science, technology, engineering and math programs I would not be a proud retired Marine and getting to enjoy flying airplanes today for work and pleasure," said Rogers, who served 20 years in the military and currently has three kids in the BUSD.

"I had a dream to fly airplanes ever since I was small and I set a goal to be a pilot, but without classes like science, technology, engineering and math that wouldn't have happened," continued Rogers. "So you have to be very cognizant and pay attention to your teachers every day on those subjects. Everything evolves around those subjects."

Rogers, who is currently flying for an overseas contractor but is looking to get an airline job, also told the students that they will have to work hard to reach their goals.

"Remember this – every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal and greater benefit," said Rogers. "That basically means anything that's going to be worth doing is going to be tough. Anything that is going to be tough is going to be worth it."

Rogers than thanked Bonsall West "for your continued quest for excellence. I'm very proud to be standing here today."

Beyer spoke to the students about goals and objectives.

"The No. 1 goal is to do your best, and the A.I.M. High program works right into that," said Beyers. "No. 2 is to be respectful. No. 3, work hard. No. 4, think of others. No. 5 is to dream big."

Beyer later added a sixth point.

"Do good – that's what you always want to try to do in life," said Beyer. "Be kind to others, don't bully others, don't be mean to others."

Beyer also told the students not to be discouraged when they sometimes fail.

"You're going to try in life and you're going to fail at things, and that's OK," said Beyer. "Remember, there's only one winner of the Super Bowl."

Following Beyer's talk, Calabrese led the students in singing a rousing version of Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be an American." The students waved small American flags while belting out the patriotic tune.

In concluding the assembly, Calabrese asked all in attendance to join the students in reciting the Daily Affirmation, which is as follows: "I am somebody, I was somebody when I came, I'll be a better somebody when I leave. I am powerful and I am strong. I deserve the education that I get here! Dream big Bonsall West and Ride with Pride!"

Calabrese then took guests on a brief tour that included a visit to a classroom where a STEM activity had fourth-grade students assembling paper flashlights. Guests also visited the school's military-themed reading room.

Technology and learning coordinator Craig Leach, who worked extensively with Calabrese in securing the grant, said they collaborated with teachers in determining what were the school's most pressing needs.

"We saw two areas," said Leach. "One, college and career readiness through STEM, and the second being social and emotional support for (military) families, especially when they deal with pre-deployment, deployment and post deployment. That's what we based our grant around."

Calabrese said 34 percent of Bonsall West's enrollment is made up of military dependent students and a portion of the funds will go toward hiring a part-time counselor.

Calabrese – who, along with a few of her staff members and Jones began the assembly wearing a flight suit and walking in slow-motion from the stage through a shroud of fog

(much to the delight of the students) – was ecstatic over the amount of the grant.

"Let me put it in perspective – my site budget is $27,500 for the entire year," said Calabrese. "It's obviously going to make our dreams all come true. I came here four years ago and one of the things that teachers kept telling me is they wanted support with next generation science centers. They wanted hands-on science kits, they wanted one-to-one devices, all these things that we couldn't possibly fund.

"We have a very supportive PTA that's helped to fund a lot of things," continued Calabrese. "But the reality is everything is going tech, building things. You need money for that, so the grant is going to help support those things."

Calabrese clearly had a bounce in her step March 7.

"It's a great day," said Calabrese, who noted that Bonsall West was one of only 43 recipients of the grant nationwide and one of five new awardees. "I'm very excited."