Covid – Detecting Dogs Visit Synergy School
Synergy School students and staff had the exciting opportunity in February to participate in research that may benefit schools all around the state of California.
On February 14th and 28th, medical alert dogs Scarlett and Rizzo, their handlers from Early Alert Canines, and researchers from the California Department of Public Health visited Synergy School as part of a pre-pilot project to investigate if medical detection dogs trained to detect the scent of COVID-19 infections can be used to effectively screen students in a school setting.
A Renovation Story
How do you squeeze more space out of a small school? Very delicately.
That’s what Synergy’s Buildings and Grounds Task Force discovered three years ago when it started looking into maximizing the learning spaces in a 120 year old building. It has been nearly 25 years since Synergy bought and first renovated 1387 Valencia Street, and we have grown so much since then!
History Project: Columbus Trial
This trimester, our history project was the Columbus Trial. We put Christopher Columbus as well as the other groups and people involved on trial. Our history teacher, Dominic Alteri, was the judge. He split us into table groups of five people, with a mix of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders and each student played an important role. There was one attorney, one to two paralegals, a defendant, and one to two historical experts. Each group got assigned a person, group of people or a system. These groups represented the Tainos native people, Columbus’s men, the King and Queen of Spain, and Christopher Columbus himself.
Eighth Grade Puerto Rico Service Learning Trip
In February, Synergy’s eighth-grade class traveled to Puerto Rico for a week of service-learning with Global Works. This class trip was our first class trip out of California since the start of the pandemic in 2020. Our trip was an experience that we will never forget. As a class, we looked forward to our 8th grade trip for years, and it exceeded all of our expectations.
Social Emotional Learning Across the Grades
In a recent morning meeting, students in 8th grade took part in a simple activity. The prompt was to explain the work the adults in their family do—in the home, in the community, or at a paid job. Students were a little reluctant to jump in (it was 8.50 am), so I told them about my grandfather who worked as a milkman, a bus driver, and a bartender. As kids began to share, we learned about family members working in hospitals, businesses, and the arts—about journalists, therapists, teachers. We learned about community organizers and lawyers, caretakers, and homemakers. By the end of our twenty-minute conversation, the room felt a little different. Despite the masks, we could all see each other a little more clearly.
Synergy Times 
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