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Los Baños Junior High

 

Left to right: Kellen Haug, Julian Arrechavala, Elizabeth Guzman, Julian Ornelas, Julisa Ornelas, Shyanne Vargas, Sammy Perez, Nayeli Gonzalez

Elizabeth Guzman: President,
Los Baños Junior High is having a incoming Saturday Academy for incoming 6^th graders and students who are joining Mesa again. Our mini Saturday Academy  is going to be held on May 12 from 8:30 through 11:30 a.m. The purpose of the Saturday Academy is to introduce projects to the sixth graders. The students do a math test, and then followed by an enrichment project. After all, the students with the best scores get prizes. The Saturday Academy then allows students to determine if they want to stay or leave Mesa

Erik: Vice President,

 I think that everyone who went on the college road trip can agree that even though it was an educational trip, it was an educational trip, that overall it was fun and exciting experience. This trip gave us the opportunity to visit some of California’s greatest Campus’! It also gave us the chance to plan ahead for our own future. The three campuses we visited were UC Berkeley, CSU East Bay, and UOP (University of the Pacific). All of these campuses are great and provide awesome scholarships and programs. Personally, I wanted to go to UC San Diego or UC Berkeley. My back-ups are CSU Fresno and CSU East Bay. Not only was this trip educational, it was really fun!

We did really fun things over the three days on this trip. We toured many the three campuses, and watched cool presentations and slide shows. We got to eat food from each campus. We also learned many interesting facts on each campus like how safe it was, rumors, facts, and even the alumni. Other things we did on the trip was have many picnics in different parks, have fun in the hotel, and even went to watch the sunset from the Golden Gate Bridge.

Overall this trip was extremely fun and educational at the same time. I recommend present MESA students and future MESA students to go on this trip. Again I think that everyone can agree that this trip was really worth it, and would want to do the trip all over again.

Gurlynn: Secretary,

 On November 21 – 23, about 50 students went on a College Road Trip to Northern California. We visited 3 college/universities; University of Pacific, UC Berkley, CSU East Bay. For 2 nights, we stayed at Union City’s Holiday Inn. On the first day we left the school around 7 am. We took a tour at University if Pacific when we arrived. After the tour, we ate a quick snack in their food court and had lunch at a park. Once we finished, we headed to our hotel. On the second day, we drove to Berkeley and took a tour. Afterwards, we stopped at Treasure Island for a picnic. We had some time, so we also visited the Golden Gate Bridge and after a while we drove back to the hotel. On our third and last day of the trip we took a quick tour at CSU East Bay. On our way home, we stopped at a truck-stop to eat and after a long three days, we went home.

Kellen: 5^th period Representative,
This year over spring break, about thirty of us MESA students went on a field trip to a very special island: Catalina! After a long overnight bus ride, we arrived at a small port in Long Beach and got ready for the boat ride. The boat was rocking pretty hard on the way, and I know a few people got a little queasy, but it was all worth it once we were on the island. We claimed our cabins, ate lunch, and were thrown into our first activity: snorkeling. After a funny presentation by “Surfer Dude” (A counselor in an afro wig), we put on our somewhat uncomfortable and tight wetsuits and set off into the cold ocean. The abundance of sea life made it truly an awesome sight. After dinner that night, we had a campfire where we sang songs, told stories, ate s’mores, and learned a little astronomy. Afterwards we set off to our cabins and rested the night. 

The next morning, a few of us went down the dock at about 6:30 and jumped into the cold ocean, an optional activity known as the Polar Plunge. It’s a great way to wake up and watch the sunrise. We had a medley of activities that morning. We learned about oceanography, did a plankton lab, and went hiking on the rocks to see some very cool tide pools. After that was over, we took a break for lunch before going back out for what many people considered to be the best thing there: Kayaking! We chose our partners, did a few paddle exercises, and headed out into the ocean. We kayaked all the way to the next beach over on the island, looking at the kelp, exploring small caves, and enjoying the sun. And to wrap it all up, we played a fun game which was basically kayak football. When we got back to the island, we had a little free time before dinner, and then it was off to squid dissection. We were given a step-by-step demonstration by “Delilah” (Another counselor in a cowgirl costume), and then we got to try it ourselves. Sure it was a little gross, but pretty fun and really cool. After that, it was sleep time once again, and we all prepared for our last day on the island.

This last morning, instead of doing the Polar Plunge again, we took a little morning hike up one of the island’s cliffs called Bible Peak. The sun was rising as we reached the top, and the view of the island was absolutely spectacular. It was really a great experience. After breakfast, our final meal on the island, we got in our wetsuits and snorkels again and set out. This time we were given the option to wear a weight belt, a tool that would allow us to dive underwater and explore for a short time. We finally got out of the water after about an hour and a half, and went up to our cabins for the last time to pack. The boat arrived at about 1:00, and we headed off back to the mainland. It was a great experience and I’m sure we would all do it again.

Los Banos High School

How to begin to describe Los Banos High School MESA? The only thing that seems to suit it best would be, action packed. Beside from the academic endeavors, our MESA program fosters the growth of engineering minds and the creativity of design. Our success is apparent in our members, since we have 1 qualifying team, composed of Alyssa Zorra, Noemi Diaz, Jessica Alday, and Jocelyne Trejo, for the Windmill Energy Challenge, which placed 2^nd in the preliminary competition and is ready to go to regionals. Furthermore, we have Diego Aguero, Elijah Bueno, Andrea Pineda, Steve Georgiou, and Tony Ramirez who have also advanced to regionals due to the Team Math Quest for categories A & C.  
Currently we are a work in progress, maintaining ourselves busy in preparation for MESA Day Prelims. Our students have given the janitors some work with gliders in the roof, since they have practicing with prototypes. Likewise, creating a commotion inside our adviser’s room thanks to our bridge testing.

Beyond our MESA events and preparations, we are implementing a focus in career goals for those who are ready to graduate as well as the younger generations by doing college enrichment worksheets. The pioneers of MESA in Los Banos, Martha Santoyo, and Diego Aguero, continue to be exemplary role models to others by volunteering to help their peers as well as students in the Junior High. 

Thanks to our members and students’ hard work and dedication, we are being awarded with a field trip to Great America alongside of Los Banos High School Physics class for Physics Day. We all are eager to join  the fun and exciting day just as well as anticipate winning at MESA Day!

Pacheco High School

In our second year of being open, Pacheco High School has been doing a great job. Our MESA students are having fun, and doing a great job on their projects and math skills. We have been offering a tutoring program for MESA sudents who want compete in the math competitions  and to those who are new to the program and would like some help on thier projects.

We have done our Annual Drive-Thru Chicken Dinner, as well as other fundraisers, like raffling off an ipod. We have been attending all the Saturday Academies and been giving it our best! We have been preparing for MESA day prelims and keeping busy, but having fun at the same time.  And, we already have several students who qualified for regionals in Solo Math!

We have visited the Tech Museum, Moss Landing, and participated in the Catalina Island Marine Institute. We are planning on taking several trips in the next few months, to Monterey, Merced and to Great America. We are making the best of the program and look forward to a great rest of the year as well as next year.

Mendota Junior High

During these last few months, Mendota Mesa has participated in several interactive activities. Some of these activities include drafting, mini- competitions, and preliminary competitions.

In the months of August through November we have been practicing how to draft. It has taught us how to be precise and accurate. It has also taught us how to use professional drafting tools.

During the month of December we have been participating in windmill. This mini-competition gives us a small taste of what MESA is about.

We have also talked about various preliminary competitions. Everyone has selected their MESA Day activities.

In conclusion, Mendota MESA has been productive so far. We are planning to increase our participation.

Bullard High School MESA

Since the beginning of the year, our club has grown to about 30 members.  So far, we have participated in our school's club day, where we had a table showcasing the VEX robot. 
We have also attended two Saturday Acadamies at Fresno State.  At the Saturday Academies the VEX robotics team competes in various challenges and other members do fun workshops to get ready for our MESA projects.  During some lunch periods, students come in to work on thier MESA projects or work on the Robot. While we are thier we talk about how to improve and perfect our MESA Projects.

Mendota MESA Working Together

The MESA club in Mendota high school has expanded its student body, over the past few years. We have been gathering ideas for fundraising. It’s complicated to have everybody agree with each other, but somehow we cooperate and accomplish things. I can say it is a working process, but we are working on it. We are planning to make a bake sale here at school but we are not sure because we first have to get approval. If that does not work then we are just going to stick with a candy sale.

We also talk about the MESA day projects. We make sure everyone knows what they are supposed to do and how they are supposed to do it. We give them the project rules, so that they know we are not going to trick them on doing things wrong just because there are other people in the club doing the same activity. There are examples and pictures that we have to show them so that they can get an idea on how to do the project, especially if it is their first time on the project. It might take more practice but it is all worth the excitement.

All we expect from the Mesa members is for them to have fun and enjoy what they are doing. We would want for all members to come back next year. That is why we try to make everything really fun. Now we are having positive comments because so far they are having fun and we like to hear that. So that is what we have been up to these past few days in Mesa.