Friday, June 13, 2008, at 10:15 a.m.

Students need to report to their homeroom teachers in the gym by 9:30 a.m.

Eligibility for Promotion for 2007-08 Letter sent home regarding Promotion Activities and Ceremony... ----Una carta a los padres con información sobre las actividades de promoción...		Speech/Entertainment Tryouts & Program* Tryouts: Monday, May 29, 2008, 3:30-5:00 p.m., auditorium		Promotion Ceremony Friday, June 13, 2008 at 10:15 a.m. Promotion Ceremony Awards
Grade 8 students must: 1. pass English and math each trimester; 2. pass 5 of 6 classes each trimester; 3. maintain 75 points by the end of each trimester and from June 1 to promotion; the cutoff date for obtaining the required number of points for participation in promotion activities is Friday, May 30, 2008. (Exception: Points made up at Saturday school, Saturday, May 31, 2008 will be allowed.) 4. have at least 5 acceptable citizenship grades (E, S, or N); and 5. owe no debts (library fines, etc.). Grade 8 students who fail English and math will enroll in Continuation high school. In 2007-08, grade 7 students must: 1. pass English and math 2. pass 5 of 6 classes trimester 3* of only 2007-08 Any grade 7 student who does not meet he above two requirements is "not ready for 8th grade." The student will be required to satisfy additonal interventions in the fall to be successful for grade 8. (See intervention options listed below; Colina will determine the appropriate options to implement.) *In 2008-09: The entire grade 7 year will be added, with requirement of passing 10 of 12 credits to enroll in grade 8; must pass English and math; must pass 5 of 6 classes; must satisfy school requirements for citizenship/points; trimester 3 of grade 6 will determine enrollment in grade 7. *In 2009-10: All students in grades 6, 7 and 8 will be required to pass 5 of 6 classes each trimester to avoid interventions and sanctions. These options will be considered by Colina administration for a contract called "How I Plan to Earn Promotion": 1. Retention 2. Summer school 3. 7-period day for unsuccesful grade 7 students going into grade 8, including help in math and/or English skills (Cornell notes, etc.) 4. Club enrollment / Power Hour All trimesters grades beginning in 2009-10 (or perhaps beginning in 2008-09 or 2007-08--all tentative) will be cumulative so that students understand that work from the beginning counts all the way through. Colina will be able to develop its own incentive programs as will as contract options, including perhaps some of the above. Disclaimer: All above information is unofficial. Inquire at Colina for definitive, accurate information.		Applications: Available at info meeting or subsequently, at main office. Promotion speech/entertainment information meeting: Friday, May 9, 2008, 12:45-1:00 p.m., Room 17 Tryouts: Monday, May 29, 2008, 3:30-5:00 p.m., auditorium We will be selecting the students for speakers as well as those who will provide the entermtainment for promotional ceremonies. Here are the categories needed: 1. Speech: Welcome Delivered by Daniel Nebens Welcome and thanks for coming today and thank you to all parents for the support that has made the special day of promotion a reality. 2. Speech: Looking Back Delivered by Mariana LaFianza & Esther Han Looking back on what your two years at Colina have been and meant. 3. Speech: Looking to the Future Delivered by Lisa Battaglia & Alexa Lucas What challenges and pathways lie ahead for your class. 4. Entertainment Lilli Babb & Courtney Allen Joey Rudin, Sean Wooldridge Jeff Kurohara, Jonathan Yan		Eligibility for promotion determined by one week prior to the promotion ceremony date. Friday, June 13, 2008 at 10:15 a.m. Promoting students should arrive to school at the gym at 9:30 a.m. Promo Ceremony Awards Grade 8 Awards Night The Promotion Ceremony, held on Colina's athletic field (Little League facility), includes: • Principal's Welcome • Introduction of Honored Guests Dr. Tim Stephens Board of Education, CVUSD Ms. Joanne Yoos Assistant Superintendent, CVUSD Mr. Mario Contini Superintendent, CVUSD • Entertainment • Students' Speeches • Principal's Promotion Address 2008 • Principal's Promotion Address 2007 • Principal's Promotion Address 2006 • Principal's Promotion Address 2005 Promotion Awards: • Exemplary Cougar, presented by Ms. Phalba Thomas, Assistant Principal • Leadership Award, presented by Mr. Michael Waters, Principal • Eddie Bente Memorial Award for Most Improved, presented by Mr. Sam Kane, Counselor • Eddie Bente Memorial Award for Most Courteous presented by Ms. Jeanne Boe, Counselor • Multicultural/Diversity Award, presented by Ms. Moira Fagan-Simpson, Counselor • School Service Award, presented by Ms. Carol Philips, Dean of Students • Citizenship Award, presented by Mr. Phalba Thomas, Assistant Principal • The Class of '08 Promotion Certificate to each student

NaNa  NaNa  Na-Nuh
June 13, 2008
Promotion Address
By Mike Waters, Principal

For me life is about winning.  Life is about teams.  Life is about creating memories that push you and guide you.  Most people would have you believe that there must be a loser for every winner.  That would make sense, but it is not true.

When calculating your winning percentage, it is the number of wins that you remember versus the number of losses that you carry with you that creates your winning percentage.  I have a vivid memory for my wins and only vague recollections of disappointments.  I am by my own strange calculations a winner.

In movies like, “The Fast and the Furious” or “Grease” or movies even older like “Thunder Road” the winners were always cool looking guys with the hot rod and the hot chick.

For half of the audience, the female half you must flip my story in your mind to fit your own story. You must already know that guys, like me, are only able to see life from a male perspective. By that logic, you can see that I have already eliminated ½ of my losses. Those would have come at the hands of women. I just don’t get what that win would be or look like. I love my wife, but is “take out the trash” a loss or a chance for me to get outside.

So, it is never too late or too early to start that winning streak. Whether you are a 6^th grader just entering middle school, or an eighth grader promoting to high school, or a parent or grandparent sitting in the audience a win starts with a smile, a hello, the beginning of a friendship or with any of a number of games, teams, events, or goals that you have set.

Winning, however, must always be done in the context of developing good character. You cannot be a winner without building character. Traits like Respect, Kindness, Integrity, Responsibility and Perseverance are very important. Wins that do not include those traits are not wins but cheating. I’ve cheated a few times in my life. I have never been able to put those times in the win column. They may be the only losses that I am able to remember.

But, in a lecture or a speech, the words are only as good as the example that I may give. So, I want you to picture the race scenes from “The Fast and the Furious”, or “Grease” or a good James Dean movie if you are of my age.

You need to picture me with a full head of hair, horned rim glasses and not particularly well dressed riding in my 1967, 40 horse power, gray Volkswagon bug. In the seat next to me is not some beautiful girl, but a fellow nerdy boy named Joe. I was not at that time worthy of a girlfriend.  Top speed in my rod was 65 mph.  The race took place on the 101 freeway.  Imagination was my supercharger. My buddy Joe and I were driving to the valley for some unknown reason when we spotted two girls in a Mustang. The victory, the win would be to get a smile or a wave.

Suddenly, imagination kicked into overdrive. NaNa NaNa Nu-Nuh.  In order for that VW to go faster we started helping the ole’ bug with sound effects. NaNa NaNa Nu-Nuh. NaNa NaNa Nu-Nuh, NaNa Nu-Nuh.  We pulled over up to the side of the Mustang.  We had maxed out at 68 mph.

The girls obviously not noticing us went with traffic and pulled ahead traveling maybe 70 mph. NaNa NaNa Nu-Nuh. NaNa NaNa Nu-Nuh -- NaNa NaNa Nu-Nuh -- NaNa NaNa Nu-Nuh.

Joe and I start rocking in the seats pulling that VW forward. I pulled that VW even with the Mustang on our right and kept looking forward so that my pal Joe was the one looking stupid smiling at the girls. NaNa NaNa Nu-Nuh -- NaNa NaNa Nu-Nuh.

The girls were now laughing.  Suddenly, a hill was ahead and the VW slowed to 60 mph, then 55 mph, then 50 mph and finally 45 mph as I slipped into 3^rd gear. NaNa NaNa Nu-Nuh
NaNa NaNa Nu-Nuh.  The Mustang speeded ahead.  NaNa NaNa Nu-Nuh.  Just when all seemed lost we hit the crest of the hill and start heading downhill.  Rocking in the seats of that old gray VW. We picked up speed.  NaNa NaNa Nu Nuh 50 mph – then 55 mph then 60 mph – and finally 75 mph.  We went flying past the Mustang with smiles on our faces and laughter in the air. Another win for the good guys. Some of you may want the perfect movie ending. You might want to hear that we met the girls and had a date and fell in love. No – that’s how you get your heart broken and that might be a loss. It was the smile from the girls that was the win.

There are wins out there for all of us. There are wins for teenagers, parents, and grandparents. There are plenty of teams to join and games to play. You have to work hard at life and school.

 My school records would show a couple of A’s, three B’s and a “C” most semesters – but I remember the victories over homework.  It was always completed. NaNa NaNa NuNuh. Sometimes it took all night.  The uphill was getting started.  The downhill was actually doing it. NaNa NaNa NuNuh. The smile was on my teachers face as she spotted me slipping my homework under the stack where it properly belonged as the first paper in.

 May your life or your student’s life be full of downhills and many wins. If you are willing to work hard and to fight the uphills, there is that beautiful downhills. So, remember those times you just barely slipped into your seat before Mrs. Stamper could fill out that points off slip.  Remember the times when Mrs. Agapoff assigned that perfect lab partner to you. Remember the time when you surprised Mr. Olson or Mrs. Hinson with the correct response when they thought you weren’t listening.  Remember, the referral or suspension and turn it into a good memory years later because it too is a win if it built character. 

NaNa NaNa NaNuh

Ladies and gentlemen, I will now have our teachers present their students as candidates for promotion to high school.

There is a saying that “Everything you ever needed to know you learned in kindergarten…be kind to your neighbors; hold hands when you cross a busy street.”  And more.  But the real secrets to a successful life could have and should have been learned during middle school.

These secrets are hidden in a simple code right before your eyes.  They are secrets of the successful people of the world.  The successful people like your parents, your counselors, and teachers will tell you that they are helping you, but if you don’t read between the lines – if you don’t look for that little wink of the eye – if you don’t listen for that little inflection in the voice – you are not grasping the secrets to success. 

Experience is the key.  Everyone will tell you about experience.  Many will tell you about experience being so valuable and it is, but when you look at the messenger you equate it to being old.  The key, the secret, is to gain experience while staying young.  The successful won’t tell you that.  After all, it is the secret of the successful and the others never learned that you could gain experience while you are young.

I am telling all gathered here today about this secret code because I love you and I knew you were special when I first called you squidges 3 years ago.  These secrets will die in this society dominated by rap music, television, and a fast paced life if you don’t let what I am about to tell you sink in.

You are the squidges  - now a society of squidges.  Here are the secrets that have been held right before your eyes.

Number 1:  Don’t rush life away.  Girls, don’t dress and act like you are 18 when you are 13 and 14.    Boys, hold onto your love of the stupid things of life – snakes, tackle football played in the mud, and dogs.  Parents, you know these secrets deep in your soles, but many of you have gotten old learning them.  So after you slow your students down, help them commit the code to memory and commit your students to the code.

Others before me have tried to help, but it has always been in code.  Simon and Garfunkle, years ago, wrote “The 59^th Street Bridge Song” – commonly know as “Feeling Groovy.”

Slow down, you move too fast.
You got to make the morning last;
Just kicking down the cobble stones
Looking for fun and feeling groovy.
Hello, lamppost,
What cha knowing?
“I’ve come to watch your flowers growing.
Ain’t cha got no rhymes for me.
Doot-on doo-doo,
Feeling groovey.
Got no deeds to do,
No promises to keep.
I’m dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep.
Let the morning time drop all it’s petals on me.
Life, I love you,
All is groovy.
With words like, “Hello lamppost, what cha knowing” you can see that the English teachers know the secret.   They teach poetry.  They teach code, but you have to be listening when Ms. Beck, Mrs. Hinson and Ms. Smith start talking about themes.  They don’t tell you it’s one of the secrets to success.  Students need to ask English teachers to slow down and go over the poem again.  Learn the code.

That old dog, Mr. Kane, knows the code.  He is always saying, “Do your homework.”  What he is really saying is, “Do your homework.”  It is code.  It means know what you are doing before you take life’s tests.  For instance, girls, pay attention in P.E. while the class is doing jumping jacks.  If a boy can’t get the rhythm to “over under – under over” jumping jacks, he can’t dance.  Do your homework.  Boys, if a girl can’t do a push up, you will be doing all the heavy lifting in life.  Do your homework.

One of the best places to gain experience, while young, is in science labs.  Watch closely for clues.  You’ve heard the old term, “can’t boil water” used for someone who can’t cook.  Why wait until you get married to find that out when you can watch to see if someone knows their way around a bunson burner.  The “Eatable Atom” project is right before your eyes.  Boys, watch to see who builds an atom that is truly eatable and not just fru-fru.  Do your homework.  Mrs. Agapoff, Mr. Matras, and Dr. Stephenson were sharing the knowledge right before your eyes – but they called it science.

Mrs. Coffman and Mrs. Stamper and Mrs. Klein purport to be teaching Algebra, but it is really code for balance.  “Whatever you do to one side of the equation you must do to the other side” is code for lead a balanced life.  PEMDAS teaches you the order of mathematical operations.  But work within the “P” parenthesis is really code for stay close to home before you venture out.  Do your homework.

Mr. K and Mr. Clark hide the secret that electives are about passion – about doing what you love.  Boys who can’t handle a hammer and saw will never be able to do a “honey do” list and girls who don’t understand the color wheel will never be able to pick out a matching tie for their knucklehead boyfriend.  Boys, if you are a knucklehead, you need a girl with a sense of color and style to make you presentable in life.  Do your homework.  Of course, Mrs. Fruehling and Mrs. Sobrino are two of the best keepers of the code.  They teach music, but do they tell you that rhythm is a key to just about everything?  You can’t go so fast with music or life that you fail to stay in rhythm and see the beauty of life and let it pass you by.

And speaking of life passing you by, Mr. Olson and Mr. Scherer teach history, but history is really code for “this is your life.”  They should just tell you to be a learner and you will always be prepared to solve the code.

Prepare for life by looking to the past and creating a future. 

In conclusion, my parents did slow me down.  My first vehicle was a ’64 V.W. that could go to 65 miles per hour unless I was going downhill.   I was never allowed to see R-rated movies.  My mom gladly washed my clothes after a game of tackle football played in the mud.  We had dinner together as a family every night of the week.  She could cook.  I am sure she knew her way around a bunson burner.

But the keepers of the code didn’t tell me that middle school was a magic time to learn.  So, come on Mr. Kane, tell these students what “Do your homework” really means.  It is time.  My own son, Brent, is now working as a cryptographer – code artist – at Stanford Research Institute with his PH.D from Princeton, but he is still learning the secrets to understanding girls – one of the best kept secrets in the world.  Students should begin to learn about the opposite sex in middle school.  An example would be that if girls see a boy with sagging pants, he is likely to be cheap as he won’t spend money on a good belt.  Girls who wear multiple layers of clothing but can’t keep covered up will be expensive to maintain.  Mr. Frank and Mrs. Hogan even call this the dress “code.”  They are winking and nodding whenever they say “Dress Code.” 

Do your homework or you will gain your experience by getting old.  In three (3) years at Colina the lessons of experience have been here, but often in code.  As official squidges, I now offer you the chance to be young and experienced.  Do your homework.

Let the secrets not spread to Redwood, Los Cerritos, Sequoia, and Sycamore.  You are Colina squidges and are now keepers of the middle school code.  You will be young and experienced.

Principal's Promotion Address 2006

June 16, 2006
Promotion Address
By Mike Waters, Principal

ON BECOMING A LEARNER

Today we celebrate 3 years of learning.  We celebrate with friends, teachers, parents and grandparents.  It is my hope that each of you is committed to being a life long learner.  At some point in each of our lives we face a challenge/fear of jumping into the pool, of getting wet.  Only learning provides the skills necessary to overcome those fears.

For me, that point literally took place as I approached my 21^st birthday.  I jumped into a swimming pool to face a lifelong fear of water.  I was taking swimming lessons at the age of 21.  I had been successful at many things during my life, but until that point I had hidden the embarrassment of a fear that I felt each time I neared a swimming pool. 

There were two pools at the swim instruction school.  One pool was 25 yards long with a deep end.  One pool was 25 yards long all at a depth of 4 feet.  This was the pool for me – an engineering masterpiece.  I signed up for 10 lessons; ten lessons to learn to swim 25 yards and receive my diploma.  Sure, there were 5 and 6 year old naturals who were in the pool with me, but when I entered the pool it was not about racing – it was about learning. I hated a 6 year old girl who swam past me doing a backstroke or other fancy strokes, but I calmed myself knowing that only 4 feet below me was the floor of the pool and that little girl had no chance of standing up should the need arise.

Each of us comes to a point in life when we should face our fears.  Most of the time the answer is becoming a learner and seeking out a teacher. 

That is why it is so important that you face life/school surrounded by teachers who include friends, parents, and grandparents, who are grandmaster type teachers.

And, you need to know that you don’t have to dive into the deep end of the pool of life to prove anything.  In school, the shallow end is doing your school work, your homework.  Just doing your homework will get you from one edge to the other edge of the pool.

Did you know that you can kick from one edge of a pool to the other?  Just put your head down, stretch out, breathe, kick, and you are there.  Homework is kicking your way to the end of the school year.  You are at an edge today.  The edge is a mighty fine place in a pool or in school.   I was learning this while Miss Fancy Pants 6 year old was swimming circles around me. 

I don’t think she ever learned the true value of the edge of a pool.   Colina has many edges.  They are called passing periods, nutrition breaks, lunch and the 3:10 bell.  Don’t you just love edges?  But schools have deep ends, too.  They are the tough classes that require studying and overcoming the fear of being in over your head at times.  You need  to be a learner.  That is why you need teachers, friends, parents, and grandparents.  The good ones really teach you and watch out for you.  They are the lifeguards of your life. 

Some, like me, are best at yelling at you and shouting reminders that I already taught you that and reminding you that I like to be around good learners.  In grades 6 through 8, you have also learned about boys and girls. 

Girls, we, the boys, know that you swim faster than us. Ease up.  The shallow end of the pool is friendship.  The shallow end and friendship are nice places to be.  You can touch your toes to the bottom.

You don’t have to be like Miss Smarty Pants 6 Year Old and start going out or dating until you are a better, older, wiser swimmer.  Friendship, the shallow end of the pool, is the answer.  A simple “hello,” a light punch to the shoulder, a smile, a compliment, get you into the pool.

Well, how does this story end?  I swam the 25 yards and got my blue ribbon, the same blue ribbon Miss Smarty Pants received. Later that year, I said hello to a good looking girl.  I started studying and working harder on the tougher classes.  I dated the girl and graduated from college.  With the girl, I was in the deep end and took the plunge off the high board and married her.  With this vast knowledge of both school and women, I became a teacher – a teacher of young people.  I overcame my fears.  I worked hard.  I made friends and I am having fun.

Today, as you celebrate this milestone in your life, understand and know where the shallow end, the edge, and the deep end are located.  The shallow end is a mighty find place to get started.  Much to my wife’s chagrin, I still only do the Australian crawl.  I swim edge to edge.

Today, give your parents, you lifeguards a hug and a kiss.  Shake a teacher’s hand.  Understand that your grandparents have swam an ocean.  They are on an island beach.  They are having the times of their lives watching you students get your toes wet.

Here’s hoping that you have realized the pool here at Colina is only 4 feet deep and the water is warm.  Life is great if only you become a learner, step into the shallow end and learn to swim or even just kick.

In the eyes of a parent, a male parent, I look out at all the beautiful and most wonderful students, and boys, too, who populate Colina and I am astonished at the potential and I am envious of all that is before you.  42 years ago I stood where you stand today.  And you students say,  “Wow, is he old!”  You wish away years wanting things NOW – that I know will come to you soon enough.  I, on the other hand, wish only to be there when all of these sweet moments happen for you.

I (we) live my life through you and you are rushing me (us).  Slow down.  Let me enjoy and savor your youth while I may only taste the memory of my own youth.

I (we) was 10, 11, 12, and 13 once.  Boys, I, too, clung to the wall at the dances until Teddy Vlachos dragged me onto the dance floor for a slow dance.  I was, and am, a terrible dancer.  The wall was good to me.  The wall had no great expectations of me.  The wall had patience.

You girls may be saying, “Hey, let’s get going.”  I say, learn the patience of a wall.  The first day of 6^th grade, 7^th grade, 8^th grade, or 9^th grade, are all much the same.    You are all thinking you must change, grow up – dress differently.  I know that when I moved from 8^th grade to high school, I thought I needed to look Ivy League (the look in those days).  I bought pants with cuffs and discarded my blue jeans.  Jeans are much like walls.  They have patience. Jeans made a comeback in my life and they have made a comeback in fashion.

Look at all of you today.  You look good.  The dress code works.  The Colina dress code is single handedly bringing back the economy.  You girls wear 3 tops at one time, and your parents pay the bill.  You wear a long top that meets the dress code.  You then wear a second top that might or might not meet dress code, depending how you move.  Finally, you wear, on top, a third top that definitely would not meet dress code, but shows that you have rebelliousness in you.  You have defeated the dress code and we love it.  Keep all three tops.  It shows patience.  You look good.  There is a time for the other look.  Your parents should and will pay to keep you looking your age.

Boys, I am proud of you.  You, like me, will soon be expected to take the lead.  But, I see you in the same way that I remember my two favorite dogs, Duke and Tucker.  You are just getting out of the puppy stage.  Food and play are the most important things in your life.  The wall, food, and play are good.  Don’t rush to what comes next for you.  It is heartache.  It is the heartache of putting your feelings on the line and asking a girl out.    This heartache can be years away if you are patient.  And, there are strategies to protect you from the hurt of rejection. 

Wait, like I did, to ask Gretchen (yeah, that was her name) to the prom or grad night or whatever, to the very last 5 minutes of the ticket sale so that you have a good excuse if she turns you down.  Ask a girl, as I did, to go bowling instead of the dance if you know that you have no good dance moves.  Cling to your football, your saxophone, your surf -board, and even, yes, to your skateboard.

Girls – boys age 11, 12, 13 14 and yes, even 15, 16, 17 year old boys are mostly lunkheads.  We know it – you should learn it.  Appreciate a lunk head like a boy appreciates the wall. 

There are other memories.  Remind me to tell you the story of my best friend’s mom, Mrs. Shauwecker, and the blind date she set up for me and Joe after over hearing us talk about 2 beautiful but unattainable girls that we had never spoken to, but had observed from afar.  She knew their mothers and had their phone numbers.

As a parent, as a father, I ask you to slow down.  Have patience.  Your time is my time.  You are all both figuratively and literally just ending your puppy years.  You are just growing into those big paws of your.  Give your mom or dad a big lick or kiss on the cheek.  Give them a paw across the lap or a big hug.  Let us enjoy all your pratfalls while chasing that thrown ball called life.  Let us enjoy your company while we take a daily walk with you through life. 

For you parents, I have 3 words.  Remember the leash.  If you don’t, these kids will race away and you’ll spend your time looking for them and missing all the good times.

Thanks for listening.
Michael Waters

*Categories are not definite since talent varies from year to year. If you sing, play an instrument or have any other talent, you may try out. We want your help in making this a very special day.

Note: A student who is ineligible for promotion will not be able to participate in the ceremony even if they are selected as a speaker or performer. He/she will forfeit the speech/entertainment and forfeit going through promotion.

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