During a short 30-minute meeting on Nov. 26, PTSA discussed updates from the previous meeting

The fourth PTSA meeting of the year, held on Nov. 26, lasted 30 minutes. The following is a breakdown of the discussed topics:

Walk One Week program: The program was held last month over a week long period where student were encouraged to walk or carpool and rewards with food served on campus. WOW organizer senior Shailee Samar reviewed the program and its successes. According to a survey that Samar’s team conducted, 40 percent of the student respondents said that they changed their habits after the event by either carpooling or walking.

Two weeks ago, Samar personally spoke with the Cupertino Public Safety Commission, which manages safety in Cupertino and granted her program $1,500 to continue pursuing the project. A week later, on Nov. 18, City Council member Mark Santoro contacted her to talk at a City Council meeting. At the meeting, one of the council members suggested that the the WOW program be started at all the high schools in the district next semester. Samar plans to have another WOW event in April.

Explore Careers!: The biannual Explore Careers! fair was held on Nov. 7 with 18 speakers involved in life science fields such as biotechnology, medicine and nanotechnology. Students could attend seminars by any three of the speakers. PTSA survey results estimated 400 participants attended the last event, with 60 percent of those participants being students.

The next fair, which will focus on STEM, is to be held on Jan. 7. The PTSA members expect the roster of speakers, which includes Netflix’s vice president of Information Technology, to be especially popular. However, some PTSA members expressed concern that the fact that event is on the second day of the semester may lower attendance.
“Not only is there focus with each event but we accommodate a whole lot more students and families,” Principal April Scott said.

Supply expenses: The supplies requested include camera tools for video projects from the English Department and books and headsets for the Language Department. The first round of supply requests, from six teachers, adds up to $800. Any new teachers will be given $100 for classroom set-up according to PTSA president Jim Cunningham.

Challenge Success update: The MVHS Stanford Challenge Success team will be conducting surveys during January and later in the spring for students about their stress from school. There will be an informational meeting on Dec. 10 in the library at an undetermined time to encourage the MVHS community to take the survey.

Parents Education book club: Isabelle McNeil will be hosting PTSA’s first Book Club meeting on Jan. 15 in the library. McNeil was inspired by the efforts of a school district in Chicago represented at the Stanford meeting that has a successful parent book club, in which every family is represented. The club will read “Get Out of My Life, But First Could You Drive Me and Cheryl to the Mall?” by Anthony E. Wolf.
“I have at home four teenage boys and I think this is a book with a really good voice,” McNeil said.
The first 25 parents who sign up get a book for free.