March 27, 2008

SCHOOL SCENEin Almaden Valley

Services to be held for Jerry Huang

Services have been scheduled for Jerry Huang, the young Bret Harte sixth-grader who passed away on Friday, Mar. 14 after suffering a headache.

Visitation is scheduled for Friday, Mar. 28 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the (Alameda Family) Cupertino-Saratoga Funeral Home, 12341 S. Saratoga-Sunnyvale Rd. in Saratoga. The funeral and burial will be held on Saturday, Mar. 29 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Gate of Heaven Catholic Cemetery, 22555 Cristo Rey Dr. in Los Altos.

The family will also hold a memorial service for Jerry, where children are welcome and asked to wear blue, green or orange, which are Jerry’s favorite colors. That service also will be held on Saturday, Mar. 29 from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Chinese Church in Christ, 1490 Saratoga Ave.

The Bret Harte Community, including students and staff, deeply mourn his passing and would like to support the Huang family. A memorial fund has been set up to help cover the funeral expenses. Contributions can be made by check to "Jiunming Huang." Please specify "For Jerry" in the memo area and either drop off the check in Student Service at Bret Harte or mail the check to Joan Shih, 1124 Silver Canyon Dr., San Jose, CA 95120.

In addition, if you have any pictures of Jerry and would like to share them with the family, please e-mail them to jerryhuang08@yahoo.com or drop them at the Bret Harte office. If you would like to share your memories of Jerry at the funeral or memorial service, please send an e-mail to jerryhuang08@yahoo.com.

Memories and photographs can also be shared via an online Memory Book that has been set up for Jerry at: http://www.legacy.com/MERCURYNEWS/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?personId=105863654.

Local student plays piano at concert

Almaden resident, 10-year-old Alex Chien, opened a unique concert at Le Petit Trianon on Mar. 16 held by the Steinway Society of the Bay Area. The concert featured some of the brightest young musicians in the area.

Alex Chien started taking piano lessons at age 4, and the piano has become an important part of his daily life. He made his first TV appearance when he performed in the “Maestro Darrell’s Music Workshop” in 2003. In 2004 and 2005, he won first-place awards at the Music Teachers’ Association of California. He also took first-place awards and the best Chinese Music performance awards in the Chinese Music Teachers’ Association of North California Youth Music Competition in 2004 and 2007.

Alex also has competed in the seventh and eighth International Russian Piano Competition, winning second-prize awards in the Young Musician category. He has won numerous awards in the U.S. Open Music Competition, including a first-place award in the piano concerto competition and first- and second-place awards in many solo categories.

He was also selected to perform in the Gold Medalist Showcase Recitals two years in a row. In addition, Alex won the first-place award in the “Kids Play the Darndest Things!” piano competition and the first-place award in the “Technic is Fun” piano competition in 2006.

In 2007, Alex played at Carnegie Hall as a winner of the American Fine Arts Festival. Alex recently performed in master classes by Jon Nakamatsu and Antonio Pompa-Baldi. In 2008, Alex won the 2008 Menuhin-Dowling Young Musicians Award, the Nafisa Taghioff Prize in the Fremont Symphony’s 2008 Young Artist Competition and he is also selected to perform in 2008 Junior Bach Festival.

Alex attends the Harker School. He enjoys playing with his little brother and, in addition to music, he loves writing and math. Alex aspires to be a professional musician or a writer.

School budget cuts: How deep is the impact?

The Silicon Valley Education Association is sponsoring a seminar on school budget cuts and the depth of their impact on Wednesday, Apr. 2 from noon to 2 p.m. at a location to be announced.

The moderator is John Fensterwald, editorial writer for the San Jose Mercury News. The featured speaker is Liz Hill, who has served for more than 20 years as the Chief Legislative Analyst for the state of California.

By determining the budget and legislation impacts for one of the world’s largest economies, she is viewed as one of the most important figures at the State Capitol. Hill plans to retire by the end of the year, and the impact of her announcement has been felt at the capitol and throughout the state.

“She has always provided thoughtful analysis regarding California's budget in times of plenty and in times of fiscal crisis. I deeply respect her integrity and her intellect, and I know that view is shared by political leaders from both political parties,” said State Superintendent Jack O’Connell.

Hill has been recognized as the Public Official of the Year by Governing Magazine and she has received the National Public Service Award from the American Society of Public Administration and the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.

Registration is recommended by Mar. 28. Reserve your seat by phone at (408) 283-6168 or by e-mail at rsvp@SVEFoundation.org.

About the Silicon Valley Education Foundation:
To fully understand the needs of educators and industry, SVEF is bringing together experts in the fields of education, business and community. SVEF is the education foundation advocating for the needs of all 34 school districts in Silicon Valley. SVEF seeks to improve public education through establishing effective partnerships with both the private sector and the education community. Its focus is on the needs of constituents, students, families, teachers, community and education leaders. Its members listen to their needs and seek to understand their challenges. We then work to provide them with innovative solutions.

Judges needed for high school state championship for speech, debate

This year's California High School Speech Association, in conjunction with Santa Clara University and the Coast Forensic League will host the state high school championships in speech and debate at Santa Clara University from Friday, Apr. 18 through Sunday, Apr. 20.

The local hosts are required to provide local judges to balance panels of college students and coaches from throughout the state. The groups are approaching the leadership of the local communities to ask that they consider judging this important event. The coaching staff and team parents of Bellarmine College Preparatory have volunteered to coordinate local judges for the tournament.

Students are trained to compete in front of a wide variety of judges; "no formal training is required" and full judging instructions are given at the tournament itself. Anyone willing to be a judge can select their own times to work over the three days. Slots are usually about two hours long. The schedule with rounds available, as well as on-line sign-up, is now posted. Simply go to www.bcp.org/CHSSA-Judges.

Among this years topics are: Resolved: That the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 will successfully mitigate economic slowdowns over the next year or Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its public health assistance to Sub-Saharan Africa.

You can also see speeches from a wide range of subjects, or judge speech events from the humorous, to the serious.

These young men and women work all year long (sometimes for years) for this competition and the results are nothing short of incredible. You can reward that effort by supplying the kind of judging that these students deserve.

If you have any questions, please e-mail kjones@bcp.org or our parent chair, Angel Grindon at angelgrindon@att.net. Visit the Web site at to sign up www.bcp.org/CHSSA-Judges.

Seeking School News

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