For the third time in a row, Alta Vista High School has won the California Model Continuation High School Award. They will go to San Diego on the weekend of April 25th to receive it at the California Continuation Education Association conference, with around 400 California Alternative schools total that will attend, Suzanne Woolfolk, director of alternative programs and principal of AVHS, said.
“[The model continuation award] recognizes continuation or alternative programs that are doing innovative, outstanding work for their students and their community” Woolfolk said.
This award is given out to show other alternative schools an example of what a model school looks like, Woolkfolk said. An alternative high school is a school that is in the state public school system, where students and teachers are selected among volunteers and is in an environment where students can reach their full potential, according to the California Department of Public Education.
She said AVHS won this award for many reasons, including AVHS’s inclusiveness for students’ academics, their courses devoted to college preparation, and their ability to have students graduate one to three semesters early.
“This recognition is important to remind the community as well as validate staff and students about the hard work that [AVHS is] doing,” Woolfolk said.
Winning the award was a team effort between the students, staff, and everyone else at AVHS, Woolfolk said. She said Math and Practical Arts teacher Jennifer Lewis in particular deserved thanks for the winning of the Model Continuation award. Echoing Woolfolk, Lewis said the award became a reality because of the staff and students at AVHS.
“Every staff person helped to write the report, but [Lewis] really coordinated [everything],” Woolfolk said.
Woolfolk said she is waiting to announce it to AVHS at an award ceremony they host around every quarter.
“Before we do the individual student awards, we’re going to say, ‘hey guys, look what we got as a group,’” Woolfolk said. “Look what we got as a community for the work that we do.”
AVHS has changed so much from 10 years ago, and the biggest difference is the reason why the people go to the school, Woolfolk said.
“Alta Vista used to have a totally different identity as a place where students would go if they got into trouble or expelled,” Woolfolk said. “That doesn’t even apply anymore.”
Now, Alta Vista is a place you can go if you want smaller classes, accelerated credits, and teachers who pay more attention to you, Woolfolk said.
“The heart of our work is what [makes the award] so meaningful to us,” Woolfolk said.
