Gourmet Healthy Cooking Club

For the past few weeks, teachers Mr. DeGracia, Ms. Rosillo, and counselor Ms. McColl have been spending Monday and Wednesday afternoons teaching AOAT students about healthy and delicious cooking – showing them how to shop for the best ingredients, then about preparing meals that are gourmet as well as easy. Tonight was the final session, and everyone enjoyed sharing the tasks and tasty results: grilled salmon with broccolini and asparagus, portobello burgers with guacamole and grilled onions, grilled brussels sprouts with apple and candied pecans, and quinoa pasta with sausages and spring veggies!! Happy tummies all around – and great recipes for future feasts!

College Visits in Four Directions!

Every year we take the 10th graders to tour UCLA, introducing them to a high goal to work towards. Then in 11th grade students visit colleges more in their attainable range. This year for the first time we polled the Juniors to see what their dream college experience would be, and then took them to a school aligned with their interests. Our art and design aspirants toured Art Center College of Design in Pasadena; those looking for the variety of options at at California State University visited CSULA; and the students who wanted a two-year program with certificates in many trade fields had an exciting day at LA Trade Tech! We hope we can continue to provide this variety of experiences tailored to student preferences, but the costs for buses and substitute teachers is straining our budget. Maybe we should apply for some scholarships!!!

Mock Interviews 2016

Our students say a big THANK YOU to the community volunteers who came to campus to provide this terrific practice for them! Generous AOAT supporters conducted 37 individual interviews over three days for all Juniors who plan to do internships this summer. These “mock interviews” empower the young people who enthusiastically polish their skills at professional presentation and learn from the feedback and suggestions. The interviewers were very impressed with this year’s crop of intern candidates, and had a hard time selecting just one student each day to “hire”. This honor earns the “winners” extra credit – but more importantly, extra confidence!

Chalk Festival 2016

This year’s Chalk Festival had a fun theme: “Who’s Your Hero?” Students were free to interpret that phrase in their own way, and the results ranged from Batman and Wonder Woman to actual “heroes” such as Bernie Sanders and Malala! All students are welcome to enter their designs and this year about 130 students participated, creating solo squares or working in teams of up to three. AOAT takes the lead in organizing the event, with help from Ms. Seubert in the Media program as well as the school security staff. A good time was had by all!

Creative Projects Engage Students

Academic teachers as well as the art teachers of AOAT incorporate project based lessons into their curricula in order to engage and imbed the learning for students. From student-designed Romantic t-shirts for the poetry unit in 11th grade, to the creation of mechanical hounds from Fahrenheit 451, art enlivens and stimulates the imagination in all grade levels. Making is a key part of learning!