Kareem Abdul - Jabbar and Tom Torlakson In October of 2012, CA State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Torlakson appointed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to be California's After School STEM Ambassador for the 2013 calendar year. At the time Tom Torlakson stated: "Few things are more important to children's education and to California's economy than the STEM subjects, and few people have more vision and commitment to making an impact in kids' lives than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar," Torlakson said. "I've long admired Kareem as an athlete, and I'm delighted now to count him as an ally in giving ..read more

The Region 3 Expanded Learning Team just wanted to take the time and wish all of you a Happy New Year. We hope that you were able to take some time off during the winter break and recharge your internal batteries. We hope that you were able to fully step away from work and truly enjoy "you time". We also hope that you were able to spend quality face-to-face time with family and friends making memories. We hope that all of you found a moment or two to take care of your physical and mental health. All of the above helps you to be at the top of your game. With that being stated we just wan ..read more

In 1990, President George H. W. Bush declared the month of November as National Native American Heritage Month. This commemorative month aims to provide a platform for Native people in the United States of America to share their culture, traditions, music, crafts, dance, and ways and concepts of life. This gives Native people the opportunity to express to their community, both city, county and state officials their concerns and solutions for building bridges of understanding and friendship in their local area. Native Americans have made many great contributions to society thro ..read more

October's significance as Filipino American History Month is due to the first recorded presence of Filipinos in the continental United States when on October 18, 1857, Luzones Indios came ashore from the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Esparanza  and landed at what is now Morro Bay, California. Click here to find out more about Filipino American History Month. Here are nine ways to celebrate Filipino American History Month. Do you know............. Andreia Carillo, astrophysicist                         ..read more

Dolores Huerta - Labor Leader / Civil Rights Activist "Let's teach kids, at the kindergarten level, what the contributions of people of color were to the building of the United States of America." - Dolores Huerta Rigoberta Menchu' Tum - Guatemalan Indigenous Rights Activist  and Nobel Peace Prize Winner "Peace cannot exist without justice, justice cannot exist without fairness, fairness cannot exist without development, development cannot exist without democracy, democracy cannot exist without respect for the identity and worth of cultures and peoples." September ..read more

The SSEL Region 3 Expanded Learning Team hopes that this blog post finds all of you doing well. Thank you to all of those that in some way shape or form had a hand during the summer of 2018 to help stave off summer learning loss by engaging youth in summer learning programs. Hopefully at some point you were able to get a few days off to recharge your batteries and dedicate a few days to you / your family. The work you do truly changes trajectories, is important, is hard, and is rewarding. Thank you for all that you do for it is greatly appreciated and inspiring. With that being stated this bl ..read more

During summer, students with the greatest need fall further behind. Summer learning loss, or summer slide, is responsible for as much as two-thirds of the ninth grade achievement gap. Every year a child that does not participate in a summer learning opportunity puts them at risk for summer learning loss, weight gain, and unhealthy eating. Summer learning provides uniquely innovative opportunities for learning and enrichment. Field trips, projects, and camp-like activities provide meaningful and engaging learning experiences. Unlike a remedial or mandatory summer school, high quality summer pr ..read more

June is a month in which we love to celebrate. We tend to celebrate the end of our academic school year, graduations, the beginning of summer and....... 1) Juneteenth - Is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. It was on June 19, 1865 that Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. This was two and a half years after President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which had become official on January 1, 1863. (Please see resource section bel ..read more

April marks a time to increase the understanding and appreciation of mathematics and statistics. Why? Both subjects play a significant role in addressing many real-world problems-- internet security, sustainability, disease, climate change, the data deluge, and much more. Research in these and other areas is ongoing, revealing new results and applications every day in fields such as medicine, manufacturing, energy, biotechnology, and business. Mathematics and statistics are important drivers of innovation in our technological world, in which new systems and methodologies continue to become mor ..read more

March is National Women's History Month so let us celebrate and highlight the accomplishments of the many women who have made tremendous contributions to STEM throughout the history of the United States. With that being stated here are a few amazing female STEM pioneers: Mary G. Ross the first Native American female engineer. 1) Mary G. Ross - Mary was the first Native American female engineer. She was one of     40 founding engineers of the Skunk Works; an official pseudonym for Lockheed     Martin's Advanced Development Program. It is responsible for a num ..read more