Dear Staff,

We have had an amazing year full of opportunities to celebrate the unwavering dedication of our students, teachers, and staff. Thank you to our present and past coaches who have supported student events. Your commitment to the achievement of our students is again reflected in these stellar results! 

Please join me in extending our warmest congratulations to the Morningside track team, who clinched the Valley Championship in the 4x400 meter event in Clovis.This team had a very successful year including triumphing at multiple meets prior to clinching the Valley title. Let's give a huge cheer to the Valley Youth Champion Morningside RelayTeam, consisting of William Osobampo, Jeremiah Gonzales, Richie Ramirez, Gabriel Palacios, and coach Everado Pantoja. 

I also want to commend the KCSOS STEAM Olympiad participants for their outstanding achievements. Participating coaches were from Almond Tree (Elizabeth Montoya), Del Vista Math & Science Academy (Maria Ledesma & Daisy Cerna), Cecil Avenue Math & Science Academy (Baltazar Montes, Jorge Carrillo Jr., Jose Guzman & Fiona Tan), Harvest (Jennifer Gamino, Amanda Beardsley, & Sergio Fernandez Jr.), La Vina (Mark Voshall & Michelle Den-Beeman), Morningside (Tony Gonzalez, Jessica Rodriguez, & Yesenia Gonzalez), Nueva Vista Language Academy (Anakaren Cruz, Edith Bejar, and Maria Ceja), Pioneer (Andres Rodriguez, Jayme Galvan, & Lanore Herrera-Diaz), and Princeton (Camelia Martinez & Mary Jane Gonzalez). Our brilliant students truly excelled in this event and secured over 60 awards clinching more than 14 first-place titles.  For a glimpse of the event, check out this video: STEAM Olympiad 2024

We also have more to celebrate! Our DUSD Teacher of the Year, Cherry Popoy, was honored on Tuesday evening at the Kern County Education Champions of the Year event sponsored by KCSOS. Cherry represented the district very well and joined the team of Teacher Champions at the county level. Mrs. Popoy embodies what it means to be an exemplary teacher. She is knowledgeable about her content, innovative with her reading instruction, and inspires and motivates her students to do their very best every day. 

Way to go, Team DUSD!

Rosalina Rivera