Monrovia High School

Monrovia High School Offers Expanded College Counseling Program

/ May S Ruiz / Leave a comment

Originally published on 11 September 2017 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, and Monrovia Weekly

College Counselor, Amanda Ghezzi, meets with a family during the four-week registration period | Courtesy Photo

Kirk McGinnis, principal at Monrovia High School, grew up in this neighborhood. He is very familiar with the San Gabriel Valley’s reputation as a family-oriented area where parents take pains to send their children to the best schools.

As a high school principal, McGinnis knows only too well that he is responsible for providing all those in his charge with an education that prepares them for college and adulthood. And he takes that responsibility very seriously.

This past summer, Monrovia High School launched a personalized service for parents and students to meet with their college counselors which begins with rising freshmen.

Says McGinnis, “This year I decided to pay close attention to how we connect with our students and parents.  We want to make sure our family partnership is really strong and the best way to do that is to start the school year with a revised registration process.”

“In the past we had one day for registration and everybody got in this big gigantic line,” McGinnis explains. “And while it was economical it was also impersonal; parents and students were frustrated. So we created a four-week registration process so each family and their child get to sit down with their counselors to discuss their course selections for the coming year and look at their four-year plan, and even their plans after high school. We want to ensure that, together, we make the right decisions for that child’s success throughout his or her four years here.”

This year’s expanded registration process began on the 17 of July and ended on the 11 of August, right before the school year started on the 16. The process is made up of four steps:  parents and student check in and submit the registration paperwork that the high school sent to them to complete during the summer; they meet with their counselor; they proceed to the ASB store to secure their ASB card, pick up their spirit T-shirt and high school swag, P.E. uniform; and lastly, they go to the library to get their books.

“What we have done is eliminate this whole day of standing in line in frustration and created instead a day where it only takes 30 minutes of people’s time out of their day. What’s more, the families can look at their summer calendar and pick the day and time that’s convenient unlike in the past when the registration day was determined for them,” continues McGinnis.

“It’s not a unique concept, other schools have been doing it,” adds McGinnis. “So in the last couple of years we did two pilot programs where we met with students during the summer but we didn’t include incoming ninth graders. Then last year we included ninth graders and we saw the energy from that and realized how important it was.  So we decided to come up with the process for the entire high school.”

MHS Spirit Rally on the first day of the school year | Courtesy Photo

McGinnis worked with Catherine Real, Monrovia Unified School District’s Director of Counseling, College, and Careers, and the entire district to identify ways to make this happen. Through their LCAP (Local Control and Accountability Plan), they were able to obtain the funds to pay their counselors to come in during the summer.

Real states, “This gives parents the knowledge about the college application process – if they don’t know the A-G requirements and which ones their children are taking, there’s no way for them to be able to monitor their children’s progress.  We are trying to be purposeful. As Mr. McGinnis knows only too well, sometimes the parents don’t see the counselor until there’s a problem with grades or attendance.  This year starts with parents coming to school under the most positive circumstances. We form a partnership at the get-go and it’s a win-win situation. Parents are thrilled to have this ‘personal shopper’ experience; counselors are happy because every single parent who has come in has expressed how wonderful this is.  Everyone walks away feeling charged and ready for the year.”

“It was an evolution for me.  We had been planning this all year long and when I brought up the idea to the staff I just went, ‘Trust me, people. This is going to be a good thing,” McGinnis laughingly recalls.

And indeed it was a good thing.  Real conducted a survey following each family’s registration to assess their experience and she received very positive feedback after the four-week registration period. This outcome was a confirmation of what McGinnis felt and knew all along.

McGinnis relates, “I explained to our families that they see the teachers all the time but they don’t get to see the counselors all the time. I want them to realize that the counselors are a great contact to have and this is their opportunity to get to know them before the college application process begins. It takes that ‘families and counselors relationship’ to a whole new level.”

Connecting with families is a hallmark of McGinnis’ seven-year leadership at MHS.  He has implemented several programs to reach out to the school’s diverse population. He is very well aware that parents care deeply and are fully invested in their children’s education but sometimes they don’t know how to navigate the system.

Another initiative McGinnis carried out is Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE). They reached out to their Spanish-speaking parents and offered courses where they learned about FAFSA, the A-G requirements, GPA, SAT; how to have a discussion with their college counselor and what questions to ask.  The nine-week program graduated 100 parents.

Real adds, “Mr. McGinnis also insisted that counselors get business cards with email address and phone numbers printed. These were handed out to families when they came for the summer registration so parents have a way of communicating.”

Student sign-ups for campus clubs | Courtesy Photo

“Our standard operating procedure has changed and that dialogue is open,” asserts McGinnis. “The next step is for our counselors to maintain the conversation throughout the school year. We’ll still have the ‘need to meet’ times but the communication link is open – more so now than it had ever been before.”

“This has changed immensely the way parents are connecting with us, which is a huge goal for me,” reveals McGinnis. “I don’t want our campus to be a spot where kids just come to school. They spend a lot of time here and this is essentially their home for the next four years. I want them to feel ownership over the campus and their accomplishment during their stay here. And I think this goes a long way towards reaching that goal.”

“Our plan for the next couple of years is to continue to increase student success,” McGinnis pronounces.  “We have recently been recognized for the significant jump in our graduation rate – from 94 percent to 96.9 percent, and, most importantly, for closing the gap between student groups. We have more students meeting the A-G requirements and prepared for college not just mentally but logistically – they have the grades, they know how to complete the college and financial aid application. We’re finding out too that several of our students are choosing to go to a community college for the first two years and transferring to university, which is a totally appropriate and practical choice. That model of schooling is a really important option for families to understand.”

McGinnis says in parting, “Our community has a lot of pride in this school with several members of it having grown up here and attended it; some of our school employees are alma maters as well. Now we have their children and grandchildren coming to the school.  I live in this town and my children go here – it’s a unique place. As the shepherd of the school, I want to continue that pride.”

Monrovia High School Students Perform on A Noise Within’s Stage

/ May S Ruiz / Leave a comment

Originally published on 27 April 2017 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, and Monrovia Weekly

This past Tuesday night, April 25th, 23 drama students from Monrovia High School (MHS) put on a production of Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’ at A Noise Within (ANW) in Pasadena. The partnership was a first for both the high school and the classical theatre company.

Nathanael Overby, MHS drama teacher who came on board in 2012 and was responsible for expanding the school’s drama department, advanced the partnership with ANW. He states, “A Noise Within clearly takes a unique approach to theatre – they have a quality and creativity unequaled by other professional groups. That was something I wanted my students to emulate.”

“We have been performing on our stage, which is quite impressive, but being on a professional stage would be an exciting experience for my students,” continues Overby. “ I wrote a proposal to partner with ANW and discussed it with Patrick Garcia, the director of performing arts for the Monrovia Unified School District, who reached out to ANW. When ANW’s artistic directors agreed to it, I began working with Alicia Green, the director of Education and Community Outreach at ANW.”

Concurs Green, “The director, Patrick, and I came together to discuss the proposed partnership and we decided to do ‘Lear’ as it worked best for the school and us. From the outset Nate and I worked to ensure students had a great experience and understood what it takes to do a show in a professional space.”

Overby adds, “This partnership is so much more than the students being able to perform ‘King Lear.’  We were able to join ANW’s cast for their table read of ‘Lear’ and we watched ANW actors perform it on stage. This gave my students the opportunity to join a professional cast on their journey on a production – to experience what it’s like to put on a professional show by observing ANW’s cast at several different points in their process. Furthermore, I want to develop a connection with ANW to inspire my students to pursue work with them after they graduate.”                     

“All students attended first rehearsal, some attended opening night, and all students came to a student matinee in mid-March,” Green said the week before their performance. “We wanted to immerse them fully in every step of the way – what it takes to make a full production a reality!  Nate worked with the students at Monrovia on the show and I am looking forward to having them come for the first time on Monday, the 24th, to rehearse on our stage, and then perform it the following night.”

Monrovia High School | Photo by Alicia Valdez / Monrovia High School website

While the show was put on at ANW, it was truly a student production as Green relates, “Other than providing one tech person to help set up the lights/sound they need, their technical director and students will be running all of the technical elements and stage managing the show. We are here to support them, but this is their show and we encourage them to make the space their own!”

“We are constantly looking for ways to engage students in the world of classical theatre,” Green says about ANW’s outreach. “Equitable access is of key importance, and we continue to grow and develop our education program through attendance at student matinees and evening/weekend performances, in-school residencies and workshops, full-school partnership programs, pre-show engagement activities, post-show conversations with the artists and our free study guides. Ideally, every student would have the opportunity to participate in some way with our programing to enhance their education!”

A Noise Within has its ‘Summer with Shakespeare’ camp and Saturday conservatory classes where students perform on its stage and in the building. This past Tuesday’s performance of ‘King Lear’ by Monrovia High School students, however, was a first for this kind of project.

According to Overby, MHS had two drama classes back in 2012 when he came to teach at the school. He says, “Now we have a full-time department offering five different periods of drama, including a Stagecraft class and an Honors drama course. We also started out with one performance a year; we are currently producing three a year which includes at least one musical and one play. This year we produced ‘Dracula’ in October, ‘Urinetown the Musical’ in March, and now ‘Lear’.”

‘King Lear’ was the capstone to a great year for the school’s drama students. And what better venue to fully realize the essence of one of Shakespeare’s most celebrated works than in Pasadena’s premier classical theatre company. 

Indeed it was a dream come true for these Monrovia High School students. How propos that their performance took place towards the end of A Noise Within’s own season they called ‘Beyond our Wildest Dreams’.  

School District Highlight: Monrovia

/ May S Ruiz / Leave a comment

Originally published in 2015 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, Monrovia Weekly, and Sierra Madre News

Nobel Prize in Economics co-recipient Thomas J. Sargent walked its vaunted halls as one of its students some five decades before earning that distinguished award in 2011. The institution – Monrovia High School. Nestled at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains, it paints such a pretty picture that it served as the setting for Hollywood films A Cinderella Story; Not Another Teen Movie; Liar, Liar; Leave it to Beaver; and Drive Me Crazy.

The picturesque scene, however, belies Monrovia High School’s academic prowess. The US News & World Report Best High Schools gave it a silver medal, ranking it at 12% nationally and 6% statewide. It has a college readiness score of 31 and an academic performance index at 802, above the California index of 789. It is the only 9 -12 comprehensive high school in the Monrovia Unified School District. MHS has a total enrollment of 1,766 students (51% male and 49% female), a total minority enrollment of 72%, 51% economically disadvantaged, and 5% English learners. It has 74 full-time teachers, giving it a student/teacher ratio of 24:1.

According to Dr. Katherine Thorossian, Monrovia Unified School District Superintendent, 100% of Monrovia High School’s Math and Science Academy 2014 graduates fulfilled the University of California entrance requirements with four years of college-preparatory English; three years of math; two years of lab science; two years of history/social science; two years of foreign language; one year of fine art elective; and one year of an additional elective in a college-approved course. Ninety percent of all HMS 2014 graduates enrolled in college.

The school’s accolades are equally robust in the athletic arena as the Wildcat student athletes compete with excellence. Monrovia High School offers athletic teams for both boys and girls and competes in the Rio Hondo League in the Southern Section of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF). MHS teams have earned numerous league championships and the Wildcats are home to CIF championship programs in football, baseball, basketball, track and field, and swim dating back to 1967.

The world-class education to which the district aspires would not be complete without a comprehensive arts department. Whether film or video production, vocal or instrumental music, ceramics, drama, dance, or art; students hone their own talents with the expert guidance of college level instructors, highly qualified teachers, and artists-in-residence. Indeed, the professional theatre program within the city is sponsored by the Monrovia High School District  offering students an opportunity to share the stage with actors from across the region.

Given its achievements in academics, athletics, and the arts, it is no wonder that in 2006 the community approved a $45 million bond to finance the high school’s enhancement project. Major construction transformed the campus by establishing a modern Performing Arts Center; constructing a science building with tech labs; and building an event center to support robotics as well as athletics competitions, a stadium and bleachers.

Monrovia High School boasts a beautiful bell tower and is one of a few select schools within the state equipped with a fully functional observatory where the Astronomy class convenes. In fact, during the 2012-2013 schoolyear, students in the Math and Science Academy communicated with the NASA space station through the dome link that is used in the Performing Arts Center.

Monrovia High School’s motto promoting ‘scholars and champions’ reflects the extensive work being done by their team of four college counselors and counselor technician. These are the architects of the annual college fair, financial aid and essay workshops hosted on campus. College tours are also available over spring break for juniors. Personalized attention is provided by counselors and additional resources are available in the Career Center where students prepare and complete their application during the college admissions process.    

The Monrovia Unified School District emphasizes the role its citizens play in their youth’s development. Residents of this small tight-knit community know that it takes a village to raise productive, responsible citizens. Parents, teachers, and neighbors share the responsibility for providing guidance to their studentry. At no time was this more palpable than in 2012 when the city was beset by the fourth teen suicide in two years. This propelled the leaders of the community to establish Healing Connections, a program aimed at eliminating teen suicide. A third of its membership is comprised of high school students. Through it, they launched the March for Balance campaign to reduce the stigma attached to mental health problems. MHS holds a fair on campus where families can come to meet with psychiatrists and family counseling professionals, to learn about coping with mental illness and treatment options. Healing Connections earned MUSD the prestigious Golden Bell Award, the district’s 18th such award.

This collaborative approach was utilized by MHS’s most acclaimed alumnus, Thomas Sargent, when his and Christopher Sims’ research on how changes in interest rates and taxes affect growth and inflation was awarded the Nobel Prize. According to Wikipedia, Thomas Sargent ranks 14th among the most cited economists in the world. What an honor it is for Monrovia High School, where the sound of his footsteps echoes on its halls long after he has left it.