Carpinteria High School programs highlighted at recent board meeting

The Carpinteria Unified School District (CUSD) Board of Trustees heard about several Carpinteria High School (CHS) programs during the board’s March 12 meeting. 

The STEM Summer Bridge program brings students to Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) for a week of courses and activities, from June 17 to June 21, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The programming will include a one-unit personal development course on effective time management, as well as a student panel, a science discovery activity and a keynote speaker seminar. Students will also have access to food from the cafeteria throughout the week.

“This is intended for first-generation students so they can see what it’s like as a college student, and they can see themselves as college students,” Angelica Contreras, the director of Admissions and Records at SBCC, said at last Tuesday’s meeting. 

Contreras and her team were responsible for bringing the Summer Bridge program to Carpinteria, CHS principal Gerardo Cornejo told the board. 

CHS teachers Peter Cotte and Trevor Orlando introduced members of the high school’s mock trial team during the meeting, which recently took home third place in the 41st annual Santa Barbara County Mock Trial competition. 

The team of students played various courtroom roles, including prosecutor, defense lawyer and witnesses. Students learned from their faculty advisors, as well as the legal mentor Mary Anne Weiss, who was unable to attend Tuesday’s meeting. CHS students portrayed a fake fraud and murder case and took home third place in the county-wide competition. 

The CHS Math, Engineering Science and Achievement (MESA) program was also highlighted for its recent achievements, placing first in a math challenge and third in a crime scene science challenge. 

Brianna Baeza, the MESA program coordinator for UC Santa Barbara, works with Carpinteria MESA programs at the high school and middle school. Baeza told the board the program is designed to assist first-generation, low-income and underrepresented students in “learning about their post-secondary options, such as community college, four-year college, trade school or any other path the student is interested in,” she said.