Our main office and Student Technology Services (STS) will be closed on Tuesday, July 4, 2023 in observance of Independence Day. We will resume operations during regular business hours on Wednesday July 5, 2023.
Independence Day is observed every year on July 4 and commemorates the birth of American independence.
This year’s graduation ceremony was full of amazing performances, inspiring speeches and memories that will be forever held by students and families. Everything that comes together on that day, from the decorations to the diplomas, is carefully crafted by our rockstar Grad team, people who work for an entire school year to make just a few hours happen seamlessly.
For some people, like Director of Student Services Matt Patterson, Administrative Assistant Angelica Gallardo and Charter School Secretary Patty Braaten, this wasn’t their first rodeo. For others, like Associate Director of Equity and Student Engagement Ron Thomas, Counselor Sam Webster and Social Worker Beatriz Alcazar, this was their first experience with a Visions In Education graduation. From working with graduates throughout the school year, to helping them through grad checkout, to watching them walk across the stage, our new staff got to see firsthand the incredible feat that is graduating our students.
“I have no idea how Angelica and Patty managed to plan a cohesive graduation, let alone TWO!” says Sam. “So much work and planning goes into it and it went off without a hitch. It was truly a beautiful event!”
The success of the day is also largely attributed to Kevin Wellsfry and the Facilities team, Adam Steffensrud and Brian Hart. As the first ones there and the last ones to leave, they were an integral part of the celebration!
Although a day as impressive as graduation never comes without its challenges, everyone involved worked to make sure that students’ needs were front and center, including Matt helping a student who didn’t have enough money in their bank account get a cap and gown and Sam assisting a student in need on graduation day.
“There are no words to describe how much I appreciate our social workers,” shares Ron. “Relentless interventions and support has been the motto all year and the graduation ceremony was no exception. A special shout-out to Sam Webster for simply being who she is at her core – someone that refuses to give up on any student regardless of the situation. Thanks for being flexible and in real-time supporting our students during the ceremonies.”
Of course, despite some hurdles, there were so many things to celebrate. And the best part? The opportunity to engage with our amazing students in person.
“I LOVE attending grad checkouts and graduation,” says Counselor Jen Nino. “It’s definitely the best part of the year to interact with all the students I’ve only seen on Zoom and give them hugs and congrats!”
Counselor Rija Gorkhali agrees, stating, “Graduation and grad checkouts are some of my favorite events to attend for many reasons, including finally SEEING the students that we have been working with and talked to a thousand times virtually.”
Angelica has been the mastermind behind graduation for many years now, and those involved have not been shy in expressing their praise and gratitude for all of her hard work.
“I would like to give a HUGE shout-out to Angelica who really is the graduation QUEEN!” shares Counselor Karla Gonzalez. “Without Angelica, grad checkouts and graduation would not be possible! SO much time and detail goes into planning those hectic days, but she manages to take care of everything!”
From the beginning of the school year to graduation day, Angelica worked directly with students and families to make sure that their big day came true. Without her tireless efforts, students would miss out on one of the core memories of high school.
“Angelica’s leadership, guidance and vision provided everyone that was a part of the process to be the best versions of themselves when it came to fulfilling their roles and responsibilities,” shares Ron. “So much of what she did was inspirational.”
Thank you to our incredible Grad team and all the staff involved for making such a special day come together so beautifully!
Visions In Education will be conducting scheduled system maintenance on Saturday, June 17, 2023 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The following production systems may be unavailable while maintenance is taking place:
Any users that need to use PLSIS, Schools PLP, iReady and/or Gmail during this time should login prior to 9:00 a.m OR try back sometime after 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 17, 2023.
Thank you for your attention to this matter,
Visions’ IT Department
On June 7, 2023, over 1,000 students walked across the stage at Memorial Auditorium in downtown Sacramento to receive their diplomas and officially become high school graduates. After drum rolls and cap tosses, they commemorated this milestone with friends and family, celebrating years of hard work, unwavering support and plans for the future.
This was only Visions’ second in-person ceremony since COVID, and it was graced with some incredible performances, speeches and words of encouragement from fellow students – stay tuned for links to the recordings! Whether it be college, trade school or the armed forces, our graduates seemed ready to take their next steps, like heading off to UCLA, packing up for Cal Poly, furthering their education at Chico State, joining the Marines and more. Thank you to our incredible teachers and counselors who have helped these graduates reach their goals; regardless of their paths, we’re already proud.
Grads, we are so grateful that we were able to celebrate you in such a big way. We have walked this educational path with so many of you for numerous years, and watching you close this chapter of your lives is always something special. Congratulations to the Class of 2023! We cannot wait to see how your lives unfold.
“After graduation, I plan on hopefully getting into nursing school! I’d like to thank Visions, especially my wonderful teacher, Mrs. Bonds, for being there for the 2 years I’ve attended Visions. Mrs. Bonds, if you come across this, I thank you so much! You’ve motivated me and pushed me to do my best, especially on times where I would slack off. I thank you so much for helping me and for being so patient as well as believing I could do it!
For someone who lacked high school credits, to graduate early is crazy. I would never have done it without the help of Visions. Because not only did Visions help “graduating” happen for me, they also helped me learn the importance of time management and having goals no matter what it is. A skill I will use for a lifetime! So thank you, Visions!
And to my family, I did it guys!!! WOHOOO! I’d like to thank each and every one of you for supporting me every step of the way. I love you dad, mom, and of course my siblings! I would never have made it if I didn’t have the BEST support system! This is just the beginning. And it’s only going to get better from here:)
Class of 2023, WE DID IT!!! Congratulations to each and every one of you! Good luck on your journey!”
“I enrolled at Visions because of its incredible schedule. I wanted to start getting ready for college during my senior year, and I tried to prioritize my well-being while working and making money.
I also chose Visions because I wasn’t feeling well at the time, both mentally and physically. As I was growing up, I never felt like I belonged any place, but Visions helped me feel content and at ease. I had a sense of belonging here. This school is an excellent example of how much it cherishes its students.
I want to thank my teacher, Ms. Quintanilla, for consistently looking out for me and ensuring that I completed my assignments on time. She pushed me to complete my tasks and never hesitated to assist me and answer any queries I had. I can sense how concerned she is for her students’ welfare, and she always inquired about our well-being. Thank you, Ms. Quintanilla, for being a part of my senior year.
My time at Visions was fantastic, and it certainly flew by. I want to encourage everyone who is considering attending Visions to do so; you won’t regret it.”
“I was drawn to Visions because of the Directed Projects and the ability to do dual enrollment. I learned to DJ and sew through my Directed Project, and even had the opportunity to DJ Visions’ Winter Ball and Prom with my mom! I also joined Black Student Union and became the first Vice President of the club. For the past year, I’ve been doing dual enrollment at my local community college and joined the California Scholarship Federation.
I would like to thank Julie Winalski, Danielle Singley, and Melinda Lewis for their amazing letters of recommendation. My counselor, Julie Winalski, was beneficial in my whole college application process. She helped me put all of my ideas for my college essays out efficiently. I also would like to thank Danielle Singley, my Advocacy teacher, for always answering any questions I had and helping me succeed in school by teaching me how to manage my assignments using my planner. I would like to thank my Spanish teacher, Melinda Lewis, who was always quick to respond. Her teaching style made me better equipped to get the State Seal of Biliteracy.
My favorite part about being a student at Visions was being able to schedule my assignments for the week and have the time to work on extracurriculars and hobbies. I had the flexibility to grow outside the classroom, while also being successful in all my classes. Joining Visions was one of the best decisions of my life!”
“I enrolled at Visions because it very much allowed me to do schooling that fit me and my own schedule. I am a manager at McDonalds, and I’m getting custody of my two teen sisters while also starting my life with finding a home. All of this was able to happen while I attended Visions because it helped me get school done on my time. Mrs. Kyles, my teacher, was absolutely amazing, understood everything I said, and was there continuously helping any way she could. She most definitely deserves my thanks.
These last few years have been crazy, at the age of 18 doing things that most students or adults don’t do, taking on responsibilities that not many take, sacrificing my own life for my little ones, all while doing school and working. Anything is possible that you put your mind to. Focus on it and you will walk straight towards your goal. Just another achievement marked off my list!”
“I’m planning to attend college after high school and pursue my career which is to become an electrical engineer! I would like to give a shout-out to my parents for leading me to the right path and always being there for me.
And I would also like to say a huge thank you to my teachers and especially Mrs. Wall for everything that you have done to make my high school experience great!”
“I plan on attending Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee to major in commercial music.
Thank you to my aunt, Cara Larson, and teacher, Mr. Avila, for being patient and always believing in me. And a very special thank you to my mom.”
See Daniela’s performance here along with videos of our other graduation performers.
Our main office and Student Technology Services (STS) will be closed on Monday, June 19, 2023 in observance of Juneteenth.
Juneteenth, or June Nineteenth, was enacted as a federal holiday in 2021 and commemorates the emancipation of slavery in the United States. It’s a day representative of hardship, hope and strength in the black community.
The Osadas can be characterized as many things – home schoolers, small business owners, and soccer fans. Although they started out at a traditional public school, they wanted a program that would allow them to explore their passions and family facets, and Visions’ flexibility, enrichment opportunities and unique learning environment provided them the perfect place to do so.
“We always knew we’d become a home schooling family,” says mom Krizy. “With Visions, we appreciated the idea of having a Credentialed Teacher guide us along the way and stipends to help pay for books and classes.”
After making the switch to Visions in 2017, the family got acclimated to the newfound freedom of home schooling. In addition to their studies, students Osiris, Zolia and Milani play competitive sports, take music lessons and perform daily household chores. They even formed their own band, The Osada 3! From singing into hair brushes to performing live in their community, the Osada children have been able to explore their love for music through Visions vendor Leapyear Music.
“Visions has given a tremendous opportunity to The Osada 3, as it’s afforded them a chance to learn music from Raymond Bambao,” says Krizy. “Raymond is a talented musician with decades of experience, and he agreed to become an Enrichment Vendor with Visions to work with my kids.”
Running a household is challenging, but running a home school and a small business on top is even more difficult. Krizy does all three, learning how to foster an independent learning environment for her students while also managing her home and bakery.
“Juggling the responsibilities of being a home school parent to students in three different grades, while also wearing my entrepreneurial hat and still being the ‘homemaker’ has its challenges,” shares Krizy. “But modeling how to learn is one of my favorite teaching techniques, and now my students can manage their own schedules and studies while also learning more practical skills.”
Krizy likes to call herself the “lead learner,” someone who is learning alongside her students as she teaches. With support from the family’s credentialed teacher, Janis Zelmer, Krizy has found frequent success in her home school approach.
“We navigate lessons with the premise that I can’t learn for them, they have to learn it themselves,” shares Krizy. “I’ve watched my kids make a mindset transformation in home school. Above all the math, science, history and grammar lessons, their most valued lesson was when they realized that they are empowered to discover, pursue and learn almost anything on their own.”
Home school has allowed Krizy to become more in touch with Osiris’, Zolia’s and Milani’s learning styles and interests. By not limiting her expectations of them, Krizy has seen her students reach a higher potential in their schooling.
“I’ve found that home school has given me back the domain to prepare my kids for life skills as well as help develop their learning and life habits,” says Krizy. “A school like Visions is a blessing for my family.”
To learn more about the Osada family, their home schooling journey and their small business, follow their Instagram accounts: @theosada3, @homeschoolrecipes and @thewhiptbaker.
Visionaries Share Their Stories
The Find Your Voice writing class, offered in partnership with Sacramento nonprofit 916 Ink, is all about expression, self-discovery and storytelling through the written word. Recently, we asked our Find Your Voice students to lend their voices in a different way – on video! In order to showcase all of the incredible things that the class offers, some of our middle school and high school members, teachers and even parents sat down on camera to share their experiences with the class and with Visions. Check out the video below:
“This class taught me it’s not going to be perfect but you’ve just got to try it and keep doing it and you’re going to get better at it.” – Isabella, Visions Find Your Voice Student
“Everyone is a writer when given a safe environment to express themselves.” – Crystal, Visions Teacher & Middle School Class Coordinator
Thank you Ashley, Isabella, Grace, Gabby, Abigail, Jaeda, Christina, Chad and Crystal for sharing your experiences!
We are so proud of our Visionaries for sharing their stories in so many different ways every single day. To learn more, visit the Find Your Voice page here.
About Find Your Voice
This class uses writing to take students in grades 6-12 on a journey of creativity and self-discovery. Students gain new confidence and discover the joy of writing. We proudly partner with Sacramento nonprofit, 916 Ink, to offer this class to our students. Students do not need to consider themselves a “writer” to sign up. The goal is to provide a creative and collaborative environment in which any student can discover their potential as a writer. The cost of this class is covered by your student budget.
About Our Partner, 916 Ink
916 Ink’s mission is to empower students through creative writing. Their programs create published authors, strong communicators and enthusiastic readers. Students increase their confidence, add to their vocabulary, improve their literacy skills and learn to communicate with empathy. Their programs have helped countless Visions students discover themselves and their voices. We are proud to partner with 916 Ink to empower our students to become the writers and changemakers of the future. Learn more at 916Ink.org.
“As a whole, Enrollment is really three different departments,” says Rick Lilley, Enrollment Services Manager. “There’s the Call Center, which is where contacts and applications are processed. This is usually the first point of contact with families. Then, there are the Enrollment Appointments, which is where we talk to parents and confirm students’ enrollment and start dates. This is usually the last part of the enrollment process. Finally, there’s the Assignments team. They manage the caseloads and make sure that all students have a teacher.”
To make this system successful, everyone in the Enrollment Department truly does need to be a jack of all trades. Not only do they need to understand the organization as a whole, they need to understand the individual breakdown between different academies, programs and offerings so that families can make a good decision for their students.
“We do a lot,” says Mariya Puris, Office Coordinator. “It’s not just ‘apply and then you’re enrolled.’ It’s a multi-step process, and there’s a lot that goes into it that people don’t think about.”
All of this work not only supports Visions as a school, but it greatly supports parents and their students as well. Visions provides summer school, credit recovery options and other opportunities to help families through their educational journeys.
“Working for Enrollment can be stressful, but I thrive on that,” shares Robert Kane, Office Coordinator. “It’s very fulfilling because 99 out of 100 families need help, and we’re here to help them. And they appreciate it. It’s awesome.”
Update: Nick’s Twilight set has officially been approved by Lego for production! He will continue to meet with the Lego Design team to work through the specifics, but you can expect a Twilight Lego set to hit the shelves sometime in the future! Congratulations, Nick! Check out the official announcement here.
Nick has always loved building things. Here at Visions, he builds spreadsheets as part of his role as Administrative Assistant for the Home School Academy. At home, he builds Lego sets.
But being part of the Adult Fans of Lego community goes way beyond just building the sets. For Nick, his fun starts all the way at the beginning – the design stage.
“During COVID, I came out of my ‘Dark Age,’ which is the time between childhood and adulthood when you abandoned Lego for your teen years. I started buying Lego sets again and was amazed at how far the design process had come,” says Nick. “Then I found Lego Ideas, which is a website where you can submit your own design ideas, and I got into voting on sets that I liked. Eventually I decided that I wanted to do something like that too.”
Using a free software called Studio, Nick started to play around with building different sets. His first was a Sherlock Holmes set, which he posted on the Lego Ideas website. At the time, it didn’t gain much traction, and he didn’t post anything again for two years. Then, Nick hatched an idea that would make it all the way to the Lego Design team themselves.
“I’m a nerd about Twilight. I used to hate it, but then I saw how good Lego is at making something that’s for kids work for adults too,” Nick shared. “I thought this concept would translate well with Twilight, so I started building a set based off of the movies.”
He began by creating the second floor of the Cullen house. He then made minifigures of some of the major characters, including Edward, Bella, Jacob and Carlisle. After the set was complete, Nick submitted it to Lego Ideas. Soon after, he went to put it on Reddit, but was amazed to see that somebody else had already posted it. It had also been published to a Twilight Facebook page that currently has 490,000 followers. It had even reached TikTok, where one video got 406,000 likes. In less than 2 days, Nick’s set had reached 10,000 votes on Lego Ideas, which means that it will be presented to Lego as an option for development.
“Lego will review any 10,000 vote sets and do a mock build,” shares Nick. “If it’s a good fit, they will announce in Fall if they’re going to make it a set!”
For Nick, this is just one of the many accomplishments that he’s used his personal and professional attributes to achieve. Apart from his set building, he would love to one day go into business analytics, a goal that the Instruction department at Visions has helped him nurture by giving him specific tasks tailored to this skill.
“I’ve always been super analytical,” says Nick. “I like projects where I can build out or expand different tools, which is why I love the projects that Sarah McFarland, Director of Instruction for Independent Study and University Prep, gives me in my current role. I think this mindset transfers over to my Lego set designing as well.”
Nick’s love of Lego reminds us all that we can embrace our inner child, and shows how passions and professions can intersect – something we strive to cultivate with our students here at Visions.
“I’ve taken on projects here that I didn’t know how to do, and had to kind of build the confidence to feel like I could learn it and figure it out,” says Nick. “This translated into the confidence to be creative outside of work as well.”
So what are Nick’s plans for the future? One is to continue to design sets, like his newest Landscape Photographer set, and build his Instagram page. He can’t wait to continue coming up with new ideas and appreciates any support he can get!
“Who knows?” says Nick. “Maybe one day I’ll even do a Visions set…”
Dear Visions Families,
Today is the last day of school, and I want to congratulate you for completing another year with Visions. For most of you, you are one step closer to your goal of graduating high school; for those of you that graduated on Wednesday, you have already completed your journey as far as we can take you. In either case, you have worked very hard to get here, and I congratulate you on your effort.
While you are away this summer, Visions staff will be working behind the scenes to get many new changes ready for your return. These include expanded budgets for all academies, increased Career Technical Education courses for high school students, and more clubs and events to enjoy. We will be building on our successes this year to make Visions even better when you return for the Fall Semester.
Just because school is out doesn’t mean Visions is quiet! Our teams will be sending you regular updates and reminders over the summer. Please check your email and mailing address in School Pathways to ensure your information is updated and you receive updates about new opportunities and important information for the Fall. You can also stay in the loop by following us on social media. Connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
On behalf of everyone at Visions (teachers, principals, counselors, and staff), thank you for choosing to spend another year with our school. We hope your summer vacation is restful and relaxing and that you return August 29th ready to begin learning again.
Sincerely,
Dr. Steve Olmos
Superintendent/Executive Director
