Message From Head of School

Jim Skrumbis

The May and June issue of The Trailblazer provides the opportunity to reflect on a highly productive and exciting year and our remarkable legacy.

Thirty years ago, Sierra Canyon School welcomed its first elementary students to the site that now serves as the Main Office on our Lower Campus. On April 14th, our first Upper School students celebrated and commemorated the move to their permanent home on our new Science and Humanities Classroom Building on West Rinaldi Street. We look forward to welcoming our rising 6th through 8th grades students to this wonderful new facility next fall. If you have not yet had the opportunity to tour the new 7th through 12th grade Classroom Building, please feel free to stop by between now and the close of school on June 5th for a walk through our beautiful, new campus.

As you peruse sections of The Trailblazer, you will see that “Striving For Our Personal Best,” the theme of the Sierra Canyon School 2008 Olympic Fair, is prevalent throughout the Sierra Canyon community. From the Lower and Middle School students’ collaboration on the Olympic Fair and their year-long academic investigations on cultures spanning the globe, to numerous Middle School student awards in drama and science, to a group of Upper School students who have been sited by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation as Commended Scholars, our pupils have demonstrated their passion for excellence, as well as the tenacity that is required to excel. The same can be said for our parents. From Parent Association volunteers to a successful 30th Anniversary Gala Benefit, our parents have worked collaboratively to help promote our programs advance our school’s mission.

In less than 24 months, you have witnessed construction on West Rinaldi of the first independent, non-sectarian, co-educational high school to be built in the San Fernando Valley since 1961. The Upper School pages include a recap of moving day and a fond farewell to our temporary campus on Nordhoff Place. “Watch Us Grow” highlights the Upper School’s opening day on April 14th.

With this issue of The Trailblazer, we bid a fond farewell and sincere thanks to several colleagues who have been a part of the Sierra Canyon School community for the better part of thirty years. Ann Gillinger, Judie Malkin, Susan Mitchell, and Virginia Janovsky have enjoyed distinguished careers as educators and have provided a generation of children with a foundation for learning. Thank you, congratulations, and our best wishes to each of you.

The May and June issue of The Trailblazer will also mark the conclusion of the monthly format for this publication. Over the summer, we look forward to making improvements to our website so that our parents will have improved and immediate access to news and information about the School, division portals, team websites, printable schedules, links to maps, archival information, and the like.

Never willing to rest on our laurels, we have less than one month in last push toward end of school. Best of luck to our students on their final exams—and I look forward to seeing many of you at the celebrations and ceremonies that will mark a wonderful school year.

Thank you for your many contributions to making this a highly memorable and successful year.

With appreciation and best wishes,

Jim Skrumbis
Head of School