On Dec. 10, Carlé students Leticia Bowman, Jessie Green, Constance Hazelwood, Desiree Bauer, Mayra Pantoja, Nathan Galindo, Nick Paonessa and Blue Heron student Robert Kanoe volunteered at Burns Valley School.

Burns Valley School was holding a free luncheon. The student volunteers served lunch and helped Santa give out gifts. Mr. To stated that they were polite and did a wonderful job. He also said that the community appreciated their effort.

On Dec. 16 Carlé had a white elephant gift exchange. For all of the people who aren't familiar with this event, it has a few steps. First, students and teachers bring secret Santa gifts. Next, a name is drawn and that student picks a present and opens it. Then the next person goes up and they either pick a present or take the first person's present. This continues until all the presents are given out. The goal is to make sure every student gets a gift.

The teachers at Carlé know that Christmas may not be the best time for all the students at the school so all the teachers take extra care to make sure that everybody gets a gift.

The Carlé news crew and everybody at Carlé gives a special thanks to staff members Dennis To, Pat Howell, Verna Rogers, Alan Siegel, Angie Siegel, Dan Maes, Steve Hammond, Barbara Dye and Gary Oakes for all of their hard work on this event.

Because of the end of the grading period some students will be getting sustainability awards. Students who got gold level two times have the option of getting a mini mouse pad, a small mug, or a key chain from our school based enterprise. These students are Raina Golden, Jade Fox, Jesse Greene, Shania Jones and Jonathan Warren.

The students who got at least silver level two times can get a mini mouse pad. The students who earned this are Saffron Blue, Leticia Bowman, Jr. Garcia, Chrissie Green, Dallas Schell, Corissa Schoonderwoerd, Emily Thompson, Tucker Barnett, Desiree Bauer, Colten Robone, Monique Throop, Dennis Warner, Austin Weldon, Erika Woods and Lindsay Yaquinto.

Teacher Angie Siegel will be teaching a hazmat class in late January. It is a strict and rigorous course, and it is state certified.

When Angie Siegel was asked for more information about the course she responded, “The full course title is First Responder Operations. The students will learn how to respond to a hazmat spill; who to notify, and how to isolate, and deny entry for public safety. They have to pass a state test to be certified, and they get to spend a day with Division Chief Willie Sapeta at the Lake County Fire Protection District. There they will learn how to run a decontamination corridor, as well as how to use various detection tools used in hazmat incidents.”

Carlé welcomes new student Cameron Carrillo. The Carlé newspaper crew wishes him a wonderful school year.

That is all for this week, have a wonderful vacation!

Jade Fox is a student at Carlé Continuation High School in Lower Lake, Calif.