the bird on fire

The Palm Valley School Student Blog

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Celebration Of Life

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Part of our What’s New in the PVS Neighborhood series

By 8th-Grade Blogger Soleil Antle

This past year, we lost retired Palm Valley teacher Mr. Ray Smythe. He was one of Palm Valley’s favorite history teachers. Last Sunday, loved ones hosted a Celebration of Life for Mr. Smythe. In The Desert Sun, it was noted that Mr. Smythe’s years as a teacher extended through middle and high school history teaching “for 39 years in Washington, Oregon and California.” Mr. Smythe wrote seven books on personal experiences like the loss of his partner and what the journey after felt like. Some of his books include Coping with Grief, Tips to Improve Your Retirement Experience, Creating a Positive Life one Column at a Time, and more. He was known at our school for printing out cards with quotes and giving them to people at grocery stores or really any public setting. He wrote a column for The Desert Sun. He was an Oregon Teacher of the Year. We mourn the loss of Mr. Smythe while also cherishing all the memories we had with him. 

Mr. Ray Smythe lived by the quotable quotes he often handed out on business cards. Ms. Zachik picked up one such card at Sunday’s Celebration of Ray Smythe’s life:  “The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love.”–Hubert H. Humphrey 

Ready to Write? Ready to earn $100?

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Part of our What’s New in the PVS Neighborhood series

By 8th-Grade Blogger Soleil Antle

As many know, Palm Valley School is a part of the state wide California Scholarship Federation (CSF). In 2024, our school decided to apply for the CJSF program, also known as California Junior Scholarship Federation. It’s a tough process qualifying for this state honor society, and here’s why:

A student establishes membership by earning academic points. The number of points earned must be twice the number of academic subjects in which the student is enrolled, i.e., 10 points must be earned by a student enrolled in 5 eligible subjects, 12 points for a student with 6 subjects, etc. A minimum of 4 academic subjects is required.” (csf-cjsf.org/cjsf-membership/)

At Palm Valley, we are Chapter 1418. We  meet every other Friday to discuss various topics and fundraisers. This week state CJSF announced the DiGiovanna Memorial Award essay competition, with the following prompt:

CJSF prides itself on service to communities. Share how one community service experience has impacted you personally. In addition, suggest a service that could benefit your community or school in the future.

csf-cjsf.org

The contest began accepting submissions Saturday, November 1st. The CJSF DiGiovanna Memorial Award essay competition closes at 6 p.m. on January 13th. For a chance to win $100, be sure to submit your response to the prompt if you are a CJSF member. See previous years’ winners on the CJSF website: csf-cjsf.org. This year it could be you!

Mummies and Vampires at School

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PVS Blogger Mason Conway on What’s New in the PVS Neighborhood

Halloween has come and gone at PVS. Kids created and bought costumes. Last Friday, October 31, Palm Valley students wore their costumes to school! There were blow-up cats, dinosaurs, Dragon Slayers, chickens, and Napoleans. 8th-grade Karsen Flury wore a Hawaiian shirt with boxing gloves. Guess what he was? Hawaiian Punch! 8th-grade Sami Alnabelsi carefully planned out his costume. He even had it sketched out. Sami said, “I wanted to be Theodore from Alvin and the Chipmunks because it’s realistic to my height, and I get to match with my friends Calum and Jaxon.” The Halloween parade was full of parents, teachers, administrations, kids on dragons, Dorothy from Oz, a Mona Lisa, super villains, Caesar, witches, Marie Antoinette, ghosts, and ghouls.

Sami Anabelsi’s Halloween costume plan

Prepared for Poetry?

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PVS Blogger Soleil Antle on What’s New in the PVS Neighborhood

This month Palm Valley students will be participating in our annual Poetry Recitation competition. Middle-school finalists have the opportunity to recite their poems in front of an all-middle-school assembly; and while our upper-school finalists have that same opportunity with an upper-school assembly, they are also eligible to move on and participate in “Poetry Out Loud”–a national recitation contest. Two years ago, Mirabelle Lee (Class of ‘25) made it to the California State Poetry Out Loud Finals and placed second! This year we are aiming for that first-place spot. 

Students have selected their poems in preparation for the exciting event ahead. Classroom competitions are taking place this week. The PVS Middle-School Finals will be held on Friday, November 14, in the MPR. The Upper-School Finals will take place the following Friday, November 21. Both take place during Firebird Time, from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. Parents are invited to both assemblies. English teacher Ms. Zachik said the events are worth seeing because not only is it “an English teacher’s dream to listen to students recite poetry,” it moves parents, too.

Palm Valley School Middle-School Poetry Recitation Finalists 2023

Halloween Door Decorating at PVS

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Our Newest Addition to The Bird on Fire

The Bird on Fire introduces our very own weekly PSA (Public service announcement) as part of a series making our blog unique, outgoing, and service-minded. We plan to do this weekly as a way to inform our viewers on what is actually happening in our local community. As fellow blogger Mason Conway notes, “It’s nice to inform our readers on what is happening in our school.” Blogger Sarah Alnabelsi adds, “I find it . . . helpful.” Opinions are great, but sometimes we just need to know what’s going on.

–Blogger Sami Alnabelsi

Public Service Announcement by 8th-Grade Blogger Sarah Alnabelsi

And the winners of the 2025 PVS Halloween Door-Decorating Contest were . . .
Grand Prize: Ms. Bajaj’s Grade 4!
MUS Prize: Mr. Jowett’s Advisory 11!
LS Prize: Ms. Bianchi’s Grade 2!
PS Prize: Ms. Ristaino’s PK2s!

Advisory 11, MUS Door Winners, highlighted puppet-master Jowett–the man pulling all the strings.

For many years at Palm Valley School, we have had an annual “Halloween Door Decorating Contest” among the entire school. Each advisory/class decorates a door using things like paper, drawings, crafts, and much more to best fit the Halloween theme. Each division–the Upper School, Middle School, and Lower School–competes against other classes in their division until they have a victorious winner. This year we celebrated yet again another Halloween Door Decorating contest, but there were some questions that needed answers. I went to MUS Division Head Mr. Koehler with my questions.

  1. How were the doors judged? 
  • “The doors are judged based on the originality, creativity, and execution of the door theme, its appearance and “Halloweenness” and the collaborative nature and level of student-teacher input in the door decorating process and finished product.”
  1. What day was the actual contest on?
  • “The Contest runs from October 16-October 30 with the judging taking place on Thursday, October 30 after school.”
  1. Who were the judges?
  • “The door judging is done by the administrative team.  They view each door and discuss its appearance and impact. They then judge each “Door” based on the specific criteria mentioned and how it compares to other doors in the particular division and school wide.”
  1. What is the best advice you could give to future contestants regarding this contest?
  • “The best advice I could give to contestants is be collaborative, have fun, be imaginative, and “creep it real,” Firebirds!”    

Hopefully these answers can help your class win next year’s contest!

Ms. Maguire has been a top competitor in past years. This year, her 6th-grade advisory squared off with “Ultimate Werewolf.”

Put Picture to Words

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Graphic Artists, we need you. National Poetry Month needs a poster. Create a graphic that features poet Amanda Gorman’s line: “There is a poem in this place–” Win money and esteem. The contest is open now through November 15. Details are below.

The Academy of American Poets invites students living in the United States, U.S. Territories, or Tribal Nations, in grades nine through twelve to enter artwork to be considered for the 2022 National Poetry Month Poster Contest for Students. The winner will be selected by judges Rafael López, -bestselling illustrator and artist, and Nikki Grimes, -bestselling author and poet and recipient of the 2020 ALAN Award for outstanding contributions to young adult literature. 

One student’s winning artwork, which will incorporate “There is a poem in this place—” from Amanda Gorman’s poem, “In This Place (An American Lyric)”, will be featured on the official National Poetry Month poster in 2022. The Academy will distribute 100,000+ free copies of the poster to classrooms, libraries, bookstores, community centers, families, and individuals nationwide in time for the April celebration. The winning student will receive $1,000 in cash and prizes and be featured in magazine and on Poets.org, which reaches millions of readers each year. The judges will also select a runner-up to receive Honorable Mention and a $250 cash prize. 

Submissions are open now until. The winner will be announced in January 2022.

For more information about the contest, including the full guidelines, visit: https://poets.org/national-poetry-month/national-poetry-month-poster-contest-students

Congratulations, PVS Academic World Quest

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Left to Right: Jake Sonderman, Sara Habibipour, Coach Mrs. Coffey, Elizabeth Shay, and Evan Spry

For the first time in Palm Valley history, our high school Academic World Quest team won First Place out of eight other schools in the Coachella Valley. Team members included Jake Sonderman, Sara Habibipour, Elizabeth Shay, Evan Spry and Coach Andrea Coffey.

Although this would normally mean that they could go to Washington D.C., they competed virtually in the national Academic World Quest competition. Out of 105 teams across the United States, the Palm Valley team ranked 14th! 

Academic World Quest is a competition about foreign affairs, international relations, and current events. Here are the topics that each member specialized in: 

  • Jake: The Post-Pandemic Economy, Exploring Peace in a World of Conflict, India-Pakistan relations, China-Latin America relations, and the International Labor Organization.
  • Sara: Global Protests, U.S. Foreign Service in the 21st Century, Red Sea conflict, America’s approach to Artificial Intelligence, and Uzbekistan.
  • Elizabeth: Fraying Alliances, U.S. Foreign Service in the 21st Century, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, Philippines-US relations, and the International Labor Organization.
  • Evan: The Arab Spring: 10 years later, Climate Change, US-Northern Triangle relations, Exploring Peace in a World of Conflict, and Uzbekistan.  

If this sounds interesting to you, consider joining World Quest next year! 

Source: AWQ winner and thebirdonfire.org blogger Sara Habibipour.