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What Does Your Dream House Look Like?

February 28, 2025 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

By 6th-grade Bloggers Greenlee Bartley and Lina Kakoussian

We asked students and faculty about their dream house, and we found amazing results! First, we asked members of our PVS community to describe their dream house and where it would be. Then, we asked their opinion on whether they liked . . .

  • a “simple” house with not much clutter or color; 
  • a “modern” house–again without much color and very box-like; 
  • a “cottage core” house–looking like it belongs in the forest with lots of greens and plants; 
  • a “lots-of-colors” house; 
  • or an “aesthetic” neutral-looking house that reflects individual ideas of beauty. 

As you can see, cottage core was the popular choice.

Simple|||| 
Modern|||| |||| |||| |||| ||
Cottage Core|||| |||| |||| |||| |||
Lots of colors||||
Aesthetic|||| |||| ||||

A “Fairytale” house and garden, according to Gulley Greenhouse

Without further ado, let’s see exactly how the PVS students and faculty answer the question: What Does Your Dream House Look Like?

Ms. Zachik, Ms. Maguire, and Mr. Satterfield start off strong with amazing answers!

Ms. Zachik: “I want to live in the desert, on a gentle hill with lots of plants.”

Ms. Maguire: “Not very big, with lots of arts & craft stuff.”

Mr. Satterfield: “Around the mountains with no cell service.”

Mikel gives us a warm answer!

“A warm and cozy cabin in the Swiss Alps.”

Rowen answers strongly with a “Mid-Century” answer!

“A mid-century cabin in Big Bear.”

Daniel gives us a bougie answer!

“A 17-million-dollar house in Dubai.” 

Savannah answers the question with a sunny response!

“A house in Orange County by the beach.”

Miller gives us a fun answer!

“A retro house in Long Beach.”

Leah gives an old-fashioned answer!

“An old-money house in Greece.”

Addison gives a modern answer!

“A modern-beach mansion.”

Reagan gives a strong answer!

“A huge house in San Diego.”

Penelope gives an awesome answer!

“A white and pink house in New York.”

Dior gives an interesting answer!

“A modern house in Palm Desert.” 

Cleo answers strongly with a big response!

“A giant mansion in Hawaii.”

Charlie J. responds with a cozy answer!

“A small cozy English country house.”

Mark gives a very yummy answer!

“A big house on the mountains with a food court.”

We have a very unique answer from Remy!

“A row house in Belfast, Ireland.”

Logan gives a very interesting answer:

“A cabin in the mountains.”

Sierra answers strongly with a cool answer!

“A two-story house in a busy city.”

Silvanita gives us a cold answer!

“A snowy environment for lots of pets.”

Abby responds with a popular answer!

“A mid-century modern house.”

Brooklyn gives a simple but awesome answer!

“An apartment in the city.”

And, sophomore Olivia adds, 

“A cottage in the forest.”


From a retro house in Long beach, to an old-money house in Greece, I think we have many different opinions. We interviewed a lot of friend groups and people together, and as you can tell, a lot of people have the same interests. We like a roof over our heads, a pleasant view, and a place for shelter with loved ones. 

Filed Under: Aesthetic, Architecture, Home Tagged With: Greenlee Bartley, Lina Kakoussian, What Does Your Dream House Look Like?

A Dream Valentine’s Day!

February 27, 2025 by szachik@pvs.org 2 Comments

A Survey Conducted by Soleil Antle 

Valentine’s Day is a special time once in a year to celebrate yourself, family and friends, no matter how far. On this day the air is filled with the magic of joy and appreciation as people send gifts and sweet messages of affection to their loved ones across the globe. Curious about Valentine’s Day celebrations close to home, seventh-grade blogger Soleil Antle asked the Palm Valley School faculty to describe their perfect Valentine’s Day. 

Ms. Patino from the Upper-School Office has a confident response!

Soleil: What is your perfect Valentine’s Day laid out?

Ms. Patino: Spend a day in Japan, exploring the city, and eating some Japanese food. Ending the day with my favorite donut (mochi donut) from Mr. Donut. 

Soleil: What gift would you want? 

Ms. Patino: Pink roses, and a Nintendo Switch. 

A short and sweet response from PVS Bookkeeper Alice Burkholder!

Soleil: What would you like to do on Valentine’s Day? 

Alice Burkholder: I would like a massage and a nice dinner.

Soleil: What is your dream gift? 

Alice Burkholder: A fully paid expense trip to Italy. 

A thoughtful reply from History teacher Mr. Satterfield. 

Soleil: What is your ideal Valentine’s Day?

Mr. Satterfield: I’d go on a nice walk with my wife and my dog, and we would go to our favorite restaurant, Talay Thai. Then we would go back home and watch a movie.

French teacher Ms. Brady has a great response! 

Soleil: What would you like to do on Valentine’s Day?

Ms. Brady: I’d like to have my nails done and get a facial, then get a new outfit at Bloomingdales (with new shoes). Then I want a candlelit dinner in a really nice restaurant, with crème brûlée  for dessert.

Soleil: What about the perfect gift?

Ms. Brady: An all-expense paid vacation to Paris, first class tickets. Hotel stay at the Georges V!

Ms. Maguire gives a humble response. 

Soleil: What is your perfect Valentine’s Day laid out?

Ms. Maguire: I would come to school in Valentine’s Day clothes and get free ice cream from Handels.

Soleil: What gift would you want?

Ms. Maguire: Somebody else makes my dinner and it tastes delicious and I don’t have to clean dishes. 

Mrs. Fisher answers fiercely!

Soleil: What would be your perfect Valentine’s Day?

Mrs. Fisher: My perfect Valentine’s Day would be a really delicious meal, in a romantic setting after having spent the day with my husband either golfing or having a massage. Then capping it off with a nice meal.

Mr. Killeen gives a lengthy response.

Soleil: How would you spend your Valentine’s Day?

Mr. Killeen: Get up early, and I mean real early before the sun rises. Then get in the car, get out to a trail, not just any trail though–one with a crazy view with either a waterfall-ending or a mountain-view ending. Hike up for an hour in the dark, stop for a cup of coffee, which I make over a small camp stove while watching the sun rise. Continue up the mountain till you reach the end. Have a wonderful picnic dinner there, with a hiking buddy. Camp overnight with companions. Then hike down the next day.

Soleil: The best gift would be? 

Mr. Killeen: The best gift would be to travel to Patagonia/Iceland with friends. 


These are very thorough answers from our Palm Valley School faculty, quite the variety. As I interviewed people, I have learned just how unrealistic these dreamed-of days are, but it’s all about the imagination. Whether you’re on a vacation in Paris or enjoying a massage, you are spending time with those special people. “Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is growing up.” James Baldwin

–Soleil Antle 

Filed Under: Culture, Daily Life, Dreams Tagged With: A Dream Valentine's Day!, Soleil Antle

Timmy Wears a Beanie

February 27, 2025 by szachik@pvs.org 2 Comments

At thebirdonfire.org, we’ve been thinking about the clothes we wear and what they say about us. If you were a pig named Timmy, and you wanted to dress it up a bit for Valentine’s Day, what would you wear atop your head?

A Google Drawing by Mark Huber

In the parallel universe of pigs, there is a red pig named Timmy who lives in Rancho Mirage, California. On Valentine’s Day, Timmy decides to wear a beanie. The Google Drawing below is a picture of him wearing the beanie. The picture was copied three times, and each copy was edited to have differing colors:

The beanie in this picture was modeled on a beanie that Mark Huber bought in Las Vegas and actually owns. Timmy the pig comes from a Creative Writing class prompt to which Mark Huber responded. Timmy the pig will appear in one of the Diary of a Green Piggy novels, also written by Mark Huber.

Filed Under: Aesthetic, Fashion Tagged With: Mark Huber, Timmy Wears a Beanie

Mason and Calum Build a Dream House

February 27, 2025 by szachik@pvs.org 4 Comments

By Middle-School Blog Architects Mason Conway and Calum Webster

The Blog Staff has been playing with the idea of creating Dream Houses. Architects Mason and Calum decided to construct their Dream Home digitally. Come on in, and take a tour.

To further conceptualize our dream house, we built this house in Minecraft. This is the penthouse on top of the Plaza Hotel in Upper Manhattan, New York. It displays spectacular views of the Hudson River. Catch the open floor plan. This penthouse is a spacious 7,000 square feet with a master bedroom and one for the kids. The house includes a cellar, a library, and a studio room. — Mason and Calum

Just now on the market: a penthouse constructed by the Architectural Team of Conway & Webster.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

What Home Means to Morgan

February 14, 2025 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

By 7th-Grade Poet Blogger Morgan Richardson

Morgan hails from Oregon. She still speaks wistfully of the Pacific Northwest where she spent her early years. So, in our Blog Staff discussion of dream houses, Morgan recalls aspects of her Oregon home.

A house, a home 

A place to build memories

With the people you love.

Alone or together 

In these walls 

We will remember forever.

A marble kitchen counter,

Golden hardware,

Wooden floors,

My sister stepping through the door.

Footprints embedded in the cream-colored carpet.

A dog bed with a mountain of hair around it.

The office with a giant chandelier

All my family I miss so dear.

A big deep blue couch,

A hot fireplace and a kid too close–“Ouch!”

Rodents hosting showdowns in the upstairs attic.

Creaking floors made children panic.

Pink mermaids plastered on bed sheets.

A bunked bed where we spilled all the deets.

A six bedroom palace when I was small,

My past–I still cherish it all.

Filed Under: Aesthetic, Architecture, Dreams, Home Tagged With: Morgan Richardson, What Home Means to Morgan

If you could live anywhere . . . ?

February 14, 2025 by szachik@pvs.org 1 Comment

By 6th-Grade Bloggers on Special Assignment Dior Halum and Sophia Nayfack

Over the past couple of weeks, Sophia and Dior went around campus asking the PVS community: “Given ANYBODY, ANYWHERE, who do you want to live with and in what kind of weather?” Since it is so hot in the desert, Sophia and Dior wanted to see if people would stay given the chance to leave. 

8th-Grader Elizabeth Trevino-Greenwood

“I want to live in cold and snowy weather with my best friend Emmy! ”

8th-Grader Zoey Guess

“I would like to live with my husband and in snowy weather.”

7th-Grader Grace Ghaly

 “I would like to live in a beachy climate with my family.”

8th-Grader Ryder Gardner

 “In a place where there is always sun with my dog.”

Ms. Emma

“With my son Dean in the snow.”

8th-Grader Zoe Groendyke 

 “I want to live alone with my cat in the snow.”

12th-Grader Lily Jones

“I would like to live with my best friends in the sun.”

9th-Grader Sierra James

“I would live with my dogs and friends in the cold.”

6th-Grader Lina Kakoussian

 “I would want to live with Reagan and Greenlee in a 70℉ weather.”

6th-Grader Charlie Joyce

 “In a sunny climate with Mikel and my dog Maurice.”

6th-Grader Cash Brasfield

“Beachy weather with my dog.”

6th-Grader Daniel Bagheri

“In the sun with my friends.”

6th-Grader Mikel Lomsky

“In the sun with my friends.”

6th-Grader Roman Magellanes

“In the snow with my friends.”

7th-Grader Silvanita Garcia

“The rain and snow with many animals.”

Coach Erenberg

 “75℉ with my wife.”

In conclusion, we got a wide variety of answers throughout the different grades, and even staff members! Everyone gave their question a lot of thought and personality! The most common answer throughout the campus was a snow-filled landscape with friends. 

“A true friend knows all of your flaws and chooses to stick around.” — Elizabeth Trevino Greenwood

Filed Under: Alternate Realities, Dreams, Home Tagged With: and even Faculty answer: “If you could live anywhere with anybody, Dior Halum, middle, Sophia Nayfack, Upper Schoolers, where would you live? and with whom?”

A Vampire’s Suite

February 14, 2025 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

It’s Modernism Week here in the desert. So, the Blogging Staff has given thought to Architecture. Soleil (because we can’t always explain where Soleil’s mind goes) designs in verse a dream house for a . . . vampire. It might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but the macabre-minded will find it gangrene and cozy.

By Middle-School Blogger-Poet Soleil Antle 

My raging heart of murder–destruction,

self pity, and loneliness long for a home:

Dark colors and intense textures;  

A big black castle house, blood-sucking turrets;

Ash stains on the floors, a blood red carpet;

Arched door frames filled with bugs,

Ceilings up high, with chandeliers of rust; 

Eight open caskets for lounging comfort,

Gut-stained floors with a dome-shaped mural,

A resting place for my fangs,

A blazing untamed fire pit,

A hole so deep only death is an option,

Shelves of books written about gangrene and pain,

Skull-embedded comforters, pillows of teeth;

Eyeballs at the breakfast table, a nice sweet treat.

The sun comes out and suffocates me;

May my bats rest in peace.

Filed Under: Aesthetic, Architecture, Art, Home Tagged With: A Vampire's Suite, Soleil Antle

Didn’t Have to be a Love Song

February 14, 2025 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

Congratulations to Valentine’s Day Open Mic winners, sophomore Shayan Habibipour and senior Kristina Panagiotaros! PVS’s California Scholarship Federation hosted its annual Valentine’s Day Open Mic. A full slate of talent performed before a lunchtime crowd in the Upper-School Courtyard. Two-time winner Kristina Panagiotaros paired with Shayan Habibipour for a duet. They swept. The two walk home with a Valentine’s Day Basket o’ Goodies–donated by Lily Jones and family.

Winners Kristina Panagiotaros and Shayan Habibipour sang a duet accompanied by Shayan on guitar.

Second Place went to the slam poetry duo of sophomores Rylie Conway and Leah Ferreira. Cue cards scripted by Louisa Richardson were a key part of the performance. The trio won a Starbucks gift card.

Second-Place Winners Leah Ferreira and Rylie Conway slammed some poetry “Timber” while Louisa Richardson got busy with the cue cards.

Third Place went to freshman Nevan Owsley, who sang, of course, Sinatra. What’s a Valentine’s Day without Sinatra? He won Starbucks as well.

Third-Place Winner Nevan Owsley added a little Sinatra to the day.

The crowd cheered and sang and happily slurped their Parents Association-gifted Handel’s ice cream. The talent included joke-telling, dancing, poetry, singing, middle-school performers and high school. Senior Abby Assefa served as emcee. The California Scholarship Federation officers were judges.

Open Mic AND ice cream–What could be better?!

Filed Under: Current News, Daily Life, Entertainment Tagged With: Didn't Have to be a Love Song

Attn: Middle-School Smarties!

February 13, 2025 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

Our newly state-approved California JUNIOR Scholarship Federation met for its first-ever Orientation Meeting this week. Applications are out and available for 7th and 8th-grade members. Pick up applications from Ms. Zachik in Room US#7. Hurry. Applications are due Monday, February 24. Because we are a newly minted chapter, state CSF has approved retroactive qualifications for past semesters this one time only. That means this year’s 8th grade can qualify as Honor Members for this year’s Promotion Ceremony. Get your applications in now.

Filed Under: Academic Spotlight, School Events, Up-and-Coming Businesses Tagged With: Attn: Middle-School Smarties!

Advice on Being a Good Friend 

February 13, 2025 by szachik@pvs.org 2 Comments

By Middle-School Blogger Calum Webster

As a 12 year old in middle school, I have had lots of friendships. Over the years, I have also acquired first-hand experience on how to be a good friend from my own friendships. 

Advice #1: Don’t interrupt your friends when they are talking.

Photo Credit: Ms. Zachik

A very important step in a friendship is not interrupting them when they are talking. It shows respect when you are listening, and you can give feedback, but you should wait till they have finished talking before you start. You don’t have to like what they are talking about, but still stay interested in what they are saying. 

Advice #2: You don’t always have to like the same things, and you can have your opinions.

Source: pngtree.com

When you guys are talking or texting, it doesn’t matter what you are doing. You don’t have to like what they are talking about or what sport they play. You have to accept they can like what they like, and you can like what you want, too. Everybody has their own opinions, and that’s okay. Also, don’t get in a lot of fights. It is normal to get in one or two. There are many ways you can get in fights. But, when you fight over who’s right or who’s wrong, you have to accept that you can be wrong sometimes.          

Advice #3: Be supportive of your friend in what they decide to do, but also don’t let them do something bad.

Source: Freepik.com

You have to be supportive of your friend and cheer them on in what they are doing. But you also have to be careful of what you cheer them on for; perhaps don’t cheer them on if they are doing something bad. You can help your friends out in many ways, like if they are going on a long road trip with you and you are done packing, you can help them pack. Another way you can help your friend out is if they are in a tough time; it won’t hurt to help them when they are having a bad day. Also a real friend should make you feel comfortable and lift you up. A friend should not make you feel uncomfortable; they should make you happy to be their friend.   

Advice #4: You should be in a real friendship because you like them as a person, not because you want something.

Photo Credit: Ms. Zachik

You should not be in a friendship with someone because they are popular or have money. You should be their friend for who they are. It is important to have a strong friendship because you like them as a person. 

So, there you have it: be “real” in your friendship; be supportive; still, be an individual; and never interrupt.

Filed Under: Advice, Happiness Tagged With: Advice on Being a Good Friend, Calum Webster

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About

We are the Palm Valley Firebirds of Rancho Mirage, California. Join us in our endeavors. Venture through the school year with us, perusing the artwork of our students, community, and staff. Our goal is to share the poems, stories, drawings and photographs, essays and parodies that come out of our school. Welcome aboard!