The Honors Humanities Seminar program at San Marino High School, a collaborative effort between the SMUSD and the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, earned a prestigious Golden Bell Award for the San Marino Unified School District at an awards ceremony held last Saturday night in San Diego.
Golden Bell Awards recognize outstanding programs and governance practices of school boards in school districts and county offices of education throughout California. It is sponsored by the California School Boards Association and has been in existence for 38 years.
The seminar won in the category of “Community Schools through Partnerships and Collaboration” for high schools. English teacher Amanda Hernandez and Visual Arts teacher Michelle Pauline both serve as instructors for the Honors Humanities Seminar course, which was the subject of a feature article in the April 14, 2017 edition of The Tribune.
School Board President C. Joseph Chang was in attendance at the awards ceremony, which was held in conjunction with the annual conference of the California School Boards Association.
“We were delighted that SMUSD received the 2017 Golden Bell Award,” said Chang. “On behalf of the board of education, we congratulate Mr. Doug Berry and his team for this remarkable achievement. The Honors Humanities Seminar is an excellent example of our working together with a preeminent local institution in our neighborhood in partnerships for the benefit of our students. Our district will continue to explore opportunities to establish educational partnerships with academic and cultural institutions for our students.”
The genesis of the Honors Humanities Seminar appeared during a meeting between Superintendent Dr. Alex Cherniss and officials at The Huntington just a few weeks after Cherniss took over in July, 2015.
“We were talking about a partnership between the school district and I thought, ‘why not a class?’” Cherniss recalls. “I relayed the idea to then-Principal Mary Johnson and she and her staff did the rest of the work. I think it’s a great addition to our curriculum.”
Cherniss was genuinely appreciative for the collaborative effort following the awards ceremony.
“It was an honor to show the entire State what innovation looks like in San Marino,” Cherniss said. “We are proud of our high school administration, teachers and students for making this dream a reality and of course we are very thankful for our amazing community partner in The Huntington. We thank Steve Hindle and his entire team at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens for their continued support of excellence in the San Marino Unified School District.”
The district submitted the seminar for the award, saying “Honors Humanities Seminar is a reading and writing-intensive course co-taught by two highly qualified teachers from the English and Art Departments, with a distinct focus on the study of art and literature. Students read, analyze and discuss various works of literature and art from the collected works of the Huntington Library and Gardens. From the study of literature and art, students produce written critiques that compare and contrast works from several artists and writings over various time periods, and examine the influence of one upon the other.”
“The collaboration between these two groups provides students with a college-level class experience which is equivalent to a UC course,” said San Marino High School Assistant Principal Doug Berry.
