Dragon’s

Tale
sonomadragonstale.com
sonomadragonstale.com
January 2011 - Volume 20 - Issue 5 - Sonoma Valley High School
Giant’s trophy Dance team
visits Sonoma heats up
page 6 page 3
Boys’ basketball page 6

M e asure H b righ t e ns f ut ure By Shannon Murphy protecting from the elements.

A district board meeting was
held Tuesday, Jan. 11, to flesh out
the details of a district-wide con-
version to solar energy.
At the meeting it was revealed
that Roebbelen/Emard Contract-
ing Inc., based in El Dorado Hills
with over 50 years of experi-
ence, would team with Quattrocci
Kwok Architects (QKA) to con-
struct and implement the solar
panel installations at 11 different
sites in the district.
The arrangement entails that
9,303 panels will be placed at all
public schools as well as district
offices and the bus barn, and will
offset 96 percent of energy costs.
The contract with Roebbelen will
cost $9,609,909, nearly $2 million
less fewer the next lowest of the
five proposed bids. The solar pan-
els will be mounted upon various
carports and shade structures.
Some of these shade structures
will be located over the play-
Photo courtesy of Google Images grounds at elementary schools,
SVUSD is planning to install solar panels, like Analy High School, above, did in 2005. serving the ancillary purpose of
Roebbelen also intends to devote
50 percent of its workforce on the
project locally. Early estimates
suggest that the district will save
$500,000 in energy costs in its first
year and between $12 and $29 mil-
lion over the next 25 years.
To address the inevitable con-
cerns of theft and vandalism,
security from Gridlock, a Santa
Rosa-based company, will be in-
stalled as a means of protection.
The $40 million bond received
from Measure H, which passed
last Nov., as well as another $3.8
million to be received in state en-
ergy rebates, will help in other
causes too. Among them is a 25
year plan with QKA that will help
in needs that are not necessarily
energy-related on all school sites.
In addition to the cost efficiency
of the program, it will also prevent
54.2 million pounds of carbon di-
oxide from being released into
the atmosphere. Not only does
the project claim to be economi-
cally sound, but environmentally
friendly as well.

New school board president New machinery makes metal shop shine
By Grace Bon just get rid of all their machinery”
said an ecstatic Mark Lea, the
Recently elected school board president Nicole Abate Ducarroz shop teacher who led the effort to
has ambitious plans for this year, including installing gardens in ev- secure the new tools. “I just drove
ery SVUSD campus and integrating fresh, organic food in to school down with a truck and took my
lunches. Most importantly, Ms. Abate Ducarroz hopes to create a cur- pick of $10,000 machines.”
riculum that allows all students to graduate high school college and ca- However, the process was more
reer ready. “We will do what it takes to build pathways of success for complicated than that. Mr. Lea
every student,” she said. “My motto for this year is ‘embrace hearts, went on to explain how he had
inspire minds.’” to have a full background check

Videos for the big screen and carry a photo ID. “They even
have to check the monitors they
By Grace Bon are getting rid of to see if they
have an image burned into them”
As the Sonoma Valley Film Festival nears, students in Video Pro- Coincidentally, Mr. Lea’s first
ductions classes are preparing their own contributions for the event. visit to the Lab was on Hiroshima
Participants must have their video selected in order for it to show at the Day, commemorating the day the
festival under “student films.” Senior Danny Wirick, a Video Produc- first atomic bomb was dropped on
Photo by Thomas Perot
tions veteran, commented, “We’ve all been working really hard over Along with other expensive tools, metalshop has acquired the metal lathe shown
Japan. “There were guards with
the past few months. I can’t wait to see my movie on the big screen.” above, used for cutting and shaping metal. assault rifles guarding the doors

Seniors dig into campus garden By Luther Cenci
By Sebastian Amara Anyone walking into the Metal
Shop Building cannot help but
Thomas Perot and Luther Cenci, seniors, have dedicated their senior be impressed by the spread of
project to creating a garden here on the SVHS campus. Designed to sanders, drill presses, and lathes.
meet student needs, the garden could provide fresh food to the school What they may not realize is that
while also making a greener campus. The garden would operate through many of the newest machines
Earth Club as an extra curricular activity supported by student efforts. were last used in the develop-
According to Perot and Cenci’s preliminary design, the garden will be ment of our nation’s stockpiles
placed between the portable language buildings and the cell tower. of nuclear weapons.
The Shop classes have recently
acquired over $28,000 worth of
used equipment from Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory
(LLNL), best known for develop-
ing the majority of the Cold War’s
nuclear weapon designs.
The intense federal commitment
to national security turned into a
windfall for SVHS. “Whenever
[LLNL] finishes a project, they
against violent protesters.”
Metal Shop got its hands on a
variety of new tools: an $8,000
welding source, a precision sur-
face plate, and a $10,000 lathe
topped the list.
“The best thing about this arrange-
ment is that we can keep going back,”
said Mr. Lea. “They have all sorts of
stuff: in the back of the lab was a
whole box of model airplanes.”