Principal's Message

 

Dear Paradise Families,

It is an absolute pleasure to work alongside you, the staff, and students to ensure the success of all of our students.  Our mission at Paradise is to ensure all students are learning at high levels.  We believe that exposing students to various careers/professions and helping them find their passion is extremely important.  We also believe that by “living in our values” we will not only help mold academically successful students but also passionate leaders.  

As we help students see the possibilities and dare them to dream, we teach students that perseverance is a key component to success.  We survey students on their dream jobs and try to offer as many opportunities as we can for them to explore pieces of that and/or ensure a guest speaker during the year is aligned with their dream.  As an Engineering Academy, we focus on Design Thinking when working on projects, learning new content, and jumping into new engineering projects.  

Our core values of respect, kindness, perseverance, and integrity are reinforced daily.  All classrooms have access to Social Emotional Learning curriculum that is taught to help even our littlest one’s explore their emotions and work through those feelings.  We opened a Relaxation Room in the front office that students may use during any time of the day.  That room was designed by our student leaders and is monitored by our staff.  Three days a week we have a Licensed Marriage Family Therapist, LMFT on site to work with students that may need someone to talk to.  Staff, parents, and students may refer students to the district’s Wellness program for additional check in’s.  

We are a campus of many different people from all over the world.  We have families from almost every continent, speak various languages, and different cultures.  We enjoy learning about what makes us each unique, what makes us similar, and what it means to be Panther.  

As a parent, you can be involved in various ways.  You can be involved on the academic side of working with small groups; on the art side with Meet the Masters; working on social emotional skills with Project Cornerstone, or with the school community in our Home and School Club.  If you can volunteer for only a couple of hours, we still need you!  As a school, we look forward to our continued partnership with you and your child.

Amber Andrade
Principal, Paradise Valley Elementary
andradea@mhusd.org