Best of Luck to Our AP Spanish Students

AP Spanish students will be taking the AP Spanish and Culture exam on May 15th.

Southwest Middle School is the only middle school in the district to offer a college level course at the middle school level. Students who score 3 and higher on their AP exam will receive college credit. Best of luck to our Buccaneers preparing for their AP Spanish and Culture exam. We are proud of you!

Best of Luck on CAASPP! Check out this week’s schedule:

Calling all Campers!

In partnership with California State Parks, Un Mar de Colores is offering a Free 3-day, 2-night overnight camp for 8th graders in San Diego County. The camp is all about immersing students in nature, exploring the watershed system at Cuyamaca Rancho State Park and Cardiff State Beach, and giving them opportunities to grow through environmental education, hiking, swimming, surfing for beginners, and team-building activities.

This year, they’re running three camp sessions! Space is limited. Here are the dates and locations:

• July 8th–10th – South Bay pick-up/drop-off
• July 23rd–25th – Central San Diego pick-up/drop-off
• July 30th–Aug 1st – Oceanside pick-up/drop-off

See attached a flyer by clicking on image above and application form for more details.

Interested? Click on the link for application: Watershed Explorers Application.

Congratulations 2025 Teacher of the Year, Adriana Ruvalcaba!

Thank you for all you do for our students and school! Congratulations on winning SOM 2025 Teacher of the Year!

🦜Buccaneer News – Week 34 CAASPP testing continues with Math 🏴‍☠️

Best of Luck to our AP Spanish students testing this week! We are proud of your hard work!

What’s happening this month?

CAASP Testing continues this week! Prepare for success! Remember to:

• Get to school on time.
• Bring all materials to school each day, including a fully charged iPad
• Get enough rest each night
• Eat a nutritious breakfast

Homeroom News

Clubs, Programs, and Events

Thank you, SOM staff, students, and community partners for making our final STEAM Challenge day of the year amazing!

Captain’s Quarters and Saturday Academy 😺

Remaining Saturday Academy dates:

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Congratulations South Bay Champions! 🏆

Congratulations to our back-to-back South Bay Champion girls soccer team. Congratulations to Coach Chris and Coach Jared for leading our girls to victory. We are so proud of you, Buccaneers!

Semester 1 Highlights 2024-2025

Your Voice is Important!

Thank you to our Southwest Community for helping us to achieve our goal of at least 70% of Staff, Students, and Parents providing input!

Southwest Middle is seeking a Community Schools Grant – this could bring $300,000 every year for the next five years.

Community Schools are taking place throughout all of the US.

As we begin to get ready to apply, we need 75% of our parent participation. Yes, 75%!

All hands on deck are needed. Please take five minutes of your time to complete this important survey by Thursday, November 7th.

Upon completion, your student will receive an ice cream at school. Here are the links to the surveys:

English Survey Link

Spanish Survey Link

We appreciate you! Thank you in advance for completing the survey.

Don’t be your vape’s puppet

The Board of Trustees recognizes that tobacco use presents serious health risks and desires to provide support and assistance in the prevention and intervention of tobacco use among youth. Click on the image below to learn more about Sweetwater’s Tobacco Use Prevention Education program.

Southwest Middle School’s Drone Team Returns from the West Regional Championship in Utah

SOM’s Breaking Bot bring home the Inspire Award, Hoppers Finish Strong

Day 1 of the West Regional Drone Championship in Utah! Southwest Middle is proudly representing the South Bay, with both teams performing well. After a very busy day of 6 qualifying matches, Breaking Bot are in the top half going into day 2

Day 2- That’s a wrap to our 2023-2024 drone season. I am so incredibly proud of these kiddos and will miss them dearly. The competition was fierce, and they played hard. This morning, watching the 2 teams practicing was absolutely beautiful, the communication, dedication, and collaboration were evident. Congratulations to Breaking Bot for an amazing season and for having been awarded the Inspire Award 👏 Congratulations to the Hoppers for manifesting positive outcomes and finishing strong 💪

Thank you so much to everyone for your donations and Support!

Our teams performed well at the regional competition, competing against kids from 5-12th grade, including former world champion drone teams. While we did not place in the top 8 to go on to the finals in the teams portion, our Breaking Bot team (Angie and Lily) were awarded the Inspire Award at the closing ceremony.  Our boy’s team, the Hoppers, (Luis, Edgar, and Yves) finished strong with their best and highest scoring match being their final match.

We are so incredibly proud of these kiddos and their dedication, communication, growth in skills,  strategy, and collaboration.

Welcome to SOM! We Are Southwest Middle School. Your Next Best Step!

Southwest Middle School Registration for the 2024-2025 school year is now open!

Call 619-628-4000 (main office) for any questions.

Incoming 7th grade students to the district

Future Southwest Middle Parent or Guardian,

Registration season has begun! Please make sure to follow the steps to complete your student’s registration:

1. Fill out the 2024-2025 application packet. You can either pick it up at the Southwest Middle School Main Office or print out all forms here: DIRECT LINK TO FORMS 

• The following documents are needed for enrollment:

• Immunization Records – If vaccinations are NOT up to date, a student CANNOT legally be in school.
• Proof of Residence (must be within 60 days).
• Emergency Authorization Card (to be filled out in the Main Office).

2. Bring the completed packet in person to the Registrar, Omar Cota.

3. After review, Mr. Cota will give you a username and password to complete the Online Registration on the Parent Portal here: https://infinite.sweetwaterschools.org/campus/portal/parents/sweetwater.jsp

• If you have students currently in middle school or high school, you will use your same username and password for the Parent Portal.
• If you can’t access your account, please call (619) 628-4000 to reset your password.

ESTUDIANTES ENTRANTES DE 7° GRADO Y ESTUDIANTES NUEVOS AL DISTRITO

Futuro padre o tutor de Southwest Middle,

¡La temporada de registro ha comenzado! Asegúrese de seguir los pasos para completar el registro de su estudiante:

Complete el paquete de solicitud del año escolar 2024-2025. Puede recogerlo en la oficina principal de Southwest Middle School o imprimir todos los formularios aquí: DIRECT LINK TO FORMS

• Los siguientes documentos son necesarios para la inscripción:

• Registros de vacunas – Si las vacunas NO están al día, su estudiante NO PUEDE estar legalmente en la escuela.
• Comprobante de residencia (debe ser dentro de los últimos 60 días).
• Tarjeta de Autorización de Emergencia (esta se llena en la oficina principal).

2. Llevar personalmente el paquete completo al Registrador, Omar Cota.

3. Después de la revisión, el Sr. Cota le dará un nombre de usuario y una contraseña para completar el Registro en línea en el Portal para padres aquí: https://infinite.sweetwaterschools.org/campus/portal/parents/sweetwater.jsp

• Si tiene estudiantes actualmente en la escuela secundaria o preparatoria, usará su mismo nombre de usuario y contraseña para el Portal de Padres.
• Si no puede acceder a su cuenta, llame al (619) 628-4000 para restablecer su contraseña.

Returning 8th graders

Please complete the Online Registration on the Parent Portal for 2024-2025 as soon as possible. If you can’t access your account, please call (619) 628-4000 to reset your password.

• Save your application number in case it’s needed. 

PRÓXIMOS 8º GRADOS

Complete el registro en línea en el Portal para padres para el año escolar 2024-2025 lo antes posible. Si no puede acceder a su cuenta, llame al (619) 628-4000 para restablecer su contraseña.

• Guarde su número de aplicación por si es necesario.

Southwest Middle School – Now Enrolling!

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Congratulations Aliyah Esparza for your Recognition with the Alex Morgan Foundation!

SOM’s Soccer MVP, Aliyah Esparza, was recognized today at the Alex Morgan Foundation event highlighting the foundation’s upcoming work on equity for girls in soccer in the SouthBay,  building leadership and confidence in our young ladies.

Aliyah was nominated by Coach David Singh for her display of leadership on and off the field. Congratulations Aliyah, you represent Southwest Middle well each and every day, and truly embody the Buccaneer spirit! We are so very proud of you!

✨SUHSD All Stars Podcast is Back!

Behind the scenes – Recording Episode 5

SOM’s very own Ms. Esther Parrenas and Ms. Erin Barron will be featured in the first SUHSD All Stars podcast after a two year hiatus due to COVID. They chat about  Southwest Middle School’s programs, teachers and unique student opportunities. Click to listen

Join our Dual Immersion Program!

Steel Drum Band on Fox 5!

Buccaneers in the News! Congratulations Dania Meling!

8th grader, Dania Meling, with her award for her scientific experiment studying Bernoulli’s Equation Photo-Courtesy Horacio Renteria / El Latino San Diego.

Southwest Middle’s own SUHSD STEM-Research Fair Winner, Dania Meling, was featured in El Latino’s March 17th Article highlighting her winning project and passion for pursuing a future career with NASA. Congratulations Dania, we are all so very proud of you and your achievements! Keep up the amazing work! Read the full article here

Pioneering Educators of the Dual Language Program at Southwest Middle School

Southwest Middle School’s own, Ms. Norma Pérez-Uriarte, is featured in El Latino’s December 22nd article highlighting our award winning Dual Language program. Congratulations to Ms. Pérez-Uriarte and our Dual Immersion team for their incredible efforts, we are so proud of all you do! Read about our amazing program and see the full article here.

Teacher Norma Pérez-Uriarte, Coordinator (and pioneer) of the Dual Immersion Program at Southwest Middle School. Photo: Horacio Renteria / El Latino San Diego.

STEAM Challenge #2 – Engineering a Mars Lander

Congratulations Buccaneers on an Excellent STEAM Challenge #2!

The Results are in! In real life, only 40% of all missions to Mars have been successful, but at Southwest Middle School, our survivability was much higher. Based on 18 advisory classes reporting, the survivability rate for our school was 69.26%, and each group, on average spent $1,676,622.22 of the allotted $2M budget.  Congratulations to Ms. Alcanero, Mrs. Barrón, Mr. Fuentez Jr., Ms. Jaime and Ms. Perez’s Advisory Classes for landing 100% of your rovers safely!

Congratulations Ms. Jaime’s Advisory for having the 2nd lowest average budget, at $1.3M,  with 100% of your rovers making it safely; Ms. Robinson with a budget of $1,282,500 and a 75% survivability rate; and Mrs. Barrón’s Advisory for keeping your average budget at less than $1.5M. Great job Engineers, you should feel proud!

Past images/videos