Wishing you a Happy and Healthy 2022 Compass Families,

2021 was a year of exceptional growth and perseverance for Compass! Together, we pivoted to meet the requirements of AB 130 and AB 167 while staying focused on our mission and vision. In October, we celebrated 10 years of Compass Charter Schools serving scholars! We promoted our Orange County Learning Center with an amazing virtual tour, created a new webpage to house all of our promotional videos, and started the scholar-led newscast: The Firebird Report!

Moving forward into this new year and the month of January, I would like to shift focus to our core value of teamwork. Teamwork is vital as we continue our work on our school-wide Wildly Important Goal (WIG) of 100% of our eligible scholars graduating by the end of the school year! So, how can you best utilize teamwork at Compass this year?

Compass offers many support areas, including learning labs, English Learners Support, AVID, Scholar Support, Scholar Success, tutoring sessions, counseling, virtual clubs, field trips, and more. So find your way to delve into Teamwork personally at Compass!

January is National School Board Recognition Month, and we are celebrating our community volunteers who dedicate countless hours and resources to ensure quality education is available for scholars. I am proud to celebrate National Board Recognition Month and am genuinely grateful for our board members. Our Board shows continued dedication to ensuring consistent growth of our educational programs and services to best support our scholars and their families.

The last week of January, we celebrate National School Choice. We are so proud of Compass and the incredible choice of a personalized Gold Standard education that we provide to each and every scholar. Scholars can share why they #ChooseCompass on social media all month.

I encourage you to share your thoughts and goals for your year of possibilities with your teachers and peers! Please keep up the great work as we finish our first semester and set our second-semester sights. Thank you to each of you for your strength during this time and all you do to make Compass the Gold Standard in virtual and personalized education.

Forever Loud & Proud,

J.J. Lewis, Superintendent & CEO

jlewis@compasscharters.org

@lewis1jj

In December we celebrated our individual Passion Projects. Through this Genius Hour Journey, AVID scholars researched topics they were passionate about and chose a mock social media platform to share their inquiry, creativity, and expertise with the rest of the class.

Among the many passion projects shared, we learned more about nail design, cooking, musical journeys, video game specialists, commentators, and the steps to becoming a firefighter. In addition, we learned about our immune systems, fashion design, painting techniques, forensics solving crimes, playing baseball, music genres comparisons, how movies are made, and more! Scholars chose various mock platforms ranging from Vlogs to Blogs, Podcasts, and Instagram accounts.

This passion project allowed the scholars to become a “Genius” on their topic, as they demonstrated AVID’s teaching and learning methodology through WICOR, which includes Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, and Reading strategies.

One scholar, in particular, has been working extremely hard in school, demonstrating a growth mindset as he manages a full workload and extracurricular activities. Gabe D.S. shows ARTIC values and is a leader in our AVID Elective as he shares ideas, takes ownership of his learning, and shares ideas on how we can continue to grow our elective.

What is your job title and job responsibilities at Compass? How long have you worked for this organization?

I am a counselor and work with scholars in grades 6-12 with the last names A-Ca. As a counselor, I am responsible for the developmental needs of all my scholars through our comprehensive school counseling program, which addresses scholars' academic, career, and personal/social development. In collaboration with my colleagues at Compass, we can support our scholars' emotional and social growth through our guidance curriculum, individual student planning, and responsive services. I have been a counselor at Compass for five and a half years.

Tell us your "why" for doing what you do here at Compass.

I am here at Compass because I enjoy working with our scholars and supporting them in their educational goals. I do this because it brings me joy to see our scholars reach their full potential and graduate.

As a counselor, is there a piece of advice you'd like to share with learning coaches or scholars?

Scholars, never give up. Study and work hard; advocate for yourself. Remember, you can accomplish anything.

Share one thing about you that very few people know.

Few people know that my first career choice was to be a general surgeon.

What do you and your family like to do during your free time?

My family and I like to be outdoors during our free time. Whether that is playing soccer as a family, hiking at our local trails, or bike riding to the beach. We love to take short trips to San Diego and jet skiing or to Palm Springs to ride dirt bikes on the weekends.

Compass Charter Schools is a non-profit charter school. Your donation helps enhance and expand the Compass Experience for our scholars, learning coaches, and staff.

The easiest way to give is online at https://www.compasscharters.org/giving/.

If you can make a gift, the Compass family will benefit greatly.

Do not forget to check if your company will match your donation to Compass. It is an excellent way to SUPER-SIZE your donation! Thank you!