Fulton Science Academy
ACCREDITED AND STEM CERTIFIED COLLEGE PREP GIFTED SCHOOL
SUMMER NEWSLETTER 2020
Principal's Corner
Dear FSA Students and Families,
Just like any of you, I am also heartbroken observing what is happening in our community nowadays. I would like to check on you to ensure that you are all doing well.
As you know, at Fulton Science Academy, we pride ourselves on being a diverse school representing so many different cultures, backgrounds, races, and ethnicities. Part of the beauty of our school is how we are all so different but still very united. Although we are individually unique, togetherness is what makes us complete, what makes us a family. We consider our differences as one of our strengths and a reason to celebrate.
I also believe that we all must continue to educate ourselves more deeply on the issues faced by those in our community to support justice and equality for everyone, especially for the persons of color, and the African-American community. Discrimination can have no place in our communities.
With that said, it is my pleasure to welcome and embrace every new member of our school community and to treat them with respect and love. Maintaining this culture of love, respect, and unity is very important to us, and therefore, we want to take a moment to remind everyone that we value each and every one of you and our door is always open if you ever need any support. We are here for you!
ABOUT NEXT SCHOOL YEAR!
About two weeks ago, I have informed our community about the next school year. I would like to remind that message to you.
At this time, we do not know for 100% when the school campuses will reopen for learning. However, we see that many countries around the world began reopening their school campuses such as Germany and Denmark, and we also understand that Governor Kemp is reopening businesses in Georgia in phases. Accordingly, it won’t be a surprise to see the schools in Georgia reopen their campuses in the near future as well. Until that happens, we will continue to offer online education and we will use our experiences, along with your feedback to improve our online learning experience for our FSA community. When the schools reopen their campuses, we will begin our operations on our campus with some new procedures under the guidelines of the CDC and local authorities, including but not limited to, frequent and detailed disinfection of school premises, possible use of masks by everyone, and some sort of social distancing in our practices. We will be able to provide you more details on our new operational guidelines as it gets closer to the reopening of our campus.
However, we also recognize that even when we reopen our campus, some of our students will prefer to continue with online learning for reasons including health conditions or not feeling comfortable to return to social life in the same physical environment during this time of Covid-19. Our plans include the accommodation of these students as well. In other words, when we reopen our campus, it will be a hybrid model to continue to offer quality education to both students who wish to come to school as well as those students who wish to continue their education at home through online learning. Currently, we are testing related technologies in our classes, and we will be happy to provide you more details as we finalize our preparations. For the time being, we would like to tell you that our hybrid model implementation includes interaction between students who choose online learning and the rest of the class and teachers in the physical classroom while still ensuring the privacy of students in the classroom. With this plan, we are confident that we will continue to offer the best education possible to all of our students until everything goes back to normal or to a new normal.
I now have some more updates for you. I am very pleased and excited to tell you that during these last two weeks, we have installed and tested some technology with our faculty as part of our hybrid model approach, and it is working great. This new technological setup in our classes will allow our faculty to continue instruction from their classrooms with both students who choose to come to school and students who chose to stay at home smoothly and effectively. We will share a video recording of our plan with you in the next school newsletter. We are also finalizing our operation guidelines for next school year using resources and recommendations provided by the CDC and State Department of Health, and we will be happy to share them with you in about two weeks. We are looking into each detail carefully. As an example of some of our new initiatives, we are changing all of our water fountains to touchless water fountains in our building. We think you will be happy once you see all of our preparations to create a safe and effective learning environment for our students, even during this time of Covid-19.
I would like to finish this week's principal corner with a beautiful picture of our campus that I took this week. Please see it below. I hope you all enjoy your summer holiday!
Stay safe. Stay healthy.
Sincerely,
Kenan Sener
Principal
2020 - 2021 ACADEMIC YEAR CALENDAR
Summer Course Work | 2020 - 2021
Please note that 6th - 12th grade work is required and will be discussed during the first week of classes of the 2020 - 2021 Academic School Year.
Please print the appropriate rising assignment and be sure to complete it over your summer vacation.
FSA MISSION & VISION
Mission
To deliver an educational framework designed to achieve the highest academic results and instill enduring strength of character by leveraging innovation and STEAM curriculums for college preparedness and lifelong student success.
Vision
Fulton Science Academy Private School endeavors to be a nationally ranked and recognized school for pre-K through 12th grade, serving advanced and gifted student populations committed to academic success, civic responsibility, global citizenship, and high ethical values within a safe environment that celebrates diversity and is nurtured by the collaborative efforts of its stakeholders and the broader community.
VIRTUAL SCHOOL TOURS & ADMISSION TESTING FOR PROSPECTIVE FAMILIES
Dear Prospective Families,
We would like to inform you that we are now hosting virtual school tours and admission tests for 2020-2021 school year.
This virtual tour will be helpful to prospective families who would like to learn more about Fulton Science Academy Private School, one of the region's fastest growing and most successful private STEAM schools teaching children from pre-k through high school.
During your tour, you can look forward to learning why FSA is an exceptional educational choice for children in the Greater -Atlanta area. Guests can learn about our school's mission and philosophy and why STEAM-based education is gaining favorable attention. Families can also look forward to virtually touring our beautiful campus, learning about our award winning academic teams, and previewing a list of our many extra-curricular programs.
PLEASE NOTE THAT TOUR & TEST TIMES WILL BE DIFFERENT BEGINNING JUNE 1, 2020.
THESE TOURS WILL TAKE PLACE ON ALTERNATING WEEK. ADMISSION TESTING WILL TAKE PLACE IN BETWEEN TOUR WEEKS.
SUMMER TOUR TIMES:
- Elementary School Tours - Tuesday mornings at 9:30am
- Middle School Tours - Wednesday mornings at 9:30am
- High School Tours - Thursday mornings at 9:30am
Each tour takes about an hour. To sign up for a virtual tour please visit: http://openhouse.fultonscienceacademy.org
If you have any questions, please contact our Admissions Director, Pam Walsh at pwalsh@fultonscienceacademy.org
VIRTUAL SUMMER CAMPS
Click the button below to see the full list of camps with descriptions, dates, prices, requirements, registration links, and more.
Immunization Requirements
Please note that rising K and 7th grade students need additional immunizations to attend Kindergarten and 7th Grade. For more detailed information you can visit the Georgia Department of Public Health's School Vaccines & Updates list by clicking here.
Fulton Science Academy Private School Named National Beta School of Distinction
Alpharetta, Georgia – National Beta is proud to announce Fulton Science Academy Private School as a 2019-2020 National School of Distinction. This award is an honor for Beta Clubs striving towards academic achievement, exemplary character, demonstrated leadership and service to others. With an ongoing quest to instill these qualities in more students, the National Beta School of Distinction Award is designed to award those schools that show an increase in membership for the current school year.
Fulton Science Academy’s Head of School, Dr. Sener said, “I am so proud of our students. They always amaze us with their achievements, leadership, and service to the community. I consider this national distinction award as another recognition of their hard-work and success.”
Award recipients will receive a National Beta School of Distinction banner to proudly display as a symbol of their accomplishment.
“This prestigious honor is a true indication of Fulton Science Academy’s dedication to academic excellence, leadership development and commitment to celebrating their student’s achievements,” said National Beta’s Chief Executive Officer, Bobby Hart.
About National Beta: National Beta is the largest independent, non-profit, educational youth organization in America. Since its beginnings in 1934, National Beta has been committed to providing students with a positive experience in a supportive manner in grades 4-12. The organization recognizes outstanding achievement, promotes character and social responsibility, encourages service involvement to school and community, and fosters leadership skills.
For more information about National Beta, visit betaclub.org
EMERGING YOUNG LEADERS PROGRAM CLASS OF 2020 GNFCC (Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce)
Congratulations to:
- Abhiram Chennupati
- Anam Fatima
- Richard Yu
- Kevin Yuan
- Akshay Maharaj
- Sanika Rane
- Tejus Janakiraman
- Vaani Balyan
- Zeynep Koker
class of 2020 | Graduation Highlights
FSA's Virtual Creative Writing Camp is off to a great start!
June 2, 2020
Students listened to the song "Lillies of the Valley" by composer Jun Miyake. While they listened, they wrote a short story or scene about what they imagined as if it was the soundtrack to a scene in a film. Neal Kotval, rising 8th grader, wrote the following depiction:
The sun beams down on you. Your feet step rhythmically in the sand. A sinister feeling fills the air. You feel like someone is watching you. The wind blows hard. Your feet sink in the burning sand. You stare at the horizon, it seems as it is taunting you. As the wind blows, the sand starts jumping, swirling, flying! As it spins and twirls the sand blinds you. The rhythm of the sand barraging the rocks gets louder. The sun gets hotter. The horizon seems farther. The sand below your feet tries to bury you. You slowly sink into the ground. As the storm ends, the cacti stand frozen in the distance, rooted in the burning sand.
June 8, 2020:
In creative writing camp, students write one timed quick write each day and one long write for the week. For the week one long write, students were challenged to take one event from their life and change all of the characters to animals! Today, Sanjana Uppaluri (6th grade) wrote about when she got her puppy. She did a great job of balancing the human and animal like qualities of her characters.Fanciful Piece By Sanjana Uppaluri
“Ugh”, I said to myself as my paws got stuck in another heap of snow. It was below freezing here in the arctic. Using my tongue, I brushed off the prickly snow from between my nails. The fading light of the day began to envelop us as I could hear the trees whispering. I needed to be back at the cave in less than ten minutes. So, I started my journey back. I came across a handful of animals preying on carcassess which made me taste the leftover blood in between my canines from lunch. When I came back from exploring I greeted my pack. My pack consists of my mom and dad, my brothers, and well me. My brothers were older than me and we never got along. So that leaves me and nothing. I’d been begging my parents for another wolf cub, so I wouldn't be lonely. But they would abruptly say no each time. Soon, I got used to the idea of only having myself to play with.
My parents noticed that we were running low on meat, so they said that we could go hunting the next day. The next day came and I could portend the bruising pain of a harsh winter surrounding us. My mom and dad led the pack, I was behind them and my brothers followed. We needed to get some water so we went to the nearest lake that wasn't frozen. When we got there my brothers started teasing me that I couldn't drink water as fast as they could. “Oh yeah, well I bet you can't run as fast as I can!” I said to them.
All of a sudden, my nose started to tingle, it was giving me the sense that there was a fox nearby. Foxes are our friends, we don’t eat them and they don’t eat us. I decided to be brave and follow the smell, as brightness surrounded the snowy jungle. Along the way it started snowing even more. There were little balls of snow accumulating on my calves which was very irritating. But as the smell started growing, I heard cries. “Is a fox in trouble, do I need to help it?!” I asked myself. There was something moving under a heap of snow. I didn't know what it was, so I carefully went over there and dug a little hole above the moving animal. I saw that it had a very thick coat of fur, so it was hard to get out, so I dug even more; after some digging the fox cub finally came out. It was covered in snow so I dusted it off with my paws. The rest of my pack weren't far, so I decided it would be best to call them. I didn’t want the fox cub to be alone so I told it to follow me. When my parents saw the poor cub shivering, they asked what happened and I explained. “Poor thing, where are its parents? ” They questioned. “I don’t know, it was crying for help because it was stuck in a mound of snow!” I replied. They were relieved that I got the cub out safely. We decided it would be best to take it back to our cave and then decide what to do from there.
When we got to the cave my parents told me to look for a soft cloth to put around the cub. The cub had a distinguished pearl-colored fur coat, with meaningful light-brown eyes. The first question that popped into my head is if we could keep it? “Mom, Dad could we please keep the fox cub, it has no parents and it could get eaten by an arctic beast?” I asked in my most convincing voice. My brothers were there to back me up because they too wanted the fox cub. “I’ll take good care of the cub, I’ll even teach it how to hunt!” I told my parents in an assuring voice. It felt like an hour before they responded. “Okay fine, we will now raise this fox cub as our own.”At that moment I was thrilled, I was going to have a little sibling!"
Rising FSA 9th Grader Sumanth Javangula is perfecting his Piano Skills this summer
For more information on Chandler & Southern Art Music Initiative LLC, you can visit http://fultonscienceacademy.org/private-music-lessons-2/ and also check out their website for even more information at https://www.southernartmusic.com
Mustang News is accepting various applications for 2020-2021
Calling all rising 9th and 10th graders.., interested in joining the award winning Mustang News Team? Then complete the application via the link https://forms.gle/Jzgicn54HJTtdpR46 by July 20th. Please read carefully as you also have to submit a short video with your application.
The process takes place in various steps.
- Submit your completed application with a short video
- Your teacher recommendations will need to be verified
- Current team members will review applications
- If you made the cut you will be invited to do an interview with current team members.
- Following the interview you will be notified if you made the team.
Not sure what MNT is about ?
It’s a production run by high school students working before and after school. They generally work a day in advance to get the show ready. Being a team member means you will be held accountable, must be able to honor deadlines, great at talking/communicating with others as well as “step up” when needed.
At the moment MNT is looking for reporters and video editors. You will also get the chance to learn other roles in the production as you go along.
Rising 10th graders and current MNT members - it’s audition time for News Anchors.
If you are interested please complete the following application and send in an audition video of no more than 30 secs of you presenting a news story. https://forms.gle/xU5B7auSKAWB72E16 Normally, auditions would be held in studio, but the team would like to get ahead of schedule and have plenty of planning time.
Feel free to use content from the school newsletter for your story. You will be evaluated overall on camera presence, articulation, and clarity of your delivery. Current MNT members interested in anchoring should also send in an audition video and completed application. Please note that anchors tend to take on other roles as well on the team when needed, such as camera, editing, reporting and producing. Audition application due by July 20th.
Rising 8th to 11th graders : MNT is looking for “Vloggers”
Interested in being an FSA Vlogger? Wondering what that is ? Well it is simply producing a one to one and a half minute video that will air on the school’s youtube channel. Topics will vary and you will be encouraged to come up with your own ideas. Don’t worry support for the video will be provided as you need it. Interested? Complete the application and attach a 45 sec video on a topic of your choice. https://forms.gle/KJFmpKiRsXppK6xL8 Submit by July 20.
Class Placements | 2020 - 2021
Class placements for 2020 - 2021 school year will be sent out towards the middle of summer break. You should expect to receive these towards the end of June / beginning of July. Once you receive them, please go over them carefully and let your respective school level administrator know if you have any questions or concerns. Please note: These class placements will not include teacher names at this time. Homeroom classes and teacher assignments will be announced during orientation days.
Middle School: Mr. Turan - nturan@fultonscienceacademy.org
High School: Mr. Parlak - yparlak@fultonscienceacademy.org
Uniforms | 2020 - 2021
BELOW ARE THE REQUIRED UNIFORM PIECES THAT PRE-K THROUGH 8TH GRADE STUDENTS MUST HAVE:
1) Red Polo shirt with school logo
2) *Shoes that follow the uniform guidelines (see below).
3) Black or brown belt (to be worn with all shorts and pants that have belt loops)
4) P.E. athletic shirt & shorts/pants mandatory for grades 6-12, optional for grades 4-5
*Shoes that meet the uniform guidelines have been added to the FSAPS Land’s End uniform options. These particular shoes are not required, but shoes worn to school DO need to meet the uniform guidelines.
High school uniforms are slightly different from the younger grades
1) oxford button down shirts are required
2) there is an option for red sweaters and jackets for high school students only.
3) P.E. athletic shirt and shorts/pants are mandatory
ALL SHIRTS MUST HAVE THE SCHOOL LOGO
Music Instrument Selection for 2020 - 2021
Participation in Band or Orchestra is mandatory at FSA for 5th-8th grade students as a part of our STEAM curriculum.
Students can choose from a variety of instruments including...
- Violin
- Viola
- Cello
- Flute
- Clarinet
- Alto Saxophone
- Trumpet
- Trombone
- Percussion
(Percussionists will learn all the instruments you can hit, shake, or scrape!)
Our Instrument Selection Day event will be at FSA in August 2020.
EXACT DATE TBD
Instrument specialists will be there to help with rentals, sizing, and more! Students should wait until Instrument Selection Day to select an instrument. If they want to choose something during the summer, they should reach out to Ms. Otim first.
Independent study in music theory/history is available for students who do not wish to play an instrument.
We are so excited to have you as a part of our music program!
Need more info? Contact Kayla Otim at kotim@fultonscienceacademy.org
School Supplies | 2020 - 2021
Please follow the link to see all school supply lists by grade on our website
FSA PARTNER | EASY SUPPLY LIST
Need a top up on your child’s school supplies but don’t have the time to run to the store? Here’s an option from one of FSA’s newest partners and it’s as easy as 123… just …
SEARCH: Go to www.easysupplylist.com and search for the school supply bundle you need.
BUY: Click on the item to checkout.
RECEIVE: Receive your package at school. NO Delays. NO needed follow-ups.
That’s how easy it is to get your school supplies. While it is a great service to use at the start of the school year, it is not limited to that time frame. Not only are you getting a tailor made service but you are also doing a good deed and giving back to FSA and another worthy cause with your purchase. As a percentage of sales will be donated back to FSA annually and The Joshua Bembo Project. A cause that supports research to fund inoperable brain tumors, www.joshuabembo.com / www.gcregistry.com
Athletics Tryout Calendar | 2020 - 2021
SMART TUITION
FSAPS Tuition Information: http://fultonscienceacademy.org/tuition-information/
Smart Tuition is the tuition management system used by FSA. In addition to tuition, all incidental billing such as aftercare fees, sports and academic team fees, trips, etc., is also done through Smart Tuition. There is a $50 yearly fee for Smart Tuition.
If you have not set up your account or are having trouble setting up your account, please contact our Business Administrator Abdurrahim Kurt by phone or email.
Phone: (678) 366 - 2555 ext. 105
PLEASE SIGN UP FOR REMIND, OUR SCHOOL NOTIFICATION APPlication
JOIN FSA REMIND HERE: https://www.remind.com/join/fsaps
By joining "FSAPS remind," you will receive messages via push notifications, SMS, or e-mail. We recommend SMS option for our families and students.
We will use this tool as an addition to other communication portals we use at our school to keep our families apprised of what's happening at Fulton Science Academy. Thank you.
FSA SOCIAL MEDIA
Please connect with us online and grow our social media following!
FSA is proud to be building a strong social media presence and we encourage you to follow us using one or more of the following links:
1- FSA YOUTUBE CHANNEL
https://www.youtube.com/user/FultonScienceAcademy
If you subscribe to our YouTube channel, you will receive notifications whenever we upload a new video.
2- FSA FACEBOOK PAGE
https://www.facebook.com/FultonScienceAcademyPrivateSchool/
Many of you already follow our Facebook page. If you are not yet connected, please “Like" our Facebook page.
3- FSA INSTAGRAM
https://www.instagram.com/fultonscienceacademy/
We post lots of pictures on our Instagram account. You will enjoy seeing new pictures every day.
4- FSA LINKEDIN
https://www.linkedin.com/company/fulton-science-academy-private-school
So many of you have LinkedIn accounts. To get news about our school on LinkedIn, simply follow our schools’s LinkedIn page.
5 –FSA TWITTER
https://twitter.com/fsaprivate
Twitter is a great way to get updated about school. Simply follow our school on Twitter to get recent tweets from our school.
Fulton Science Academy Private School
Serving Advanced and Gifted Students
Pre-K through High School
Email: ksener@fultonscienceacademy.org
Website: www.fultonscienceacademy.org
Location: 3035 Fanfare Way, GA, United States
Phone: (678) 366-2555
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FultonScienceAcademyPrivateSchool
Twitter: @fsaprivate