THE PULSE
Pikes Peak Early College, January Edition
A Note from the Principal
"Preparing Every Student"
English: US History: English students are beginning a new program for addressing their needs in Grammar. The new platform works as grade level whole class skills and can be individualized for each student. We are also beginning a more intense, structured course schedule which will allow us to go more in depth on our literature and writing structures.
US History students are beginning the modern era. This semester allows students to explore events that are much closer to their own experiences and to explore modern aspects of our nation.
Tech/Electives: PPEC students designed and printed 3D ornaments for our Butler Room Holiday Tree. Students also participated in Cyber Security activities with Secure Set academy.
All students celebrated Computer Science Week in December participating in various STEM challenges that included using circuit boards as game controllers, programming and coding, creating music through garageband. Students will continue participating in Makerspace challenges. This semester we will focus on problem solving technology. How can a 3D printer or a arduino circuit board solve our everyday life problems?
Math: Students in second semester math classes have some interesting assignments they will be doing this semester. Students in Alg 2B will be creating an equation and graph using their birth-dates and students in Alg 1B will be pretending they need to remodel a room to put a light in the ceiling. Through these assignments, they will be seeing how math concepts can apply to the real world and see how math can be used creatively.
Science: Welcome back from break! We have an awesome Semester planned for the science lab. PPEC Science has been awarded a scholarship to participate in an innovative Alternative Energy team competition called Solar Rollers. Solar Rollers is a hands-on, energy-focused STEM education program for high schools. Teams of students design and build solar-powered radio-control cars capable of traveling via sun power at 25 mph or more. At the end-of-season Trophy Race, the teams come together to race against their peers in Denver at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Working as a team, our Solar Rollers students will learn the ins and outs of a complete energy system including generation, storage, efficient use and reliability. We will be recruiting 5-10 students to join our Solar Rollers team the first week or two of January. Throughout the semester students will work on learning, researching and building in preparation for the final competition. All team members need to reserve Saturday May 13th, 6:45am - 5pm for the Trophy Race competition in Denver.
Biology Newscast Project
By: Alexa Hulmes
Counselors Corner
Welcome back! I hope you are all as excited about the second semester as we are at PPEC. The first semester ended in a whirlwind of activity with so many successes! Students in all grades are exploring their career and academic interests, figuring out where their passions lie, learning how important skills such as time management, organization, communication and resilience can be to success. Students will learn this semester a little bit more about themselves when it comes to things like learning how they learn, learning about their peak time to study, and learning to work smarter not harder! This month, what students should focus on, especially in our blended world, is how to actively engage their brain in learning. While it seems like an easy task, many students actually never do this! How many never take notes at all? This month, I challenge each of you to begin taking notes in all of your classes in any manner at all! This will engage your brain in active learning and help your brain sort out what is important versus what is unnecessary information.
Staff Highlight
Meet Mr. Knoche, by Knowledge Spooner
Mr. David Knoche is the Executive Principal of Pikes Peak Early College and was originally asked by the district to create a system from scratch. Through a long application and approval process which included documents of 80-100 pages long he was able to create this amazing school. That is some true self-advocation and is just one of the goals he wants students to achieve while attending Pikes Peak Early College. Mr. Knoche believes successful students are the ones who have strong self-advocacy skills, are committed to time management, know when not to quit and to push forward even if there are roadblocks. He believes Pikes Peak Early College can teach students “skills you don’t get from attending traditional high school”. After working with traditional schooling for years, he has seen the flaws that system had for its students and he felt traditional schooling lacked freedom and autonomy. This motivated him to create a system that would appeal and change the educational system because as he saw it, the traditional educational system was not moving forward. At PPEC Mr. Knoche knows some students will excel faster than others, and this school will be able to help both parties succeed. He designed PPEC to help teach students soft skills, help offset debt, and play a role in civic responsibility. Some goals Mr. Knoche has in mind for PECC are to effectively build and improve the structure, growing into its own facility and to have 500 students. He also hopes to make it one of the top schools in the state of Colorado. Being ashamed of having no winter hobbies, Mr. Knoche’s major hobbies include golfing and going the the gym with his daughters. He finds golfing relaxing and likes to take his clubs with him when he goes traveling. Overall Mr. Knoche loves his job and feels like if you love your job and have enough passion for it then why would you think about doing anything else. This is the feeling he has when working and improving PPEC and its community.
Tech Tip
Tech/Study Tip: Lets start 2nd Semester strong!
Make sure to build a strong study plan:
Plan Ahead. Manage your time effectively.
Have an effective calendar system. Use your google calendar to plan big due dates and stay on top of important dates.
Create To-Do Lists
Use a timer for study and work time.
Seek out help when needed.
Upcoming Events
January 14th - 10th Annual Educating Children of Color Summit - 2017
January 15th- SAT Registration Deadline using Vouchers
January 16th - District closed, no school. Martin Luther King Jr's. Birthday
January 16th - PPCC classes begin
January 23rd - Last Day to drop College classes
January 25th - Coffee with the Principal at 7:30am (RSVP)
Help us at the end of the day
As we have now solidified our schedules and how we approach the day we are in need of support from our families. Our staff is consistently having to wait for students to be picked up after school well beyond 4:00 pm. Our student's day ends at 3:15 and we do not have staff available to monitor students after 3:45. Please make every effort to have students picked or arranged for a ride by 3:45 at the very latest to ensure that our staff can leave at the end of their workday. We understand that from time to time issues come up and can address those times accordingly if you contact us and let us know there is a delay.