Titan eNews
Weekly Campus Update
Mission: To create a community of learners empowered to collaborate and compete in a rapidly changing world.
Bond Proposal Election on May 7, 2016
Congrats to our Titan Science Fair Participants!!
Parent Communication Regarding Student Safety Surveys
Dear PISD Parent,
As part of a District-wide school safety audit being conducted by District Safety and Security Services, all students in the 5th grade and above will be asked to take a student safety survey at school. The survey will be taken electronically during the school day, and will take approximately 15 to 20 minutes to complete. The survey is anonymous and your child will not be identified in any survey results. The information being gathered in the survey is important in fulfilling the District’s goal of providing a safe and secure environment in which our students learn.
For your review, the survey questions are listed below. Please note the actual survey will be taken at school.
Students will begin taking the survey on Wednesday, February 17th. If you do not want your child to participate in the survey, please notify the school principal, Lynn Ojeda by email lynn.ojeda@pisd.edu not later than Tuesday, February 16th.
If you have questions about the survey itself, please contact District Safety and Security Services at 469-752-8057.
Sincerely,
Lynn Ojeda
Principal
Spirit Wear Design Contest Winner - Lan Bui!
1st Year ENews by Alexander Gonzalez
The First Year’s fourth project this year, A League of Our Own, concluded with the competition at Clark Stadium last Saturday. Before the tournament began, each of the teams were divided into 8 alliances, as mentioned last week. When the tournament started at 11:45, teams lined up in order by highest ranked alliance and paraded onto the field with their banners. Each alliance had been given a schedule of when they would shoot, starting with alliances who did the best in preliminary rounds. The learners that were not on the field during matches were doing an assignment that involved filming their peers and commentating on the competitions. Commentary included useful information such as team history, identity, colors, and team mascots. Teams are said to have done a great job on said commentary, especially describing the events on the field. Alliance 6 eventually won, even though they had been known as the underdogs of the competition. Carrying the magnificent trophy into the air, Alliance 6 went home in cheers and the end of A League of Our Own project finally arrived. The First Years have now embarked on their new project, Tiny Homes, and Need-to-Knows (N2Ks) are being generated by them to fully understand what their new project has in store for them.
2nd Year ENews By Jonathan Main
3rd Year ENews by David Yang
Academy Third Years are preparing their exhibits for presentation night, March 1st. Groups have been working on informative posters and memorabilia from their assigned presidential terms.
In addition, learners are required to present an Adobe flash animation, that describes how energy is harvested, including but not limited to utilizing nuclear or wind energy. The animation must be 90 seconds long and contain a descriptive, easy to follow animation about the energy type. Meanwhile, In the subjects of Chemistry, U.S. History, and Statistics, learners are required to develop a hypothesis test to determine whether or not a sample mean corresponds to a null hypothesis (assumed mean), based off of samples ranging from opinion polls to temperature recordings.
When the Fab Lab opens next week, Third Years will begin the process of constructing the skeleton of their exhibits. Parents and administrators are holding high standards for the grade level, in terms of both content and the engineering in groups’ Decision Rooms.
4th Year ENews by Emily Ware
4th Year Conflict Art Pieces in progress...
Sam Stidd and Kyle Feist presenting on Feudal Japan during the Sengoku period ~ learning how to bow like a Samarai
Congratulations to Fourth Year Emily Ware and Third Year George Schaffer for being accepted into the Artist Residency Program with Jay Shinn at the Crow Collection of Asian Art in Dallas!
Counselor's Corner:
Summer Opportunities
Looking to do something different this summer?
There are many great opportunities for summer enrichment and even college credit.
Stop by the counseling office and check out the many flyers we have received from universities across the nation.
Some of the programs include Entrepreneurial Development at Babson, Summer Studio classes at School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Pharmacy Camp at Samford University, Sports Media Camp at Oklahoma State University, Camp Neuro in the Dallas area, and Penn Summer Academy in Biotechnology, Computer Science, Nanotechnology, or Robotics. Stanford University has more than 100 courses to choose from in their High School Summer College Program and Missouri S&T offers an explosives camp a nuclear engineering camp, and a summer research academy, just to name a few.
Seniors and Scholarships
There are 31 scholarships listed in Naviance-be sure and check them out to see which ones you might be eligible to apply for.
Most Plano ISD elementary school PTAs offer scholarships to former students. Stop by the counseling office to see if your elementary school has a scholarship!
You can also find scholarships at fastweb.com.
AP Tests
If your learner is planning on taking an AP exam this spring, payment for AP Tests is due by February 26th.
Payment can be made in cash or through PayPAMS.
Below are the instructions:
· Payment for AP exams can be made by check or through PayPAMS.
****Learners taking the AP Art History Exam MUST pay in person to Mrs. Parker.
The fee for that test is wrong in PayPAMS. The correct fee is $92.00
Payment by check : Give to Mrs. Parker in the Counseling office
-Checks should be made out to Plano Academy High School.
-Each AP exam is $92.
-In the memo line, please write your students name and ID number.
Payment by PayPAMS:
Go to https://paypams.com/HomePage.aspx
-Login to your current account
-On the main menu, look for: AP Test – Plano Academy High School
You will choose either “high school” for 1st 2nd years
“senior high school” for 3rd years
-Choose every exam for which you are preparing
-The total payment will be calculated by PayPAMS.
-A $3.00 fee has been added to each test in order to use PayPAMS.
Academic Conferences
We are almost finished meeting with all the second years and their parents.
Third year conferences begin later this month-watch for your invitation in the mail!
Colleges on Campus
University of the Incarnate Word will be here to meet with interested sophomores, juniors, and seniors.
February 18th at 2pm in the CUBE.
Sign up to come in Naviance!
Seniors and MidYear Transcripts
If a university you have applied to requires a midyear transcript, please let Mrs. Parker know.
Colleges on Campus
February 23rd- Texas Colleges and Universities College Fair at lunch featuring over 15 Texas institutions.
February 26th- Lunch time college fair including: Louisiana Tech, Ohio State University, Purdue University, University of Kansas, University of Missouri , University of Pittsburgh
Plano Mayor’s Summer Internship Program
There will be a press conference held at our school regarding the internship program next week! Look for the story in local media outlets!
Interested in an 8 week paid internship program in a company or non-profit in Plano?
They will be looking for 50-100 interns.
The program is open to sophomores and juniors who will be 16 years old before June 13, have a GPA above 3.0, and a solid attendance record.
Flyers are available in the Counseling office or check out the website at www.planomayorsintern.org for more information.
Drug and Alcohol Prevention Information: “Did You Know”
“Increasing Overdoses From Synthetic Cannabinoids (“Spice,” "K2,” etc.) in Several States.” Follow this link to learn more! http://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/emerging-trends
Junior Senior Prom Fashion Show ~ Titan Talk Friday, Feb.19th
From our PTSA ~ Save the Date ~ Polar Bear Plunge!
Parent Survey Opportunity
This link is to a survey prepared by senior, Caty Miner, as part of her capstone projects. Thank you in advance for sharing your responses!