Titan eNews
Weekly Campus Update
Counselor's Corner
AP Exams
If your learner is interested in taking an AP exam in May, specific registration and payment information will be available in February.
General information concerning AP exams can be found here: https://www.pisd.edu/Page/16914
Academic Conferences
Each year, sophomores and juniors meet with their counselor to review transcripts, PSAT scores, and discuss post high school plans.
Parents are encouraged to join their learner for this informative individual conference.
Beginning mid-February, counselors will start academic conferences with juniors and their parent/guardian.
An invitation to attend your learner’s conference will be sent by mail next week.
Sophomore conferences will begin the last day of February.
First Years
Next week first year learners will be bringing home a registration form covering second year course selections.
Parent signature on the form is requested.
If you have questions regarding the registration form, please contact your learner’s counselor.
Fourth Years
Now is the time to be applying for scholarships.
You will find many scholarships listed in Naviance-check it out!
You might also refer back to the academic conference book you received in your junior conference.
First Years
It has been a busy week for first learners! In preparation of Game Day next Saturday, January 26th first year learners practiced launching their devices in Engineering and they have been busy finishing their team flags in Art. On Thursday, they began their next project launch for Lights Camera Action (LCA) and on Friday, learners participated in a Titan Talk about Respecting Culture.
Here's more information on the Lights, Camera, Action project:
This spring, the Academy Film Institute will be hosting the second annual Titan Film Festival. The AFI seeks to showcase the work of up-and-coming young filmmakers, as well as celebrate the rich cultures of the world through storytelling. This year, learners are invited to create a short film in one of three categories: documentary, narrative, or animation. All films must use sound research and creative storytelling in order to tell the story of a place or region.
Driving Question: How do I tell a story about a place or region while honoring its rich culture?
Academy Film Festival applicants must meet the following criteria:
- Research current media and trends. This must address how media is produced, distributed, and consumed.
- Based on research, create a narrative, documentary or animation short highlighting the rich culture of a place or region.
- Create and edit a film no longer than 5 minutes in length.
- Create a plan to use light and sound impactfully in your film.
- Generate publicity to promote your movie to a variety of audiences.
All trailers will be screened at a special showing on Tues, April 2 for the Titan Film Festival held at Academy High School. The viewers will vote on their favorite films based on the categories of narrative, documentary, and animation short.
The PTSA is providing lunch, free of charge, to first year learners on Game Day. The PTSA will also be selling food, beverages, and spirit wear to all attendees!
Second Years
Second year learners are working on multiple projects that connect to the learning goals in Beneath the Surface. Working as Alliances of countries, teams have designed and built submersibles capable of completing maneuvers to retrieve an unidentified object that has plunged to earth. In order to test their wiring competency and practice using their remote controls, Engineering facilitator, Mr. Fawcett, built a testing pool on the Fab Lab deck. In Art, teams have parsed out project roles to manage, design, and build a pinhole camera. Darkroom processes and contact printing techniques have been explored. The trials and errors pinhole photography provided ample higher level thinking about the science and art of imagery.
In English/Debate learners have been writing position briefs and resolutions for their Model UN committee meetings. The novel 1984 is currently being read which provides an introduction to propaganda. In Math, learners have been investigating two dimensional movement through trigonometry.
Mark your calendars for Thursday, January 31. Second year learners will be headed to Williams Natatorium for the Beneath the Surface submarine event. All are welcome to come witness as Alliances compete to retrieve the object that had plunged into the ocean. It promises to be an exciting day of competition.
Third Years
Event Details:
6:00 pm Arrival: Learners line up for the entry procession and parents who are bringing a ring to the ceremony give the ring to Jostens to be placed in a box.
6:30 – 7:15 pm Program
7:15 – 7:45 pm Reception -Hosted by the PTSA
Dress is business professional attire. It is the same dress expectation as formal project presentations. Bring your camera! Family members and guests are welcome to attend. Please follow this link to the RSVP.
Fourth Years
4th Year learners began their new project this week. Suburban Soul will task the learners with finding a portion of the city of Plano to revitalize while keeping the issues of culture and sustainability in mind. Learners have already begun to research possible locations and formulate ideas on how to improve our city without sacrificing the unique cultures it contains. In Government, learners began studying the public policy cycle. In Pre-Cal learners are transforming sin(x) and cos(x) with the goal of using them to model cyclical patterns in the world around us, and Calculus is beginning discussions on the topic of optimization and how relates to revitalization. In English learners were able to demonstrate their understanding of the novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by responding to a question that connected the text to the driving question of the project, It’s Alive. As we begin the next project, Suburban Soul, learners have been considering locations in Plano that have historical and/or cultural significance. Finally, this week they analyzed how a literary text captures the soul of a place.
If you are looking for a way to support our Academy learners, one way is by participating in a quick survey about what you want in an SUV. If you have a little more time to help out the learners, check out an amazing opportunity to participate in a study being conducted by one of our amazing seniors.
SUV Survey
For my Capstone Project, I’ve chosen to redesign the exterior of the Toyota Sequoia to better suit the public’s general needs and desires. This survey will help me gather the information needed to understand where adults and teenagers stand on what a full-size SUV needs, in order to fit into their daily lives. The survey will ask general questions based on what you would like to see in a new SUV. If this sounds like something that you’d be willing to help me out with, please fill out the survey at the link below!
The Effects of Reading on Stress Study
Calling all current Titans! Please fill out this form if you are interested in participating in a Capstone study on using leisure reading to combat high school stress. You would be required to read a book of your choice for 10 minutes daily over a period of two weeks. Before and after reading, you will take your heart rate, and you will report your data to me through a Google Form. All data can be collected in the comfort of your own home!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1FCN1ydHHIJ2AQQYwsWAAaSLxdZRfZL7lRXkGqw5ILhI/editCongratulations to Kennadi Cook and Liav Turkia, who presented their research at TJSHS at Texas A&M in College Station this week!
Robotics
Today representatives from our very own Titan Robotics went and demoed the team's 2016 robot Chronos, at the Plano ISD Employee Day Care 2. The robot was a smash hit with the 3 and 4 year olds. The kids were thrilled to learn about STEAM. They had a fun time watching it shoot boulders and learning about the inner workings of a Robot. What an amazing opportunity to give these young ones a taste of STEAM!!
On another note this week in robotics, we have worked on finalizing designs via various prototyping and CADing the drive train and manipulators to be sent out for machining. Others have been working on testing out new motor controllers, designing our PIT and putting together rookie packs for competition.
From our Plano Academy PTSA
It's the flu season.
PTSA is looking for donations of Kleenex and Hand Sanitizers to place around the school. You can send your donations with your learner. Sign up here.
CHAPERONES NEEDED 1/23/2019
We are in need of chaperones for the 3rd years' trip to the Perot Museum. Chaperones will need to be at school by 9am and will either ride the bus or carpool there. We will return back at 2pm. Chaperones’ entry fees are covered by the school. If interested, please sign up here.
SENIOR BABY PICTURES NEEDED
Graduation will be here before you know it and we are busy preparing a delightful senior banquet for all seniors and their families. We need your help as we try to gather a baby pic for each learner. Please just send one photo in any format to babyseniors@planoacademyptsa.org.
Mark your calendars now for the senior banquet on May 21st at 6:30-8:30 pm at Celebration Event Center at 2165 W. Park Blvd. in Plano. Details and ticket information coming shortly!