Titan eNews
Weekly Campus Update
Mission: To create a community of learners empowered to collaborate and compete in a rapidly changing world.
Women Leadership in Space! UTD Jonsson School is hosting an amazing panel in March!
The Jonsson School is going to host 4 amazing women engineering leaders on a women in engineering panel on March 29, 2018
“Women Leadership in Space”:
Tracy Drain - NASA – she will give her story for 20 minutes, then joins the panel of leading women in space or supporting space technology
Tamara Crawford - Lockheed – Mechanical Engineer and Leader, will give her story - 10-15 min
Betsy Wilson - Ericsson – Computer Scientist and Leader, her story – 10-15 min
Lisa Atherton – Textron Systems – President and CEO, her story – 10-15 min
The panel will be:
Date: March 29
Time: 6 to 7:30
Place: ATEC Auditorium, UT Dallas
Open for Q&A from the audience – 25 to 40 minutes
The university has reserved 50 complimentary seats for Plano ISD Academy students and their parents. To receive your tickets, please fill out this form. We only have 50 tickets, so please sign up now!
Reservations: https://goo.gl/forms/KJTRtJD5XxZCcRqE2
Counselors' Corner
Plano Mayor’s Summer Internship Program
Apply before March 6 and earn the opportunity to have a meaningful work experience and get paid!
Eight week paid internship funning June 11- August 3
Program Requirements:
Current sophomore or junior
16 years old before June 11
GPA of 3.0
Attend Intern Prep March 24
Participate in Job Fair April 20
For more information and to apply: www.planomayorsinterns.org
First Year Learners
Next Friday, the 19th, counselors will meet with first year learners concerning registering for the 2018-2019 school year.
Each learner will bring home a registration card to be signed by a parent/guardian and returned on the 26th.
On the 26th learners will enter their courses through online registration with counselor guidance.
Academic Conferences
Beginning late in February and continuing throughout March, sophomores and juniors will be invited to attend their academic conference.
This is time set aside for each learner to have an individual meeting with a parent/guardian and the counselor to review the transcript, PSAT scores, and discuss college and career preparation.
Letters will be mailed home beginning late January concerning conference dates and times.
We look forward to this special time celebrating learner success and planning for future endeavors.
1st Years
2nd Years
The DNA lab experience led by Mrs. Gunnels was a great success, as learners extracted and viewed DNA samples under the microscope. Those who successfully completed the lab got some fantastic pictures of their DNA structures.
Committee meetings have begun again as well, and learners are again acting as delegates to various countries in the Academy’s First Model UN. As they debate and deliberate topics, learners are putting themselves into the shoes of representatives to the United Nations. Holy point of information, Batman!
The current 2nd year project, Beneath the Surface, is now in its final weeks. As the deadline looms, each team is tackling the building process for their submersible. PA2, headquarters for the build, looks every bit like an engineering design workshop. Just a few steps away, World History is challenging learners to create Enlightenment Thinker ad campaigns. The novel “1984” is a backdrop in English while learners annotate popular forms of poetry and create a new “1984” inspired original poem. Debate is seen in the many instances where delegates must state and defend their positions regarding their Model UN committee topics. In biology, learners have continued to work on how biological relationships impact progress by investigating how the DNA sequence can mutate to produce changes in amino acid sequencing. Math is looking at how the combinations of vectors can have an impact on the resulting displacement using trigonometry. Art and Tech are currently using the Makerspace where a storage closet has been converted into a pop-up dark room. Learners have designed pinhole cameras and are exploring the nuances of light and timing as they create negative and positive images.
This is a Shakespearean Sonnet based on the book “1984", composed by 2nd year learner, Michael Kuppinger.
Ingsoc is doubleplusgood
Power, Power, it’s my only true goal
To Control all, be all ,see what I want
Doesn’t matter the cost or even toll
For Powers a mistress I dare not taunt
The party is great and Big Brother too
They saved us from the capitalist pig
To see them live on is what I must do
But seeds of doubt some try to rig
Brotherhood and Goldstein, it’s revolt they seek
The proles they say contain the vital key
If they get their way then the future is bleak
But soon mercy these heretics shall plea
Heretics will say that we’re all wrong
But I’ve know the party's right all along
In a few short weeks, all of these learning experiences will come together during two days of project conclusions. On Thursday, February 1, from 10am to 2pm, submersibles will navigate an obstacle course at the Williams High School-Rowlinson Natatorium. On Friday, February 2, learners conclude the project as they participate in a Model UN discourse on the various resolutions brought up by each of the four committees.
You may view the official news release about the submersible event here:.
3rd Years
Ms. Ojeda met with 3rd Years during Titan Time today on summer internships. Learners completed a career cluster interest survey and explored the Plano Mayor's Summer Internship Application. We will be hosting an internship job fair on March 22nd and would love to have interested companies and organizations join us! For more information please visit our Internships Tab on our webpage:
https://www.pisd.edu/domain/9008
Please email lynn.ojeda@pisd.edu to share possible internship leads or connections!
4th Years
Last week, the 4th Year learners excitedly presented their learning on Monday as they responded to the driving question, "what does it mean to be alive?". They were able to defend and support their definition, as well as discuss their creation to their audience.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BTJQ3gBIw_s0HzXstui_rWTHYTlfyDG5MOZKeitGjMc/edit#
Dear Senior Parent,
We are excited to continue the learning process with our next project “Suburban Soul.” In an effort to keep you informed about progress we want to share important information and the anchor document for this project.
Suburban Soul
How should we sustain and cultivate life?
“So if a city has a personality, maybe it also has a soul. Maybe it dreams”
Neil Gaiman
Today the City of Plano is large and well developed. Still, people talk of revitalization. In the past ten years downtown Plano (15th) has gone from one of the most underutilized and underdeveloped parts of Plano to a hotspot for art, music, dining and downtown living. Still, people look for more. The once vibrant Collin Creek Mall is wasting away, with few stores,and even fewer shoppers. Should Collin Creek undergo a renaissance like the downtown are? Are there other parts of the city of Plano that need revitalization? What does it mean to revitalize? Does the need to sustain and cultivate life run counter to the need to consume, or are the one in the same? Have the needs of our city changed? Does Plano need more: more shops, more restaurants, more everything? Will it ever be enough? What makes up the soul of our suburb?
For this project, the learners will identify a portion of the City of Plano that needs to be revitalized. After identifying the area for revitalization the learner will create a City Improvement Documentary that includes the following: history of the area, all relevant government regulations involved in development, economic investment requirements, environmental impact, technological requirements, and the overall “soul” of the city. The learner will also created a 2D layout/blueprint for the redevelopment of their selected area.
Final Deliverables:
Documentary (Due February 15th)
2D layout/blueprint for redevelopment or revitalization. (Due February 15th)
How can you help?
We are looking for speakers with expertise in real estate, civil engineering, architecture, and city planning.
Dinner Table Discussion Questions:
What do you know about the history of Plano?
How would you describe the culture of Plano?
What area of Plano are you interested in working on for your revitalization plan? How did you arrive at that decision?
Sincerely,
The 4th Year Facilitator Team
The City of Plano 1891
Save the Date:
1/26: 1st Years Titan Talk with PAHS Counselors
1/26: 3rd Years Titan Talk with State Farm - IT Internship
2/1: 2nd Years Williams Natatorium - Submersibles Competition for Beneath the Surface
2/7: Progress Report 3
2/16: PTSA Student and Parent Programs: Jerry Ackerman on the topic of different challenges of social media, with specific attention to building a positive social media presence
2/19: Presidents' Day - Learner Holiday
2/23: Titan Talk: 4th Years Southwest Airlines Internship
2/26: New Titan Night
3/9: Titan Talk 3rd/4th Yrs Prom Fashion Show
3/1-3: FRC First Robotics Dallas Regional
3/10-18: Spring Break
3/22: Internship Job Fair
3/23: Titan Talk: Peter Balyta - Texas Instruments
4/28: Prom (3rd and 4th Years)