Titan eNews
Weekly Campus Update
Mission: To create a community of learners empowered to collaborate and compete in a rapidly changing world.
COUNSELOR'S CORNER
UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS IN OUR AREA
Boston University will be hosting a reception for high school sophomores and juniors and their families. This is a wonderful opportunity for your students to learn more about BU and what makes an application competitive for admission.
Sunday, March 31, 2019
Hilton Dallas Lincoln Centre
5410 Lyndon B Johnson Freeway
Dallas, TX 75240
Registration: 12:30 p.m.
Presentation: 1:00 p.m.
All students who plan to attend should RSVP on our website.
Washington University (Wash U),St. Louis
Are your students looking for a world-class education and a close-knit, supportive community? Are they ready to ask some big questions and study a diverse array of subjects? Do they want to know about campus life, our traditions, and how to get involved beyond the classroom? Do they have questions about the application process and financial assistance?
There will be a WashU Info Session:
Sunday, March 24
7:00 - 8:00 PM
Embassy Suites by Hilton Dallas DFW Airport North
2401 Bass Pro Drive
Grapevine, TX 76051
Driving directions and pre-registration form
For additional information, call the Office of Undergraduate Admissions at (800) 638-0700 or (314) 935-6000.
DFW National College Fair
Saturday, March 23, 2019
Dallas Market Center-Main Hall
1pm-4pm
The fair is a terrific opportunity for juniors to focus their college research, and for ninth and tenth graders to begin learning about colleges! In addition to the fair, we will have a number of information sessions on aspects of the admissions process, essay writing, financial aid, scholarships, and more. The fair is open to the entire family!
ALL STUDENTS SHOULD REGISTER to attend the fair.
LEARNER OPPORTUNITIES
GLOBAL STEM Summer High School Job Shadow Program
Welcome to our 2019 Cisco Global STEM High School Job Shadow Program! Our program is a three-week unpaid summer program designed to expose incoming juniors (Class of 2021) and seniors (Class of 2020) top talented STEM focused students to the company culture and careers. We have been working hard to provide a great summer experience for high school students. Completed Interest Packet must be submitted by March 22nd.
Interest Packet Link:
https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/a26c9fd09f4546878a6ac8569265443a
Program Details:
Dates: July 8th thru July 28th
Time: 9am to 2pm/10am to 3 pm
Interest Packet items:
- Resume
- Letter of Recommendation
- High school transcripts (unofficial or official)
- 45 second video (cover letter)
Richardson, Texas:
Customer Experience Engineer
Network Consultant Engineer Assistant
Cisco Lifecycle Engineer
Customer Experience Operational Engineer
PLANO YOUTH LEADERSHIP
Plano Youth Leadership (PYL) is now accepting applications for its 2019-2020 class (Class 25). Students currently enrolled in the 9th grade and planning to enter the 10th grade during the 2019-2020 school year are eligible to apply. Applicants must reside in the area served by the Plano Independent School District (PISD) or within the City of Plano, regardless of whether the applicant attends public or private school or is home schooled.
PYL provides students with an opportunity to explore leadership and learn more about becoming effective leaders, working with different leadership styles, and increasing awareness of the Plano community, all in order to help prepare them to make positive impacts on their community today and in the future. Through a series of monthly class sessions during the school year, students develop the confidence and knowledge they need to succeed in leadership positions while learning about local leadership and service opportunities.
According to Monica Shortino, former PYL Board President, "Plano Youth Leadership is a unique opportunity for tenth-grade students to develop critical leadership skills while building comprehensive knowledge of the community they live. The program’s experience allows students to learn first-hand from community leaders representing government, education, community service and business to get involved in making our community even stronger.” Cole Shockey, a PYL alumnus and current Student Advisor, adds, “PYL was an amazing experience. The program helped me discover my potential as a leader, allowed me to develop skills that made an immediate and lasting impact, and inspired me to expand my vision of the future.”
The PYL Selection Committee chooses participants representing a cross section of the community based on information provided in the written application. Completed applications must be submitted by April 15, 2019. Applications are available on the Plano Youth Leadership website: planoyouthleadership.org.
Tuition for the program is $175 per participant, and need-based scholarships are available for qualified students.
For additional information, contact support@planoyouthleadership.org or President-Elect Beccy Alldredge: beccy.jlp@sbcglobal.net.
United States Naval Academy Summer Program Applications Open Now
Summer STEM
STEM is all about exploring, creating, building, and making things better, and at our Summer STEM Program, you’ll do just that. You’ll work with students from all over the country as you test your problem-solving, creativity, and collaboration skills.
Summer Seminar
Summer Seminar will introduce you to life at the Academy, where you will experience first-class academic, athletic, and professional training at the #1 public college in the U.S.* (Top 25 Public College in the U.S. 2017, Forbes). Your Summer Seminar application will also serve as a preliminary application to the Academy that you will complete before or during your senior year.
For more information or to apply: https://www.usna.edu/Admissions/Programs/index.php
FIRST YEARS
In Art/Tech with Mr. McCoy, first year learners are finishing up the filming portion of their movies for LCA. The next couple of weeks after Spring Break will be focused on editing and marketing their films in preparation for the Film Festival on April 2nd.
Learners were in the Fab Lab this week constructing their instruments during Mr. Hudnall’s mods. In Math with Mr. Stone, learners are refreshing their work with graphing that they have done throughout the year and are getting ready to move on to a new function family. In English with Ms. Wright, learners are gathering 3-5 sources for their research paper. The rough draft of the paper is due on Friday, March 29th and the final draft is due on Friday, April 5th.
In Mr. Welch’s Geography class this week, learners surveyed traditional cultures, migration and trade through specific articles about each topic. They also looked at different types of innovations and worked on an innovation challenge. After the break, learners will be assigned a specific region to create an online culture collage using language, religion, land use, education and customs. Towards the end of the week they will be tackling the idea of conflict by creating text messages, on paper, so they can observe how conflict begins.
SECOND YEARS
Second years are at the midpoint of their 4th project, Change the Game. The week brought a third tier of feedback panelists. This time, the panelists were not 3rd and 4th year Titans who had previous game design experience. The mentor panels were made up of industry professionals who could provide fresh feedback and suggestions. Each mentoring experience has allowed learners to test, edit and amend their work to make sure the final product is of high quality. Game trailers, sound bites, animations, textures and stand-up cardboard characters have been the buzz words around the 2nd year’s spaces. The games are beginning to become a reality.
Along the way, learners have been working on human body systems in Biology, debates in World History and English, congruent triangles in Geometry, game mechanics and programming in Engineering, and digital color tools in Art/Tech. Both learners and staff look forward to a pleasant and restful spring break.
THIRD YEARS
Third-year learners have had an incredibly busy couple of weeks as we wrapped up the final bits and pieces of turning points. Last Thursday featured a very successful presentation day as teams presented the interactive exhibits that they designed based upon their individual research. Guests, including parents, museum professionals, and others were treated to a wide variety of exhibits as learners served as docents, conducted research, or served as guests themselves.
Then, this past Monday, professional guests were in the building to provide direct feedback to learners on their resumes. Next, the resumes were put into action at Thursday's Internship Job Fair. All afternoon, learners dressed in their finest professional dress interviewed with area businesses in an attempt to land an internship that would satisfy their 30-hour requirement for graduation. Learners entered trepidatiously, but all seemed to leave excited and ready to share their experience with their peers. For their part, the guests all reported being very impressed with what the 3rd-year learners had to offer. Some have even already extended internship offers.
Amidst all that was going on this week, learners still focused on their individual content work. This included, but was not limited to, redrafting college essays, writing their own letters of recommendation, and engaging in personal finance exploration...be sure to ask them what their future career, household, and budget look like.
Have a fantastic spring break with your family and we look forward to seeing everyone back here on March 18th!
FOURTH YEARS
This week fourth-years put the finishing touches on our current project, Suburban Soul. The learners presented their final projects to the fourth-year facilitators in preparation for their evening at the Plano Zoning Commission. Official presentations for Suburban Soul will take place at Plano City Hall Monday, March 18th. Learners will be talking with members of the Plano Zoning Commission about their proposed changes to parts of the city of Plano. If you are interested in seeing their work, the presentation and the meeting following are both open to the public. In Government, this week learners finished their study of the judicial system and took a test over the federal and state judicial system. In SRD, learners completed several more units on basic statistics. The proper usage of the histogram, standard deviation, box plots, percentiles for data analysis were presented and learners completed basic mathematical formulas as part of the assessment process. Learners are actively working on completing the analytical portion of the final research report: the discussion section. In Computer Science, learners continued exploring the different types of number systems that are prevalent in computing. With this foundational skill in place, learners will begin exploring computer networking concepts when they return from the break.
Student Council leaders with Sponsor Leslie Wright attend Jostens Renaissance Positive Culture Summit this week at Lebanon Trails High School in Frisco.
FROM OUR PLANO ACADEMY HIGH SCHOOL PTSA
ATTENTION PARENTS and EVEN 8TH GRADE PARENTS COMING TO ACADEMY HS
How would you like to know all about the exciting events coming up at Academy HS? How would you like to make an impact with your kids and the school? Would you like to get to know your teen’s high school peers, their parents, teachers and administrators? Keep Calm and Be a Part of our PTSA at Academy HS.
We are looking for anyone interested in serving on our Executive Board Next Year Please let us know if you are interested in serving as any of these positions by emailing nominating@planoacademyptsa.org
President
First VP - Membership
Second VP - Programs
Third VP - Ways and Means
Fourth VP - Communications
Fifth VP - Volunteers
Treasurer
Secretary
We also have several chair positions available, some even allow you to volunteer from the comfort of your couch! Please email president@planoacademyptsa.org for more info.
Our PTSA has several opportunities available for you!
Ultimate Gourmet Cookie and Popcorn Sales - Ends Saturday
Practice ACT 3/23
Teacher Appreciation - Staff Casserole Day
Senior Banquet Tickets - 5/21
Please click
Plano Academy High School PTSA - Plano ISD, TX - Membership ToolKit
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!