Titan eNews
Weekly Campus Update
Mission: To create a community of learners empowered to collaborate and compete in a rapidly changing world.
Attention Seniors!
Graduating seniors, you are invited to reminisce with friends at your elementary school senior reunion. Reunions are scheduled at individual elementary schools for this year's graduating class of 2019.
Please check this site frequently, as new schools are added daily.
Counselor's Corner
Summer Opportunities for Learners
Stanford University Programs for High School Students
https://summer.stanford.edu/apply-now?utm_source=BN1Reco_Mar20
Physics Camp for Young Women at UTD
https://designconnectcreate.org/utd/
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Long Island University Entrepreneurship Academy
This summer, Long Island University is launching the Entrepreneurship Academy, a weeklong intensive program for ambitious students planning to major in business. Admitted students engage in hands-on experiences that provide insight into career paths in business and receive leadership coachingfrom former executives who’ve held positions such as: Managing Director at Merrill Lynch, Marketing Director at Bloomberg, and Partner at E&Y. Students cap off their career exploration experience with a visit to a Fortune 500 company.
During the Academy, students get a taste of college life while dorming at our rural Post campus on Long Island and visiting our city campus in Brooklyn.
Students may choose from two sessions: June 23 – June 29 or July 21 – July 27.
Top candidates are passionate about business and leaders in their school communities who are eager for opportunities to advance their presentation and leadership skills while learning more about potential career paths in business.
Ideal candidates meet the following criteria:
· Professional, driven leaders in their school communities
· Current juniors planning to major in Business
· Cumulative GPA above 90, 1200 PSAT
Tuition and lodging are offered free of charge. A fee of $100 is collected for materials and students are responsible for food and transportation costs.
**If you are interested in being considered for this program, please see your counselor.
First Years
During Project Time this week for Project Sustain, first year learners have been working on a presentation on their team’s community problem. They looked into what specific infrastructure needs there are in a sustainable community.
On Tuesday, all first year learners took the STAAR English I EOC. In Math with Mr. Stone, learners are expanding their knowledge of data and functions that they can fit data into. In the coming unit, they will be looking at growth and decay models and how they can use them in practice. In Art/Tech with Mr. McCoy, learners are finishing scale architectural models of the art learning space. They will be using these skills as they design their solutions for Project Sustain. In Geography with Mr Welch, learners will be finishing work on a slide show about renewable and non-renewable resources. This week they will be focusing on sustainable development and how humans adapt to and modify the environment. In Engineering with Mr. Hudnall, learners practiced their isometric drawing skills. In Physics with Mr. Hardy, learners studied the AC/DC current war and different types of electrical flow and in English with Ms. Wright, learners turned in their rough drafts for their research paper.
Second Years
Project Y is in week two and teams are in the process of creating their project charters to define how their group will meet the expectations of the project. This project asks the driving question: How can we use our gained knowledge and skills to innovate and work towards solving a United Nations Sustainable Development Goal? For some teams, this means revisiting some of the research that was discovered during Titan Thinker. For most teams, this is a way to ideate solutions that could benefit people, places, or communities. Project proposals have been submitted to the Academy PTSA in hopes of receiving a small grant to help fund the materials needs in order to develop a proof of concept. Depending on the project’s needs, some projects are approved without a supporting budget, while others are approved and supply lists are being compiled. As this project gains momentum, teams will need to contact an NGO and partner with an industry expert to allow the teams to gain insight and gain feedback.
This week gave the learners an opportunity to complete the STAAR English II exam. It was a long day, but our learners came into the experience prepared and completed the day with focus and competence. Looking forward, the Biology End of Course exam will be administered to all 2nd year learners on Monday, May 6th. Mrs. Gunnels is readying learners with opportunities to recall concepts. Learners should be reviewing notes at home daily to prepare for this important content exam.
Fourth Years
This week learners finished their videos about push or pull factors that might cause humans to colonize Mars. The fourth-years spent Friday morning watching the videos together and enjoying popcorn and candy provided by PTSA. In Government this week learners studied governments around the world. Each group chose one country and studied their constitution then looked at their freedom rating and compared the idealized country portrayed via the constitution to the real world review of the country. In SRD this week, learners are working hard at developing a scripted plan for their oral presentation. Learners also are preparing Powerpoint presentations and other tangible visual aids. In Calculus and PreCalculus, the past few weeks we have learned about the Calculus of E^(x) and Ln(x) and the characteristics of those functions. We have also explored the concepts of vector and properties of exponents and logarithms.
The website below indicates the Capstone Presentation Dates and Times. Please sign up to view your child’s final presentation.
https://sites.google.com/mypisd.net/capstonefinalpresentations/capstone-home-page
Titan Robotics
FRC 5431 is very excited following their success at District Championships this weekend. They were awarded the Regional Chairman’s Award, the most prestigious award at FIRST, it honors the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the mission of FIRST. It was created to keep the central focus of FIRST Robotics Competition on the ultimate goal of transforming the culture in ways that will inspire greater levels of respect and honor for science and technology, as well as encouraging more of today’s youth to become science and technology leaders. Due to this award, and their performance on the field at their district events and champs, 5431 is currently ranked 9th in the state. They are headed to World Championships in Houston next week, and will compete alongside teams from around the country, as well as Brazil, China, Israel, Mexico, and Turkey.
Even though the competition season is wrapping up, we are quickly gearing up for a STEM night on April 26 and 3 summer camps May 28 - June 14. The three summer camps will serve 4th - 8th graders in our area. We are looking for donated supplies for quick science and engineering activities and challenges, such as:
- Toilet paper/Paper towel tubes
- Masking Tape
- Popsicle sticks
- Rubber bands
- Cotton Balls
- Marshmallows
- Plastic Spoons
- Balloons
- Plastic Straws
- Toothpicks
- 2-Liter soda bottles
- Fettuccine Noodles
- Spaghetti noodles
- Markers
- Hot Glue Sticks
- Expo Markers
- Pens
- Pencils
- Scissors
- Cardstock
- Paper
- Boxes(small moving/shoe boxes)
- Newspaper
We appreciate all of the support from our Titan family this semester, and look forward to further serving our community.
From Our Plano Academy High School PTSA
Our PTSA has several opportunities available for you!
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.
Upcoming Events
Capstone Final Presentations- 4/23/19, 4/24/19, 4/25/19
Career Fair- 4/23/2019
Prom- 4/27/2019
Texas College Fair- 4/30/2019