Titan eNews
Weekly Campus Update
Mission: To create a community of learners empowered to collaborate and compete in a rapidly changing world.
From PTSA:
Mention PAHS PTSA to cashier before paying for your order. NO ONLINE ORDER Please!
Counselor's Corner
AP Exams
If your learner is interested in taking an AP exam, we will administer the exam on our campus.
Information about AP exams can be found on our website: https://www.pisd.edu/Page/16914
If you have questions, please reach out to Mrs. Conner
Payment for AP Exams open today, February 1 and you must pay for the exam by March 1st.
AP Exams are $94.00. If using paypams, the preferred method, the price is $97.00
Instructions for payment are below.
Go to https://paypams.com/HomePage.aspx
-On the main menu, look for: AP Test – Plano Academy High School
You will choose either “high school” for 1st & 2nd years or “senior high school” for 3rd years & 4th years
-Once selected you will be prompted to go to the following option to continue the
payment process and make your payment:
-A $3.00 fee has been added to each test in order to use PayPAMS.
-To make a purchase, mark the item in the ‘Buy’ column and then click the ‘Add to Cart’ button.
or Payment by check :
-Checks should be made out to Plano Academy High School.
-Each AP exam is $94.
-In the memo line, please write your students name, ID number, and the test that your learner will be taking.
Mrs. Madding in the Counseling office will accept your payment.
We are unable to offer the Computer Principles exam and the Studio Art exams
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.
Sophomore conferences will begin the last day of February.
FIRST YEARS
Last Saturday, first year learners ended A League of Our Own with Game Day at Clark Stadium. It was great to see all the parents and volunteers from NHS and PTSA be so supportive of our teams!
This week in Lights, Camera, Action (LCA), first years are busy brainstorming story ideas for their five minute film and they are deciding whether they will make a narrative, a documentary, or an animation.
SECOND YEARS
Pool Day was a huge success! Learners put their submersibles to the test at Williams Natatorium this Thursday, as their submersibles were put to a battery of challenges as alliances. This years’ submersibles were among the most “mission ready” submersibles that have been built in the last couple years, and the alliances were rewarded by securing several different pieces of the representation of the downed satellite. Each piece of the satellite that the learners were able to retrieve was representative of various pieces of encrypted information, as well as artifacts. The combination of these pieces of information as well as the artifacts should lead the learners to clues about what the nefarious Sigma is truly up to.
The final General Assembly of Beneath the Surface will take place on Monday, where the information that has been gathered and decrypted will be used to make global decisions. It has been an incredibly active week for the Second Years, and the facilitator team is quite proud of all the successes the learners have experienced during Beneath the Surface.
THIRD YEARS
Third-year learners have struck a midpoint in the Turning Points project and there has been a lot to work on. Individually, learners have been working on their animations for technology, they have been wrapping up their individual choice art pieces that were due today, and they have been repeatedly drafting their research paper. This week, every learner had a 1 on 1 research consultation meeting with either an expert from outside the building or focused time with Mr. Young. Everyone seemed to really value this attention to their individual research and their papers should strengthen as a result of these meetings.
Teams were formed last week and have been busy. They have been working to ideate their exhibit and interactive concepts that will reflect elements of each of the research. On Thursday and Friday this week, we brought in individuals that work in the industry
from the Arboretum, the Dallas Zoo, The Lab, and the Plano Outdoor Education Center to meet with the teams, hear out their early ideation, and provide feedback. Each team met with two different people and now will be able to take the feedback forward into the implementation of their final designs on 2/28 from 3-6 PM.
FOURTH YEARS
This week our learners created project boards to help them with their project management during Suburban Soul. They also began using a project management tool called Stand-Ups. These project management tools were brought to us by teachers who formally used them in the technology and banking industry. We believe our learners will benefit greatly from their integration into the project process. In Government, this week learners studied the last stages of the public policy cycle. They studied the federal budget process and learned what happens when they don’t successfully pass a budget or a continuing resolution to fund the government. That means they now understand why the government recently shut down for over a month. In Computer Science, we continued learning about the various drawing capabilities of the HTML Canvas element. In particular, we focused on scaling and transformation of drawing entities, which will ultimately be used to create the 2D site plan for Suburban Soul. In SRD, learners follow seminars on the different types of experimental designs Learners practice what they learn by recognizing, explaining and applying the appropriate experimental design to a particular research scenario.
CONGRATULATIONS!
From our Plano PTSA
Titan Parents: We Need Your Assistance!
Do you work for a local company? If yes, you can be a hero by promoting this terrific opportunity for your company to step up as a valuable corporate citizen as well as benefit from an energetic young adult eager to learn.
The Plano I.S.D. Academy High School will be hosting an Internship Fair on Thursday, March 7th from 1:00 - 3:30 where 100+ motivated teens will be seeking an opportunity to gain hands-on experience in a professional work environment.
We are looking for companies of all sizes in the Plano area willing to offer a 30-hour unpaid summer internship.
Each internship provider is showcased on our internship wall in the school, a popular point of interest on campus tours for visitors.
If you think that your company could use the extra help, please respond to me before February 8th for additional information and to secure your spot alongside 50+ other companies that have already signed up. There will be an opportunity to meet and interview prospective interns on the spot.
(Some companies are offering a single internship, others several.)
Questions?
Please reach out to Kim Kamen, PTSA Internship Coordinator at kimkamen@hotmail.com or 214-762-5886.
WE ARE IN NEED OF VOLUNTEERS
Hi Everyone -
We have several opportunities where we can use your help.
We are looking for:
* Klenex and Hand Sanitizers (now)
* Chaperones for the 2nd years heading to National Videogame Museum (2/6)
* New Titan Night (2/26)
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!