showing entries tagged "Alumni"
by: Keira Collin, Étude Studios Writing Intern
IDEAS Academy Blood Drive Oct.7th
IDEAS Academy will host its next American Red Cross Blood Drive on Friday, October 7! Donations will be scheduled from 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. and take place in the IDEAS cafeteria. We are looking for around 48 donors. Those looking to donate may either contact Karen Robison at krobison@etudegroup.org or can find information on the Red Cross website.
This is the sixth year that the blood drive will be coming to IDEAS. Donating blood is so important because each donation has the potential to save three lives. Some of the blood donated may go towards research of the Zika epidemic and other diseases.
Depending on the number of donors, scholarships may be available for student volunteers. Last year two scholarships were given to students entering science and medical fields. Volunteering for the blood drive is also a great opportunity for student leadership and résumé building.
Volunteers will be needed for donating blood, set-up and take-down, checking people in, retrieving people from classes, and accompanying donors during and after they donate. Students are very important donors as many adults have busy schedules and aren’t always able to get in and donate. We hope you are able to volunteer and donate for such a good cause! Contact Karen Robison or visit the American Red Cross website for more information.
by: Courtney Koositra, Lead Advisor
Mosaic Intentionally Prepares for Intellectual and Professional Engagement
Over the last three days, students at The Mosaic School participated in their first Town Hall, attended seminar previews, got a glimpse of what their academic classes will be like, and spent more time together with their advisory building community through multiple activities and discussions. The first Town Hall allowed students to meet each other, share out a movement that represented their advisory group, and share goals that they had for how Town Hall should be run this year. Town Hall is a whole school gathering that happens every Wednesday in an effort to build community, share out important information, enhance student leadership, and discuss community issues.
by: Beth Carreno
IDEAS Academy Engineering and the Portable Shelter Project
What began as a student project last winter with the design of a “tiny home” has grown into a completed portable shelter project that will impact the life of a homeless veteran.
IDEAS Portable Shelter Dedication
IDEAS Academy's portable shelter will soon have a new home.
by: Courtney Kooistra, Lead Advisor
Mosaic Develops Habits of Professionalism at Camp Anokijig
Today our students and advisors loaded up the busses and headed out to Camp Anokijig for a day full of activities that tested our ability to collaborate and communicate effectively to work toward a goal in an outdoor setting. Throughout the day, groups consisting of two advisories each completed three different activities which all had different goals. A student favorite was the voyager canoe, which allowed an entire advisory to get into the canoe together and navigate around the lake. Mr. Fredrichsen’s advisory collaborated by singing a song as a group which allowed them to row in rhythm. Other groups identified roles, noticing that once they had a leader it was much easier to row together and move the canoe effectively. While reflecting on this activity, Mr. Laborde and Miss Kooistra’s advisees identified that in order to be successful as a group they needed to listen to each student’s ideas, put forth maximum effort, focus on the task at hand, encourage each other, and take on leadership opportunities when appropriate. Students then tried to improve at each of these aspects throughout the rest of the day.
by: Susan Griffiths
Connections: Building Community at ESAA
If school is about helping students understand the world around them, it makes a great deal of sense to start the school year helping students better understand themselves as friends, learners, teachers, and leaders. With this in mind, ESAA teachers Rachel Pekarek and Jamie Faul created a school wide plan to build community during the first weeks of school. We began the year using this plan to provide students and teachers with the time and space to make connections not only in their classrooms, but throughout the school and in the community. The following are some highlights from our first two days of school.
by: Courtney Kooistra, Lead Advisory & Math Teacher
Mosaic Community, Service, Learning
What is service learning? Today Mosaic students had the opportunity to go out into the Sheboygan community as they learned valuable skills throughout a day filled with providing service to different organizations. Each grade level went to a different location and fulfilled needs that we identified within the community outside of our school. Our sixth graders had the opportunity to go to the Sheboygan River[http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/greatlakes/sheboygan.html] area surrounding the UW Sheboygan and pull weeds as they learned a little about invasive species. Seventh grade students went to Nourish[http://www.nourishfarms.org/], a non profit organization in Sheboygan County, and helped harvest within the nourish garden as well as learn about the services of the Nourish organization. Eighth grade students headed over to the Habitat Restore[http://www.habitatlakeside.com/] building to provide extra hands in organization, taking care of the lot, and helping stock donated items.
by: Courtney Kooistra, Lead Advisor & Math Teacher
Mosaic Reflections
Anticipation was building this morning as we finally got to welcome students back into our community to participate in activities we had been planning for the last several weeks! Today at Mosaic we focused on introducing students to the creative process by allowing them to experience it within their advisories. The creative process is a component of our schools that is used to develop new ideas or solutions to problems within project seminars and academics.
by: Mike Q Hanlon, Dean of Culture
IDEAS Reflections from Camp Anokijig
Greetings from Camp Anokijig! The weather is beautiful, and the students are active. Our intention with starting school off campus was to give the students authentic bonding experiences to carry throughout the year. From the staff point of view, it seems to have been a success. In the morning, students met their peers in advisory and then constructed reflection journals together. These journals will hold their thoughts so that we can look back on our time here, and build upon the lessons we’ve learned.
by: Ted Hamm
Welcome Back IDEAS Academy!
Each year begins with a focus on intentionally building our community atIDEAS Academy. We do this by devoting time to getting to know one another as people with stories, as learners with goals, and as supporters we need to take on the challenges of an academic program that values creativity and innovation. As we did at the beginning of the 2014 - 2015 school year, we will be spending the first two days of school at Camp Anokijig. We will use this space to get know advisory groups, reflecting on individual growth and needs, and experiencing the creative process. The schedule is as follows:
