Weekly Newsletter

This week, students are working on their Innovative Design Challenge.  The next in person visit to TEC-SMART is Wednesday, March 26th.  The visit is 7:50 AM-10:50 AM.  Students should talk to their home school counselor regarding transportation.  Interim reports were mailed home yesterday and sent to each home school counselor.  The P-TECH 9th grade course is a pass/fail course.  

Students have the following due TOMORROW:

PART 2:  Your second post (Due Before 3/14) should be a minimum of 4 sentences addressing the bullets below.

Before you reply, open the link shared in the post to which you are responding. (If the link does not open, kindly let the student know that their link cannot be opened). Look through the resource to check the accuracy of the three statistics shared by your teammate. Next, do a little research to look for innovations in this field. Respond to a post by responding to these 3 prompts:

• In your first sentence, let the student know if he or she has accurately reported and led you to the correct data.

• State another question that comes to mind that the student would need to answer before trying to innovate a solution for this challenge.

• Complete this prompt: "After looking at the data you found related to _______, I have done a little research for you and found two examples of innovations in this area." (Offer two innovations in or related to this field). 

Students have the following due next Friday, March 21st:

Q3 - Discussion #4: Design your Solution

• At our February 11th visit, we used data from the Your Water Footprint text book to justify the need for an innovation.

• In the Second Discussion Forum, we used fire safety data to model how to justify an innovation in the field of fire prevention.

• In the Third Discussion Forum, you found data to justify the need for an innovation related to one of the following categories:  Transportation, Food, Animals, Waste Management, Human Health, Travel, Communication, Fire, Water Footprint, Energy Conservation

• Your goal for this discussion is to identify your chosen innovation and present it to your discussion group.  You will provide feedback and receive feedback to and from your discussion group members.

• If you are having trouble identifying an innovation, please review this TED Talk about solving problems: The first secret of design is... noticing Links to an external site.

 

PART 1:  Your first post (Due Before 3/21) should be a minimum of 5 sentences addressing the bullets below.

After reviewing your Third Discussion Forum, introduce your proposed innovation. Complete these three prompts:

• "From my previous research in the past discussion forums, I have found there to a need for an innovation in the field of ____" (Transportation, Food, Animals, Waste Management, Human Health, Travel, Communication, Fire, Water Footprint, Energy). "Specifically, this innovation needs to: (In the bullets below, identify 3 points that relate to three statistics that this innovation will address). 

  • _____

  • _____

  • _____

• "I have attached a visual of my proposed solution..." (This can be a digitally created image or a picture of your hand drawn innovation. It should be prepared as a "final" image that you will present at our freshman expo.   Click Here if you need help linking an image to your discussion post Links to an external site.).

• "As seen in this sketch, this innovation can be used by ______" (Identify the intended user or users). "Briefly, this innovation will...."(discuss how this will be used).  

• "If this innovation is successful, I believe that this innovation would be able to..." (Below, list 1 benefit to the user; list 1 social benefit; list a third related benefit).  

  • _____

  • _____

  • _____

If you or your child have any questions, we encourage them to reach out to the teachers:

Mr. Balet; jbalet@bscsd.org
Mr. Glogowski; mglogowski@bscsd.org
Mrs. Lewis; blewis@bscsd.org

Students will return to the HVCC North campus for their mandatory monthly visit on these dates:  3/26, 4/24, 5/21 (Expo).  Next Expo is 5/21.

If you would like access to observe your child’s Canvas account, please email me, and I will send you a one time pairing code to set up the account. 

 

2025-2026 School Year
Next year, the high school P-TECH involves a focus on teaching students about each of the college majors.  Students will learn about careers for each, what the pathway includes for coursework, as well as the type of work in that college major.  As students are planning for next school year’s schedule, we do recommend a study hall for the spring semester when students will take HVCC Sociology.  It is a 3.0 college credit course that they will need time to work on.  First semester is College Forum, a 1.0 HVCC course, that will only require about 45 minutes of work each week in addition to the high school work.   We will register students for their HVCC coursework at the April visit.  At that visit, students will need their Social Security Number.  This is required for the first registration to get them in the system.  There will also be a Certificate of Residency requirement (see attached letter), that will be needed, but can’t be obtained until after July 4th.  Also, students planning to enter the Engineering Sciences pathway should be taking Algebra 2 as a sophomore.  If they are not, this could impact the college coursework and number of courses they can take each semester starting spring of junior year due to the math requirement.

As you are planning for next school year, here are the tentative monthly visit dates: 9/12, 10/16, 11/5 (Expo), 12/16, 1/7, 2/12, 3/9, 4/14, 5/21 (Expo)

If your child is not planning to continue with the P-TECH program, please email me.

 

Summer Bridge 2025
The 10th Grade Summer Bridge program will be on Thursday, July 17th and Friday, July 18th.  We will be preparing students for the HVCC college course and giving them an introduction to the HVCC college pathways.

 

This week, students are continuing to explore the Engineering Sciences pathway.  The next in person visit to TEC-SMART is Thursday, March 27th.  The visit is 7:50 AM-10:50 AM.  Students should talk to their home school counselor regarding transportation.  Interim reports were mailed home yesterday and sent to each home school counselor.  The P-TECH 10th grade high school course is a pass/fail course.  

High School Course (Canvas)

This week, students have the assignment:  Rapid Plasma Deposition Manufacturing due by March 15th at 11:59 PM.  For this assignment students need to answer the following questions:

With the series of questions below, you will explore the new technology of Rapid Plasma Deposition. This new technology is changing the way manufactures build structures for industries we have come to know through the years.

1. What is the definition of Deposition? What is the term “plasma”?

2. How can plasma be used in the manufacturing process?

3. How does a 3D printer work?

4. Is a Rapid Plasma Deposition Machine similar to a 3D printer? Explain why or why not the two machines may or may not be similar.

5. Does the Rapid Plasma Deposition Manufacturing process increase or reduce material waste?

The Group Sign Up for the next visit will open on March 17th.  Students have to sign up by March 21st or they will be put into a group.

HVCC Sociology (Brightspace)

Students are in week 8 of the Sociology class.  Students need to complete the following by Sunday at 11:59 PM:

• Read Chapter 13

• Written assignment:  Media Portrayal due Saturday by 11:59 PM

• Week 8 Quiz due by Sunday at 11:59 PM

Week 9 opens on Monday, March 17th.  For this module, students need to do the following:

• Read Chapters 14 & 15

• Initial Discussion Board post due by Thursday at 11:59 PM

• Discussion Board post replies due by Sunday at 11:59 PM

Please feel free to view the assignments and due dates by going to this folder.  I apologize for the formatting.  Students seem to have writing assignments, a major research project, and a final exam.  We will send reminders out to students and post resources to assist them.  The common theme in her directions is students are NOT to use any form of AI.  

Scheduling for 2025-2026 School Year

Students will take the following with P-TECH as 11th grade students:

• English 11

• Applied Mathematics in Clean Technologies

• Environmental Science & Sustainability

Students who are currently in Algebra 2 at their home school will take College PreCalculus in the spring semester of junior year from HVCC.  They should NOT take PreCalculus at their home school.  Students who are going to take Algebra 2 at their home school as juniors will take College Algebra through HVCC if applicable to their pathway.  

We will register students for their HVCC classes at the April visit.  Students will need either their HVCC number or Social Security Number.  I have attached the Certificate of Residency(COR) letter for the fall.  The COR cannot be obtained prior to June 1st. For the fall, students will tentatively take the following HVCC courses based on pathway and degree requirements:

Clean Energy:  MCTS 105- this is a new 6 credit course that will replace ECMN 120 & ECMN 195 in the original course guide

Community & Public Health:  ENGL 125: Public Speaking & PSYC 100:  General Psychology

Engineering Sciences:  ENGR 120:  Intro to Engineering Design & CISS 110:  Programming & Logic I

Entrepreneurship:  MKTG 120:  Principles of Marketing & ENTR 110: Intro to Entrepreneurship

Hacking & Cybersecurity:  CISS 100:  Intro to Computer Systems & PSYC 100:  General Psychology

Surgical Tech:  PSYC 100:  General Psychology

 

HVCC Summer Classes
Any student wishing to take a summer college class through the grant, needs to complete the intent form.  In order for the grant to pay for it, the student must be taking a course that is part of their degree pathway.  If they do not know the specific class/section at this time, it is ok, but we need to know if they are planning to take one due to budgeting considerations.  Students should complete the intent form by next Wednesday. March 19th.  This is especially important for those going into Engineering Sciences that need to take College Algebra over the summer.

If your child is not planning to continue with the P-TECH program, please email me.

There is no summer bridge program between 10th and 11th grade.