Weekly Update 12/17
Jackson-Reed STEM Students, Parents and Teachers,
Here's what is happening this week at Jackson-Reed:
Academy-Wide Announcements
Middle School Academy Recruitment!
Academy leadership is currently working with our three feeder middle schools (Deal, Hardy, and Oyster) to set some dates for J-R Academy students to come speak/showcase their academies to 8th graders to increase awareness and access to the academies to new students. Once these dates in February are set, we'll be opening up sign-ups for enthusiastic students to volunteer-more info to come in the new year!
ACE Structural, Civil, Architectural Engineering Mentorship Program starting up in January!
We are thrilled to have a new partnership come to Jackson-Reed. For any STEM students interested in civil engineering-we have a club just for you! This club will meet in the mornings before school in Dr. Sharma's room (323). The day of the week/kick-off date is pending! If you are interested in learning more, please be on the lookout for future announcements.
Upcoming events and programs
Scholarship Opportunities
David M. Rubenstein/Economic Club Scholarship
The David M. Rubenstein/Economic Club of Washington, DC Scholarship Program is one of the few large-scale scholarships dedicated exclusively to students graduating from DC public and charter schools. Approximately 50 scholarships of $20,000 are awarded each year to bright, motivated students who exhibit impressive academic achievement. The application is due Wednesday, January 31, 2024. See the eligibility requirements and access the application here:
IT and Engineering Scholarship
Amazing opportunity for IT and engineering seniors; Students can use this link to apply to a 40,000 Amazon scholarship. Seniors, please review the eligibility requirements and get to it! The deadline for this application is December 21st.
More Upcoming Programs
- Dec. 19: IT Academy Fieldtrip to FBI HQ (Cybersecurity, CSA, Game Design)
- Dec. 19: Mentors Meeting Check-in (during lunch in Ms. McClure's office 108B)
- Jan. 4:IT Fieldtrip-Museum of Cryptology (Open to every level of the IT Academy -forms available Monday, Dec. 18)
Internship Information
Career Ready Internships:
For current eligible juniors (and seniors who have not yet completed a Career-Ready Internship), an email with the application link and all of the steps for the CRI paid summer internship opportunity through the academy was sent out in October with follow up emails and Remind texts for students to apply. The deadline for this application is right around the corner on January 5th! If you believe you are eligible, but haven't received a link yet, please reach out to Ms. McClure immediately. If you have received the link but haven't applied yet, the application will only take you a few minutes and it will start the next steps of the process for you!
Tenacity:
For students who already applied, please accept the Tenacity course that has now been added to your Canvas Account. Go to the modules section and work your way through those self-paced lessons. The deadline for the Tenacity course has been extended to January 12th. Please come see Ms. McClure this week if you need any guidance with the course.
Resume workshop:
The following step of the summer internship process is for students to attend our annual resume workshop. This will be scheduled in the library January 16, 17, and 18 from 9:00-12:00. Eligible students will receive an invite link no later than January 8th to register for the workshop. Students will be assigned to a cohort based on the level of resume-support they need (starting from scratch, need major updates/edits, or just need a second set of eyes on a finished resume).
For our families!! We need your help!
We are starting to recruit professionals who will be willing to come to the school to help students with their resumes! Please check out the link below for all of the information of how the workshop will work and to register. Please share far and wide with your contacts and connections. The more professionals, the better, so we can ensure all of our academy students get focus and attention through this workshop! Any industry is welcome, we just need people who are comfortable with helping students build resumes. A planning call will be scheduled in advance for all professionals who sign up to ensure that the Run of Show will be really clear. It's a fun time and hope to see you on the sign-up list!
Expanding Opportunities for Family Academy Involvement
As the structure of our STEM academies continues to evolve we are excited to create new, and formalize existing, opportunities for student leadership and parent involvement. In the 2019-2020 school year, beloved academy teacher Ms. Benjamin convened an ad-hoc advisory board of students and a few volunteer parents with the goal of formalizing industry partnerships and other opportunities/supports for the then Wilson STEM academies. In subsequent years, as the NAF academy model was rolled out, the role of the voluntary advisory began to evolve. In the 2022-2023 school year, an effort was made to begin formalizing student leadership opportunities and the structure of the advisory board. The current working board meets bi-weekly to share information and partner on upcoming events or initiatives (Annual Blood Drive, Engineering Expo, workshops, etc.) This year, we are excited to expand on this work and formalize opportunities for student leadership and parent involvement.
Opportunities for Student Leadership
The three J-R STEM academies present many opportunities for student involvement and leadership. Students have worked together to identify traditional and non-traditional roles where a student leader can contribute to improving the academy structure and culture. We are excited to expand student leadership opportunities for the 2024-2025 school year. In the spring, students will be invited to apply for a range of academy leadership positions. We hope many of you take the initiative and apply for a leadership position.
Opportunities for Parent Support
There are also many opportunities for parents to support our academies! The Engineering Expo, mock interview workshops, resume workshops, and other future opportunities are great ways that parents can get involved. We are also in the process of formalizing parent involvement on the advisory board for the 2024-2025 school year. Expect more information on how to apply to participate on the advisory in the spring. We would appreciate your partnership, perspective, skills, and willingness to roll up your sleeves and help with academy needs!
Current Board Members:
Director: Regina McClure
Teachers: Zachary Meyers, Romit Ghosh, Poonam Sharma, Alex Jacoby, Dylan Coster, Alex Kang, Qi Guo, Danielle Krafft, Amanda Dezenzo
Students:
IT President: Wesley Hoy, IT Vice President: Hernan Gonzalez
Engineering President: Samantha Gordon, Engineering Vice President: Meredith Janssen
Health Science President: Kinzly Gootman, Health Science Vice President: Rain Terrell
Equity Officers: Keira Martin-Willis, Simone Forbes, Anna Khabiyev, Jessica Serrano
Secretary: Lolera Tesema
Parents: Melody Molinoff, Elizabeth Mettler
The Week in Review!
Monthly Diversity Listening Session:
This past week our diversity listening session met and built gingerbread houses! While working in teams to build, students discussed the foundations of the academies and how we can improve to make sure first-level students are aware of the opportunities and what lies ahead in the courses in the sequence. We action-planned ways for upper-level classes to push-in and present to the first and second level courses. This would help to show and tell about their experiences and what skills/concepts they are learning in the upper-level courses. Underclassmen, you can expect to see some of that programming to happen second semester!
National Society of Black Engineers:
We had a full classroom of students this past week for our monthly NSBE session. Students identified different student leadership roles they want to create within the chapter and brainstormed ideas of different initiatives for the second semester. For students who want to join this organization, it is not too late! Please reach out to Mr. Reeves in the College and Career Office or to Ms. McClure to get connected.
Robotics First Tech Challenge Tournament:
Our robotics team hosted a regional robotics tournament on December 16th. We had over 200 students from across the region come and compete at our school. Major shout-out to our Robotics team, STEM academy students, and Hospitality students who spent their Friday night and all day Saturday volunteering. We received glowing feedback from the First Robotics organization and how incredible our student volunteers are.
