We are planning to launch the student leadership applications for next school year in early April. Be on the lookout for further information in the coming weeks' newsletters.

Our second blood drive of the year is scheduled for March 21! So exciting! If you are a student, staff, or family member who is interested in donating, please sign up here and you will hear back from Safya Biswal, one of our student coordinators, who will follow up with next steps! Please sign up before March 20th. (Restrictions to donating are noted on the form)  https://forms.office.com/r/BqxmYGNDtD

9^th Grade Advisory Recruitment will take place on April 11 and 12. Sign-ups for this opportunity will open in March.

In April (exact dates TBD) we are going to try a new initiative of having our upper-level courses in each academy come into the first and second-level courses to talk about the courses to come. We receive a lot of feedback from students letting us know that they wish they new more about the next level course(s) in their academy course sequences to better understand what lies ahead! So, upper-classmen who want to support with this initiative, be on the lookout for sign-ups opening up in March so we can be prepared for April.

All students in STEM academies have a NAFtrack account that is updated after each guest speaker/fieldtrip/professional development experience. For students to check in and make sure their account is updated and accurate, they need to log on to:

naftrack: https://students.naftrack.org/ (also found on the Clever portal)

-If they have never logged onto their account before, they should click on 'Register' to get access to their account

-If students have any issues, logging in or if they see any discrepancies, just reach out to Ms. McClure via Remind who can help troubleshoot and update.

Please check out our website: scimatech.org that has the opportunities posted there. In our effort to keep our newsletter as compact as possible, we move most opportunities to the website the week after they are mentioned in the newsletter. Lots of good content/opportunities to review over there.

Students who are eligible for the summer Career-Ready Internships, be on the lookout for an e-mail from Ms. McClure coming today with all of the latest information regarding next steps.

For our three-day interview workshop we are requesting parent/community support to help facilitate small-group mock interview preparation and practice.  Please review this landing page: CRI Interview Workshop - NAF Academies (scimatech.org) for all the information and sign up! Ms. McClure will follow up with sending calendar invites as well as inviting you to a virtual prep meeting in advance of the workshop to make sure the Run of Show and responsibilities are clear!

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.

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.

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!

Director: Regina McClure

Teachers: Zachary Meyers, Romit Ghosh, Poonam Sharma, Alex Jacoby, Dylan Coster, Alex Kang, Qi Guo, Danielle Krafft, Amanda Dezenzo

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

To see all the highlights from our academies this week check out the academies' Instagram pages:

Biomed: @jrbiomed

Engineering:@jacksonreedengineering

IT: @jacksonreedinfotech

If you don't already follow us, please do!