Steller Secondary School

This year, I had the opportunity to submit requests for prioritized items needed for our school.  These were major projects or items not included in our normal ASD budget.  I submitted four items.  Senator Hollis French’s and Representative Mike Doogan’s Offices worked on our behalf to get these items included in the state budget.  Thank you to Senator French and Representative Doogan for including Steller in the budget recommendations.

The items for Steller include upgrades to the library for books and shelving as well as upgrades to the electrical system to allow for more computers in the library. Also included was the request for an additional computer lab and the electrical upgrades needed to support that lab.

As you may know, Governor Palin will be reviewing the 378 projects worth nearly $663 million allocated to Anchorage and determining which will remain.  Governor Palin has said there will be cuts. The governor indicated she’ll trim the $2.3 billion capital budget, which was part of a $2.9 billion spending bill that passed just before the Legislature adjourned.

Please take this opportunity to support our school and write a letter or send an e-mail  to Governor Palin (cc Karen Rehfeld) indicating your support of Steller and these much needed projects.  You may use the contact information below to write the Governor.  Thank you for your support of our school.

Karin

 Edited by the webmaster to include this link to email Governor Palin:

http://www.gov.state.ak.us/govmail.php

KCC Offers Two New Courses in Pre-Engineering and Plumbing & Pipefitting

PRE-ENGINEERING
Smart pigs? Battle bots? What are zerks and how do they work? Have you ever taken apart something that was working just fine because you had to know what was inside? Next fall, Anchorage juniors and seniors have the opportunity to take Pre-Engineering at the King Career Center. This exciting new course is a hands-on exploration of engineering design, reverse engineering, and research and development strategies where students design, build, and test prototypes, refine their designs, and conduct destructive testing.
This class sparks interest in engineering as a career and fosters talent with fun and challenging design competitions, labs, industry tours, and guest speakers. Pre-Engineering is a project-based course that is an integration of math, science and technology. Every activity will add to your understanding of engineering as you proceed towards a wide range of possible careers. The Pre-Engineering course will introduce students to the major engineering fields: Mechanical, Chemical, Civil, Petroleum, Environmental, and Electrical. Engineering is a field that is in high demand, pays high wages and the outlook for employment is very bright.
Pre-Engineering at KCC is guided by an advisory board comprised of engineers and executives from CH2M Hill, Shannon and Wilson, ConocoPhillips, CRW, and BP among others. Students have the opportunity to earn internships and summer jobs in different engineering disciplines in Anchorage and across Alaska. If you are strong in math and science, have a curiosity about how things work, and like to solve problems, Pre-Engineering is for you.
Brian Nelson, longtime ASD teacher and certified Mechanical Engineer will teach this course.

PLUMBING AND PIPEFITTING
Plumbing and Pipefitting is the newest course in KCC’s dynamic Construction Trades department. This new course will expose students to the many sides of plumbing, from copper and ABS to new technology like PEX tubing.
While the main focus will be the plumbing skills, other more universal construction skills will be taught. All trades use blueprints; that’s how we get structures built to the right specifications. Students will learn the meanings of all those lines, symbols, numbers and letters. Communication skills and employability skills will be covered to help students get that job and keep it.
Second semester students will expand upon their learning by working with cast iron pipe and fittings and steel pipe and fittings. They will learn about drain, waste and vent systems, and they will study the functions and structure of municipal water systems, including the treatment plant, pumping stations, reservoirs and distribution piping.
James Elam, KCC Construction Trades teacher will be the instructor for this class.

TO REGISTER FOR KCC CLASSES, PLEASE SEE YOUR HIGH SCHOOL COUNSELOR. THESE NEW COURSES WILL FILL QUICKLY SO DON’T HESITATE. FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT KCC’S COUNSELOR, SHELLEY BERRY, AT 742-8947.

Wednesday, April 23rd, is filled with three important meetings. Please note the changes in date and location. If there was one night of the year to attend as many school meetings as possible, this might be your opportunity!!

The Steller Strategic Plan Committee will meet at 4pm in Danielle’s Room to take the work done on Steller’s mission at the last all-community meeting and refine it into a statement we can all support. We will also work on the philosophy statement and a list of our core values. This material will come back to the full community, probably next school year. For more information hit the Read the rest of this entry button below.

Ad Board to meet at 5:30pm in Danielle’s Room. This is a rescheduled meeting due to the snow cancellation last week. Karin and staff will be in attendence.

Parent Group to meet at 5:30pm in Ken’s Room. This is also a change from the previously announced date.
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Last week’s Advisory Board meeting was cancelled due to the weather.

The meeting has been re-scheduled for Wednesday, April 23rd at 5:30 in Ken’s Room.

It’s that time of year again. Profiles for next fall’s students are starting to come in and I am recruiting host families. I currently have profiles for a boy from Sakhalin, Russia, and girls from India, Indonesia, and Tajikistan.

If any current families plan to host again next year, let me know right away. If current students or host families refer a new host family you can earn a “finders fee”. Contact me for details!

Please spread the word to friends, neighbors, co-workers,etc. Interested families can call or e-mail me (248-2166, leokland@yahoo.com) or apply online at www.pax.org.

Linda Okland
Anchorage coordinator
PAX program

Steller Spain Trip Book Fair to net 25% of your purchase
¡Olé! This weekend only! Print out voucher here

The parent forum group is looking for nominations for next fall’s parent group meeting held monthly. The following positions need to be filled: 1 co-treasurer (to spend the year helping and learning from our current treasurer, Mary Tanner) and 2 co-secretaries to share in taking minutes and helping to get the information out to families from our meetings, and 2 co-chairmen to run the meetings and develop monthly agendas for the meetings.  Please send names of nominees to Karin Parker at parker_karin@asdk12.org or Cindy Ebelacker at cjames@ak.net.  Voting will take place  at the last parent meeting of the year on April 23rd so the newly elected people will be available to help with the fall registration and back to school picnic.

Parents are invited to meet in the library during Activity Night to research grant opportunities for next year.  Please remember, if you are already signed up to help monitor activities, the senior class is counting on you to be at your post.  You are welcome to join the parent research group before or after your assignment.

Check out this website!

http://oedb.org/library/beginning-online-learning/100-ways-to-use-your-ipod-to-learn-and-study-better

We have had many donations for lunch items throughout the year. Thank you to
all who have donated; however, our recent spat of cold, snowy weather
increased the number of students needing lunch. As a result, we still need
some items for students who forget or don’t have lunch. Suggested donations
include: Mac & Cheese (lunch size), granola bars, juice boxes, and plastic
spoons and forks. If you have specific questions please contact the school
nurse.

Hey girls!  You are invited to discover, connect, and take action at this
year’s Women in Aviation Luncheon on April 12.  This program, organized by
the FAA and the Girl Scouts, will be held at UAA’s Aviation Technology
Building and includes a career panel, a lunch, a tour of UAA’s Technology
Center and hands-on activities.  Open to girls in middle/junior and high
school, this event is $10 and financial assistance is available.  Look for
the poster on the parent bulletin board, ask in the office for a flyer, or
call  248-2250.  You can also visit www.girlscouts.ak.org for a registration
form.

Parents, students, teachers and families are invited to shop at Title Wave Books Saturday, April 12th and Sunday, April 13th and help raise money to help benefit the Spain Trip. At the end of the book fair, Title Wave will donate 25% of the proceeds from the vouchers to Steller School. You must present the voucher at the time of purchase.

Click here to download a voucher.

March 31 – April 4 Steller will be holding the Standards Based Assessment (SBA) for grades 7, 8, & 9 and the High School Graduation Qualifying Exam (HSGQE) for Grade 10. Testing will begin promptly at 8:30. Please make sure your student is well rested and well fed to be ready to do their best. Testing will be held in the morning with a rotating schedule of classes held in the afternoon.

Click here to download the complete schedule for the week.

Wednesday, March 26th at 7:00 pm in the MPR, Steller will hold the final All Community Meeting of the year. Two important agenda items will need community input and all of our parents, students and staff are encouraged to attend the meeting.

• At the last All Community Meeting, members of the community generated a list of items for consideration as goal areas for the 08-09 school year. Community input on these items will gathered at the March 26th meeting through dot voting. This will allow us to determine the items that are most important to the community as goal areas for next year.
• Karen Kirk from Synergistic Solutions will facilitate the gathering of community input for Steller’s Mission Statement. The Mission Statement is a key element in the accreditation process. Karen is a dynamic facilitator and has a specific plan for gathering input from our community for the development of our Mission Statement.
  

Please plan to join us for this important All Community Meeting

March 28th is the big day/evening! The theme of the evening is Hawaiian paradise. The Steller gym will be transformed (with your help) into a beautiful oasis of warmth. Bring by your surfboards, lei’s, Hawaii themed posters and billboards, sarongs, themed shirts, even music and such like, We need them all - (temporarily of course). Contact Nina or leave a message with Julie or Danyiele (742-4950) in the office.
Mahalo (Thank you). Help is needed for set-up and break-down.

Please also be part of the effort by bringing a plate of your favorite appetizer/finger food to Steller on Friday, March 28th. There’s nothing quite like good food to encourage socializing and competitive bidding! Drop off your appetizer to share throughout the day at a convenient time for you.
The most important effort on your part is to come and enjoy all the festivities, make bids on the many, many glorious items. There are airline gift certificates, an Alaskan getaway package, $500 gift certificate to Allure Day Spa, a brand new Thule, and lots of wonderful artwork.

Auction preview is at 5:30 pm. Hawaiian Dancers perform at 6PM.