Students in P2 Special Topics Science are beginning their own scientific research endeavors! As students complete their background research and move into thoughtful experiment design we will be needing some specialty equipment. We are reaching out to families to see if anyone in the community would be interested in donating or lending us some of the necessary equipment. Check the garage, brush off the dust, and help make science happen! Here are the studies we’re doing and the items we are looking for:

• Star-navigation: functional+precise sextant

• Physics of flight: small/slow RC planes, materials to build wings

• Colors and emotions: colored-lens glasses?

• Watch/clock repair: vintage pocket watch or mechanical clock

• Sleep: active sleep goggles (lights, sound, etc generation). Used fitbits/etc that can track sleep or body temperature.

• Neuroscience: EEG sensors… I think we will need to buy these, but you might want one for yourself and could share with the school (Muse, Neurosky, and even Smith sunglasses have models).

The window for donations closes on Friday, October 20th. If you’ve got any questions or are ready to donate please contact: Brian Gehring, gehring_brian@asdk12.org

Happy October! We wanted to reach out to all of you again this year, provide you with some quick references and provide our contact information once again. The year has been off to a good start at UAA and we are looking forward to working with students interested in UAA again this year.

PREVIEW DAY Preview Day is on Friday November 3rd on the UAA campus! Students will be able to learn more about their major of interest, meet with staff and faculty, and check out all of the offerings of UAA student life. Please have any students planning to attend register online to ensure they get the sessions they want. More information and registration at admissions preview day.

APPLICATION & FEE WAIVERS Seniors looking to start Fall Semester 2018 can now apply at how to apply! For students who have demonstrated financial need, we do offer application fee waivers. Exciting news – this year we have a form waiver (yay!). Hopefully that makes it a lot easier for you all! A student needs to complete their UAA admissions application up to the final payment page before this can be processed. Once you submit the form to Admissions, they will process it and then email the student to let them know they can go back into their application and submit it.

SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION UAA has a new scholarship application portal this year. Found HERE. One of the great changes this has brought is a summary of the available scholarships and their requirements for consideration. As in previous years, the deadline for student to submit their scholarship application will be February 15, 2018 for AY 18/19.

SECONDARY STUDENT ENROLLMENT We’ve seen an increased interest from students and parents regarding enrolling at UAA while still in high school. The process has a number of administrative steps. You can find more information HERE and we are happy to help navigate the process and answer any questions your students may have.

CONTACT Once again, we are here this year to help you or your students with any questions or problems regarding admissions, academic programs, financial aid, registration, etc. Generally, anything UAA-related, we’re your contacts and are happy to help in any way we can! Alexa Cherry agcherry@alaska.edu (907) 786-4063, Craig Mead cimead@alaska.edu (907) 786-6750, Valerie Svancara vsvancara@alaska.edu (907) 786-1926

The Anchorage School District is sending out this message to inform all parents and other guardians that [Friday] morning there was a reported attempt to abduct a fifth grade student who was walking to school. This follows a similar incident that took place a week ago. The student involved [Friday am] was able to get away and is safe, but it is clear that our entire community must come together to assure that all of our children are safe traveling to and from school. An announcement was made at all schools [Friday] and students should have received a flyer with safety tips to bring home. Please talk with your student about how to stay safe and help ensure that all students get to and from school safely.

Here are some safety tips:  See flyer HERE

Remind children

* Stay with a group.
* Always walk with at least one friend, two or three is even better.
* If a stranger offers you a ride, say “NO!” and stay far away from their car.
* If a stranger follows you on foot, get away from him or her as quickly as you can. You can run and yell loudly, “HELP!”
* If a stranger follows you in a car, turn around and go the other direction.
* Never leave school with a stranger.
* Tell a trusted adult if a stranger is hanging around the school, playground, or public bathroom.
* Leave items and clothing that display your name at home so a stranger cannot read it and use it to talk with you.
* If you arrive home alone, call your mother, father, or other trusted adult to let them know you are home and all right. Keep the door locked, don’t open the door for strangers, and don’t tell strangers that you are home alone.
* Never accept things from a stranger.
* If a stranger asks you a question, don’t talk to them.
* Run away.
* Don’t go anywhere with a stranger.

Parents this is your opportunity to get your students vaccinated for free – Steller will not be having a flu clinic this year.

These sites are in partnership with MOA and will be providing vaccines to ALL – ASD students, staff, parents/siblings not enrolled in ASD and any Vaccines for Children Program (VFC) eligibility. See attached flyers HERE and HERE.

Other schools that are providing Flu Clinics during Parent Conference are listed below and are willing to vaccinate neighboring schools. (Flu vaccines at these schools are limited to ASD students and any insured adults only).

Eagle River High School (10/25 11:45-7)
West
Central
Gruening (10/26 1-7 pm)
Goldenview
Mirror Lake Midddle School (ASD students only)
Polaris (10/26 9-3 pm)
Romig
Wendler (ASD students only)

Dear Students and Parents,

Steller Secondary is privileged to be hosting a sister school exchange this year through the Alaska Humanities Forum. Five students will be selected to travel to a rural Alaskan village and experience living in another cultural setting for a week. We will be traveling to the village of Noatak, an Inupiaq village of roughly 600 people located in northwestern Alaska. During a week in rural Alaska, our students will spend the days taking part in cultural activities relevant to our setting; creating digital stories to document our experiences, and spending time with our host families. While students are on their exchange they will have daily time set aside to focus on homework from Steller Secondary so that they don’t fall behind in their classes.

Students from our Sister Schools will come to Anchorage and take part in similar activities, in our urban setting in the spring and will stay with your family. Students and families need to be aware that there is a lot of hard work involved with this program, and there will be work to complete outside of school before and after travel. Additionally, students and families need to understand that Sister School Urban Rural Exchange is providing more than a $1,000.00 scholarship for each student – there is no cost to students or families for this experience.

For this reason, commitment is essential. We are looking for self-motivated, creative, curious students who would love to experience this once in a lifetime opportunity and are capable of being responsible for their classwork while they are traveling. If you are interested, please fill out an application packet and submit it to the office, on or before October 26th, 2017. Late applications could result in a candidate not being selected as a traveling ambassador.

There will be an information meeting on Wednesday, October 11th during lunch in Relo #1 for students that are interested. If your student is selected, more information will follow. Should you have more questions, please feel free to call or email Rosa Hohnstein at: Hohnstein_rosalie@asdk12.org

Halloween Dance

October 26th

7:00pm-11:00pm

Teacher Sponsor: Mike

The Parent Group meets tonight (and every 2nd Tuesday of the month) at 6:00pm. See draft agenda HERE. All inquiries regarding Parent Group should be directed to stellerparentgroup@gmail.com. We welcome you to join in the conversation and bring your ideas for fundraising, community engagement, and, in general, just making Steller stellar! We still have vacancies for leadership and we could really use your help. We hope to see you there.