The Indoor/Outdoor Games Intensive needs some “loaner” equipment. Can you help us out?

• Athletic shoes with cleats (not metal
• Shin guards or knee pads
• Over-the-knee sports socks

Twenty-nine students signed up for this intensive! Since some of our students will be playing field hockey and outdoor soccer for the first time, they may not have this kind of athletic gear. Since they are “trying out” these sports during our two-week intensive, some loaner equipment would be very helpful. Contact Toni or Jim if you can donate / loan us some of our gear!

• Please check in the office for lost electronics…
• Graduation on May 20th at 3pm – At the Discovery Theater
• The building closes at 12 noon on May 20th so students can attend graduation.

ASD and Smithsonian Travel is offering a Presidential Inauguration Tour in January of 2009 and it promises to be an exciting learning experience for our students. Students will not only experience a wonderful tour of Washington DC but will also attend the Presidential Inauguration, Inaugural parade, and an Inaugural Ball held exclusively for Smithsonian Student Travelers! It promises to be an unforgettable hands-on-learning experience as our students participate in this historic event.

ASD and Smithsonian Travel have are making this trip affordable. The complete cost including airfare, hotel, most meals, tours, and security is $1714. But in order to lock in at this price, a deposit of $150 with an application is due by April 30th!

If you would like to participate in this exciting adventure, contact the office at 742-4960.

Jennifer Wadsworth and Jack Davis will be leading our Steller group.

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.

Mission Statement completed!

In attendance:
Barbara W.
Charles W.
Joe B.
Ken V.
Karin
Larry
Patrick M.
Jack
Nina
Tonei

Great turn out and super-productive meeting. Read on for details and how to pitch in on the next step.

Karin presented a document reflecting the work from the last all-community meeting on the Mission Statement. The group quickly gravitated to the shortest, strongest statement as a basis to work from: “The mission of Steller Secondary School is to foster independent, confident, self-directed learners.”

Our first step was deleting everything before “foster.” Then we looked for a stronger verb. Larry won many over with “stimulate,” but some thought that didn’t reflect the nurturing aspect of Steller enough. Tonei suggested “inspire.” After discussion, we agreed that “inspire” suggests both the active, exciting part of the mission and the supportive, nurturing aspect. It also suggests both inspiring independent learners and inspiring students to become independent learners.

Next we focused on broadening the emphasis on individualism in the statement, which we felt left out the important community aspect of Steller. We discussed whether “community” should come before or after the verb: is the community inspiring learners, or is community part of the inspiration we want to provide? Ken pointed out that our mission should focus on student outcomes, and a sense of community is something we want to instill in Steller students; thus, community should come after the verb. That point carried the day.

Here is our final product, presented with pride:

“Inspiring a community of independent, confident, self-directed learners.”

Next we discussed how to approach the Steller philosophy and creating the list of core values. We decided to tackle the list of values first. Each will be followed by an explanatory sentence. Then we will use the values to build the new philosophy statement, filling out what we mean and how each value should be actualized in the school. We threw out words we wanted to see listed as values and asked everyone to contribute more they want to have considered via email. We will plan another meeting to work through the values, trim down, and add explanatory statements.

Here is the brainstormed list of core values so far:

Freedom
Responsibility to self and community
Responsible freedom
(debate deferred to the next meeting on how much to combine the above)
Courage
Trust
Love of learning; life-long learning, enthusiasm for learning
Diversity
Community
Responsible commitment

We had a discussion about approval of the mission statement. Karin agreed to present it to the Ad Board, but the committee felt it would be mistake to allow further editing of the statement, because that would devalue the inclusive process we have used to this point. The consensus was that if the Ad Board rejects the statement, it should be brought back to the committee, but the statement should not be amended outside our process

This weekly news update is published for the Steller community by volunteer effort, sanctioned by the parent forum.

Send submissions to kjfarley@mtaonline.net.
Deadline each Tuesday.
Occasional copies of the Steller News Flash can be found on the bulletin board across from the office.

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.
Continue reading →

Are you planning to go back to school? Do you talk with students who are interested in college or job training? Do you have kids or grandkids who want to further their education? Do you have a student loan or know someone who does? Then you likely have questions about the federal student loan programs.

Do you want to know about loan deferments for the military? What about graduates who have loans they are having trouble re-paying? If you lose your job or take a pay cut, what new options are available to you for paying your loans? What changes were made to Upward Bound, to Pell Grants, and to student loan eligibility? What will be the interest rate on a Federal Family Education Loan or a Direct Loan in 2010 when you’re ready to go, or go back to, school? What has changed in the way the federal government calculates how much money they’ll provide for a loan or grant?

An easy way to find the answers is finally here – the U.S. Department of Education’s Dear Colleague Letter on the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. Just click here to download an understandable explanation of the changes made by the College Cost Reduction and Access Act.