March 24-26, 2010 – MARCH to College, Week4

Visit from College Students 

This week, Aaron Academy welcomed local college students to speak with the students about their collegiate experiences.  These dynamic speakers captivated the attention of the Academy students and brought a real world connection to our month long series of activities geared toward college awareness.

Eric attends Pace University as a freshman.  He is studying finance, loves following the stock market, and looks forward to pursuing his MBA after completing his undergraduate degree.  Eric has Aspergers Syndrome and advocates for the support he needs to successfully participate in all academic and social aspects of Pace.

Tyler is in his first year of graduate school at Hunter College.  He is pursuing a Master’s degree in education and looks forward to a career as a High School English Teacher (perhaps at Aaron Academy?).  Tyler struggles with dyslexia, and faces this challenge head on every day in his studies.

 Jessica goes to Community College of Rhode Island (Freshman); she talked to students about self-advocating for accommodations and special learning needs while in school.  She talked about her path to college – admissions applications, deciding to live at home, aspirations to be a teacher working with students with Autism.  Jessica has Asperger’s and discussed that for her, organization of schedules and work can be challenging – her most valuable tool is her Blackberry which she uses to organize her life.  Jessica has been active as a spokesperson for young people with Autism in her home state of RI – she talked about speaking in front of the RI State House in front of their Governor.

Academy students had thoughtful questions of to ask of our visiting college students, including:
What year are you?
How many years do you plan to go to college?
Are there any clubs or activities in college?
Do you live in a dorm?
What do you plan to do after college?
How do you make friends?
Are the classes hard?
How do you get help from teachers if you need it?
What is the food like at your school?
Do you get to play sports?
Do you like having a roommate in the dorm?
How did you use your strengths in college, and how did you deal with your weaknesses?
Did you want to go away to college?
Did you like being away from home?
How do you budget your time?
How much homework do you get each night?

Students were also encouraged to wear hats, shirts, and other college “gear” of their parents’ alma mater.

The MARCH to College activities were a huge success.  Students now demonstrate a significantly improved awareness of post secondary opportunities and how important advocacy and independence will be in exploring these options after High School.  We look forward to parlaying this newfound excitement into a focus on working toward individual short and long term goals, including post secondary opportunities for every student at Aaron Academy.

Aaron Academy staff and students look forward to Career Week, upcoming in June.  Activities will include: guest speakers, field experiences, and student interviewing and presentations.

March 24, 2010 – Year 2 Public Art Response 

Upon viewing the documentary Rivers and Tides, Year 2 students wanted to make a public art response which has culminated in the 3 collaborative panel pieces titled Change, Flexibility and the Environment. Renee Bareno, CORE Arts teacher, wrote a proposal and found a venue to show the work at The Thoreau Center for Sustainability. The Center, which is located downtown, houses various non-profit organizations that focus on community, environment and philanthropy. The gallery space is in a corporate setting, lining the halls of the building as well as adorning the walls of conference rooms. Ms. Bareno will hang our students work in one of the conference rooms and The Thoreau Center will also post information about the students’ project and a profile of Aaron Academy.

The Aaron Academy students’ work will span two shows, one on innovative youth programs and the other on art that addresses the environmental concerns. The students’ work will be exhibited through the summer.

Ms. Bareno is working on final schedules for a student visit to The Thoreau Center for Sustainability to view the exhibit during a school day, as well as an evening event for family members and friends of Aaron Academy.

March 22, 2010 – Aaron Academy Community Gallery of Artists

Tonight, we welcomed students, parents and friends of Aaron Academy to the first Art Show in our Community Gallery of Artists.  Student art work was displayed alongside professional artist's pieces.

Year 1 students showed Chinese Landscape paintings completed as part of their unit on Ancient China.

Year 2 students showed the Life Size Skeleton drawings, completed during their body systems unit in Science.

Anna (Year 2) & Life Size Skeleton charcoal drawing

Guest artists include Chris Linn (photography), Samantha Shapiro (painting), Bona Weiss (photography), Katelyn Russell (photography), and Marina Litvinskaya (painting).

Aaron Academy teachers, and working artists, Renee Bareno, Ryan McCarthy, and Sara Fromboluti also showed their own pieces.

The gallery demonstrates our commitment to fostering an appreciation and love of the Arts in our students.

Bona Weiss, photographer

Marina Litvinskaya, painter

Chris Linn, photographer

March 18, 2010 – MARCH to College, Week 3

Pennants

The third activity in our MARCH to College focus weeks involved an art integration activity that engaged students in the college awareness process.  For our students, college is often perceived as an unobtainable option. 
This project, and the preceeding activities give them the information they need to strive for post-secondary education. 
The pennant choice was based on each student’s selection of a college from the interview process, parent’s alma mater, or favorite sports team.  The pennants will be displayed around Aaron Academy

March 12, 2010 – MARCH to College, Week 2

Staff Interviews

Meghan and Tara (Year 1) interview Dr. Picheny about her college experience.

Today, students interviewed staff about their college experiences.  Teaching staff reviewed interview skills (taught previously in CORE Skills) in preparation for this activity.  The MARCH to College activities are helping to raise student awareness of post secondary opportunities, higher education, and career.

Interview questions included:
Why did you choose this college/university?
Did you live away from home?/What was this experience like?
What was your major (course of study)?
Did you play on any sports teams or attend sports activities?

The students were also asked to generate at least 2 questions of their own.  Students wanted to know about the social aspects of college life:
What was the dorm like?
Did you have roommates?
Did you live in the same place for all 4 years?
How was the food?

Nicky (Year 2) interviews Ms. Gomez.

March 11, 2010 - Visit from Nickelodeon's Anthony DelGrego

Artwork: (c) Viacom International Inc. All rights reserved

Anthony DelGrego, a Senior Designer with the Nickelodeon division of Viacom, came to talk about the process of designing DVD and CD packaging using Photoshop Elements.  Mr. DelGrego, came in earlier in the month and led a workshop for our teaching staff on the use of Photoshop Elements to edit photos and drawings.   He has also been showing his art work – a series of DVD covers he designed for popular shows such as SpongeBob SquarePants©, Dora the Explorer©, and Ni hao kai-Lan© – in our Aaron Academy art gallery.  Students will be using Photoshop Elements software to design their own visual projects in the coming months.

March 5, 2010 – MARCH to College, Week 1

Kickoff

This month, students will learn about post-secondary opportunities from the Academy Staff through interviews, research, arts projects, and discussion.

Year 1 students created a list of colleges and universities attended by staff members as a kick off to MARCH to College month.

Kasriel (Year 1) interviews Ms. McKeon about what colleges she attended.

Each Friday in March there will be a culminating activity of the information they gather.  The staff will be working with the students throughout the week on developing the necessary research and interview skills towards these culminating activities

The calendar of activities is as follows:
Friday, March 5  - Staff will wear college “gear”
Friday, March 12 - Students will interview staff about their experiences in college
Thursday, March 18 - Students will create Pennants and or Mascots for display at the Academy
Friday, March 26 - Guest speakers – in school and graduates discussing their experiences.