were each named a School of Distinction, as were Albemarle Road and Piedmont middle schools. Barringer Academic Center, Collinswood Lan-guage Academy, First Ward Creative Arts Academy, J.M. Morehead STEM Academy, Oaklawn Language Academy, Irwin Academic Center, North Mecklenburg High and North-west School of the Arts were also named schools of distinc-tion. Award winners will be recognized at this year’s Mag-net Schools of America na-tional conference, which will be held in Raleigh April 22-25

Note: Bracketed numbers due to increase

since original article.

http://www.cms.k12.nc.us/News/

PagesMagnetSchoolsofAmericahon-

ors20CMSschools.aspx

By Magnet Schools of America

Magnet Schools of America (MSA), a national organization of magnet and theme-based schools, has announced [22] awards of merit for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

[Nine] CMS schools were hon-ored as a School of Excel-lence, the highest award given by MSA. [Thirteen] other schools were recognized as a School of Distinction. The awards are given for schools demonstrating academic ex-cellence, instructional innova-tion, diversity and equity for all students.

“We are very proud of our magnet and theme-based schools in CMS,” said Super-intendent Ann Clark. “This year’s awards continue a longstanding tradition of excel-lence in our district’s special-

ized schools. Magnet and theme-based schools give our families a wide range of choices and options in educa-tion. We want to provide a personalized learning experi-ence for every student and these awards demonstrate the excellence of our offerings.”

The [nine] schools named a School of Excellence were Cotswold, Huntingtowne Farms, Idlewild, Mallard Creek and Shamrock Gardens ele-mentary schools, J.M. Alexan-der and Randolph middle schools, EE Waddell Lan-guage Academy, and East Mecklenburg High.

Legette Blythe, Myers Park Traditional and Statesville Road elementary schools

Todd Mann, Executive Di-rector of Magnet Schools of America, announced that:

“J.M. Alexander Middle School (Angela Richard-son, Principal) and Cotswold (Alicia Hash, Principal) have earned top scoring Merit Award applications and are finalists for our top national award. Over 300 award

submissions were reviewed, and only six are selected as national finalists. The top award winners are an-nounced at the 33rd National Conference on Magnet Schools in Raleigh, North Carolina in April.

As part of our review pro-cess to select a national win-ner, a team of reviewers will visit the school in late March or early April. We will coordi-

nate our schedules with J.M. Alexander Middle School and Cotswold directly to make those arrangements.” CMS Magnet Programs Office is so proud of all our magnet schools and are hoping to see one of our schools win the National Award! -JM Alexander is a partial IB mag-net serving grades 6-8. -Cotswold is a partial IB magnet serving grades K-5.

CMS Magnet Schools Win MSA Top Awards

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Collinswood Suc-

cess Featured By

MSA

2

Blythe Becomes

an IB World

School!

3

Randolph IB Win-

ner In Observer

Spelling Bee

4

Sedgefield Mon-

tessori Is Keeping

Healthy

5

Palisades Park:

Growing Minds 5

Tuckaseegee

Peace Keepers are

Sworn In!

5

Morehead Musi-

cians Win Awards 6

Student Spotlight! 6

Chantilly Gallery 7

Highland Mill’s

Digital Passports 7

Grant Opportuni-

ties 8

Finding Your

Voice at More-head

9

Magnet Innova-

tion Mini-Grants 9

A P R I L 2 0 1 5

Magnet Messenger V O L U M E 5 , I S S U E 1

D I S T R I C T N E W S

April 6-10

SPRING BREAK

March 9– June 5

SECOND

LOTTERY OPEN

Two Magnet Schools in Running for National Award!

P A G E 2

“”The cognitive

power that students

build comes from

learning to transfer

information and

concepts from one

language to the

next.”

-Jacqueline

Saavedra,

Collinswood

Kindergarten

Teacher

Collinswood’s Success Featured by MSA Collinswood Language Acade-

my was featured this

month by Magnet

Schools of America in

an article titled

“Celebrating World

Cultures and Embracing

Diversity Through Two

Languages.”

Below is an excerpt

from the article:

“Over the last few

years, Collinswood

Language Academy, a K-8

magnet school in Charlotte,

North Carolina that serves about

750 students, has made remark-

able strides as the state’s first

dual language program. This

once failing school now ranks

first among all kindergarten

through eighth grade schools in

its district for meeting federal

and state annual measurable

objectives. Last year, it was also

designated as a Merit School of

Excellence by Magnet Schools

of America.

According to current principal

Nicolette Grant, a dual language

program, “allows students from

two different language back-

grounds to receive academic

instruction in two ‘target’ lan-

guages.” In this way, students

learn not only from teachers,

but from other students as they

work together to help each other

improve their non-native lan-

guage abilities.

Collinswood students come to

the school from a variety of

different racial, cultural, socio-

economic, and language back-

grounds. The school attempts to

maintain an evenly split student

body between native English

speakers and native Spanish

speakers. Students also bene-

fit from having excellent

teachers from different coun-

tries varying from Costa Rica

to Peru. This gives students

the opportunity to experience

many different cultures and

dialects not only through

their peers, but their teachers

as well.

Beginning in kindergarten, 85

percent of the students’ day is

taught in Spanish, while 15

percent is taught in English.

In grades one through eight,

50 percent of a student’s day

is taught in Span-

ish and 50 percent

of the day is

taught in English.

Classes in math,

social studies,

Spanish/language

arts, physical edu-

cation, and higher

-level language

courses are taught

in Spanish, while

science, English/

language arts, and

art and music are

taught in English.

Kindergarten teacher Jacquel-

ine Saavedra states, “The

cognitive power that students

build comes from learning to

transfer information and con-

cepts from one language to

the next.”

Dual-language schools have

also made a tremendous im-

pact on the academic perfor-

mance of African American

students, who have shown a

strong interest in dual lan-

guage programs. At Collins-

wood during the 2012-2013

academic year 50 percent of

African American students

passed both the English and

Math tests, whereas in the dis-

trict, only 18 percent of African

Americans passed both, and in

the state, only 14 percent passed

English and Math.

Collinswood has set an example

for other schools in the state.

The North Carolina State Board

of Education has committed to a

number of ideas that will pro-

mote dual-language programs

within the next five years. One

of these ideas is expanding the

dual-language program to span

all years, from kindergarten

until twelfth grade.

Collinswood has also been rec-

ognized internationally. In 2005,

the Spanish government took

notice and sent a representative

from the International Spanish

Academy (ISA) to visit the

school. It has since been invited

to join the ISA network because

of the quality of its program,

making it the only ISA member

in North Carolina.”

Collinswood Language Academy is a

full magnet that serves grades K-8.

M A G N E T M E S S E N G E R

Blythe Becomes an IB World School!!

P A G E 3 V O L U M E 5 , I S S U E 1

Legette Blythe Elementary officially joined the ranks of International Bacca-laureate World schools in 2015 – the successful outcome of a rigorous process that took more than three years of work by the school’s staff and students. Blythe is now one of only 445 schools in the entire nation – and one of only 13 in North Carolina – offering the IB program to elementary students. In all, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has 15 IB World schools, the most of any district in the state. “International Baccalaureate isn’t just about academics,” said Blythe Principal Leora Itzhaki. “It’s also about character – about being a risk-taker and a thinker.” The International Baccalaureate program defines its mission as “to develop inquir-ing, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultur-al understanding and respect. …develop challenging programs of international education and rigorous assessment.” It is managed by an international non-profit foundation. The designation means that Blythe stu-dents can take part in the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme, offered to elementary students. But, as Itzhaki pointed out, every student at the school benefits from the increased rigor and focus on inquiry. “It’s an inclusive program at the elementary level,” she said. At Blythe, the effects of IB instruction became apparent while the school was still working to earn its IB designation. Itzhaki cites as an example Mongai Fan-kam, who as a third-grader at Blythe created No Backpack Day, an internation-al effort to give backpacks to students in poverty. About a dozen CMS schools have joined the effort, which sends thou-sands of backpacks to Cameroon, Liberia, Sierra Leone – and to students in CMS who need them. Mongai got the idea several years ago

after visiting Cameroon with her mother and seeing students who had to carry their school supplies in their hands be-cause they didn’t have backpacks. She developed No Backpack Day, which is March 20 this year, to address that need. That focus on action, and on caring for others, is an essential part of the elemen-tary IB instruction. “With IB, we develop the whole child – and there’s an action component in the elementary program that leads into the service focus in the higher grades,” Itzhaki said. “No Backpack Day was very IB in the way it came about.” The International Baccalaureate frame-works for instruction are used for stu-dents from 3 to 19 years old. The Primary Years Programme, which focuses on de-velopment of the whole child as an in-quirer in and out of the classroom, is taught to students ages 3 to 12. The Mid-dle Years Programme, which encourages students to make practical connections between their studies and the real world, is taught to students ages 11 to 16. The IB Diploma Programme includes six sub-ject groups and the Diploma Programme core: theory of knowledge; creativity, action, service, and the extended essay. A fourth framework, the Career-Related Programme, incorporates the IB values in a program for students in career-related education. The IB Diploma and Career-Related programs are taught to students aged 16 to 19. To become an IB World school – the name given to schools which offer the International Baccalaureate program – Blythe’s teachers had to be trained and then develop their own curriculum units. The Primary Years Programme used at the elementary level of IB provides schools with a curriculum framework of essential elements. Then teachers at the school created the units used to teach the IB program, which is transdisciplinary – the framework and the issues in the program go across subject areas.

“We try to integrate everything we do,” Itzhaki said. Blythe’s IB program, like others in North Carolina, meets the requirements and covers the subjects of the Common Core state standards. The process to become an IB school took more than three years, Itzhaki said. In the first year, teachers received IB training and then built three curriculum units, which were reviewed by IB staff. Feed-back and suggestions were provided, the curriculum units were refined and pol-ished, and then the teachers built three more. To earn the IB World designation, the school had to be vetted by a team of four people from the IB organization, who spent Dec. 1-2 at the school, inter-viewing teachers, students, parents and support staff. “They met with every team,” Itzhaki said. The first IB program was created in 1968. It was first used in an American school in 1971. Today there are nearly 4,000 IB schools in the world, with 1,576 of them in the U.S. There are 58 IB schools in North Carolina’s public education system. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has the most IB schools of any district in the state with 19 programs at 15 schools; Wake County is second with nine IB schools. http://www.cms.k12.nc.us/News/Pages/

BlytheElementarybecomesanIBWorldschool.aspx

Blythe is a partial magnet that serves grades K-5.

“Charlotte-

Mecklenburg

Schools has the

most IB schools

of any district

in the state

with 19

programs at 15

schools.”

P A G E 4

“It’s like a

dream come

true,”

Paimagam

said.

Randolph IB Winner in Observer Spelling Bee worn for the duration of the 2 1/2-hour contest. “I didn’t take off my coat in all the other spelling bees I had this year. ... I didn’t cut my hair, either.” Her superstitions paid off in the form of an all-expenses-paid trip, cour-tesy of the Observer, to Washington, D.C., for the 90th Scripps National Spelling Bee in late May; she also won a Webster’s Third New International Dictionary and the Samuel Louis Sugarman award certificate for a 2015 Unit-ed States Mint Proof Set. In all, 24 fifth- through eighth-graders from around the region compet-ed Monday. Paimagam outlasted run-ner-up Eva Vega, an 11-year-old fifth-grader from Carmel Christian School in Matthews (eliminated after misspelling “stymieing”) and third-place finisher Charlotte Pollack, 13, an eighth-grader from Springfield Middle School in Fort Mill (eliminated after mis-spelling “extrapolation”). “I was so nervous I was shaking,” said Paimagam, who a year ago was knocked out of the same competition after mis-spelling “roughy” (she thought it was “ie” instead of “y”). “And I kept on tell-ing myself, ‘It’s OK if I lose. ... I have two more years.’”

Her father, Premnarasu Paimagam, said that he was so nervous he could barely watch. And her mother, Devika Ethiraj, literally could not watch – she stayed at home, he said, because she was too anx-ious. Randolph Middle School Principal Brian Bambauer and IB coordinator Brenda Duff, who were there to sup-port Akshra, also copped to frayed nerves. “We both did the finger-crossing every time she came up,” Bambauer said. “I held my breath,” Duff add-ed. But afterward, they beamed. And when quizzed, they correctly spelled their cham-pion student’s name under pressure. “A-k-s-h-r-a,” Bambauer recited. “P-a-i-m-a-g-a-m,” Duff said, confidently. “Good job!” Akshra Paimagam said, laughing. “That’s because I’ve had to write it so many times for her doing so well,” Duff said,

“which is a nice problem.” Randolph IB is a full magnet that serves grades 6-8.

BY THÉODEN JANES

The Charlotte Observer “Akshra Paimagam was crowned the winner of the 61st annual Charlotte Ob-server Spelling Bee, held Monday at ImaginOn’s McColl Family Theatre.” The 12-year-old with the tricky name kept nerves at bay during the regional qualifier for the Scripps National Spelling Bee, nailing words such as du-enna, amphibious, face-tious, Pickelhaube and shrieval before winning the event by spouting off six letters: h-i-a-t-u-s. “It’s like a dream come true,” Paimagam said, standing on the stage af-ter her win, still wearing the winter jacket she had

M A G N E T M E S S E N G E R

District

Sedgefield Montessori Is Keeping Kids Informed and Healthy

P A G E 5 V O L U M E 5 , I S S U E 1

By Mindy Mahar

Students at Sedgefield Mon-tessori Middle School held their second annual student-led Health Fair this past March. Students from Mon-tessori feeder schools as well as area private Montessori schools visited for the event. The Health Fair is an oppor-tunity to make NC Essential Science standards come to life in a real and meaningful way. Examples of booth topics included the following: Ado-

lescent Skin and Natural Remedies, Eating for Your Endocrine System, Exercise and Fitness, Mold and Your Health, Digestive System, Comparative Study of Fast Food and many more! All booths had hands-on activi-ties for participants and were highly engaging! In addition to being a rigor-ous academic experience, the Health Fair gives stu-dents the opportunity to practice leadership skills, such as communication, ac-

tive listening and teamwork. Students participated in teambuilding initiatives prior to the event to help strengthen teamwork among groups as well as seminar discussions re-lating to many topics presented. Feel free to contact us if you’d like information on how to plan a Health Fair at your school! We’d love to share ideas! Sedgefield Montessori is a partial magnet which serves grades 7-8.

made pizzas with Fuel Pizza, a

local restaurant.

Additionally, the students are

learning it is essential that we

use the My Plate nutritional

eating guide to stay fit and

healthy. A school garden is a

perfect way to help students

learn about how plants are

grown, harvested and made into

the foods we eat every day. Es-

sentially, our school gardens

will help our students incorpo-

rate STEM in the outdoor set-

ting as we predict, ask ques-

tions, create, organize, measure

growth overtime, formulate

opinions and most of all have

fun as we dig in the soil.

Palisades Park is a partial magnet

which serves grades K-5.

By Ann Triolo

Palisades Park Elementary is

excited about our newly in-

stalled school gardens. Ms.

Byas, one of our 2nd grade

teachers, received a grant for

her class to participate in the

Field to Fork Program. The stu-

dents, staff, and families en-

joyed planting vegetables in our

gardens. Later in the spring the

students will harvest the vegeta-

bles and create their own hand-

Palisades Park: Growing Minds and Food!

Tuckaseegee Peace Keepers are Sworn In! By Jason Otto

This year Tuckaseegee LI/TD school has become a MicroSo-

ciety. Every student in the building is part of a school-wide

community which is complete with roles and jobs in ventures

that produce goods and/or provide services within the build-

ing. Some of the students provide a very important role in

maintaining a safe environment in the building. These indi-

viduals are called Peace Keepers. They help ensure that stu-

dents are moving about the halls in an orderly fashion. At

the end of February, Tuckaseegee’s Peace Keepers were offi-

cially sworn in by the Mecklenburg County Sheriff. He

shared his experiences about being a student and the events

that led him down the path of law enforcement. Our Peace

Keepers take their jobs very seriously and have taken owner-

ship of their roles in Tuckaseegee’s MicroSociety.

Tuckaseegee LI/TD is a partial magnet which serves grades K-5.

P A G E 6

Northwest Musicians Win Awards By Andrew Lawler

It’s been a great month for artistic achievement at Northwest! It is the month of the National Federation of Music Clubs and the Music Per-formance Adjudications, in which our Piano De-partment, Orchestra and Choirs have been on a hot streak! Under the jurisdiction of State and National musi-cal educational associa-tions, these events objec-tively judge the quality of the school’s musical per-formance programs using the most rigorous of

standards. It is the equiv-alent of an EOC/EOG. A year's worth of study at the most exacting standards is necessary to excel. And excel we have! Piano started us off at the National Feder-ation of Music Clubs pi-ano festival! We had 27 participants and remain the only school that brings students to the festival that are not ex-clusively coached by a private teacher. 20 students received su-perior ratings and 7 stu-dents received excellent ratings. Many of these students have participat-ed in the program for more than one year and are earning points to-wards receiving a gold cup from National Feder-ation. The first gold cup is only awarded after three years of participa-tion in the program with consecutive superior ratings. Students receiv-ing the Gold Cup were Christina Andre, Aitana David-Henry , Anthony

Justice , Nyla Rivers, Will Schropp and with his 4th Superior in a row, Ian Wise! Our High School Choral Program received STRAIGHT SUPERIORS in both On Stage and Sight Reading at the MPA’s, this is the highest rating you can receive! Middle School Choir also scored STRAIGHT SUPERIORS in both categories!!! Our Middle School Or-chestra did similarly well! Both Six and Sev-enth grade received SU-PERIORS! And Eighth grade missed a SUPERI-OR by one point! High School Concert Orches-tra received STRAIGHT EXCELLENTS!!! And our amazing Chamber Or-chestra earned STRAIGHT SUPERIORS! Including a 98 on one judge's scorecard! And this was just the mu-sic department! Next newsletter, I‘ll be singing the praises of our other departments! Morehead STEM is a full mag-net that serves grades K-8.

M A G N E T M E S S E N G E R

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT!

On April 2nd, the NC State Board of Education will present the High School Senior

ACT Award to Mr. Jeffrey Barahona, of Harding University High School. Mr. John

Floyd, Principal, will be there to help support and cheer on his award winner!

Harding IB is a partial magnet which serves students in grades 9-12.

Chantilly Montessori School Gallery Crawl is a Community Event

P A G E 7 V O L U M E 5 , I S S U E 1

months resulting in a variety

of expressive art work.

This year’s projects included

the use of recycled materials to

make brightly-colored bottle

cap flowers and caterpillars.

Some of the projects remain

on our campus to beautify our

outdoor learning and play are-

as. A lower elementary class

created all-natural home clean-

ing products, complete with

recipe cards. Upper elemen-

tary students experimented

with personal identity photog-

raphy and quilt and rug-

making.

The Gallery Crawl guests are

always very impressed by the

collaborative efforts be-

tween students and family

artists. The results provide a

meaningful example of the

children’s ability to expand

their creative potential and

understand arts and crafts as

a form of self-expression.

Chantilly Montessori is a full magnet

serving students in PK-6.

By Lisa Lashley

On Tuesday, March 10th, the

hallways and multi-purpose

room at Chantilly Montessori

School were transformed into

a student art gallery. Under

the leadership of Christie Ad-

ams, a Chantilly parent, each

student’s work was highlight-

ed as part of an annual collab-

oration between staff, students

and family artists.

Parents and extended family

members volunteer to share

their creative expertise to help

bring each student’s artistic

potential to life. Chantilly

teachers select a project for

their students, and the volun-

teers work with the class on a

weekly basis for several

Highland Mill Montessori Shows Off Their Digital Passport

By Beth Leo

On March 5th, 2015 a group of

Upper Elementary students from

Highland Mill Montessori ac-

companied technology teacher,

Whitney Byers, to the North

Carolina Technology In Educa-

tion Society conference in Ra-

leigh, NC. NCTIES is a member-

ship association for educators and

educator leaders engaged in ad-

vancing excellence in learning and

teaching through the effective use

of technology. NCTIES focuses

on creation, communication and

collaboration which directly com-

pliment the Montessori philosophy

and curriculum. Each student completed the course

in Digital Passport involving

Communication, Privacy Online,

Cyber-bullying, Online Search

Skills and Copyright

Knowledge. Students then creat-

ed a Powtoon slide show as a final

product to present in the exposi-

tion style conference.

The HMM students prepared and

delivered their projects to inter-

ested conference attendees and

discussed and answered ques-

tions for a 90 minute peri-

od. They were also able to visit

various exhibits of other student

built projects and new technolo-

gy being introduced to educa-

tion. Highland Mill was proud

to be the only CMS school rep-

resented in the student show-

case. Highland Mill Montessori is a full mag-

net that serves PK-6.

P A G E 8

Grant Opportunities for Teachers and Students FOR TEACHERS:

American Friends of Russian Folklore: Middle school and high school teachers can travel to Russia for free on one of several travel programs. Deadline: April 31.

McCarthey Dressman Education Founda-tion offers Academic En-richment Grants that fos-ter understanding, deep-en students’ knowledge, and provide opportunities to expand awareness of the world around them. Awards for teachers in-clude up to $10,000 a year for three years. Deadline is April 15.

Voya Unsung Heroes Awards: Each year, 100 educators are selected to receive $2,000 to help fund their innovative class projects. Three of those are chosen to receive the top awards of an addition-al $5,000, $10,000 and $25,000. Due April 30.

The Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Sci-ence Teaching are the Nation's highest honors for teachers of mathemat-ics and science. The 2013 Awards will honor math and science teach-ers working in grades K-6. Applications must be completed by May 1.

Jan Stauber Grant: This grant awards $500 to K-12 teachers and librarians who devel-op a teaching project in-troducing young people to Sherlock Holmes. Deadline May 1.

Dominion K-12 Edu-cational Partnership: Dominion accepts grant applications, up to $10,000, to encourage the development of new programs to strengthen math and science educa-tion through the study of energy or the environ-ment. Due May 15.

National High School Journalism Teacher Awards Pro-gram identifies outstand-ing high school journal-ism teachers with at least three years experience. Winners receive expense-paid travel, a laptop computer, and more. A senior student at the win-ning teacher's school will receive a $1,000 college scholarship to major in news-editorial journal-ism. Deadline: July 9.

FOR STUDENTS:

CSIET 12th Annual Art Cover Design Con-test: High school ex-change students inspired by their experiences are encouraged to submit artwork representing the importance of internation-al exchange programs. The winner will receive a

cash prize of $500. The deadline for applications is April 3.

Gloria Barron Prize for Young He-roes honors young peo-ple ages 8 to 18 who have made a significant positive difference to people and our planet. Each year, the top winners each receive $5,000 to support their service work or higher education. Nomination deadline is April 15.

Adobe Youth Voices Aspire Awards: Youth media makers ages 13-18 can enter their work in the form of a photo, illus-tration, audio piece, or short video to win prizes including hardware, cash, and more. Dead-line is April 20.

iWitness Video Chal-lenge asks middle and high school students to use their innovation and creativity to create posi-tive value in their com-munities by doing some-thing ordinary (or extraor-dinary), and then asks them to build a video tell-ing the story. Dead-line: May 8.

PLURAL+ Youth Vid-eo Festival is a chance to showcase your video-making skills. This year's themes are migration, diversity, and social in-clusion. Get your submis-sion in by June 15.

M A G N E T M E S S E N G E R

Accentuating their STEM theme through technology Providing gifted students with enriched and advanced math programs Supporting students through tiered curriculum in

their language acquisition development Promoting the school theme to local middle schools

by hosting a fair at the school Strengthening Science programs by developing a

greenhouse

This past month, 18 magnet programs received mini-grants sponsored by the Magnet Programs Office. The grants awarded totaled $64,796.33. The Magnet Programs Office was so pleased to support schools in enhancing and supporting their particular theme. Some of our grant winners will be: Providing teachers with theme specific professional

development and resources Creating visual support for their theme through interna-

tional flags

Magnet Programs

Smith Family Center

1600 Tyvola Road

Charlotte, NC 28210

Phone: 980-343-5030

Fax: 980-343-5469

E-mail: MeredithL.Dayton@cms.k12.nc.us

CMS is committed to increasing educational

opportunities for students. Magnet programs are

theme-based and designed to offer a unique ed-

ucational environment promoting students’ abili-

ties, interests, and talents. Researchers have not-

ed that magnet programs promote innovation in

teaching and learning, increase parental involve-

ment, foster greater student engagement, and

encourage diverse student bodies that, when add-ed together, can lead to higher student achieve-

ment.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

Magnet Innovation Mini-Grants

Natasha Thompson, Director

Meredith Dayton, Specialist

Trina Steele, Senior Administrative Secretary

Finding Your Voice at Morehead By: Rachelle Brennessel

Although we are not technically a STEAM school, we have always taken great pride in our arts. For the 3rd year Morehead STEM Academy will be hosting our finding your voice event. All students will be represented at this event. Our main hallway will be trans-formed into an art gallery filled with drawings, paintings, pottery and sculp-ture. Down each of the other hallways you will see examples of students ex-

pressing their thoughts, feelings and ide-as through reflective writing, poetry, song, movement and video. There will be over 1,000 pieces of student art work on display as well as live music, interactive stations, as well as members of the com-munity on display. We are preparing our students for life and careers in the 21st century by teaching them how to com-municate about and through the things they learn. Also, by celebrating their

unique voices, we help build their con-fidence. We are embracing diversity and personal voice!