d.tech families,

Last week, we enjoyed our first college planning event, a panel discussion with representatives from Santa Clara University, Skyline College, Minerva, and the former Dean of Admission at Olin College of Engineering.  During their discussion a couple of important themes emerged.  

First, d.tech students are going to be well-prepared for college.  In many ways, universities are becoming more like d.tech and changing their admissions process to reflect these changes.  Universities would rather have students who demonstrate a commitment to learning than high test scores.  You can read more about this in the parent community news section of this newsletter.  

Second, there is no single college experience.  Options range from starting at a community college and transferring to a four-year school, to Minerva, which emphasizes global immersion and innovative learning.  Students and families need to pursue post-secondary planning in a very thoughtful manner and find the right education to prepare the student for the next step. More so than ever, college planning is about finding the right fit.

Lastly, the panelists all commented on how thoughtful and engaging the d.tech community was during the discussion.  Panelists were asked very thought-provoking questions and even commented that d.tech did not seem to have the fighter jet parents.  (I learned that fighter jet parents are the next iteration of helicopter parents.  Helicopter parents hover over their kids, but fighter jet parents actively destroy anything that they perceive as a threat to their kid's success.  This made me even more thankful for the d.tech community).  Overall, it was a great night and a big thank-you to Julie Abraham for her work in organizing such a great evening.  

I encourage everyone to join us this Friday from 6:00-7:00pm at 1800 Rollins Road for our second Intersession celebration.  It's a great chance to see students who are excited about learning.

Have a great week,

Ken

“Shadow Link” Student Initiative

d.tech students seek professional contacts in local companies who can help the students grow their “Shadow Link” initiative. Shadow Link’s long-term goal is to help students shadow for a day at companies in which they are interested. The program arose from the “Founding a Business in Two Weeks” Intersession and is service-oriented. Students have sent out a few prospecting emails and have had a couple of promising responses, but need more contacts. If you own a business or you’re involved with a company which would be interested in helping to host a d.tech shadow student, please contact avasseur19@dtechhs.org.

d.Lab Presentation of Learning: Virtual Reality Lab field trip to Stanford University Students accompanied math teacher Ilene Mitchell to Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab where staff shared their code, demonstrated their working environment, and allowed students to experience VR.

Evan experiences virtual reality encounter with Sesame Street’s Grover.
(photo by Ilene Mitchell)

Yearbook Sale at Intersession Celebration this Friday

Yearbook staff will be present Friday night to collect $40 for the 2016 yearbook. Please make your check payable to “Design Tech High School” or bring cash. Many thanks.

Easy Ways to Contribute

What is eScrip? The eScrip system rewards customer loyalty by contributing a percentage of purchases made by participating families to school or youth-based groups.   Parents, teachers, friends and families are encouraged to register their grocery club cards, and existing credit/debit cards as supporters. Once you’ve registered, a percentage of all purchases made at participating eScrip merchants will be given back to d.tech. There are no receipts to collect, no vouchers or certificates to buy, no hassles for you and every purchase counts. Go to www.eScrip.com . Enter Design Tech High School or Group ID # 500140024.   What is AmazonSmile? AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support your favorite charitable organization every time you shop and at no cost to you. When you shop at smile.amazon.com, you get the same exact price and the added bonus that Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to Design Tech High School. Go to www.smile.amazon.com . Choose Design Tech High School as your organization.   For any questions, please contact parent volunteer, Lisa Bernstein.

STUDENT LIFE

new Coder().camp() Summary
Coder().camp(), publicized in an earlier Download, is a program for high school students to create mobile apps & games and is designed to expose young people of all backgrounds and interests to the forefront of technology today. Student Ashley P. writes, “While coding is the main focus of the camp (obviously), I believe that creativity was also an important point. Everything tied back into them giving us a goal, and the power and tools to accomplish it.”
 

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