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Nick H., Michael B., Alex L., and Matthew M. assembling the arm of d.tech's robot in preparation for the three-day S.F Regional First Robotic Competition March 17 - 19. Information below.
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Dear d.tech families,
It’s hard to believe that we only have 11 weeks of school remaining. We are definitely in the time of year when we need to keep things moving forward for 2017, but keep our eyes on the 17-18 school year. It’s with that spirit that I need to share with you a transition that is taking place this month. Sunny Zhang, our counselor is leaving at the end of the month for personal reasons. We’d like to thank Sunny for her work the past year, and we are very fortunate to have found a replacement. Ian Graves will be taking over as academic counselor for the remainder of the year. Ian graduated from Yale University and is currently finishing the College and Career Counseling program at UC Berkeley. This is the same program completed by Kathleen Odell, our current college counselor, who has done an excellent job counseling our students. We have also transitioned a few operational items from volunteers to d.tech staff. The d.tech download, the help desk, and unified calendar are now managed in-house. We’d like to thank Wayne H., Maria L., Lynn K., Christina L., Danielle B., and Peggy T. for all of their work in getting these items off the ground and the continued help from Niño F. on the design and layout.
Have a great week,
Ken
Action Items:
- VOTE for your Parent Board Member choice (candidate statements below.)
- Next Town Hall - Monday, March 27, 6 -7 pm
Agenda will be available by Friday at Town Hall Page on Website
- Order your 2016-2017 Yearbook Form HERE
- FINAL call for your voice on the Communications Survey. Report at April 24 Town Hall.
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Changes to Skyline Course Offerings
As many of you know, d.tech has a strong partnership with Skyline College and they offer several world language classes on our campus. I recently met with administration at Skyline College and they informed me that they will not be able to offer Chinese or American Sign Language classes at d.tech next year. They will still offer these language classes on their campus; however, they do not have the staff and resources to continue offering ASL and Chinese here at d.tech.
Skyline will continue to offer Spanish classes on the d.tech campus throughout next year and, in fact, they will be offering more sections. Important to note that they will continue to teach classes after we move to the Redwood Shores campus.
Those students currently enrolled in Chinese or ASL classes will have two choices:
1. enroll in the ASL and Chinese courses offered at the community college campuses.
2. enroll in one of the Spanish classes we will offer on the d.tech campus next year. We will have both in-house Spanish classes and the Skyline classes.
We are currently meeting with students about their course sign-ups for next year and reviewing options for world language. If students have specific questions about what they should take moving forward, they should meet with Nicole Cerra during her office hours which are: Wednesday at lunch in the hangar and Thursday during lab 2 in the hangar.
Important May Camping Trip Updates
The trip is shaping up and getting close! Students completed some camping surveys this week about activities, safety, etc.
Look for an important parent survey in next week’s download to ask about lending equipment (tents, chairs, etc.) and more.
- Great news - we have secured enough buses for our trip! Special thanks to Gail Gannon, Elizabeth Ouren, and Hanan Holloway for finalizing this critical task.
- Contact Parent Co-Chair Tim Bull if you have food supply connections.
- Thanks to parents who have already offered to help via this form. Parent Co-chair, Elizabeth Ouren will follow up with you this week while she helps supervise our Camping Intersession class. Additional thanks to Tim, Niño Floro, and Alex Luebke for volunteering time to help facilitate that class.
- The cost per person for this trip is $100 and we encourage more donations to help cover the cost of staff, chaperones and students in need of scholarships. You can contribute straight to the Annual Fund using the donate button on this page.
- Students had an opportunity to talk to their @d.tech advisor last week if they had a conflict that was going to affect their ability to come on the entire trip. Given this is an all-school community building trip, please email Christy Knott, Health & Wellness Coordinator, if your student needs a scholarship, or if you have concerns about your student.
New Offerings Added to JIVE Summers
New summer programs and internships have been added this week, including a culinary internship with Bon Appetit & Google, the Skyline Summer Programs for rising juniors & seniors in Green Energy & Biotechnology.
Concurrent Enrollment
All students interested in taking a concurrent enrollment class at community college this summer should review the d.tech Concurrent Enrollment website for the process and approval forms (https://sites.google.com/dtechhs.org/concurrent-enrollment/home).
Please note: Students must complete approval forms and then sign up for their class directly with the community college. Only classes taken to cover a d.tech graduation requirement will be included on the student’s d.tech transcript and the student is responsible for turning in an official copy of their community college transcript at the beginning of next school year. Questions? Kathleen Odell (kodell@dtechhs.org) |
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50% Discount Student BART TICKETS available
Use this Order form for students traveling to and from school, or on field trips. You pay $16 for $32 face value. Note that these are not Clipper Cards. The form must be returned to the Front Office before tickets can be distributed. Please send a check made out to Design Tech High School in multiples of $16. Fine print: You must write your child’s name and BART on the memo line. Lost or damaged tickets are never refunded or replaced by the school. Replacements are only issued by the BART office at Lake Merritt. Please contact Hanan Holloway with questions.
Thank you March Intersession Driver Coordinators & Parent Drivers
Cynthia T. (a.k.a. Driver #5) with a special cargo bound for Oracle.
As you can imagine, it takes a village to organize enough drivers to carry our students to their memorable intersession experiences, and in d.tech's case, there are there just four dedicated parents behind the scenes accomplishing this complex and detailed task. Heartfelt thanks go out to Bruce, Tracey, Maria and Horst, your Intersession Drivers Volunteer Coordination Team for their time, dedication and organizational skills, as well as to all the parents who supported their requests for help - and in doing so supported our students. Heartfelt thanks from the students, parents and Dr. Wendy Little, Director of the Intersession program.
Why Don't You Teach This Stuff to Parents?
Dr. O came to campus this past week as one of our speakers for the fireside chat series. The students were absolutely captivated by Dr. O, who she is, her message, and the delivery of that message. One student asked, “Why don’t you teach this stuff to parents?!" Her response, “Actually, I do!”
Your students would LOVE to have you learn from Dr. O yourself. One parent, who happened to be there that day, was moved to tears while telling me that meeting Dr. O was going to make a huge difference for her family. Even the staff are going to have a session with Dr. O on April 13th. She really is a great resource for our community. A special thanks to Dominique Rhodes for reconnecting me with Dr. O last year. And a huge thank you to Dr. O for the many hours she has already devoted to volunteering within our community.
If you hadn’t originally registered for this parent lecture series, you are still welcome - sign-up here if you’d like to join us. Each session is $20 - payment is collected at the sessions (so if you can’t make a session, there is no obligation to pay for that one). Classes take place on the 2nd Wednesday of each month, the next one is April 12th, from 6pm-8pm at d.tech. Questions - email Health and Wellness Coordinator Christy Knott, Click here to read the flyer and learn more about Dr. O, TheTeenDoc. Hope to see you on April 12th.
New/Returning Student Orientations & Fall School Start Date
New students save the date for orientations on Wednesday, August 30, and Thursday August 31. Details and confirmation to follow. The first day of school for all students will be Tuesday, September 5th.
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B.R.E.A.D. Rising!
Junior Yo Yo K. writes, "Team #5940 B.R.E.A.D. was on a roll at the FIRST Robotics San Francisco Regional event (SFR) this week! Members of the d.tech robotics team have been working hard to support and build this year's robot, named Ciabatta. At SFR, the team ranked 13th out of 41 and finished as quarter-finalists. B.R.E.A.D. is currently preparing for the Silicon Valley Regional tournament (SVR, starting on the 29th of March to April 1st), and they would love to have you there!"
Click this link to find out more about the event, and email ykonardi19@dtechhs.org if you have any questions.
Parents Jaime DP. and Kathy L. want to add, "Thank you to all the parents, mentors - and especially faculty member Mr. Wayne Brock - for tireless work and long hours in support of the robotics team. We are all very proud of the effort and result from the competition this weekend - giving the world champions a run for their money! Keep Rising B.R.E.A.D (Break-through Robotics Engineering and Design)!"
Junior Prom Final Week of Ticket Sales!
Junior Prom ticket sales end Friday.
Tickets for the April 15 Junior Prom are only on sale until this Friday, March 24. Details: Student Daily Announcements & details for parents .
Still Time to Order Student Year Book
Please download the order form HERE and return to the front desk with a check made out to Design Tech High School.
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