March 19, 2014 vol. 34 - Ithaca City School District

March 19, 2014
ICSD INSIDER
vol. 34
Inside This Issue...
• Superintendent’s Message pg. 2
• Board of Education Update pg. 3
• In the Spotlight pg. 4
• South Hill Dogsled Visit pg. 8
• Fall Creek King Street Ramblers pg. 9
• LACS Movers & Shapers pg. 10
• Employee Spotlight pg. 14 • Employment Opportunities pg. 15
• ICSD School Climate Survey pg. 16
• Nationally Recognition Teacher pg. 5
• DeWitt Pi Day pg. 6
• Caroline Farm-‐to-‐Table Mural pg. 7
• Northeast Marathon Miles pg. 11
• BJM Spring Concert pg. 12
• IHS Presents Legally Blonde! pg. 13
• The ICSD Insider 13-‐14 pg. 17
• Community Partners pgs. 18-‐19
[1]
Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Luvelle C. Brown
Team,
Budget development is a critical part of our continuous improvement process. The 2014-‐2015 funding request will be presented to our community for a vote on May 20th. I am asking all ICSD stakeholders to actively participate and seek understanding of the complexities and challenges facing our school district and public education in our state.
Today, we Nind ourselves at a critical juncture as we have done what our New York State political leaders and others have requested of school districts. We have: 1. Utilized our fund balances and reserves appropriately, 2. Minimized property tax increases while staying within levy limits, and
3. Achieved unprecedented levels of academic achievement while also raising standards.
When faced with the aforementioned challenges, many felt that the feat would be impossible. In the ICSD, we were conNident that we would prevail while on our quest for educational excellence. Now, we are faced with another challenge that many see as impossible.
How do we continue our quest for educational excellence, maintain our momentum, and meet the needs of our learners in the face of signi7icant 7iscal challenges?
The Gap Elimination Adjustment, minimal state aid increases, and property tax levy limits are contributing to revenue projections that are signiNicantly lower than expected expenditures. The use of reserves along with multiple operational efNiciencies over the past three budget cycles have contributed to our sustained momentum and lack of impact on stafNing levels. However, going forward, stafNing levels will be adjusted to address funding gaps. We will address Niscal constraints while also continuing to meet the needs of our learners. This will be difNicult, uncomfortable and require our best thinking. However, this is not impossible.
From my perspective, the challenges we face in the ICSD to to educate, engage, empower with much fewer resources, is much like what others across the nation are facing. The future of public education depends on how educators and communities respond. We must stay together, think differently and love as we continue to achieve.
As always, I am happy to be on this journey with you.
Luvelle
“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who
find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore
the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an
opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is
potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
Muhammad Ali
[2]
ext The n ting ee
BoE M be will 14
3/25/
An Update From The Board of Education
“We’re Ithaca. Regardless of what Albany, or Washington or Arne Duncan says, we still have local control. We are in control of what kind of school district we want,” said Board of Education President Rob Ainslie during the discussion. “Frankly, I have no real desire at all to slow down the momentum of the district … we will probably come to the community and ask, will you support us going above that tax levy limit?”
Following much discussion, the Board directed the Superintendent to develop and present three possible budgets: one budget above the tax cap that he believes will meet the needs of our learners and two alternative budgets. Dr. Brown plans to present budget recommendations at the March 25, 2014 Board of Education meeting, which will be held in the Board Room at 400 Lake Street. Board meetings are open to the public and can also be watched live on channel 15. Tweet your thoughts and questions during the meetings using #ICSDBoE.
The public is encouraged to follow the district’s work on the budget and to share their perspectives. Information about the budget can be found online at www.ithacacityschools.org/budget, and community members can share feedback, questions and concerns about the process through the Listening Forum on theYourVoice page of the district website.
The March 11th budget presentation document and video are available on the Budget & School Board Election page of the district’s website. Click here to read Dr. Brown's recent letter about eliminating the Gap Elimination Adjustment.
Superintendent Brown gave a presentation on the 2014-‐2015 budget at the March 11, 2014, Board of Education meeting. He shared a presentation including information on the following:
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Examples of Excellence across the district
Revenue projections, which amount to less than current operating costs
The “Funding Cliff” we are facing as a district
The negative impact of the Gap Elimination Adjustment, the Governor’s Budget, and the Tax Cap
Increases in Nixed costs such as salary, health care and retirement, which drive the budget up each year
EfNiciencies that have been found in the areas of retirement incentives, utilities, technology, operational budget shifts, vacancy control and transportation.
Increases in FTE over the past three years
Tax Levy/Tax rate increases, emphasizing that the district has stayed below the tax cap for the past three years
At the end of his presentation, Dr. Brown requested guidance from the Board on how best to move forward in developing a budget that meets the needs of our young people. He noted that it would be a difNicult task considering the reduced revenue, and that we are expecting signiNicant staff reductions in all areas.
The Board discussed the challenge at hand. They shared detailed explanations of and reactions to a variety of budget issues.
Upcoming Dates of Importance
•March 20, 2014 at 6 p.m.: Finance/Facilities Committee
•March 25, 2014 at 4:30 p.m.: Curriculum Committee
•March 25, 2014 at 7 p.m.: Monthly Voting Meeting
•March 27, 2014 at 5:30 p.m.: Policy Committee
[3]
IN
THE
SPOTLIGHT
Student
Musicians
Perform at
Kulp
by IHS Senior Typist Jay Barnes
On Tuesday night, March 18th, the DeWitt Middle School sixth-‐grade band took the stage at Kulp Auditorium. Conductor Michael Treat raised his baton and Music in Our Schools Month for the Ithaca City School District hit a high note as the band played Train Heading West and Other Outdoor Scenes. Bands from Boynton Middle School and Ithaca High School also displayed their musical talents.
IHS Band Director Nicki Zawel says it’s always a special night for the student musicians and their families and friends. “Since 1973, March has been ofNicially designated by the National Association for Music Education for the observance of Music in Our Schools Month,” she explains. “The purpose is to raise awareness of the importance of music education for all children and to remind citizens that school is where all children should have access to music.”
While playing for a large audience is a great performing experience for the students, blending bands together from three different schools for one concert also provides a learning opportunity. “This is the Nirst year we have organized an event like this with multiple schools,” Zawel says. “It presents an opportunity for the younger students to hear and learn from older more advanced students while it gives the older students the opportunity to teach and encourage the younger musicians.”
About 600 people came to enjoy the concert, organized by Zawel, Michael Allen and Michael Treat. The audience spent the evening enjoying a marvelous mixture of musical presentations. “Symphonic music by composers such as Percy Grainger, Charles Carter, Eric Whitaker and Brian Balmages were all performed,” Zawel says.
After each band played separately they all joined together for the grand Ninale. “They combined to play Jubilant Festival,” Zawel says.
[4]
ICSD Teacher Receives National Recognition
Randi Beckmann, a Nirst-‐grade teacher at Belle Sherman School in the Ithaca City School District, has achieved National Board CertiNication through a rigorous, performance-‐based, peer-‐review process. Like Board certiNication in professions such as medicine and architecture, National Board CertiNication is the highest mark of accomplishment in teaching.
“Every day, teachers go into classrooms with the knowledge, skills, and commitment to do work that is arguably the most complex and unpredictable that anyone does anywhere,” said Ronald Thorpe, president and CEO of the National Board. “In achieving National Board CertiNication, Randi has not only demonstrated the ability to advance student learning in deep and meaningful ways, she has met the profession’s deNinition of what it means to be accomplished. That is signiNicant because only those within a profession—the practitioners—can legitimately deNine the key terms of the profession.”
Saluting the newest class of NBCTs, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said: “As our nation’s most accomplished educators, National Board CertiNied Teachers are well positioned to move our students, workforce, and country forward.”
To date, more than 106,000 teachers across the country have achieved Board certiNication. The National Board is working with partners to make achievement Board certiNication the expectation and the norm for all teachers. Research has shown that National Board CertiNied Teachers (NBCTs) have a signiNicant impact on student achievement and that their students outperform peers in other classrooms. A 2012 study by Harvard University’s Strategic Data Project found that students of NBCTs in the Los Angeles UniNied School District made learning gains equivalent to an additional two months of instruction in math and one month in English Language Arts. Congratulations to Ms. Beckmann!
[5]
DeWitt Middle School Eats Pi!
On Friday, March 14, 2014, seventh-‐grade students at DeWitt celebrated Pi Day by participating in interdisciplinary activities. In Music, students wrote skits to express and show how Pi is irrational and they wrote music to reNlect the beauty of Pi. Students created Pi-‐themed sculptures in Art class, and in Technology, students calculated the tolerance of various wood species by measuring the diameter of round coasters that the students made. In Spanish, German, and French classes, students recited digits of Pi in each language. Students also watched a video about a savant named Daniel Tammet in Social Studies, in addition to making Pi necklaces from beads where bead colors represented the digits of Pi. To prepare for the Pi Day festivities, students investigated the relationship between the circumference and diameter of circles by measuring round objects in Math class. They then utilized observations to write a formula for the circumference of a circle and solved word problems utilizing circumference. Finally, students were given a picture of a merry-‐go-‐
round and had to determine if all of the horses on the carousel travel at the same speed and justify their reasoning using mathematics.
During ninth period, students participated in a culminating Pi Day activity sponsored by the seventh-‐
grade teachers. Students piled into the auditorium where they enjoyed musical pieces and skits about the number Pi, presented by their very own seventh-‐grade students and staff. After the assembly, students continued with the festivities by moving to the cafeteria where they were served homemade pie by their teachers.
A Pi Day tradition at DeWitt is the Pi memorization contest. This year’s winner was Felix Shi, who memorized 132 digits of Pi! Second place went to Tony Yang, with 118 digits of Pi, and third place was Aidan Campbell, with 54 digits of Pi! Congratulations to the winners! [6]
Caroline Farm to Table Mural
This month, Caroline students and teachers have been involved in the creation of the school’s newest mural: Farm to Table. Caroline mother and muralist, Mary Beth Inken and Caroline art teacher, Kerri Burke, guided the project. Located on the wall of the cafeteria, the mural celebrates Caroline’s roots as a farming community while engaging students in an authentic opportunity to integrate science and art. An assembly at the end of February set the pace for the project. Local Caroline farming families Erica Frenay, Erika Medina and the Snow Family presented provocative thoughts about farming. The event culminated with an artisan cheese tasting from Snow Dairy and The Caroline community would like to thank:
enthusiasm for the process of creating a school-‐
• Janie Clark, Mary Beth Inken and Kerri wide mural. Burke for aligning Next Generation Science In Caroline classrooms, students have been Standards to the mural project and their engaging in an integrated science curriculum consistent gift of time aligned to Next Generation Science Standards • Caroline teachers for their consistent gift of across grade levels. This includes researching engaging students
how food grows and how it gets to the dinner • John Krellner, Paul Alexander and Amanda table. The mural will be a reference point for Verba for their support with the logistics interdisciplinary instruction and celebrated by involved in moving a project like this our community for years to come.
forward.
[7]
South Hill Second Grade Visited by Local Dogsled Mushers
Every year, many Ithaca City School District second-‐graders do a unit of study on the Iditarod. The Iditarod is a famous dogsled race that happens each year in Alaska. It honors the courage and perseverance of the dogsled mushers and their amazing dogs that delivered life-‐saving serum over hundreds of miles to Nome during a diphtheria epidemic in 1927. As part of this unit, local mushers, Laura Chilson and Shane Hinkle and their sweet-‐tempered dog, Rowan, visited South Hill School’s second-‐grade classes on Monday, March 10, to talk about dogsledding. We all had a blast!
Laura and Shane, along with their dogs Rowan and Anya, have been hitting the trails in and around Brooktondale for years. Rowan is a Siberian husky, and, like all huskies, is built for this type of work. South Hill second-‐graders discovered that huskies have a double coat of fur to keep them extra warm in frigid temperatures. They also found out that huskies are athletes that are better at endurance races than they are at sprinting. They require a high-‐protein, high-‐fat diet to give them the calories they need to run in the snow. Along with Rowan, Laura and Shane brought their beautiful wooden dogsled. The students learned the parts of the sled and got to watch video of a musher’s eye-‐view from the trail. At the end of the presentation, each second-‐grader got to say “hello” to Rowan (lots of ear rubs and hugs) and had the chance to see what it feels like to stand on a dogsled.
[8]
Fall Creek Celebrates Music with the King Street Ramblers
The King Street Ramblers are Fall Creek School’s Traditional Music band. Its members include every student in Fall Creek’s Nifth grade. The group often performs with the King Street Rambler AllStars, who include Fall Creek graduates, family members and friends.
The King Street Ramblers and AllStars have performed at Porchfest, Friday Morning Programs, Fall Creek’s all-‐school Mardi Gras, and the school’s Kid-‐to-‐Kid Music MiniFest. Soon, the group will perform at NorthStar Restaurant and at Fall Creek’s annual Family Dance.
Ramblers play a wide variety of instruments: ukuleles, banjo, electric and acoustic guitars and basses, violins, violas, cellos, brass, percussion and woodwind instruments. The group plays everything from traditional twelve-‐bar blues to current pop music—but they love traditional jazz the best!
The Ramblers were very lucky this year to have Dave Davies as a guest musician-‐in-‐residence, which was funded in part by a grant from IPEI. (Thanks, IPEI!)
The group raised $620.15 at our Kid-‐to-‐Kid Music MiniFest, which featured kids, family, and friends performing stand-‐up comedy and many musical performances. The Ramblers donated this money to the Food Bank of the Southern Tier’s BackPack program, which provides food for hungry kids in our area.
[9]
LACS Visual Sociology Students Explore Movers & Shapers
On March 14, students in the high school Visual Sociology class at the Lehman Alternative Community School presented their Movers and Shapers project. Each student combined text with photographs or other visual media to tell stories about mentors in their lives.
Many of the students went out of their comfort zones to do a project on something very personal. One student presented a testimonial to her birthmother whom she never met. Another student shared what he learned from his differently-‐abled sisters. The school’s custodian, Dave MeGivern, was honored for his deep impact on one student over the last seven years. A few students did projects on what they learned from their musical instruments and mentors while one girl showed what soccer has taught her about life. One student printed her photographs on hand-‐made boxes with lights shining through holes in the photos to illuminate aspects of each mover and shaper. She spoke to their impact through an original poem on each box.
One student wrote and illustrated a graphic novel about the role that animation has played in his life. For her tribute to “powerful women,” one student paired images of famous women with photographic self-‐
portraits.
The Visual Sociology students practiced deep listening by supporting and giving critical feedback to each other throughout the creative process. Their Ninal projects showed individual and collective power in communicating complex ideas and feelings about themselves.
[10]
Northeast Launches Marathon Miles Community Challenge
Northeast Elementary School and the Ithaca Youth Bureau (IYB) have launched a school-‐wide, recess-‐
based, daily running program that will be a part of the IYB’s Marathon Miles Community Challenge. The entire school student population of 385 students are taking part in the program.
The program kicked-‐off on Friday, March 7, with an all-‐school run during the morning assembly at Northeast Elementary. The following Monday, students began the recess running program in which each student runs 0.5 miles each day at the beginning of recess four out of Nive days a week. The IYB is providing incentive gifts to the students when they have accumulated 8 miles and 16 miles. The runners are keeping track of their progress using their daily running logs. The Marathon Miles Community Challenge Program encourages participants to run a total of 26.2 miles over a period of twelve weeks and culminates with running the Ithaca Festival Mile. Awards are given to runners who complete 8, 16 and 26.2 miles. The goal of the program is to promote youth running, encourage families to be active together and participate in an activity that promotes physical Nitness and healthy lifestyles. The Northeast Elementary School program is taking place in part from the grant they received from IPEI. The grant provides an opportunity for 100 percent student involvement in the Marathon Miles Program and the implementation of the daily recess running program. The Community Challenge Program is sponsored by Cayuga Medical Center’s Cayuga Center for Healthy Living. The running program is designed in conjunction with the SUNY Cortland Activity, Movement and Pedagogy Lab and Spark PE. [11]
BJM Brings in Spring with Music and Dance
On Wednesday, March 12, the BJM second-‐ and third-‐graders performed a wonderful concert on the BJM stage, under the direction of Dorothy Preston. Susan Thomas and Kim Shank’s second-‐grade classes performed “The SelJish Giant,” a musical play. The play focused on the importance of sharing, and how the beauty of spring really can come after a long, cold winter. The songs helped tell the story and highlighted some beautiful solo voices. The scenery, props and costumes were made by the students with help from parent volunteers, classroom teachers and teaching assistants.
Eric Reiff and Josh Taylor’s third-‐grade students performed “Meow,” a collection of cat songs, cat jokes, and interesting cat facts. A group of students helped write the narration that they shared in the performance. A few of the songs included: “Don Gato,” “Magical Mister Mistoffelees,” and “The Cat Came Back.”
[12]
April 4th & 5th @ 7:30 p.m.
APRIL 6th @ 2:00 p.m.
Tickets available @ ihsdrama.ticketleap.com
& at the door.
Students/ seniors: $8.00
adults: $12.00
ihs performing arts center
kulp auditorium
Based on the 2001 PG-13 mOVIE
[13]
ICSD EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT
ICSD Bus Driver Rhonda Hull
Rhonda Hull has been a bus driver in the Ithaca City School District for eleven years. Her workday begins at 6:30 a.m., and she drives Belle Sherman, Northeast and DeWitt students to and from school until nearly 6 p.m. every night. “I’m with kids all the time and I love them to pieces,” says Rhonda. Rhonda says that showing the students respect makes a big difference in how they behave on her bus. “I tell new drivers, ‘treat them like human beings and you’ll be amazed by how well they react.’” Rhonda engages her students through music. “A singing bus is a happy bus,” she says. Rhonda says music is a great tool that works well for her to get students to and from school safely and happily. When asked about how she thinks her work contributes to the District’s mission to Engage, Educate and Empower and its vision of 6,000+ Thinkers, Rhonda says, “I think in a way, we as bus drivers are educators. We’re teaching students how to behave, to use inside voices, to buckle seatbelts. We’re all striving for the same thing to successfully get the kids to school safely every day and get them home safely every day.”
Rhonda says she feels supported in her role as a bus driver through the multiple trainings [14]
required by the District. “It’s constant. We have so much training,” she says. “I don’t think people realize all the work that goes into being a bus driver and staying a bus driver.” Bus drivers in the District undergo safety training, and they learn tools to help children with special needs and behavioral issues. Rhonda says she’s constantly learning new skills beyond the initial 30-‐hour course drivers are required to complete, including how to cut seatbelts quickly and where to place triangles around stranded vehicles on the road.
“You’ve really got to think,” Rhonda said about the trainings. “The trainings we do teach you how to do things you would never think of but you have to know. So when something happens, I’m not scared because I know what to do.” In addition to ensuring all students on her bus are safe every day, Rhonda makes the students themselves a priority. “As a bus driver, you’re the Nirst person these kids see in their day, and in my opinion, you should have a smile and say, ‘good morning!’ Always address them by their name. They think it’s so cool, and you have the opportunity to give them that positive start to their day.”
Transportation Manger Jim Ellis is very proud of Rhonda and her work in the District. “I’ve had the privilege of working with many wonderful bus drivers over the years, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a driver who knows how to handle a bus full of elementary children as effectively as Rhonda,” says Ellis. “She can take a challenging run and turn it around in a matter of weeks. She’s just an exemplary school bus driver for us.”
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
Current Openings in the Ithaca City School District:
Civil Service:
• 1.0 Cook -‐ Boynton Middle School -‐ 40 hours per week -‐ INTERNAL CANDIDATES ONLY. •1.0 Custodial Worker -‐ BJM -‐ Monday-‐Friday 2:00 pm to 10:30 pm -‐ INTERNAL CANDIDATES ONLY.
We are always accepting applications for:
★ Bus drivers
★ Clerical positions
★ Custodial workers
★ Food service helpers
★ Registered nurses
★ Senior typists
★ Substitute administrators
★ Substitute paraprofessionals
★ Substitute school counselors
★ Substitute teachers
★ Teacher aides
★ Typists
CLICK HERE for Application Forms and instructions
Interested in Becoming a School Bus Driver for our District?
Driving a school bus is a gratifying, challenging, and important job. A commitment to the highest ethical standards and the ability and desire to work with children and families from widely diverse backgrounds are job requirements. Flexibility, reliability, and a sense of humor are assets. We offer paid training to promising candidates. For more information, contact Jim Ellis, Transportation Supervisor, at 607.274.2128 or [email protected]. [15]
YourVoice
Powered by K12 Insight
Ithaca City School District
Wants to Hear Your Voice!
To share your views on education quality, school safety, student support
and other critical topics, visit the district’s YourVoice web page at
ithacacityschools.org/yourvoice to participate in a Site-Level Climate Survey.
Your opinions count!
What: Ithaca City Schools Site Climate Survey
Scan with your smart
phone to participate
When: The survey will be open on March 10, 2014 and be
available for approximately 3 weeks. Please respond at your
earliest convenience!
Where: See the district’s YourVoice portal:
www.ithacacityschools.org/yourvoice
[16]
The ICSD Insider 2013-2014
The 2012-‐2013 academic year was Nilled with new initiatives, extraordinary accomplishments and exciting events. The bi-‐weekly electronic ICSD Insider district newsletter provided a venue to share these stories along with celebrations of partnerships, professional development and community growth. This academic year will be undoubtedly as Nilled with ICSD events that showcase excellence, new and ongoing collaborative efforts, PLC exploration and many other interesting topics. The ICSD Insider will continue to be a source for information on district happenings. If you are interested in submitting to the ICSD Insider, please follow the below guidelines and reference the submission and publication dates on this page. Email your complete submissions to [email protected] for review and publication. We look forward to sharing another year of news with you!
Publication & Submission Dates
Publica(on Date
Submission Dates
Vol. 35-‐April 2, 21014-‐
March 28, 2014
Vol. 36-‐April 16, 2014-‐
April 11, 2014
Vol. 37-‐ May 7, 2014-‐
May 2, 2014
Vol. 38-‐May 21, 2014-‐
May 16, 2014
Vol. 39-‐June 4, 2014-‐
May 30, 2014
Vol. 40-‐June 18, 2014-‐
June 13, 2013
2012-‐2013 Year in Review: The ICSD Insider Newsletter
Guidelines for Submissions
• 200-‐300 Words
• 2-‐5 Photos submitted with article
‣Students in photos will be assumed to have a photo clearance • Third Person Voice (perspective of a reporter)
‣Ie: use “he,” “she,” or “it” when referring to a person, place, thing or idea.
***Note: Submi8ed ar:cles and photos are subject to change based on the discre:on of the editors of the Insider Newsle8er. All children in photos must have a signed release to be used in any distributed resources. All submissions should be directly related to the Ithaca City School District. [17]
Announces New Grants
IPEI has awarded $8,015 in its third quarterly round of Red and Gold Grants for the 2013-‐14 school year. The 19 new grants will assist teachers, administrators, students, and community members with projects that strengthen and enrich education across the ICSD.
“We are always astounded at how teachers are able to utilize a small grant to make huge impacts in the classroom,” said IPEI Executive Director Chris Sanchirico. “For this round, IPEI grants are funding everything from practical needs like clay for artwork to a multi-‐school/grade level dinosaur project that integrates music, art and science. We are proud to play a role in providing such great opportunities to enhance learning in our school district and thankful for the community support that allows us to do so.”
Red and Gold Grant recipients in this cycle include the following examples. The full list (including the Jirst two rounds of this year, Teacher Grants and Community Collaboration Grants) is found at ipei.org.
As part of this round of Red and Gold Grants, IPEI awarded two in memory of Chuck Brodhead from the Charles W. and Phyllis B. Brodhead Memorial Fund. Cara Salibrici, a sixth grade Social Studies teacher at Boynton Middle School, will introduce her class to Antarctica by reading about Ernest Shackleton’s expedition and listening to the Jirst-‐hand experiences of a local community member who spends part of each year in Antarctica as a tour guide. Music teacher Allison Scott who will bring dinosaurs to life for students at Beverly J. Martin, Cayuga Heights, and South Hill Elementary Schools through song, musical instruments, art, and presentations by a Museum of the Earth staff member.
IPEI is a not-‐for-‐proJit organization that connects the ICSD and the community through collaboration, engagement, gifts and grants. For more information, see ipei.org or contact 256-‐IPEI (4734) or [email protected].
[18]
Collaborating with Cornell
Society of Women Engineers: Aspiring, Advancing, Achieving
Brownie Girl Scouts exploring static electricity at our Girl Scout Day to earn their Home Scientist Badge! Angela Zheng helping kids set off rockets that they made at Junior FIRST Lego League. Cornell Society of Women Engineers’ (SWE) Outreach Directorship strives to reach out to the community and bring excitement to people of all ages about science and engineering. Working toward improving the future, strengthening interest, and inspiring young individuals, SWE Outreach organizes 19 events ranging from programs for elementary aged kids all the way up to high school seniors. The Outreach directorship reaches out to the general Ithaca community to encourage women to enter the technical world while having fun and engaging activities. These programs also reach students as young as elementary school to high school students. SWE members volunteer and work with other special interest groups on Cornell’s campus. They engage the community to raise awareness about engineering. Outreach connects SWE as an on campus organization to the community.
We target schools, clubs like girl scouts, and even programs open to the entire state of New York. Some events are visits to schools and others include having the students come for a weekend. For example, our Women in Engineering Weekend is a time where high school juniors come to campus and are hosted overnight by current students. We have social events, mock classes, student panels, and even lab demonstrations where they can learn about engineering and the opportunities that come with this Nield.
Our next event is Junior Girl Scout Day, which will be held March 22nd from 10 PM-‐2PM at Upson Hall. For more information about SWE’s outreach opportunities, please contact us at [email protected] or [email protected]. [19]
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