Congratulations to our First Quarter All-Stars

Dear Scholars Community,

I would like to be the first to commend our outstanding students who earned straight A’s in the first quarter:

Grade 9		Grade10		Grade 11		Grade 12
JASON	ALBERT	LYSSA	GOLDBERG	CHELSEA	LEIGHTON	STEPHANIE	DANGELO
MICAELA	BURLANDO			DILIA	TABORA	MELODY	PEREZ
RACHEL	COLLER
GABRIELA	GERINSKA
NADINE	GOLDBERG
HELEN	RYNOR
RHONDA	SNEIJ
TYLER	TRUSHIN

And another congratulations to our students who earned all A’s and B’s: 

Grade 9		Grade 10		Grade 11		Grade 12
JONAH	BLACHER	FLORENCIA	BIAGGI	ERIN	ALBERT	RODRIGO	ALDORINO
CHAYAN	BRUNI	CARLOS	BLANDON	DAVID	ANUSONT- ARANGKU	JULIET	APPLEGATE
KENNETH	CALONA	XINYI	CHEN	KENNY	BECERRA	KERYN	BREITERMAN-LOADER
CHERISSE	COOPER	OSCAR	CIFUENTES	REBECCA	BUDHOO	BRITTANY	BRUCE
VERONICA	DUELL	MAXWELL	COLLIE	BIANCA	CASSOUTO	ALEXANDRA	CABALLERO
ALEXANDRA	ELDER	LENA	COMPTON	JOSHUA	DERMER	TAYLOR	CALIBO
HANNAH	ETKIN-KRAMER	PEDRO	CORDON	KARLA	DURANGO	TRAVIS	COHEN
CHRISTINA	FERNANDEZ	VICTORIA	DEBLAUSS	CARMEN	EKERT	MARGARET	COHN
EFRAIN	GONZALEZ	ADRISHA	DIAZ	IAN	ERGUI	RAFAEL	CONCEICAO
JONATHAN	HABER	AMANDA	EPSTEIN	RACHEL	GOLDBERG	JUAN	CONTRERAS
ELVIS	HATCHER	SERENE	GATO	ERICA	GRAFF	FRANCISCO	FONTA
EDUARDO	HERNANDEZ	VANICA	GUIGNARD	AARON	GROFF	GABRIELLA	FRAENK
CARMEN	KELLY	JESSE	KIRKPATRICK	RACHEL	GROSZ	JOSHUA	GODUR
RAY	LOWENSTEIN	ELLE	LANGONE	MIGUEL	HERNANDEZ	GAMAL	JADUE
JORDAN	MADRIGAL	SHARI	LINN	EDWIN	INNIS	MIRIAM	KOLKER
MAURIZIO	MALTAGLIATI	BRIAN	LOMBARDI	EDUARDO	KEANE	ESTEBAN	MADRUGA
CARINA	MARTINEZ	MARIA	MORALES	DANIELLE	MADRIGAL	GABRIELA	MALAKATES
ALI	MASHAL	STEVE	NOEL	ALLISON	NOVACK	DANIEL	MEJIDO
JEFFREY	PEREZ	ALESSIA A	PIZZORNI	NICHOLAS	POTOLSKY	KYLIE	MONTERO
CLAUDIA	PEREZ	RYAN	QUINONES	CINDY	REYES	CHARLES	ORTIZ
LAUREN	PETERSON	AMALIA	REYES	TEGAN	RICH	MAURICE	OXIOS
ANNABELLE	PFEFFER	JENNIFER	RYE	MELISSA	SCHWARTZBAUM	JOSEPH	PARDO
WILLIAM	QUINLAN	STEPHANIE	SAENZ	REBECCA	SHIONIS	SOPHIA	PERLSTEIN
STEFANY	ROTHLEIN	BECKY	SAKA	STEPHANIE	SILVA	KYLE	REGO
ALEXANDER	RUIZ	DULNY	SALAZAR	RACHEL	STEIN	JULIE	RIVO
STEVEN	SAKA	KEVIN	SEAMON	KYLE	VOHWINKLE	ALEXANDRA	RODRIGUEZ
NOAH	SOBEL	AMANDA	VACCARELLA	JESSICA	WASERSTEIN	HANNAH	SNITZER
SAMANTHA	STELLA	MARK	ZAVALA	BRITTANY	WASERSTEIN
KELSEY	SUMALLA			JULIA	WOLLOCH
NATHAN	SZPILFEIGEL
JENNA	VOHWINKEL
RICARDO	ZAMBRANO

Success like this is no accident or small feat.  Please tell these students how impressed you are with their achievement.  The Scholars Club Board will show you how proud we are with a lunchtime event in the near future. 

Best Regards,

Andy Weiss

IB Application Update

Dear Scholars Community,

I am very pleased to report that the International Baccalaureate Organization has accepted our Application A and officially conferred upon us the status of “candidate school.”  This is the second hurdle we have successfully cleared and is an important step along the way to implementation of the IB Diploma Programme (I’ve spent so much time on the IBO website that the British spelling is creeping into my daily usage).

We are now halfway through the application process.  We will submit Application B in the spring, and if it is accepted then the IBO will send a team of evaluators to visit our school in the fall of 2009 and make a final assesment of our ability to implement the IB curriculum.  If we pass these final two tests, we will be able to offer IB coursework to our current freshmen in their junior year, 2010-2011.

For anyone interested in the mechanics of the IB Diploma Programme, I suggest you visit the IBO’s DP webpage at http://ibo.org/diploma/index.cfm.  However, I will try to summarize some of the most relevant information from their site below:

The DP “core” consists of a service learning project known as “Creativity, Action, Service,” an independent research paper known as the “Extended Essay,” and an epistemology course called “Theory of Knowledge” that is supposed to link the material taught in each of the six subject areas.

Over the course of 11th and 12th grade, IB students take one class in each of the 6 subject areas displayed in the hexagon above.  Students can select which classes they want to take as two-year “Higher Level” courses, and which classes they want to take as one-year “Standard Level” courses.  The IBO requires that students take a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 4 Higher Level courses. 

Students sit for International Baccalaureate exams not unlike the Advanced Placement tests that Scholars Academy students currently take, with the caveat that IB bases a significant portion of a student’s final score on “Internal Assesments” that are designed and administered by the classroom teacher with oversight from the IBO.  This gives students multiple arenas to diplay their knowledge over time, as opposed to a one-shot, all-or-nothing, three-hour test. 

Students are assigned a grade from 1-7 in each of the six subject areas, with up to three possible bonus points available for completion of Theory of Knowledge and the Extended Essay.  Students who score 24 total points (out of a possible 45) and are awarded the IB Diploma, which generally confers substantial college credit at most universities, often enough for students to enter with the equivalent of sophomore standing. 

Below you can see a presentation I shamelessly lifted from Coral Gables Senior High’s IB program, which shows that the IB Diploma roughly doubles a students chances of acceptance at selected major universities:

IB College Acceptance

If you have additional IB related questions, I suggest you join the “IB Transition Talk” group on the My Scholars Academy social network.  Post your questions as discussion threads and I will do my best to track down answers!

I am very excited at the prospect of offering the IB Diploma Programme at Miami Beach Senior High.  Congratulations to all of the teachers who helped with Application A!

Best Regards,

Andy Weiss

Free* Practice SAT

Dear Scholars,

The PTSA is sponsoring a free* Kaplan SAT on Saturday, October 25 in the auditorium.  Registration is at 7:30 AM and the test will last until 12:15 PM. 

*There is a nominal registration fee of $3, which will cover breakfast.  You can sign up with Ms Sevillanos in room 352 during lunch only.  

See the flyer below:

SAT Flyer

I highly recommend this opportunity if you are able to make it.  Please bring your own calculator and pencils!

Best Regards,

Andy Weiss

Website Update

Dear Scholars Community,

I’d like to take this opportunity to once again implore you to take advantage of the features available at the My Scholars Academy social network located at http://scholarsacademy.ning.com.  I am posting to the WordPress blog less and less these days, and if your only connection to the Scholars Academy is that you receive my WordPress posts by email, you will begin to miss important information.

Read below for information on how to:

1. Sign up
2. Create a profile
3. Join groups
4. View events
5. Subscribe to events by email
6. Take the Community Partner Survey

The first thing you need to do after visiting the website is sign up to create an account. 

You will be asked a series of questions to set up your profile.  Please enter your first and last names, and upload a photo.  If you only provide your first name, or don’t upload a photo, then I will have no idea who you are and can’t really be blamed for not recognizing you in public. 

The next thing for you to do is to join the relevant groups.  At a minimum, you need to join your member type group (Faculty Lounge, Current Students, Proud Parents, Alumni Association, Future Hi-Tides, etc), as well as the relevant ”Class of _____” group (Class of 2009, Class of 2010, Class of 2011, Class of 2012, etc).

You can find some of the more popular groups here:

 

But a complete listing of the groups can be found by clicking on the “Groups” tab, here:

I would also ask that you join the “Advisory Board” group if you wish to participate, and ask for an invitation to the relevant advisory board committees that you wish to join (Curriculum, Business Relations, Public Relations, Fundraising, Student Recruitment, Events).

The idea of groups is that you only sign up for the communications that apply to you.  This is why I am using the WordPress blog less and less.  Another benefit of groups is that you, as an individual member, can start discussion threads or send messages to just people within your group.

The next important thing for you to do is to explore the Events tab and consider subscribing to Events by email.  Many events are not posted on the WordPress blog, so it is important that you are familiar with how Events work on the My Scholars Academy network.

The top box displays events that people have posted to the site.  You can click on the bottom box to receive an email update every time someone posts a new event.  If you want to see all upcoming events, or add an event of your own, you can click the “Events” tab.

 

The last thing I want to discuss for now is the Comunity Partner Survey.  Whether you are an individual or a business, there are many ways you can help the Scholars Academy.  Taking 5 minutes to fill out the survey will identify some of the best ways you can help our program, and one of our students or committee members will follow up with you shortly after you complete it.  The survey can be found here on the My Scholars Academy network:

Thanks so much for reading all the way to the bottom of this post.  To recap, I would kindly ask that each person perform each of the following actions:

1. Sign up
2. Create a profile (first and last names, with picture)
3. Join groups
4. View events
5. Subscribe to events by email
6. Take the Community Partner Survey

At each of the upcoming Advisory Board meetings (check the events tab to see when they are!), I will be available to walk you through the process if you are experiencing technical difficulty.  I look forward to seeing you there.

Best Regards,

Andy Weiss

YAMI Mentors

Dear Scholars,

The Youth Aide Mentoring Initiative is looking for female tutors again.  See the flyer below. 

new-yami-flyer

If you are interested, please contact Andrea Coyne at 305.672.8080 ext 23 or at alcoyne@jcsfl.org.

Best Regards,

Andy Weiss

Grant Writing Workshop RSVP

Dear Scholars Community,

The grant writing workshop with Maria Ruiz has been set for Friday, October 24 from 9AM-1PM. 

Even if you have already notified me of your intent to come, we all need to RSVP by emailing the event’s coordinator, Sasha Aaronson, at saaronson@dadeschools.net.

I am personally very excited to learn from an experienced grant writer, and look forward to seeing all of you there!

Best Regards,

Andy Weiss

2009-2010 Scholars Academy Application

Dear Scholars Community,

The 2009-2010 application to the Scholars Academy at Miami Beach Senior High is now online at http://scholarsacademy.ning.com.  Click the “Apply Today!” tab in the upper right hand corner of the site to access the application.

Here is also a direct link to the application.  A paper version is available for download on the “Forms” tab of the website as a guide to plan your responses, but I would appreciate it if you would submit the final copy online. 

With our new building almost complete, our ‘B’ grade, and our compact with the City of Miami Beach to apply for International Baccalaureate world school authorization, I am confident this year’s applicant pool with be the strongest and the largest we have seen in years.  For this reason, the Student Recruitment Committee has set up a “Priority Admissions” deadline of January 15.  Students who apply for priority admissions will be considered without concern for space constraints.  Applications will continue to be accepted after January 15, but the admissions committee will have to consider available space until all spots are filled. 

Feel free to forward this post to anyone you think might be interested in applying to the Scholars Academy for the 2009-2010 school year.  Prospective students and families are encouraged to set up profiles on the My Scholars Academy network and join the “Future Hi-Tides” group, so we have a direct line of communication over the coming months.    

Our Student Recruitment Committee is currently planning a series of school visits and open houses to publicize the program, and I will be giving school tours roughly every other Friday at 8 AM.  You can find all recruitment events on the “Events” tab of the My Scholars Academy network.

I look forward to receiving your applications!  If you have any questions, feel free to email me at aweiss@dadeschools.net.

Best Regards,

Andy Weiss

October Board Meeting

Dear Scholars Community,

I just want to remind everyone that our October Advisory Board meeting is Thursday, October 2 at 6:30 PM in the Media Center.

The event and agenda are posted on the My Scholars Academy social network here: http://scholarsacademy.ning.com/events/event/show?id=2268008:Event:1103

I highly recommend that everyone sign up on this site, because I am transitioning away from reminding people of events via this blog.  There are many college related and other events on My Scholars Academy that I am not posting here.

I look forward to seeing you at the meeting!

Best Regards,

Andy Weiss