Congratulations 2015 Graduates - Innovative and Alternative

www.mmsd.org/innoved
THE
Expl rer
Fourth Quarter 2014-2015
The Newsletter of Innovative and Alternative Education
Congratulations 2015
Graduates
This Spring, Night School, Pathways, ROAD,
SAPAR, TLC and WLC together graduated
over 100 students. Over the course of the
2014-2015 school year we’ve helped over
175 students graduate high school and
begin their lives career or college ready.
Inside you’ll hear more about these
graduates and the programs that help
them achieve their own individual success.
We’re also are going to miss three
outstanding staff members who are retiring
after years of service to the Innovation
and Alternative Education.
Dave Hoon, an English teacher, has been
with SAPAR for nearly three decades.
WLC Westside graduation.
Jan Lange, has an equally impressive
career in our ALA, WLC and ROAD schools.
Finally, Sally Schultz, has lead us through
many changes since joining us in 2009.
We wish all graduates and retirees a bright
future and you’ll always find a home in
the Innovative and Alternative Education
community!
Dave Hoon
SAPAR
Jan Lange
ROAD
Sally Schultz
Principal
Principal
Counselor
Sally Schultz
Marianne Matt
As I transition to retirement this summer, I am
sharing my with you all my sentiments to the
Innovative and Alternative Education staff.
The 2014-2015 school year saw many students
come through the doors of the various
programs of Innovative and Alternative
Education. These students in grades 9-12, were
given an opportunity to explore a different
type of education as well as explore options
after high school. Many of these students
hadn’t thought about their futures beyond
next week.
Please know and remember how much each
and every one of you has positively affected
my professional and personal life.
I am truly the fortunate one to have been
able to support and learn from your life changing dedication.
In my life There has been no other professional group
who has had such unwavering focus on
making their students’ lives far better than
ever imaginable - then you saints.
There has been no other professional group
who has supported, drove, reflected so
deeply with their colleagues - then you saints.
There has been no other professional
group who has enhanced the educational
profession as you have - then you saints.
With much humor and the same amount
of tears you all have been that one pebble
dropped into water, which has had far
reaching effects.
Please take the time to stand back and
reflect on what your generous actions have
given so many people. Please take special
care of yourselves, each other, and those you
love as well as those who love you.
You will always be part of who I am.
515.6469 [email protected]
In 2014-15 over 160 students in our programs
took the COMPASS entrance test at Madison
College. The seniors had the opportunity to
apply to Madison College and connect with
an advisor. After graduation our students are
planning to go into Nursing, Auto Technology,
Network Security, Liberal Arts, Psychology,
Social Work, Construction, Carpentry,
Education, Fashion, Business, Culinary Arts,
Emergency Services, and many other
areas. We wish them well in all their future
endeavors!
Next year will bring Academic and Career
Planning (ACP) to our ninth grade students.
Academic and Career Planning is a process
and product by which students in grades
6-12 - in collaboration with key school staff,
families, and community members - chart,
refine, and progress along their personalized
pathways by exploring who they are, what
they want to do with their lives, and making
progress towards short and long-term goals.
This state-wide initiative will strengthen our
ability to help students become college,
career, and community ready. The 2015-2016
school year will offer exciting changes and
opportunities for our students.
WLC Westside
As the year comes to an end, the WLC
Westside staff have been reflecting on a
successful school year and have been
focusing on the positive transitions we are
experiencing.
First and foremost, we would like to send
a huge, heart-felt congratulations to our
graduates, the Work and Learn Center
Westside Spring Class of 2015: Joseph Alvarez
Torres, Serene Boyd, Nikiedra DouglasPollard, Christine
Freese, Cashay
Harris, Jonathan
Hernandez-Nunez,
Veronica McNeal,
Roche Palmer, Patricia
Pesina, Deiliz Pizarro,
Joey Rom, Demetrius
Triplett, Gabrielle
“Gabby” Watkins,
Janessa Weichmann,
and Analise Winger.
We are also excited to announce our WLC
Westside students for the 2015-2016 School
Year:
Level 4: Ikran Hussein, Xavier Johnson, Nic
Kienast-Knight, Luis Limon, Melanie Longino,
LaChe Palmer, Jeffrey Parker, Samantha
Weltz, and DaQuan West.
Level 3: Nelliette Gomez, Cameron StolpSimon, Hadia Tanner, Jose Hernandez, Kiarra
Little, Jesus Moreno, Tre’Von Willis, Darnescha
Hoye, Devin Malone, Kevin Mejia, Marketta
Morgan, Tyshay Walker, and Kemiya Whitaker.
Level 2: Katrina Burnett, Benji Cortes, DJ
Fischer, Davonta Smith, David Galinski III,
Ashley Pickett, Jordan Dillard, and Kurrin
Dancy.
Level 1: Denise Castillo, Kanina Davis,
Angelikah Gerard, Candace Howard,
Cereatha Lofton, Makayla Morales, Abimael
Pizarro, Candace Richardson, Carmalletta
Richardson, Johnothon Roberts, Haylee
Steinkamp, Robert Taylor, Sarena Washington,
and Angelique Young.
WLC Eastside
Congratulations to our WLC Eastside Level 4 June graduates!
SAPAR
Spring 2015 at SAPAR has been a whirlwind.
We finished up our last Madison Teen Parent
Family night in April with a nice turnout. It was
great fun for us to watch grandmas, moms
and dads actively playing with their kids at the
Children’s Museum. Special thanks to Matt our
photographer and our InSPIRE Grant partners at
Madison College, UW OT department, Madison
College Dental Hygiene students and Madison
Public Library. Roman Candle Pizza was enjoyed
by all and winners of the night’s raffles were
sent home with American Family Hospital
Safety Center vouchers and Madison Children’s
Museum memberships. The next family night will
be in Fall 2015.
SAPAR students finished the year with several
projects: writing children’s books and music
books, creating safety plans and completing
CPR training. In all classes, we focused on
argumentative writing and our end-of-theyear writing assessments showed overall
growth. English class explored different writing
styles, including an opportunity for students
to contribute their own creative poetry that is
displayed as a legacy for next year’s students.
This tradition was started by our English teacher,
Dave Hoon, which we hope to continue every
year.
teen parents who received $1,000 InSPIRE
scholarships to the college of their choice for fall
2015. They are: Karla Perez, Javiera Gonzalez,
Stephanie Yang, Chassiti Benton, Cora Williams,
Mazia Saleem, Beng Lee, Perla Ruelas, Alyssa
Wallom and Jesse Robinson.
At our end-of-the-year luncheon we not only
said goodbye to departing students, but also to
our favorite English teacher Dave Hoon. He has
been the corner stone of the SAPAR program
since 1990. He shared humor, flair and an
expertise in literature and media studies that will
be irreplaceable next year. We are so very sad
to see him go, but he retires to new adventures
beyond teaching. We wish him the best of luck
and hope that he keeps in touch when we
need to find just the right author, film or book!
As we say farewell to those who leave us, we
remember our motto, “Once a SAPAR student;
always a SAPAR student.” And in this case, that
goes for teachers as well!
Lots of thanks go to the many people and
programs we worked with this year that
make SAPAR so successful: UW Extension,
UW Occupational Therapy Department,
Dane County Parent Council, Madison Public
Library, La Petite, Madison Children’s Museum,
American Family Children’s
Hospital, Madison Overture
Center, American Players
Theater, Kindercare, Cauldi’s,
UW Madison, Little Ohm,
Big Ohm, Domestic Abuse
Intervention Services, the
Rape Crisis Center and many
more.
Farewell to those who are
leaving after their one-year
stay here to finish high school
in their home schools or
other programs. Additional
congratulations to ten MMSD
Congratulations to our three senior graduates, from left to right: Mea
Pullen, Priscila Perez Castillo and Tai’tiana Shanklin.
AERO
Seed To Table
AERO wrapped up the end of the 2015-16
school year with many little victories! The first
is that many of our students were able to
transition successfully from our program with
almost all of their credits, positive experiences
in building a community, and many warm
memories of their time at AERO!
When Seed to Table students started thinking
about how to make a positive contribution to
our community, they coalesced around an idea
designed to quickly make life easier for homeless
youth in Madison. Students wanted to find a way
to get a gender specific backpack, stocked with
essentials, into the hands of a newly homeless
student. Students at Seed to Table have spent the
last several months researching, planning and are
now launching their Homeless Youth Backpack
Project.
The second is that we celebrated the school
year by traveling to Devil’s Lake in order to do
some rock climbing and have a cookout. It
was an incredible time and we were pleased
to celebrate our successes in that manner.
Finally, we were able to see many of our
students off to some of our IAE programs,
such as WLC and Seed to Table. This is a
tremendous opportunity for us as we have the
privilege of watching them continue to grow,
blossom, and tackle the world!
Students began by determining what items
might be most needed by a homeless youth, for
example a durable bag, deodorant, socks, bus
passes, etc., and began researching where to
purchase these items at a bargain. Concurrently,
Seed to Table applied for and received grant
funding from For Youth, By Youth, a committee
of local high school students who direct funds to
projects generated, planned and implemented
by youth groups that benefit people across Dane
County. Seed to Table students also produced,
marketed and sold holiday, Valentine’s Day
and Mother’s Day gift baskets, directing some of
the proceeds to this project. As the school year
ended, backpacks were purchased and stocked.
The initial launch of this project will be at the
Goodman Community Center this summer, where
the backpacks will be available from GCC staff.
In the fall, new Seed to Table students will expand
the backpack distribution to program sites within
our school and a teacher or Social Worker can
hand off a backpack. The goal of this Homeless
Youth Backpack project is to gain additional
funding and donations to place and replace
backpacks at every school site in the Madison
Metropolitan School District.
Seed to Table’s Homeless Youth Backpack Project
is requesting the following items from community
donations:
• New and gently used backpacks
• Toothpaste/toothbrushes
• Sunscreen
• Bug spray
• Small flashlights
• Youth bus passes
• 2-in-1 body wash (male and female)
• Deodorant (male and female)
If you like to donate, please email Steve
Jenkins at: [email protected]
ROAD Eastside
To all the graduates from ROAD Eastside June
2015:
Kaliyah Abrams, Kendra Atkinson, Dominique
Chhan, Jacob Femrite, Al’rahman Goodwin,
Karen Hoskins, Cain Jantzen, Mahkis Johnson,
Aaron Jones, Keon Jones, Chris Keomanivong,
Richseathea Kong, Christian Miller, Cherry
Mims, Nicole Mottier, Kenny Nammavong,
Tiffany Nelson, Destiny Persinger, Jaison
Thomas, and Dakota Walsh.
Many are planning on continuing their
education at Madison College and our
best wishes to their futures! Areas of career
interest range from medical to computer
programming; they are all capable of
following their dreams! As we stated on our
ROAD Celebration Program: “Develop a
passion for learning.
It has been an interesting year as we
adapted to the changes at ROAD. This year
these graduates scored very high on the
ACT Workkeys Test this past fall – all earning
certificates of employment readiness Again
congrats to all of our graduates!
Congratulations also to Nicloe Mottier and
Mahkis Johnson for both receiving the
Optimist Club Scholarship, ($1,000 each) for
their future education at Madison College.
Well deserved!
“The man who graduates today and stops
learning tomorrow is uneducated the day
after.” Newton D. Baker
Go for it!
TLC
End of Year Celebration at TLC. The students
of TLC met with at Yahara Park to celebrate
their hard work during the 2014-2015 school
year. It was a beautiful date for food and fun.
ROAD Westside
This year marks the close of our first year
using the COMPASS tests as a determiner for
diploma completion. Students worked hard
to achieve the Liberal Arts Transfer level for
their reading, writing, and math levels. With
that hard work, they are all college ready
if they choose to embark on furthering their
education! Over half of our students have
already signed up for college courses at
Madison College for the fall.
We have also started a new tradition for our
graduating seniors! Sophie Micinski lent her
artistic abilities and painted a tree on our
classroom wall. We have added all the names
of former ROAD graduates, and we hope that
from now on our graduates can put their own
names up on the tree. We look forward to the
boughs being filled as we continue!
Thanks to all the parents, guardians, family,
friends, and community for their support this
year. We are looking forward to our next class
of 2016!
We’re excited to continue our work with the
Foundation for Madison’s Public Schools on our
very own Innovative and Alternative Education
School Endowment Fund. An endowment fund
generates income from a dedicated account
that is available to fund creative and innovative
programs and projects year after year.
Over the past few years, our Endowment Fund has
provided thousands of dollars for programs that
we would not otherwise have been able to fund.
The programs selected enable us to help our
students to be college and career ready.
Some recently awarded grants include:
• Supporting the AERO Student Engagement
Project that consists of tools, equipment,
and workshops to sustain many of the core
experiential learning activities of camping,
caving, cooking, and gardening that not only
supplement science, health and gym curricula,
but also expose students to life-long skills. • Supporting the ROAD Giving Back to the
Community project. After completing a local
social issues unit, ROAD students identified
community needs they wanted to address
and developed a service plan which they can
execute in the community.
• Supporting our students to take the COMPASS
exam to access Madison College courses
upon graduation. The cost of this exam
is prohibitive for some students, but the
opportunity to attend Madison College is
essential for engaged learners.
Our IAE Endowment enables us to provide
opportunities that may not otherwise be possible.
The Foundation for Madison’s Public Schools also
awards Foundation for the Future grants that
support academic success through innovative
programming and student engagement.
Funding for the IAE School Endowment is
made possible through contributions from staff,
community members, and families. If you would
like to help expand funds available for future
projects, please see http://www.fmps.org/donate/
and select Affiliated Alternatives in the dropdown
menu under “Give to an endowment fund for the
school of my choice.”
Madison Metropolitan School District
1045 East Dayton Street
Madison WI 53703
Non Profit Org
US Postage Paid
Madison WI
Permit No 1172
Address Service Requested
Schools At A Glance
Enrollment Sessions
Diploma Completion
Pathways .......................................
ROAD Eastside...............................
ROAD Westside.............................
TLC Diploma Completion.............
WLC Eastside.................................
WLC Westside................................
We will again have two enrollment days
for all our students in our school. Students
do not need to go to their comprehensive
high school for Enrollment.
244.4721
204.3716
204.3552
204.6856
204.4341
824.1278
Specialized Admissions
SAPAR............................................. 204.4230
Credit Earning
AERO............................................... 204.4236
Horizon School................................335.0387
Night School Eastside....................204.1635
Night School Westside...................663.6060
Seed To Table................................ 535.2965
More information about our programs is also
available online at: www.mmsd.org/innoved
Thursday, August 20 2:00 - 6:00pm
Madison College Westside Fourth Floor
302 South Gammon Road
(WLC Westside location)
Monday August 24, 9:00 - 12:00pm
Lapham School Third Floor
1045 East Dayton Street
(WLC Eastside/AERO location)
You will be able to enroll online at www.
mmsdenroll.org beginning in August. This
is generally the same questions asked in
previous years.