High School Travels to Atlanta and Boston

Mary M. Silgals, Editor

High School Trip to Boston 

Students in grades 9 through 12 were treated to an experiential learning experience when the group took a stopover trip to Atlanta, Georgia and a four day trip to Boston, Massachusetts in April. 

First stop: Atlanta, Georgia

 The students’ first stop after landing in Atlanta was to tour the Body Exhibition.  Since the teaching of basic human anatomy and physiology are hallmarks of any child’s education, science teacher, Robin Grieg took the role of facilitator and guided the students through the exhibit. The Exhibition offers a rare school experience in a way no textbook ever could. According to the Exhibition founders, “BODIES...The Exhibition teaches students about the complexities of the human body and the necessity of proper nutrition, regular activity, and healthy lifestyle choices, such as avoiding smoking and excessive alcohol consumption.” From this intriguing exhibition, students traveled on to the Georgia Aquarium where one of the special events of the tour included viewing the beluga whales. After a full day of learning in Atlanta, the students departed in the evening to fly on to Massachusetts. 

Update on Technology

Thanks to the generous donations of the attendees at the Trident Academy Auction, the technology fund-a-need was fully funded. The portable Smart Board has arrived and is in the building. The ten robotics kits are expected to arrive any day.  The funding also allowed for the purchase of 12 iPad 2s and an iPad Learning lab. The learning lab is a compact and durable rolling cart that stores, charges, syncs, and secures up to 30 iPad devices.

After installing apps on the iPads and syncing them to a MacBook Air (use donated by Ms. Silgals), the iPads are already in the hands of our students. For example, Mrs. Loveland’s class had a lesson on the oceans and continents using an interactive app. Ms. Kristiansen’s drama class used the iPads to create their own sock puppet acts. Ms. Silgals’ library skills classes and lower school classes are receiving lessons on how to use the iPads. Lower school teachers will meet next week to be trained on the apps already installed, discuss potential curriculum needs and how to use them in the classroom.

We are excited about the new learning opportunities that are available to us thanks to the addition of the iPads, robotic kits and the portable Smart Board!

Thank You! Trident Academy Auction Attendees

I had the pleasure of presenting a technology package Fund-A-Need at the Trident Academy annual auction. Mr. Simpson, the technology director, and I requested funds for: adding to our robotics program, a portable Smart Board to use in the two buildings where mounted SmartBoards are not available, and for funds for an iPad initiative. The response from the attendees was wonderful. We met our requested funding and received additional funds that will be used to purchase applications (apps) for the iPads.

The ten new robotics kits are on order. The SmartBoard representative and I will be going over our order in the next few days. When the information on the new iPadHD is released this week, we will decide on which model best fits our students’ needs and place an order for at least 10 new iPads.

Mr. Simpson and I would like to thank all those who participated in helping us meet our goal to fund the technology Fund-A-Need. Our students will benefit from you kind generosity. Thanks to all who attended and especially to those who worked on making our auction a great success.

A Student's Love of Writing

Editor's Note: Sara Frances is a 9^th grade student at TA. Over the last several years, she has developed a love for creative writing. I have asked her to, in her own words, write about her love of writing.

I love to write because it involves the use of imagination and it makes me really happy. Also, I love being creative and am really proud of my work when it's finished. I will admit that sometimes I slack off and don't write as much for a certain period of time, but I have a lot of ideas I want to write about in the future. My ideas come from different places depending on the story itself. Some may come from dreams, while others may come from a subject I've studied in school. It just depends.

Preferably, I like writing in my room where it's quiet and there are no distractions. When I try to write while watching TV or something, I end up getting distracted. Writing where it's quiet suits me best but sometimes I try to write in other places as well.

I have a couple of websites that I post my work on. One is called fanfiction.net. Fanfiction is a website where you are allowed to write stories based on different cartoons, books, movies, TV shows, comic books, Anime/Manga, etc. It's almost like making a new episode or chapter. For example, if someone wanted to create a story based on characters from The Hunger Games series, they could post it on fanfiction without having to worry about copyrighting laws or getting into legal trouble. Fanfiction was created for this purpose so it does not violate any major laws having to do with plagiarism or copyrighting. The other website is called TeenInk. TeenInk is where you post your own work with your own characters. There is a fanfic section there too but I prefer to use the website instead. Other people can post comments on your stories on both website commonly known as reviews. These can regard constructive criticism, compliments or nice comments and other things too. You can also read other people's work and post your own reviews. I have read and/or reviewed some pretty well written and entertaining stories on both websites might I add. I hope to become an author one day so I can share my work with the world or at least the country. Of course, there are other websites for posting stories like Deviant Art and ChickenSoothie, but those sites are for other things as well.

Creative writing is one of my favorite hobbies and I even keep a journal at home, but that isn't for writing stories. I may not be the best writer in the world, but at least I try my best.

Sara Frances McAlister