In a sure sign of spring, changes are coming fast and furious here at TAF.
First, we just reached a successful finish to the
How Far Would You Go? online event. We had 18 team captains leveraging the power of their social networks and their personal passion for our kids. In the process, they raised money, raised awareness and
introduced TAF to literally hundreds of new people. As thanks for their unique contribution to this first-of-a-kind event for TAF, I have invited the Team Captains to a luncheon in their honor at the Rainier Club later this month.
If you didn't get a chance to participate this spring, we're already getting requests for a
Back-to-School Edition in September. Stay tuned, and you could
help more TAF students fill their backpacks with the skills and resources they need to succeed.
This fall also happens to be
TechStart's 10th anniversary and we'll be celebrating with a
major expansion of the program. Details are still being ironed out, but TechStart School Day will offer the same combination of curriculum and technology in a
regular classroom setting. Growing from that first TechStart class in August
2000, we now have a proven model that has the potential to reach thousands of
young people every day.
- Want to join the celebration? Come to the TechStart Expo on June 19. It will be a fun morning for students to show off what they've learned and the projects they've built this spring.
Meanwhile, down in Federal Way, we are proud to launch a
new TAF Academy website. We used input from students, teachers and parents to design a site that truly reflects the school culture. Some features to bring to your attention:
- The Calendar is nearly booked this month with MPS testing. MPS is the statewide assessment that thankfully replaces the WASL. By 2012, the MPS will be administered online to all Washington students, but TAF Academy students are already ahead of the curve. Because
of our 1:1 computing model, our school is one of a select group of
schools approved to take the web version of the MPS this year.
- Under Volunteer Opportunities you will see that we're looking for Healthcare and Marketing professionals to be an authentic audience for our high school students. If you've never seen the end product of project-based learning, the Final Exhibitions are a great opportunity to support our students.
The progress our kids are making amazes me every day and I know you can see where all this work is going. The change we've worked for over the last 13 years is picking up momentum. How far would YOU go to build quality schools with us?
