Notes from
Trish's Desk
September 2, 2010
|
Greetings!
I just got back from one of my favorite events: the first
morning of school for our TAF Academy students. I watched 50 new 6th graders join
their peers in 7th to 11th grade. It's exciting to know the opportunities they will
have to learn and grow and challenge each other to succeed.
That got me thinking about our Quasar interns. TAF Academy's first group of four interns chose to devote eight weeks of their summer vacation to a full-time job. By all accounts, it was a successful experience for everyone involved. The interns applied their programming skills to help TAF and Spring Creek Group with social
media analysis, building a blog using HTML and CSS, and creating a
Javascript-enabled interactive organizational chart.
Congratulations to
Brian, Cameron, Melville & Michael on
being true leaders in all they accomplished this summer!
And special thanks to Spring Creek Group
for being our first Quasar partner.
TAF Academy students will have more opportunities to explore
real-world work experiences throughout the school year. Next month, the Quasar program will
teach new programming skills to 10th and 11th
grade students. And in our Juicy Jobs program, students get to ask
professionals like you for college and career advice. (We're always looking for
Juicy Jobs volunteers to spend a morning with our student, by the way.)
We are also announcing a new partnership with Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC). This year, four of our students will
start a biomedical apprenticeship. Twice a month, Manpreet Bassi, Cameron
Sharpe, Michael Miles and Ana Glassmyer will learn from and work with some of
the world's leading cancer researchers. I am incredibly proud of our students,
and thankful to have new partners like FHCRC who bring learning to life for our
students.
With so many opportunities for growth, TAF is ready to move up
a grade, too. The goal of our Degrees Matter campaign is to change the
trajectory of 20,000 students of color every year by 2020. To meet that goal,
our programs must reach into more communities and more classrooms. We have some
exciting expansion plans in the pipeline. I will elaborate on them in the coming
weeks and find ways to get you involved.
Lastly, did you read about the new contract between Seattle City Schools and the teachers union? Step by step, change may finally be coming to
the state's largest school system. Perhaps
they, too, are on the verge of great, new things.
Thanks for listening,
Trish Millines Dziko
Executive Director
Technology Access Foundation |
