by: Tad Phippen Wente and Sarah Williams
The Wisconsin Education Fair: Two Perspectives
College Season Opens at IDEAS
By Tad Phippen Wente
College Readiness Coordinator, IDEAS Academy
The college touring season kicked off to a broad start September 28 with the juniors tackling the Wisconsin Education Fair. They circled the fieldhouse in the Todd Wehr Center at Lakeland College to meet representatives from universities, colleges, technical schools, military branches and more. Students registered online and received scannable barcodes that enabled schools to send them additional information if requested. All the juniors participated in a “pre-brief” meeting to prepare them for what to expect and how to set goals of their own. Productive? Yes. What makes us say that?
- No one lacked a WEF bag filled with informational materials.
- Two girls’ arms were so loaded brochures, they almost had to take two trips to the bus.
- Before leaving, we had to go back in to find a student still conversing with a rep.
- Talk on the way home was all college.
Back at school that afternoon, students shared their discoveries and compared notes with the seniors in their Advisories. The next day the juniors visited freshmen/sophomore Advisories to pass along knowledge and answer the “youngers’” questions. As always, Field Reports were completed after the fieldtrip as a way to personally reflect and plan for the future.
Exploring Future Options at WEF
By Sarah Williams
Writing Intern, The Étude Studios
I’ve been worrying about college for longer than any person should. I entered my freshman year of high school, I started worry about how everyone had a dream school and I didn’t. I had an “idea” of who I wanted to be in college, but no idea where I wanted to be that person, or what I wanted to study in college.
I’m really lucky to go to IDEAS, because I get a chance to explore things that I wouldn’t necessarily get to in other schools. I’ve been touring colleges since I was an 8th grader at Mosaic, and the opportunities to see potential schools I could go to are really helpful in making sense of this whole college business. The seminars and internship opportunities I’ve gotten help too, without them I wouldn’t have really understood that journalism is something that I like to do, and something that I could potentially do in my life after high school.
In addition to the colleges I’ve visited through school, I got the opportunity to go to the Wisconsin Education Fair on September 28. Going into the fair, I didn’t have the highest of hopes. I haven’t ever really wanted to go to a school in the Midwest, but I think what I was forgetting is that Sheboygan isn’t the entire Midwest. Going to the fair really opened my eyes to all the places I could go, and how big a generalization I was making about colleges in the Midwest.
I talked to a lot of schools, and I was pretty easily sold on them if their representative was super into the school they were representing. There were some where we didn’t get to hear much about the school, where you could tell their representative was getting kind of burnt out, but there were others that were excited about the college they were talking about and all the things they offered. Those are the schools that made me want to learn more, and the ones I’m glad I talked to.
All in all, the fair was really helpful to me in finding places that I could go to in my life after high school, even though it seemed really intimidating at first. The WEF, paired with all the future planning we do in advisory, has helped me change from a confused freshman to a slightly less confused but definitely excited junior, and I’m really lucky to be having this experience.
Photo Credits: Madison O'Brien, Photography Intern, The Étude Studios
by: Molly King
IDEAS Camp Étude Returns
We are very excited to announce that Camp Étude is back this year! We are offering a robust after school program. The expanded program will provide opportunities for students to participate in programming that:
by: Janelle Bane
An Afield to Remember
Earlier this month, a group of IDEAS students elected to attend a Convocation at Lakeland College featuring Jackie Spinner, former foreign correspondent for the Washington Post. Spinner read from and discussed her book, Tell Them I Didn’t Cry: a Young Journalist’s Story of Joy, Loss and Survival in Iraq, while taking questions from the audience on subjects of Iraqi and American culture, veterans affairs, the consumption of news in America and the responsibilities of journalists. This student trip was this school year’s first of what teacher Tad Phippen Wente calls an “afield” and was attended by about twenty students.
by: Kimberly Johnson
An IDEAS Approach to Projects, Community
IDEAS Academy is located in the heart of Sheboygan, just a walk away from the Sheboygan River, Fountain Park, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Lake Michigan, Mead Library, and 8th Street. This affords many opportunities for the community to become our school and for our school to impact the community. In the first two weeks of school, IDEAS Academy students engaged in a very intentional dialogue about community through two rapid, collaborative experiences using the creative process.
by: Nina Matti
IDEAS and Mosaic Dean of School Culture Attends International Institute on Restorative Practices
Conflict, unfortunately, is inevitable in a school setting. Through implementing restorative practices, The Étude Group plans to turn these potentially negative situations into opportunities for students to grow and learn.
by: Janelle Bane
New Teachers Get Oriented to the Culture of Community and Learning at Étude
For the most part, this year’s new teachers didn’t know a thing about the Étude schools before they applied to work here. They saw a post for a teaching position at ESAA, Mosaic or IDEAS Academy and decided to check out our website to learn more. “It’s a bit of a drive, but I’m applying,” recalls Becky Knight excitedly. “I was immediately grabbed by the whole vision.” Rod Stoehr also saw the posting, went to the website and thought it sounded like a great fit. There was something about Étude’s unique learning philosophy, positive environment and collaborative culture that told each of them they belonged here.
by: Nina Matti
Eagle Rock School's Philosophies Resound with Étude Group Teachers
Every school has its own outlook and approach to connect with its students. Eagle Rock School[http://eaglerockschool.org/], located in Estes Park, Colorado, is a year-round, residential school for students who, according to its website, “are not thriving in their current situations, for whom few positive options exist and who are interested in taking control of their lives and learning.”
by: Ted Hamm
The Étude Group At The Levitt Amp Music Series
The Étude Group will be participating in the August 20th Levitt Amp Sheboygan Music Series presented by the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. This is a free, outdoor music series that features local food trucks and national music acts. The evening will feature music performances by IDEAS Academy students, Asiah Davis - Williams, Bayden Dassler, Kelsey Fick, Paris Wolf and Hannah Olmedo from 5:00 - 5:25 p.m. and Drew Fredrichsen’s band The Jetty Boys at 5:30 p.m. Additionally, Étude Group staff and students will lead interactive workshops in poetry, engineering, drama, and more starting at 5:00 p.m. until the headliner begins at 7:00 p.m. Please bring a blanket or chairs and join us on the lawn near our Étude tent.
by: Nina Matti
Two IDEAS Teachers Attend Harvard's Project Zero
Project Zero "reaffirmed our schools’ foundation for me, not that I doubted it at all before,” I.D.E.A.S. engineering, science and math teacher Tim Pasche said. “It...
by: Nina Matti
National Writing Project Puts Teachers in Students' Shoes
Two Étude Group teachers had the opportunity to expand their teaching abilities this summer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Invitational Summer Institute for theNational Writing Project[http://www.nwp.org/] from June 22 to July 3.
