Monday, November 29th

Aaron working on his zine.

Taylor and Luis working on an application to Syracuse.

                                                             

                                                                                                Dominique and Charlene getting together Dom's resume to apply for a new job.

Shelby found her hat, Le'Von is a gluing expert, and Latasha stopped by to visit.

Britney, Nadine, and Brieyanna

(Nadine was frustrated because she couldn't remember her Millersville login, but worked it out!)

Ramire taking a turn in the "office" corner of the classroom, working on his senior project about the positive influences of video games.

Monday, November 22nd:

On Monday half of the class worked on creating collage 'zines,' a project designed by Adrienne Webb.

The other half of the class worked on forging ahead with their college applications. 

We are excited to see what comes of the 'zine' project and hope to incorporate the collages into the upcoming exhibit at Bryn Mawr College and the one we are planning for Parkway.

Friday, November 19th: Staying on track for getting college apps in before Thanksgiving!

Friday we worked on college applications as the Thanksgiving time line goal is approaching for submitting applications. 

Leah assisted Crystal who called several colleges during class to check in about submitting her SAT and ACT scores after she re-takes the tests in January and February.

Leah and Crystal making phone calls!

Luis began looking at the writing components to his applications and planning his essays. 

Brittany battled bureaucracy when she had to hunt down her college board log-in info but was successful in clearing that obstacle.

Brittany and Heather tracking down College Board info.

 Shelby worked on her senior project on horror movies and their affects on children.

Anna & Ariel hung up Pway student portraits/collages in the classroom!

Anna and Ariel decorated the room with student's portrait projects as well as mural pictures and responses.
 

Shelby, Marc, & Luis' portraits.

Everyone was great and focused for it being the end of the week.-Ariel & Anna

Thursday, November 18th: Video Equations & Mock Interviews

Emilyn lead the class in a conversation about the importance and role of interviewing skills.  

To help illustrate her point, Emily and Margo did a mock interview that the students critiqued.

Margo played the role of a student going on a college interview while Emilyn interviewed her.

After the intervirew, students commented on what she had done well and what could be improved.

INTERVIEW TIPS:

• Dress professionally, but don't compromise your own style
• Pay attention to your body language and what it communicates, you want to convey confidence
• If your interviewer isn't particularly warm, don't be intimidated
• Use the questions they ask you as a chance to tell the stories and information YOU want to share!
• This is your time to get your personality across
• An interview won't hurt you, it will always help!!
• PRACTICE!!!!!!!!

Emilyn will conduct individual mock interviews on Tuesday with students and give them feedback. Thanks to Emilyn for sharing your expertise!

Some students also recorded mini-videos reading the equations they wrote along with their artist statements.  

Below are some of the students equation videos:

Myiesha reading her equation...and wearing her cool glasses...

Dominique's Equation....

Ramire's equation...



On campus, the Mural Class had a paint day and continued working on painting the mural:

Wednesday, November 3rd: 1-on-1s!!!

Today was a very productive day in class because Parkway students were paired one-on-one with Bryn Mawr students to work on:

-College Applications

-Scholarships

-Senior Projects

Some of our accomplishments included:

 Developing a list of colleges to apply to,

Categorizing colleges into reach, match and safety

Researching scholarships for Philadelphia students

Editing college essays

Practicing for interviews

and continuing work for senior projects

TODAY'S STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS

Dominique was able to receive constructive feedback from Jomaira on her college essay and will have a final draft by next Wednesday

Le'von found a scholarship she can apply to with Sophie's help

Sharaya practiced interviewing with Jen

Dorian began his last college application!!!

*Thanks to Jaselle we also found out that LUIS has something that made us all very proud!! 

Stay tuned to learn what it is!! =) -- Jomaira

Monday, November 1st: 1-on1 college work

Wednesday, October 27th: Goal Setting

On Wednesday we worked in small groups to answer the question:

What is a concrete goal you want to have accomplished by November 27th, 2010, one month from today. Students were encouraged to be specific and think about their college applications/lists, scholarships, senior projects, or a their work in a specific class.

 In small groups, everyone worked to figure out what they needed to do to accomplish their goal(s) and how they would get there.

Weds, Oct 20th: 'First Person' screening and panel

"First Person" playing for a Bryn Mawr College audience

Myiesha and her "cousin" Steve from "First Person"

On Wednesday evening four Parkway students came to Bryn Mawr College for a screening of the "First Person" film. Before the screening Myiesha, Aaron, Ramire, and Dominique ate dinner in the dining hall with three of students featured in the film and the filmmaker.

Ramire & Dominique sample college food at Haffner.

The film screening was well attended by members of the Bryn Mawr community. After watching the film there was a panel discussion featuring  Ben Herold (the film director) and the students of First Person as well as Lisa Nutter (President of Philadelphia Academies and First Lady of Philadelphia), Kate Shaw (Executive Director of Research for Action), Azsherae Gary (Bryn Mawr senior), and our own Aaron Jones (Parkway West HS senior).

The film, and the conversation afterward were quite provocative and it was great to have some of the Parkway class at Bryn Mawr for the screening and the panel.

Dominique, Jomaira, Myiesha, Aaron, Ramire, Enuma, & Zanny after the film.

Dominique, Myiesha, Aaron, & Ramire

Aaron did a wonderful job on the panel, as well!

Monday, October 4th: Ninja Game & College Research!

Playing the "ninja" game Shelby taught us.

Monday it was really cold in the classroom, so we began the class by playing Shelby's Ninja game. 

After we warmed up, we moved down the hall to Mr. Cohen's room and worked on the computers to think about options for college. We broke into four different groups, two college students were helping to lead each group. Most groups spent time looking over the applications for different colleges and we discussed the importance of calling admissions officers with questions about college.

 Marc announced that he was going to the Temple University Open House this Saturday, October 9th (http://www.temple.edu/undergrad/visitcampus/fall2010openhouse.htm) it looks like it should be really fun!

 Also, Taylor recommended checking out this websites for scholarships: uncf.org

 Don't forget to sign up for November 6th SAT or the December 11th ACT (http://www.actstudent.org/regist/dates.html)!!  -Adrienne

Myiesha typing her essay

Taylor and Marc doing college research

Brie, Amanda, Dorian, and Nadine, researching colleges