Message from the Principal

One characteristic that makes IDEA stand out is the tenacious dedication of our teachers and staff when it comes to helping our students succeed. We are determined to show our students and their families what's possible.

Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection Partnership

For example, IDEA recently launched a partnership with Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection to ensure that ninth-grade students not only stay in school, but graduate from high school and college. Brynee Dade is Hillside's youth advocate who will be working with IDEA teachers, scholars, and families to identify and remove barriers to success in school. Ms. Dade has been working at IDEA since early January and is working with 19 scholars so far. Hillside connects students with academic assistance, links to community organizations, and individual and family clinical support as needed. Ms. Dade will work closely with parents of her students so that she, students' teachers, and families will all be working together to help students achieve their goals.

Attendance Incentive

To reinforce the importance of Guiding Principle #1, and to make sure that scholars are learning what they need to advance academically, IDEA created an attendance incentive in January. Students whose attendance meets or exceeds 93% each month earn rewards such as dress down days, ice cream, and more. Daily attendance leads to academic success -- especially for freshmen!

PSAT/SAT Advancement

We are proud to report that IDEA scholars have blown away the SAT-proficency goals set by school leadership! Currently 52% of our seniors have scored proficient on the SAT and we continue to work with all our students to help them improve their scores. Our partnership with Transcend Academy, which provides intensive SAT preparation instruction, combined with the support of our teachers, has made these gains possible.

This year our 10th graders will take the PSAT and 11th graders will take the SAT on March 1. Reviewing these scores later this spring will enable our team to plan for summer enrichment opportunities, such as offering SAT preparation as summer youth employment for students.

Saturday Academy

In preparation for the PARCC assessment, which begins on May 9, IDEA opened this year's Saturday Academy on February 4. The Saturday Academy is for all students enrolled in geometry and English II, and runs for 10 Saturdays. Students who attend receive breakfast from Chick-Fil-A and other popular restaurants, as well as snacks.

Guided by classroom assessments that indicate areas for growth, students work receive tailored instruction and use customized software to study geometry for 75 minutes and English for 75 minutes. Ms. Simonsen, Ms. Thompson, Mr. Miles, Ms. McCrae, and I are teaching Saturday Academy, supported by volunteers from the Peace Fellowship Church.

We are committed to guiding our scholars along the path to success. If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch with me.

Sincerely,

Lanette Bacchus
Principal


Four IDEA Scholars Will Participate in Holocaust Museum Education and Training Program

Four IDEA scholars were accepted into the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Bringing the Lessons Home Program, which equips students to bring the lessons of the Holocaust to their family, friends, and community. Richard Boller, Kyeon Ford, Gerlethia Rich, and Daesha Smith will participate in a 14-week training course, during which they will attend class every Saturday, become trained tour guides for the Museum's permanent exhibition, earn up to 40 hours of community-service credit, and become eligible to participate in the Stephen Tyrone Johns Summer Youth Leadership Program. Congratulations Richard, Kyeon, Gerlethia, and Daesha!



Alumni Spotlight:
Asia Leath

She wrote a novel while still in high school and was valedictorian of the class of 2014, but Asia Leath stumbled a bit when she got to college. "It's been rough the whole way," Leath said. "My first semester I didn't do my best. It was a hard transition from high school to college, but I finally got it together and I've been working my way back."
 
Now, halfway through her junior year at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Leath has brought her GPA up to 3.84 and hopes to eventually graduate magna cum laude. Majoring in communication studies and minoring in business, Leath is determined to succeed despite her initial setbacks. "It was hard having to be responsible for myself, stay focused, handle my own finances, and discover what I wanted. But I like that I've developed more independence."
 
In addition to taking tough classes, Leath volunteered last semester at Greensboro Urban Ministry, helping in the food pantry, and worked as an intern last summer for Accenture in its federal services department. "That was a really good experience," she recalled. Her project involved working to help private sector companies answer President Obama's call to action to aid refugees. "I had to do a lot of research on private sector companies and nongovernmental organizations to see how they could work together." Leath found that she enjoyed the thought-provoking, unpredictable nature of the work. "There were a lot of challenges and work I didn't think I could do, but I did it. It was never boring, always interesting." She recently received an offer to return to Accenture this summer for another internship, which could possibly lead to a full-time job offer after graduation.
 
"Coming from at one point not wanting to go to college to having career goals," Leath reflected, "I like how I've grown since high school. People at IDEA always told me I could do it. They were always behind me and pushed me to do better. Having all those people to support you emotionally keeps you in a good place. That's how I handled all those challenges when I started college."
 
Between now and graduation, Leath aspires to remain on the Chancellor's List, join the communications honor society, and get her first book published. She's writing the sequel now. She said she hasn't planned out the whole book yet but just writes as she's inspired. As her characters' stories unfold, so does Asia Leath's. 



English Students Read August Wilson's Pulitzer-Prize Winning Play  Fences  in Class, then See the Movie 

Tenth-grade English teacher Natalie Hinds took her scholars to see the film adaptation of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Fences on February 7, after they had read the play in class.

"Many of the students found a connection to the son, Cory, in the movie, because they shared similarities in their pursuit of sports and the condemning of this passion from their parents," Hinds said.

According to Ayana Mason, "Cory was the one I connected with because I understand how he really wanted his father to like and love him and not put fear in him."

"The character that I connected with the most was Cory," said Mekhi McKinney, "because Cory was an adolescent just like myself and he pushes for success. He always wanted the best for himself."

"My overall impression of the movie was great," said Chloe McLean. "The actors did a good job and their stories connected and made sense, and the movie related to real-life issues."

Hinds assigned scholars the task of writing a reflection on their personal values, based on the examination of the characters' values in Fences. She also asked scholars to create their own fences to adorn the 10th-grade hallway. Each picket on a fence expresses a scholar's core values. 

Scholars Learn Life-Saving CPR Skills

Throughout February all IDEA scholars will participate in hands-on CPR and first aid training. Freshmen were the first to take the training, earning CPR certifications that demonstrate their ability to perform life-saving resuscitation techniques in case of an emergency. 



Construction Students Create Picnic Tables

ACAD scholars put finishing touches on picnic tables to sell to the community. Interested in buying a table? Contact Ms. Karriem at acad@ideapcs.org



Black Professionals Day Introduces Scholars to Diverse Careers

More than two dozen professionals joined the IDEA community to talk about their careers with scholars on February 3 for our annual Black Professionals Day. Seniors and juniors wore professional attire while attending the speakers' presentations to practice real-world interviewing skills. The volunteers who shared their experiences and advice with scholars included a  chef, s cientist, c orporate security specialist, s alon owner, a ttorney, p hotographer, and  executive assistant, among other vocations. 




Scholars Learn Formal Dining Etiquette and Dress 

Recently IDEA scholars were given the opportunity to "dress for success" and have a special lunch that included instruction in formal dining etiquette. This luncheon is part of an ongoing effort to highlight character development and exposure to real-life situations that students will encounter outside of and following high school. Faculty members set up the formal lunch three times to accommodate the entire student body during three lunch periods. 


10th Grade Scholars Excel in Guiding Principle Points

Congratulations to Kyeon Ford, Samya Ellerbe, David Flores, Tonya Bell, and Michael Artemus, honored at our second quarter awards assembly for being the top five earners of IDEA's Five Guiding Principle points since the beginning of the school year. These students serve as role models for their peers and have been recognized for their hard work and excellent attitudes. 

The 10th grade team is in the lead to win an end of the year trip for uphold the building Five Guiding Principles as a grade level. Sophomore scholars have received the most positive referrals of all grade levels since the beginning of the school year.