EXCEL Celebrates First Year

Excel Commemorates First Year at Showcase Celebration

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EXCEL celebrated a successful first year launch at a student-led Showcase Celebration in April hosted by the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce. John Burgess, Co-Founder and President of Mainstream Technologies, relayed to the standing room only audience the journey the district has taken from a beginning concept to a realized vision. Students from each strand presented projects and internship experiences. Excel honored partners who have championed Excel, bus drivers for their outstanding service, and star students for their outstanding work and performance. Excel also announced a new partnership with United Way.

Excel students, instructors, and administrators pose with United Way representatives after signing an agreement that partners United Way with Excel Medical to help fund the student mentoring project at Brady Elementary.

Medical Students' Project Leads to Partnership with United Way

Excel Medical students identified a need at Brady Elementary and implemented a solution created by the Excel Medical students: a mentoring program to help elementary students learn and practice healthy habits and transition successfully to middle school. Partnered with students from Brady Elementary, Excel Medical students designed and led healthy lifestyles workshops on such topics as hygiene, healthy relationships, and bullying. The project gained the attention of United Way, which has agreed to partner with Excel to donate hygiene kits and meet other student needs.

Tech Associates Hope to Inspire Coding Interest in Young Students

Inspired by the need to build an interest in coding at a young age, EXCEL Technology associates launched a service project during April, working with 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students at Stephens Elementary teaching after-school students coding fundamentals via a web-based tool called CodeCombat. The Technology associates collaborated with the Teacher Cadets to gain insight on keeping students engaged and to plan engaging coding activities. Blake O'Rand, a junior in Excel Technology, says Steve Jobs claimed, ”everyone should be able to know how to program a computer because it teaches you how to think.”

Work Hard, Play Hard: Excel Students Experience Day of Service and Fun

Students from all Excel strands came together to give back to the community and to celebrate a successful year. Students spent the morning volunteering at Goodwill, helping disassemble donated items that will be reused or recycled. Volunteering at Goodwill exemplifies a key principle of the Excel program: a sense of responsibility to give back to one's community. Following their morning of work, students took time in the afternoon to celebrate and play, enjoying extreme sports at Third Realm and an ice cream social.

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What's Your EXCEL Story?

I’ve always wanted to be a teacher but didn’t know what grade I wanted to teach. Excel helped me decide that. The field experience is amazing because I get to put myself in the teacher’s shoes. In the first semester, Teacher Cadets shadowed at different schools to explore teaching at different grade levels and subjects...as soon as I walked into my 6 th grade classroom at Pulaski Heights, I knew that’s where I wanted to be—teaching math to middle school students.