Shout-outs:

• To Jamahri Gaines, who has joined us as our Points-of-Light member, supporting in classrooms and managing laptops
• To Ms. Kaney, who celebrates her birthday on Monday, October 3rd
• To Mr. Richardson, who celebrates his birthday on October 6th
• To Ms. Deiters and the Ninth Grade Team for their Community Forum, particularly the transition to student facilitators and the tie-tying contest
• To Ms. Jackson for all her hard work with the Seniors
• To Coach Tracy and the Athletic Booster Club on the success of our first ever Athletic Senior Night!
• To the CCR Team, Ms. Nguyen and Ms. Schaffer for facilitating the College and Work Readiness Assessment (CWRA) for freshmen
• To Ms. Jackson, and her advisees, Nazeer Ferguson and Kamara West, who led the joint advisory lesson this week in her absence
• To Ms. Murray, whose FBLA students are off and running with fundraising ideas
• To Ms. Ulbrich, whose DIY club members will have a presence at the Fall Festival
• To Ms. White, whose engineering students will be selling cornhole boards and Little Free Library kits at the Decatur Maker Faire
• To Ms. Hood, for setting up a mock crime scene for Forensic Science this week

Calendar:

• Saturday, October 1st
  • 10:00-5:00 – Decatur Maker Faire [Downtown Decatur and Decatur HS]
  • 11:00-4:00 – PTA Fall Festival [Upper Campus]
  • 12:00 – Blackboard will be down for maintenance for 1-3 hours.
• Sunday, October 2nd
  • 12:00-5:00 – Decatur Maker Faire [Downtown Decatur and Decatur HS]
• Monday, October 3rd – A-Day
  • Flex Time – Clubs
• Tuesday, October 4th – B-Day
  • Flex Time – Extended Learning
• Wednesday, October 5th – A-Day
  • 7:00-8:00 – PTA Safe Walk to School Day
  • Flex Time – Advisory
• Thursday, October 6th – B-Day
  • Flex Time – Extended Learning
• Friday, October 7th – Fall Break [No School]

Upcoming Events:

• Monday, 10/11 – Fall Break [No School]
• Tuesday, 10/11 – Professional Learning and Planning Day [No School]
  • 6:00 pm – Board of Directors Meeting
• Wednesday, 10/12, 4:30 – Cross Country Meet/Senior Night [Grant Park]
• Thursday, 10/13
  • 8:00 to 11:00 – Practice ACT for all 11th graders.
  • 4:00-6:00 – Quarter 1 PBL Showcase [All students are presenting]
• Saturday, 10/15, 6:00 pm – Dance be-CAUSE Concert
• October 17-21st – Senior Week
• Tuesday, 10/18, 4:30-5:30 – Senior Academy Principal’s Coffee
• Wednesday, 10/19
  • 8:00-11:00 – 10/11th Grade PSAT Administration
  • 6:00 pm – Junior College Planning Night
• Thursday, 10/20, 8:00-11:00 – 8/9th Grade PSAT Administration [More information about the cost of this test is available here]
• Friday, 10/21 – Senior Breakfast [Cafeteria]
• Thursday, 10/27, 2:00-7:00 pm – SOARING Visual Arts Exhibition [Flyer available here]
• Friday, 10/28 – STEAM Career Day and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Career Workshops
• 10/28-10/29 – District V Honor Chorus
• Saturday, May 20th – Graduation

Announcements:

1. PBL Showcase – On Thursday, October 13^th, we will host our first PBL Showcase for the year from 4:00-6:00 pm.  All students will be selecting a project to present and so we encourage parents and community members to come see the variety of projects students have been working on.  As part of the showcase, we will be conducting a raffle for students and parents who have circulated throughout the showcase.  We are currently soliciting donations for this raffle.  If you have something that you would like to donate, please contact our Director of PBL, Donya Kemp at donya.kemp@drewcharterschool.org.
2. Links – Rather than including the same links with every blog post, I have now created a page dedicated to links to Drew and Drew partner websites.  You should see a link to this page at the top of the blog.
3. Dues – Below is information for student dues.  These funds help pay for programs like Midnight Madness, Prom and Senior Week that we cannot pay for out of school funds.
   • Freshman
     1. $30
     2. Due (cash or money order) September 16^th to Ms. Deiters in room A202
     3. There is a $5 late fee after September 16^th
     4. Includes: Freshman T-Shirt, SGA Day of Play, Midnight Madness and other ninth grade activities
   • Sophomore
     1. $35
     2. Flyer
   • Junior
     1. $200
     2. Dues Payment Schedule
     3. Frequently Asked Questions
   • Senior
     1. $225
     2. Include cap and gowns, diploma cover, Visions of the Future (including awards and decorations), senior breakfast, senior picnic, senior lunch jam, senior Sunday bar, senior t-shirt, class picture, and other activities.
4. PTA Membership – Please take a moment to join the Drew PTA.  Dues are $10 and they work tirelessly to provide a wide variety of programming to support our students and staff. You can join online via this link.