Bison News

Hello and Hola to our Sunset P-TECH Family, Partners and Community!

As we near the close of Year 2020, I believe we can all say that it has been a life-changing year filled with challenges and celebrations. I want to personally THANK ALL OF YOU for the continued and unwavering commitment that you have given to the Students, Staff and Parents that make up our great school. In light of some of the challenges, you have helped our students and staff push through, day by day, while developing a greater sense of GRIT and PERSERVERANCE. For me personally and professionally, this year has taught me the importance of PRIORITY and I want to thank all of you for being a priority to me and making Sunset P-TECH a priority in your lives. Have a blessed and safe holiday season and we'll see you on the other side of Year 2021.

Spencer

We are in recruitment season and it is time to find our next great cohort to add to the Sunset P-TECH family. Recruitment we have always worked as a team to recruit at local school events. Our Recruitment Team is not just our leadership Team but it also consists of teachers, our clerk, and students. Our students are always excited to assist us during this time. We usually cover a lot of ground during this time but needless to say, this year has been a little challenging and we have had to be creative and think outside the box. We have hosted and attended many Virtual High School recruitment events. We also had our students create a new recruitment video to help reach families.

The Workplace Learning Coordinator has joined forces with UNT Dallas to ensure our seniors are still receiving workplace learning engagements. Our UNT Dallas seniors are participating in classes, tutorials, workshops from 8:30 am-4:00 pm, Monday -Friday. Each week they have College Success Hour where they learn of resources, tips, and tricks on being a better student and preparing for the future. The week of December the 8th, Sunset P-TECH seniors participated in one of two engagements based on their career pathway. We had Dr. Sanders from UNT Dallas present information on the next steps in choosing a career in Public Health. It was a great discussion that the students were given the opportunity to ask questions about Public Health. We also had a presentation from Zinab Munoz, Texas Tech Institutional Partnership Liasion. She provided information about the Texas Tech Teaching Program, scholarships, and how they are able to travel abroad. We want our students to have exposure to all of their possibilities.

Our program has always been fortunate to receive various donations and gifts from anonymous donors. Since the beginning of our program, we have had the pleasure of exposing students to first-class treatment at concerts and Maverick's courtside seats. This year has, of course, been a challenge due to COVID. We can not take students to outings so our donors wanted to still give to chosen students. Four students were awarded $125 Dallas Cowboy gift cards. The gift cards can be used online or at any Dallas Cowboys ProShop.

We want our students to experience workplace learning in a number of ways. Through our program students have the opportunity to experience guest speakers, workplace tours, mentorship, networking opportunities, and workplace challenges. A workplace challenge is a Career Preparation activity where small groups of students are engaged in solving a problem or a challenge issued by a P-TECH employer or Industry Partner. A small group of Public Health students was challenged to create a message for their community on staying safe during the pandemic. We first discussed the project in our November newsletter. The students had to complete the project over the Thanksgiving Break and turn in their final product on December 2nd. We wanted to take a moment to highlight their final product.

This is our first year with Seniors and we can not be more proud of the way they are handling taking college classes 100% online. Our students take college courses from Dallas College at Mountain View their beginning in their freshman year to their junior year. Our juniors usually take all their college courses on A days at Dallas College at Mountain View. Imagine the disappointment of learning they would not attend Mountain View nor the grand prize of attending UNT Dallas. But we are so proud of how they have handled the entire experience. So we wanted to keep their spirits up and show them how proud we were of their "Grit" through the entire experience. On December 16, we invited all to our first Senior Drive-Thru to pick up some swag that was given to them by Sunset P-TECH, the P-TECH teachers, Children's Health, and UNT Dallas. We would like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to the Sunset Band, P-TECH parents for supporting this effort.

Sunset P-TECH's mission is to provide students with a rigorous, 21st-century education by enabling them to obtain a high school diploma and an associate degree in an accelerated Early College High School program. Sunset P-TECH seeks to raise the quality and standard of secondary education through college and industry partnerships, as well as life-changing service-learning projects. We believe this platform will ensure our students' future success, and propel them to succeed in college and beyond.

Email: mapalomares@dallasisd.org
Website: https://www.dallasisd.org/domain/16978
Location: 2120 West Jefferson Boulevard, Dallas, TX, USA
Phone: 972-502-1612
Twitter: @SunsetCA17