I hope this newsletter finds you all well. I know many of you had some exciting travel plans, some spent time with family and friends, while others spent the summer working or interning. Hopefully, you all had a chance to rest and relax.

We have been working this summer preparing for the upcoming school year. I'm excited to begin this school year as the Headmaster of this wonderful program.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Shepard

All ACES students must have 3 ACES approved courses including a math, science, and elective. It is the student's responsibility to make sure they are in the appropriate courses.

• Students must contact their counselor to make necessary schedule changes prior to the first day of school.
• Students with questions should speak with Mrs. Shepard.

Any Exploration Credits or Community Service Hours completed over the summer must be submitted by the end of the school day on August 30, 2024. Please see Canvas or the ACES website for the directions for each activity.

Any Exploration Credits or Community Service Hours completed during the school year (August 14, 2024, through May 23, 2024) must be submitted within TWO weeks of the activity date. See Canvas or our ACES website for the directions.

Every year each ACES student must commit to a Research & Problems Co-curricular activity. Past opportunities included Science Fair, Robotics, Math UIL, Computer Science Club, E-Sports, Biotech, HOSA and Science Bowl to name some. We are working on adding additional opportunities for our students. Students must submit their Research and Problems activity in September. The declaration process has changed. More information will be provided the first few weeks of school.

Attention Seniors - Internship Documentation and Presentations are due October 28, 2024. Presentations will be uploaded in Canvas.

*This is a requirement to complete the ACES program.

ACES will host an internship night for students that have completed their internship to display their presentation. This will provide an opportunity for these students to share their experiences with younger grades as they prepare to embark on the Internship journey.

Tentative Date - November 6, 2024

Participating Students (presenters and audience members) will receive Community Service and/or Exploration Credit.

ACES students are encouraged to wear an ACES shirt the first school day Monday of each month to show our spirit and pride in the program. September 9, 2024, will be our first ACES Spirit day.

CISD has created an ACES Canvas course. All ACES students will have access to the 2024-2025 course. Students will not be loaded into the new version until the first day of school. Parents have access through the CISD Parent Portal to view their student's courses. Students will want to make sure they receive notifications for Canvas. Parents can also set notifications for Canvas. This platform will be used to post upcoming opportunities for things such as community service, exploration credit opportunities like Distinguished Lecture Series and Distinguished Speaker Series, and other opportunities. In addition, the announcement feature will be used to communicate important information. This allows students to receive the message directly along with parents.

Directions on setting up notifications for Canvas can be found at this link.

Note: I choose to receive one notification summary a day so that I am not bombarded with emails. You can also choose to have weekly updates or none at all.

We enjoyed a great day of team building on July 23, 2024 at Main Event. Students had the opportunity to meet our ACES faculty and staff along with Mr. Almond (Oak Ridge HS Principal), Dr. Lucas (9th Grade Assistant Principal), Ms. Perry (9th Grade Counselor) and Ms. Williams (Main Campus Counselor). Our incoming freshmen were able to make new friends and visit with existing friends.

Many ACES classes suggest that students have a graphing calculator however it is NOT required. We have calculators available for use in the classrooms that use them.

AP Physics 1 - Graph Paper

SRD - Flash Drive

ACES Website

Oak Ridge High School Website

Oak Ridge 9th Grade Campus Website