KAMSC Newsletter

In the month of February the KAMSC staff are hyperfocused on two challenge success topics. One is sleep and the other is student engagement in the classroom. Last week I wrote about the importance of sleep and kicking off our sleep campaign. This week I will share more about engagement.

Yesterday, at KAMSC we hosted several educators from around the county to walk through our classrooms and give us feedback around this question: How might we ensure reported agentic engagement is higher for all students interacting with every adult at KAMSC?

Our Challenge Success data from last spring helped the staff to create this question or problem of practice to work on. Agentic Engagement can also be thought of as student self-efficacy or students' initiatives and actions that they take that contribute to learning and teaching. For example, students are asked, "How often do you ask questions to help you learn in class?" when in class. KAMSC took this back even a little further in the fall and first asked the question how do we create a classroom atmosphere that allows kids to feel empowered and safe to ask questions to help them learn in class. So, we asked this outside group of educators to spend time at KAMSC and walk through our halls and classrooms to give us feedback on how we are doing with that. Also they will provide our staff with some "next steps" per their opinions and experiences. Our staff will then take those next steps offered to us, digest them, and decide how we might use them. This is one way we are trying to "live" our challenge success work. To gain feedback is one of the most powerful ways to do that. You can see a picture from that experience below.

Lizzie Holmes and Sam Miller, who both serve on our Challenge Success leadership team, helped create a bulletin board with statistics about sleep. They used a Zombie theme to convey their message. Thank you Lizzie and Sam!

We have set paper clouds on the table outside the office. If students feel moved to participate we ask that they set a sleep goal for themselves next week that they try out Monday - Wednesday nights. On Thursday, we will put stickers out, if they accomplish their goal, they can add the sticker to their cloud to indicate that. Students could make their cloud today (Fri) or Monday next week and then tape it to the bank of lockers that start just past Mr. Houtrouw’s room. We hope that they are continuing to think about the benefits of sleep as we continue on through the sleep campaign but also throughout the year.

Congrats to KAMSC's Jason Shaye and Aryaman Mishra on this great achievement. Aryaman and Jason created an App using novel deep learning (AI) to detect skin cancer. Here is a link to a write up about the award and the work of these students.

Kemmel Palmer is a licensed professional counselor & licensed psychologist in the State of Michigan where he currently serves as a Mental Health Facilitator at Phoenix High School and Milwood Magnet School. He is also a graduate student at Western Michigan University working towards his doctorate in Counseling Psychology. Mr. Palmer talked to students today about why it is important that we have positive interactions with each other to build a positive culture at KAMSC. He also shared very specific examples of things we may say or do that may make people feel uncomfortable or even hurt and gave tools to think of ways we can positively connect with one another. 10th-12th grade students heard from Mr. Palmer today and 9th grade students on Monday.

Dr. Gorman, an orthopedic surgeon and Ms. Ballentine a medical student came to open lab on Wednesdays and shared their stories in the medical profession and journey towards that. It was a great opportunity for KAMSC students.

Mr. Alshehri extended a personal invite to upperclassmen who have expressed interest in engineering to attend this dinner at WMU with him. At their table were three engineers that students could talk to and ask questions. The keynote speech was about Artificial Intelligence. See the KAMSC group photo below.

Are you starting to plan your summer for 2025? It's never too early to think about all the things your child may want to do or experience. Mrs. Joyce has put together a beautiful lists of options in case you are looking for opportunities such as these. Click the button below.

If you or someone you know are looking for ways to give, then look no further. We are beginning to raise funds for Sizzlin Summer Science Camp 2025. Your donation will go towards the program as a whole with costs that include materials, staffing and reduced costs for families in need.

We have received some very positive feedback from students and families on the virtual study table that was provided for students needing just a little extra support. We also know that it frustrated a few. Please know, we are taking in all of the feedback and weighing it and discussing it. The MTSS structure is in place to help provide extra support as early as possible. We aim to be as supportive in the learning process as possible and to make students aware of support that we offer. We hope that the system forms a great check-in process with their teachers and gets students support if they are in need. To review the structure, click the button below.

We are excited to announce that the KAMSC has now become certified to hand out the Presidential Volunteer Service Award (PVSA)! Thanks to the hard work of our Student Senate students for researching the program and bringing it my attention.

This award is an opportunity for all students at KAMSC to be recognized for volunteering within their communities

KAMSC plans to give out these awards, which includes a medallion, during Project Day Awards Night, after submitting the applications to the government in early-April. The PVSA is also amazing for students who want to build an application for college, or want one award to recognize all of their various volunteer engagements.

Every student is welcome to sign up to the Google Classroom, which will house each individual’s Google Sheets to keep track of their volunteer events and hours. - The Google Classroom where you will log your hours and provide your evidence is up and running and the code for that is: 2sonss5

Further information about the PVSA is available at their website: https://presidentialserviceawards.gov/

If your student is going to be absent from school you must notify both your partner school and KAMSC (if they are gone all day) and always KAMSC if they are gone during their KAMSC classes. Please remember that attendance is vital as the content moves fast and we want students to have as much of their classroom experience as possible. To notify KAMSC call (337-0004) or email kamsc.office@kamsc.org.

If you are dropping off or picking up your student at KAMSC, please do so at the Vine Street entrance. Please find a safe place to pull over and then have you student proceed to the Vine street entrance. If students are driving themselves:

1. They need to acquire a parking pass from the KAMSC office - please fill this out

2. They need to park by the El Sol playground off of Dutton Street (but then walk to Vine street entrance)

3. They should be reminded to not keep anything valuable in their car and to keep their cars locked at all times.

4. The building will have a campus security officer at the Vine Street entrance during times of arrivals and dismissals.

KAMSC follows the KPS code of conduct for student discipline. Please be advised of it, it is linked here. Specific behaviors we would love your help with talking with your child about at home are:

• Academic Integrity
• Bullying
• Name calling/inappropriate language

Thur. Feb 27 - All course request forms are due

Fri. Feb. 28 - No School for Students - Teacher Professional Development Day

March 3-7 Spirit Week at KAMSC

March 8 Class clash and Dance