Endeavor Happenings

Join us to celebrate our students' best projects from the year. Thursday, May 23, 6-8 pm

• Last day to present new projects for this school year- May 16
• Last day for credit for this school year- May 31
• Last day in Endeavor!- June 4
• Graduation- June 8
• Back to School Day- August 26, 8-11 am

The outdoor classroom is growing--literally! The spring bulbs are in full bloom and students planted bushes and other perennials last week for Earth Day. We are seeking donations for the final touch, the sign. A sign design was created by our students and we are currently investigating options for sign creation. If you would like to help with this project, or know someone who would, please contact Mrs. Mueller for more information.

Darryl Carlson, district director for Congressman Scott Fitzgerald, visited us in April to discuss his position working with the Congressman and helping constituents in the Congressman's district. He shared about his career path including his military service, education, and his work in a variety of different public service positions.

As part of our Earth Day Teach-ins, we welcomed Tia Nelson, the daughter of Earth Day’s founder, Gaylord Nelson. She talked to the students about her life, growing up as Gaylord Nelson’s daughter, and how it has affected her life. She shared information about her life's work as an environmentalist.

Our third trimester field trip was a visit to UW- Milwaukee. We met current UW-Milwaukee students and talked to them about college life. Then, we got to take a full tour of their campus. Afterwards, we visited the planetarium for a presentation on the universe and an introduction to the current night sky.

Endeavor students have been growing in their 21st Century Skills in Endeavor Hour.

Mondays- Town Hall Meeting and Earth Day Teach In

Tuesdays- Community Contributions Group Projects

Wednesdays- Advisory meeting

Thursdays- Presentations and giving feedback

Fridays- Team building and goal setting and reflection journals

During the month of April, Endeavor students participated in teach-ins about Earth Day. Each Endeavor advisor taught a different session related to the theme. Then, Endeavor students spent Endeavor hour on Earth Day picking up garbage and doing gardening and planting in the Endeavor outdoor classroom.

Our Endeavor leadership team has been working hard on Mondays during ELT. One of their priorities for this trimester is working on activities to help students learn how to respect diversity of thought. We have a large diverse community in Endeavor and we want to make sure everyone feels like they have a place here. Leadership team has also been working on making a student-helper survey to help students get the help they need even when advisors are busy. This survey will allow Endeavor students to nominate themselves to help in the areas they are good at whether it's the project process or the technology we have.

Community contributions projects provide Endeavor students the opportunity to take a leadership role in our school. This trimester, we have nine different project teams.

• Banner Business: Help Endeavor run a small business selling banners

• 8th Grade Recruitment: Plan and execute activities to help 8th graders turn in their applications to Endeavor

• Mentoring: Prepare for new students to join Endeavor by pairing them with a peer mentoring and designing activities for the teams to do together.

• Back to School Day: Plan, invite and execute next year's Back to School Day.

• Publishing Team: Run Endeavor’s social media and create newsletters (That's us!)

• Boot Camp Team: Create activities to help new Endeavor students learn how to do Project Based Learning

• Gallery Night Planning: Organize, plan and run Gallery Night.

• End of the Year Video: Create and produce an end of the year highlight video.

• Website Updates: Collect information and photos to keep the Endeavor website current.

Seminars are opportunities for students to be able to earn credit in a teacher-directed or student-directed environment! They usually last 2-3 weeks depending on the topic and the advisor. Recent and upcoming seminars include:

• Mr. Peabody and The Magic Tree House Do The Twist - Mrs. Mueller

• Refugee, a novel by Alan Gratz - Mrs. Oswald

• Music and Social Justice Movements - Mr. Martin

• Giving Nye a Try - Mr. Harms

• Learning and Conditioning - Andy Schueler

• World Drumming- Mr. Martin

• Ancestry at the Genealogical Society - Mrs. Oswald

• CPR training - Mrs. Roche

Students who are taking Digital Learning classes in Endeavor must be done with those courses by the end of the trimester. Each course has a pacing guide for the student to know where they should be in the course on any given day.

Students doing ALEKS math in Endeavor should be about 80% of the way done with the course. The course should be at 85% completion by the last day for credit on May 31.

Endeavor is now accepting applications for the 2024-25 school year. Word of mouth is our best advertising and you are our best ambassadors. Know someone who might be interested in taking control of their own learning? Applications can be found at https://www.endeavorcharterschool.org.

Students in Endeavor this year do not need to reapply.

Students in Endeavor can learn valuable entrepreneurship skills by working for our very own banner printing company. Students take orders, create invoices, design and print banners, and deliver them to the customers in the Watertown School District.

While Endeavor is a largely project-based learning environment, there is much more to be done in order to learn. Here are all the ways a student can earn credit in Endeavor:

1. Doing projects in Endeavor

2. Doing seminars in Endeavor

3. Doing online coursework in Endeavor

4. Taking courses in Watertown High School

Each student in Endeavor creates their own Personalized Learning Plan. The plan guides and records their growth and learning over their four years of high school. Each trimester, students have additional artifacts to create and add to their PLP. This digital portfolio can then be reflected on and shared. Students will be presenting their PLPs in the final days of school before summer.