Trailblazer Newsletter

SENIORS: Scholastic Images will be on campus THIS MONDAY, 3/20 during lunch, so don’t miss out placing your orders for:

• Seniors, make sure to order your cap & gown package ASAP! (see attached flyer)

• Payment required in full at time of order. (Cash, Check, or Card with $4.95 processing fee)

• Letter Jacket Orders for any student who has earned a letter! (see attached image)

• For seniors, letter jackets must be paid in full at the order table (cash, check, card) and bring proof that you earned your letter (actual award letter or certificate).
• We’ll custom size you and walk you through the rest!

You can also order anytime online at www.scholasticimages.com or over the phone at (770) 614-9353! We can’t wait to see you!

9th-11th Grade: Scholastic Images will be on campus THIS MONDAY, 3/20 during lunch, so don’t miss out ordering your Letter Jacket if you have earned a letter!

Just bring a $100 deposit along with proof that you earned your letter (actual award letter or certificate) and we’ll custom size you and walk you through the rest!

You can also order anytime online at www.scholasticimages.com or over the phone at (770) 614-9353! We can’t wait to see you!

Paul Duke's Prom Drive is back and accepting donations! There are a few ways our Paul Duke parents can help! You can donate all types of prom attire to the main office at Paul Duke. This can include dresses (long and short), tuxedos (blazers, button-ups, dress pants), shoes (flats, heels, dress shoes), and accessories (bow ties, ties, earrings, necklaces). We are also accepting donations at https://www.mypaymentsplus.com/welcome This money will be used to buy as many dresses, suits, and accessories as possible to add to our Prom Dress Closet!

Thank you so much for your support in making our Prom event a success for each and every kid at Paul Duke STEM!
~PDS Student Leadership Team

As the weather gets warmer, the request for deodorant has increased. Please consider donating a few items to the Care Team. We place hygiene items in the female restroom and outside of the Counseling Office for students to take. Another frequently asked for item is toothpaste. We have updated our Amazon wish list to reflect the need.

Don't forget to change the address to Paul Duke when ordering!

Care Team Wish List

Thursday, March 23, 2023

5:30-6:30 PM

All Families Invited to Attend

https://gcpsk12-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUlf-GgrzIpEtEPy2iMTRpHlh1bDzJe3crE

This week is School Social Work Week!

Social workers support teaching and learning to help ensure that #EachAndEvery student remains in school, graduates, reaches their fullest academic potential, and grows socially and emotionally.

#SocialWorkBreaksBarriers that affect students' academic achievement. Thank you to all of our social workers for your commitment to excellence, empathy, and equity in education!

Have you cleaned out your closet lately? Those shoes that have been sitting there unworn, actually have value! The PDS Mentors are collecting gently worn, used and new shoes and we need your help. We’re looking for all types of shoes: sneakers, boots, dress shoes, sandals, athletic and casual shoes. We want them all!

We are excited to announce we will be offering summer school for our students at Paul Duke this summer! We will offer morning and afternoon sessions.

The dates will be Monday, June 12th – Thursday, July 6th. Morning sessions will be offered from 7:00am-11:00am and afternoon sessions will be offered 11:30am-3:30pm.

Please stay tuned for more information on how to register your student for summer school courses at Paul Duke this summer!

If you have any questions, please email Ashley Worley (ashley.worley@gcpsk12.org).

*Transportation will not be provided*

Paul Duke STEM is selling yard signs to celebrate the Class of 2023's upcoming graduation! Signs can be purchased for $25 on MyPaymentPlus through 4/22. Be sure to order before the deadline as we will only be placing ONE order.

Paul Duke STEM CLASS OF 2023! We cannot believe how quickly the year has gone by and before you know it, you will be walking across the stage at graduation! Make sure everyone knows how hard you have worked to achieve one of the best moments of your life and announce your graduation with class. Check out the attached digital flyer to see your Paul Duke STEM packages! You can use the QR code to get to the ordering site or below is the direct link to order your Official Paul Duke STEM Graduation Announcements, so don’t wait.

Graduation Product by Herff Jones

Not only will your announcements have your official school crest, but they will also be personalized with your name in the text just like collegiate announcements. We also created packages to make ordering even easier, but you can always add more to them, so no one is left out. Orders will begin to ship directly to your house, and you will receive tracking information once the order ships out.

We are so proud of you and honored to celebrate this milestone with you!

The first deadline for senior dues payment is January 1st. These dues are required for graduation and cover the cost of caps & gowns, the ceremony and other senior related activities. If paid by January 1st your student will also receive a Paul Duke STEM Senior t-shirt. Dues can be paid at scholasticimages.com.

Please reach out to Ms. Laura Elizabeth Martin with any questions you may have.

CLASS OF 2023! We cannot believe how quickly the year has gone by and before you know it, you will be walking across the stage at graduation! Make sure everyone knows how hard you have worked to achieve one of the best moments of your life and announce your graduation with class. Below is the direct link to order you Official Paul Duke STEM Graduation Announcements, so don’t wait.

https://tinyurl.com/PDSAnn23

Not only will your announcements have your official school crest, but they will also be personalized with your name in the text just like collegiate announcements. We also created packages to make ordering even easier, but you can always add more to them, so no one is left out. Orders will begin to ship directly to your house, and you will receive tracking information once the order ships out. You can also go to www.3rdascent.com, select your school, and then click on Announcements!

We are so proud of you and honored to celebrate this milestone with you!

Thank you,

Your Herff Jones Team

Sean Smith, Rebecca Vinke, Carlos Castillo, Ben Johnson, and Team

Office- (770) 594-8155

www.3rdascent.com

410 Winkler Dr suite b

Alpharetta, GA 30004

On Tuesday of this week, our Marketing Program earned CTAE Industry Certification. Over the last year, Lauren O'Connor, Ashley Wright, and Bradley Dial have worked continuously to meet these certification standards. The vast majority of marketing programs in GCPS and Georgia are not certified, so please know this is a HUGE deal.

Tuesday, the team hosted guests from the GADOE, American Marketing Association, district office, and a fellow Gwinnett high school for an Industry Certification visit, which resulted in The American Marketing Association officially certifing our school's Marketing program, recognizing us as an exemplary program in the state. This process began in April of 2022. The process also provided a $10,000 grant for equipment and supplies

Industry Certification works much like the STEM certification in that teachers and students showcase how our program meets and exceeds industry standards. The students listed below all played a part of the presentation and did an amazing job displaying their presentation skills and passion for the program.

Baylor Brown

William Baum

Ayden Darwish

Richard Pham

Sherlyn Rajxac

Jimena Garcia

Dayanara Ramirez

Mihir Pai

Tristan Kim

Rohan Pai

Aglaia Jarrin

Rohan and William from Paul Duke STEM competed at the Georgia Tech Inventure Prize competition which involves coming up with a new idea with the goal to possibly make it become a reality. The competition had over 3000 entries and three rounds of competition including online and regional judging. Today was the State round where Rohan and William placed 2nd for High School Level with their Door Bully project! Congratulations to these two!

Abigail Donkor was recently accepted to Emerson College in Boston. She was awarded an $80,000 scholarship to study film and media arts

Two of Mr. Skelton's video/film students, Jaiden Clarke and Jack Goldberg have produced videos that will be featured at the GCPS Student Media Festival as Festival Favorites. A screening and awards ceremony event will be held at the ISC on Thursday, March 30 at 7:00 pm.

This past weekend, the Concert, Symphonic, and Chamber Orchestras participated in the annual Large Group Performance Evaluation. LGPE is an adjudicated performance where schools across the state are graded by 3 judges on how they perform 3 pieces, with an additional sight-reading section. Sight-reading is when students are expected to play a piece they've never seen before!

Our Concert (primarily freshman) group earned 2 Excellent and 2 Superiors!

Our Symphonic (middle level) group earned 4 Superiors! 4/4!!!

Our Chamber (top) group earned 3 Superiors and 1 Excellent! They earned a perfect score from 2 of the 3 judges!

The Georgia Department of Education has released the list of AP Honors Schools and 23 Gwinnett County public high schools made one or more of the lists. Paul Duke STEM High School was the only school in Gwinnett that made the list in all seven categories in which we are eligible while Archer, Brookwood, Dacula, Duluth, Grayson, Lanier, and Mountain View high schools made the list in six of the seven categories in which they are eligible. Kudos to our teachers and students for their amazing work!
https://www.gcpsk12.org/site/default.aspx?PageType=3...

Sasha Tarassenko is a winner of the 2023 Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra Concerto competition and one of three winners of the 2023 Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra Concerto competition. Sasha will be joining Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra 2 this summer with two other flute players for an orchestral residency in New York and NYO2’s first international tour to the Dominican Republic. She is participating in NPR's From the Top Fellowship program, attending workshops and masterclasses for musicians, and will record her interview and performance for the show this May. Sasha has been part of the band program at Paul Duke STEM High School since ninth grade.

https://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/local/gwinnett-county-student-wins-atlanta-symphony-youth-orchestra-concerto-competition/article_4e10c358-ae1f-11ed-8d4a-bf714c9a6707.html?fbclid=IwAR22H2fDJb_VoGGbibGDupY9UdTpzQ8ALwAK0ywFOCY9DIqQYRmJto64NRI

The STAR student honor is bestowed on the senior in the top 10 percent of his or her class with the highest SAT score. As part of the recognition, the STAR student selects a teacher who has had a strong influence on his/her academic career.

She was recognized as Gwinnett County Public Schools Teacher of the Year. We are all so proud of her and honored by the impact she has on each and every student she teaches. #gcpstoty2023

On Tuesday September 6th our school received the STEM certification banner from the Georgia Department of Education. Achieving Georgia DOE STEM certification, Paul Duke STEM is now.....

the LARGEST whole school STEM certified High School in Georgia
the FIRST Title I whole school STEM High School in Georgia
the FIRST majority Latino STEM High School in Georgia
the FIRST and ONLY non-criteria admission STEM High School in Georgia!

Thanks to the @gadoe_stem_steam for the support and recognition! #TeamGCPS Gwinnett Schools

The Gwinnett County Foundation Scholarship catalogue is now available. Click here to access.

If you missed the FAFSA Night event here is the PowerPoint presentation

FAFSA PowerPoint with recorded directions

Gwinnett County has purchased a wonderful college and career planner called Naviance. Counselors will be showing students all of the features in their classrooms, but as parents, you have access to explore as well. You will need to be logged into your student's Eclass page for access.

Please click on the links below for quick "how to" videos.

How to link your Common App to Naviance

Career Assessment and Exploration

Student Journey in Naviance

Student Tour and Overview

*Click the link twice in order to open*

ASVAB - Wednesday, March 15 from 7:30 - 10:30AM Location TBD - https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0C4EAAAC2DA4FDC34-asvab

Georgia Gwinnett College Instant Decision Day - Wednesday, March 29 from 10:30 - 11:37 in Media Center - https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0C4EAAAC2DA4FDC34-instant1

Applying to a college who requires supplemental writing prompts? Take a look at this website!

Supplemental Essay Guide 2022-2023. Essays are listed by college with writing tips!

Love working on cars and want to make it a career? Check out Gwinnett Tech's diploma program!

The Care Team has created a wish list to help keep our "Need One, Take One" personal care supplies stocked. It's been a tough year, and some may find themselves having to pick and choose what makes it into the grocery cart each month. We have placed a bin in one of our girl's and boy's restrooms, hoping to share items in a more discrete way.

Thank you for your support of our students!

Please, click here to view our Care Team Amazon Wish List

For only a $5 donation to the Counseling Care Team!

Form found in MYPayments Plus under School Fundraisers

A Certificate of Enrollment is required to test for both driver's permit and driver's license. Students must submit a request form to receive this document. The request forms are available in the front office. The cost for this document is $3.

If you lost your ADAP certificate, you may get a replacement from the front office. ADAP certificates can be replaced for $5.

Please note there is a 48-hour turnaround for Certificate of Enrollment and replacement ADAP certificate requests.

Eligible licensed student drivers must provide proof of insurance, a valid driver's license, and a completed parking application. Click here for an application. Additionally, students must pay $70 for their parking pass. Click here to pay through MyPaymentsPlus. Students parking without a valid parking pass will be subject to disciplinary consequences including a boot on their car.

Click here for INSTRUCTIONS FOR MINORS

Are you planning on doing some community services but don't know where to start?

Contact Ms. Dobbs in the Parent Center or email at olaya.liranzo@gcpsk12.org

We need students who:

*Love their community

*Have a passion helping others

*Bilingual preferred but not required

Communication is really important to us and we want to make sure you are up to date with PDS school communications.

In addition to verifying that your cell phone number is accurate in the system, you also will need to subscribe to the text message service if you wish to receive emergency texts from the school system. You can do so by texting the word “SUBSCRIBE” to the number 67587. You will receive an immediate response by text. If you do not, please contact your wireless provider, as some providers do not accept texts that use short code (SMS) messages. (Note: If you subscribed to receive text messages last year, there is no need to resub­scribe unless your number changed.)

SchoolMessenger messages from Gwinnett County Public Schools will come from the number 1-844-248-6644. Please add this phone number to your contacts so you can easily identify the call as coming from Gwinnett County Public Schools. If you miss a phone message, you can call this number to retrieve and replay phone notifications.
https://www.gcpsk12.org/Page/26742

Parents, if you have any changes to your student's phone numbers, emergency contacts, etc. please note that these can be made by you in the Parent Portal. However, address changes need to be made at the school. Thank you."

Parents, if you’re on Facebook, join the Paul Duke Stem High School (PDSHS) class groups, a virtual community hosted by the PTSA, open to all PDSHS families, we look forward to seeing you there to share information, opportunities and maybe even a laugh. Find the graduating class that corresponds to your students and stop on by

https://www.facebook.com/groups/pds.ptsa.co2024

https://www.facebook.com/groups/pds.ptsa.co2025

https://www.facebook.com/groups/pds.ptsa.co2026

We look forward to connecting, and as always thank you for your support!

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Email: olaya.dobbs@gcpsk12.org
Website: https://www.gcpsk12.org/pauldukestemhs
Location: 5850 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, Norcross, GA, USA
Phone: (470) 323-3600
Facebook: facebook.com/PaulDukeSTEM
Twitter: @Paul_Duke_STEM