BEEHIVE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ACADEMY Media Kit Beehive Science & Technology Academy is an open enrollment, tuition-free public charter school which opened on August 29, 2005 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Academy distinguishes itself among neighboring educational offerings with its college preparatory program that focus on math, science and technology. The curriculum at BSTA is designed to provide students with a solid foundation in humanities and social science as well as math, science and technology with the aim of preparing them to become responsible and educated members of the society who have the skills and understanding to participate and work productively in our increasingly technological, diverse, and multicultural society.
MISSION STATEMENT Students achieve academic and personal excellence in a challenging, diverse, and innovative environment. VISION STATEMENT Students of Beehive Science and Technology Academy excel in a diverse and supportive learning community as they acquire the academic, social, and technological skills necessary to become responsible leaders and citizens of a globalizing world. BELIEFS / VALUES All students will strive for academic growth, with an emphasis on literacy, science, math, and technology skills. Excellence is achieved in a variety of academic, creative, and personal ways. Each student is a valued individual with unique physical, social, emotional and intellectual needs. Teachers, administrators, parents, students and the community share the responsibility for advancing the school s mission. Students will model appropriate behavior in a safe and supportive setting to achieve future success in a diverse global community. Student learning is supported by a commitment to continuous improvement and research based pedagogy. Extracurricular programs and activities promote holistic student development. Vigorous college preparatory programs help students graduate as competitive candidates for the world s top learning institutions.
BSTA DRSLs (DESIRED RESULTS FOR STUDENT LEARNING) Communication Skills Students communicate verbally and in written form with clarity, purpose, and understanding of audience. Students actively listen and integrate a variety of communication skills to successfully solve complex issues in a group setting. Indicators: Students will: Communicate with clarity, purpose, and understanding of audience Actively listen, respond appropriately, and acknowledge the ideas of others Recognize, analyze and evaluate various forms of communications Plan, select, prioritize, and organize ideas to communicate in meaningful form Integrate a variety of communication forms and skills (oral, written, artistic, graphic), and use a wide range of communication skills Maneuver and solve conflicts caused by diversity in beliefs and opinions Participate as an effective team member Information, Media and Technology Skills Students study and participate in a technology and media-driven environment where they acquire the necessary skills for full and meaningful participation in the technology driven 21st century.
Indicators: Students will: Use inquiry and technology skills to research, expand, apply, and connect with knowledge Use technology as a tool to organize, evaluate and communicate information accurately and creatively for the issue or problem at hand Apply a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information, technology, and media. Understand how media influences both beliefs and behaviors Recognizes the impact of technology on business and industry Access information efficiently (time) and effectively (sources) Manage the flow of information from a wide variety of resources Use digital technologies (computers, PDAs, media players, GPS, etc.), communication/networking tools and social networks appropriately to access, manage, integrate, evaluate and create information. GRADE LEVELS SERVED Beehive Science & Technology Academy opened in 2005, and currently serves students in grades seven through twelve.
HOME VISITS Beehive Science Technology Academy encourages its teachers and parents to make home visits to their students to establish a better communication between home and school. Home visits are voluntary for both Beehive Science Technology Academy teachers and parents. We make home visits for the following reasons; Promote partnership between parents and teachers. Encourage parent involvement. Parents gain a better understanding of school s educational policies. Provide new understanding of students learning style. Understand emotional and social needs and behaviors of students. Identify students latest interests and concerns.
TUTORING All students receive free tutoring from the faculty and from volunteers from area universities. Tutoring will be available as part of the Beehive Science Technology Academy after-school program and will be adjusted to fit individual student needs to maximize each student s potential. Thus, some students may require tutoring one afternoon a week, whereas others may require daily tutoring. Because tutoring does not occur during the regular class time, it is not considered as part of the instruction requirement and will not be used to support the apportionment claim. The free tutoring program will also benefit students who are not classified as low achievers. Tutors will be available for students performing at or above grade level upon request. These free tutoring sessions generally will occur after school, but some may be scheduled on the weekends, depending on student and parent preferences. Beehive Science Technology Academy will encourage teachers to increase their level of attention to each student individually. Twice a semester, teachers will fill out a student progress report form and discuss student progress with other teachers, parents, and tutors. They will also provide a brief summary of their methodology and supplementary efforts, such as after-school tutoring and meetings with parents, that they are using to help students reach their maximum potential. In some classes, whenever appropriate, tutors will help individual groups (or individual students) to increase the degree of individual attention. Labs can be good examples in this context. While students are doing experiments in groups of two, tutors and the teacher will deal with each group as needed. COOLSIS: OUR ONLINE SCHOOL INFORMATION SYSTEM News, schedules, staff contacts, class info, etc Access to homework, announcements, grades, and discipline records Student status portal Approximately 80% of students and 40% of parents logon at least once a week.
CHARACTER EDUCATION PROGRAM The purpose of the Life Skills program is to encourage students to take responsibility for their actions, to familiarize them with good character traits, to introduce them to role models, and to help develop good citizens with high moral values. The United States Congress, recognizing the importance of this concept, authorized the Partnerships in Character Education Program in 1994. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 renews and re-emphasizes this tradition, and substantially expands support for it. The family is the most important place for character and moral education, but the public schools are partners with the family. We share, as public school educators, the responsibility to reinforce the shaping of moral behavior that families are trying to encourage. The Life Skills course offered at Beehive Science Technology Academy is one hour per week in each grade of middle school. The objective of the Life Skills Class is to encourage students to take responsibility for their actions, to familiarize them with good character traits, to introduce them to role models, and to help develop good citizens with high moral values. Each month, a character trait (i.e., honesty, responsibility, respect, and integrity) is announced. Some other traits will also be included for student participation throughout the entire year, in order for students to be frequently reminded of these values and be given the opportunity to make connections between various concepts. The curriculum for the Life Skills program at Beehive Science Technology Academy is built by using widely-used and approved resource guides.
COACHING BSTA builds an educational environment that involves both in-class and after-class individual attention. After-class individual attention will occur as part of our free afterschool tutoring program. Students with a D or F grade in core subjects are classified as low achievers. These students will attend obligatory after school programs concentrating on the subjects in which they are weak. Besides the recreational clubs, there will be tutoring groups on advanced math and science available for high achieving students. Tutoring programs will also help high achieving students prepare for statewide and nationwide academic competitions. The number of students in each tutoring group will not exceed eight. Volunteers from local universities will also help with tutoring programs under the guidance of teachers. An improvement plan will be prepared for low-achieving students with the involvement of teacher, parent/guardian and dean of academics. Improvement plans will include additional homework, readings and mandatory after school tutoring. The student s progress will be evaluated by the teacher in a timely manner. To narrow the achievement gap for the low-achieving students, catch-up strategies such as free tutoring and homework clubs will be implemented during after-school program. Mandatory free after-school tutoring program tailored towards each student s needs by the school staff will provide the opportunity for those students left behind to master the content standards for the relevant subject. These students will be monitored on a regular basis through in-class assessment. Parents will be notified during this process through meetings and online grading. Students will adhere to their prescribed individualized program until they meet the grade level expectations.
AMSP AMSP is a program at Beehive Science Technology Academy for its gifted/highly-gifted students. Students prepare for the International Olympiads in which a group of 4 or 6 students represent each country. The International Olympiads are the most prestigious and most difficult competitions in which high school students can participate. They are also prepared the most prestigious math and science competitions such as Math Counts, Science Olympiad etc. in the Nation by our coaches. The Beehive Science Technology Academy students are prepared for the following competitions: International Mathematics Olympiad International Olympiad in Informatics International Physics Olympiad International Biology Olympiad Intel Science Talent Search Utah State Science Fair EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY We believe that each student has an inherent curiosity and love of learning; and that each student has a unique intelligence, level of capability, and learning style. Therefore, BSTA has an educational program that engages and motivates students from various academic and cultural backgrounds to invest their talents, energy, and enthusiasm in their own education. We also believe that students should gain life-long learning skills in order to be successful in an ever-changing society. Hence, BSTA adopts an engaging learning environment where students obtain the required skills to collaborate, locate, analyze, organize, evaluate, and internalize new information in the light of their own needs and based on their academic and cultural backgrounds.
ACHIEVEMENTS FIRST FTC Robotics Team 2006-2007 (2nd place in Montana Regional) 2008 2009 (2 teams, 2nd and 3rd place in Denver Regional) 2009-2010 (Best Design Award-Denver Regional) FIRST Lego League 2005 2006 (Programming Award) 2006 2007 (3rd place in Montana Regional, Robot Design Award) 2007 2008 (2nd place in Montana Regional, Robot Design Award) 2009 2010 (3rd place in Idaho Qualifying Tournament, Teamwork Award) Simcity Future City Design 2006 2007(the best futuristic transportation system award in Idaho Regional) 2007 2008(3rd place overall in Idaho Regional) SLVSEF (Regional Science Fair) 2006 2007 (5 individual awards in different categories, 1st place in the school participation category) 2007 2008 (3 individual awards) 2008 2009 (7 individual awards) 2009 2010 (18 Awards/Scholarships) Chess Team 2007 2008 (1st place in Salt Lake Chess Tournament), (1st place in West Jordan Chess Tournament) 2008 2009 (3rd place in South Salt City Tournament, 1st place in U of U Tournament) 2009 2010 (3rd place in South Salt Lake City Tournament) (1st place in U of U Tournament) Spelling Bee 2008 2009 (Salt Lake Valley Champion, Henry Korous, one out of three students who represented Utah in nationals)
Turkish Olympiad 2008 2009 (2nd place in Grammar Category) (2nd place in Special Talent Category) 2011 2012 (1 st place in Poetry Category) (1 st place in Presentation Category) (2 nd place in Native Speaker Poetry Category) Math Counts 2007 2008 (BSTA Math team invited to State Round) 2008 2009 (BSTA Math team invited to State Round) 2009 2010 (5th Place Individual in Utah, 5th Place in Regional) 2010-2011 (6th Place in Chapter, 13th Place in State Round, 5th Place in Individuals in the State Competition) Math League: 2005-2006 (7th grade regional winner) 2006-2007 (8th grade regional winner)
ACADEMIC TEAMS GEOGRAPHY BEE Instructor: Mrs. Fishler Meeting Time: Thursday Description: The Geography Bee Club will work extensively in preparation for the 2012 National Geography Bee. The National Geography Bee will cover not nly names and places, but human geography as well. The Geography Club will work together to gain understanding of the world as a global community. The Club will explore topics such as: renewable resources, current conflicts and issues, water supply, economics, politics, urbanization, cultures and environmental issues. Come be a Geography Bee Champion!! We will meet on Thursdays after school in Mrs. Fishler s room (A119). LEGO TEAM (F.I.R.S.T. LEGO LEAGUE) Instructor: Mr.Steve Meeting Time: Tuesday Description: Beehive LEGO Club is a place where students are widening their imagination while they are having fun. It is important to act as a team, and that's exactly one of our club missions, teamwork. We help them to be a good and efficient team member and tighten their friendship. We attend local and national competitions which helps our students to compete and make new friendships while they are having great times with their new friends from all over the USA. We believe our students to show their potentials in the LEGO club, that's why we want them to show their imagination through technology as well. In that manner, they learn how to build robots with LEGO and discover their true potentials. Lego Club is designed for 7th and 8th graders and the members are expected to have at least 3.00 GPA. Their math and science grades must be at least A, A-, or A+ and they must keep their grades thought the year in order to be active member of Lego club. When : Tuesday 3.00pm-3.45pm (Mandatory) Saturday 10.00am-1.00pm Cost : $75
ROBOTICS TEAM(F.I.R.S.T. TECH CHALLENGE) Instructor: Mr.Kablan Meeting Time: Wednesday, Thursday Website: www.beehiverobotics.org Description: The FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) is a mid-level robotics competition for high-school students only. The ultimate goal of FTC is to reach more young people with accessible opportunity to discover the excitement and rewards of science, technology, and engineering. For more information; go to http://www.usfirst.org/ftc. FTC is designed for those who want to compete head-to-head, using a sports model. Teams of up to 10 students are responsible for designing, building, and programming their robots to compete in an alliance format against other teams. The robot kit is reusable from yearto-year and is programmed using a variety of languages. Teams, including coaches, mentors and volunteers, are required to develop strategy and build robots based on sound engineering principles. Awards are given for the competition as well as for community outreach, design, and other real-world accomplishments. SPELLING BEE Instructor: Ms.King Meeting Time: Wednesday Description: Aim of the Spelling Bee Club is to build the confidence required for both the written and verbal communication. In fact, the more words people can fully articulate, the better they are able to effectively communicate their thoughts to others. This activity of the club focuses on the spelling and meaning of words. It also incorporates the synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, homophones, homographs, correct sent of these words. The whole idea of this exercise is to ensure the full extent of the words used is fully understand. The Spelling Bee which incidentally is a very emotional activity of the club, especially among children, is open to all pupils. Aim of the competition is to help improve their spelling skills, increase their vocabulary, and develop better language skills.
TURKISH OLYMPIAD Instructor: Mrs.Kablan Meeting Time: Tuesday Thursday Description: This club is for students who would love to experience an adventure through learning a second language. It is for the students who would like to be a participant in the Olympiad team to go to Los Angeles, CA and then to Turkey (if passed the qualifications) to compete, to win, to enjoy, to learn and to have fun. The contest (Olympiad) categories are: Special Skills (talk shows, skids, stand up shows), performing (singing a song in Turkish), poetry (reading a poem in Turkish), Grammar and writing, Speaking and Dancing (Turkish Folk dances). BASKETBALL Instructor: Coach Searle Meeting Time: Wednesday Description: Sports club meets every Wednesday. During after-school Wednesday sessions players are given brief instruction to improve their game and then are encouraged to challenge each other in open play. Sports may include basketball, soccer, or volleyball. There may be tournaments throughout the year. Tournaments will be optional but encouraged. Sports can also help students improve teamwork skills, fitness levels, social skills, and communication skills. It is suggested that all those desiring to try out for the basketball team join this club. Players of all skill levels are welcome! PING PONG Instructor: Mr. Steve Meeting Time: Friday Description: This club will be meeting on Friday afternoons. We are looking for Ping Pong Table donations and you will want to bring your own paddle. There will be a student versus teacher tournament, so you better get practicing! See Mr. Steve for details.
CLUBS EXPANDING YOUR HORIZONS: WORLD CULTURES CLUB Instructor: Mrs. Guney Meeting Time: Wednesday Description: The purpose of the World Cultures Club is to learn about other countries' customs, languages, and goods. We will learn about a different country each week during our meetings. We are going to have guest speakers, parents or students to present a country each week, We plan to have two to four evening or weekend parties during the year. If you want to learn about different cultures and expand your horizons, come and join us! BEADING CLUB Instructor: Mrs. Stearman Meeting Time: Wednesday Description: Come and have fun making jewelry! We will be learning basic jewelry-making and beading techniques. Some of our works might be sold to raise money for new materials. We will make jewelry from bought items and from donated or recycled items. There will be a fee of $25 dollars for supplies or students can bring in their own materials to work on. Bought supplies will be for those who pay the fee. (Supplies include jewelry-making tools, findings, beads, wire, chain, cording, etc.)boys and girls are welcome to join this club. Once a month we will have a beading marathon day and bead for a few hours straight! BOOK CLUB Instructor: Ms. King Meeting Time: Thursday Description: Meet with students from all the different grades of the school who love books as much as you do! We will be choosing some great books to read together as a group throughout the year! During meetings we will read, discuss, ask questions, debate, laugh, and have fun with each other. We can vote on favorite characters, rewrite endings, talk about what we liked best, etc. The possibilities are endless for all who love to read! Come join us as we explore all the different worlds books have to offer.
CHESS CLUB Instructor: Mrs. Guney / Mr. Walker Meeting Time: Wednesday Description: Chess club meets every Wednesday during the school year and optional free chess instruction is available on Saturdays. During after-school Friday session, players are given brief instruction to improve their game and then are encouraged to challenge each other in open play. We also go to many chess tournaments throughout the year. We have a local chess champion giving free instruction and BSTA players have won trophies in every tournament this year, including first place awards. Tournament play is optional but encouraged because tournaments are where the players can compete and demonstrate their skills, as well as be rewarded for their achievements. Chess can also help students improve their logic skills, social skills, and concentration. Players of all skill levels are welcome! DEBATE CLUB Instructor: Mrs. Jonsson Meeting Time: Thursday Description: Students will learn to debate, discuss, dispute, consider, and reason both sides of any question. They will build case card catalogs to argue both sides (all sides). They will have practical experience to debate in class using the Socratic Method. They will choose current topics and also debate the current high school debate topic. Hopefully, they will hear Presidential debates on political topics with both sides of all questions discussed trying not to divulge any political bias.
GLEE CLUB Instructor: Mrs. Fishler Meeting Time: Tuesday Description: The Glee Club will be a choral club--exploring different genres of music and working for the primary goal of performing a winter concert. The club will explore ethnic, folk, classical, madrigal, a cappella, pop and contemporary music styles. The Glee Club will develop skills of reading music and stage presentation and performance. This club will be for those who love to sing! Or for those would like to explore singing different styles of music. The Glee Club will meet on Tuesdays after school in the Music Room (B117). NATIONAL HONOR/JUNIOR HONOR SOCIETY (NHS/NJHS) Instructor: Mrs. Firmage Meeting Time: Thursday Description: The National Honor Society and National Junior Honor Society are the nation's premier organizations established to recognize outstanding high school and middle level students. More than just an honor roll, they serve to honor those students who have demonstrated excellence in the areas of Scholarship, Leadership, Service, and Character. Membership not only recognizes students for their accomplishments, but challenges them to develop further through active involvement in school activities and community service. Requirements: 3.5 or above GPA, a willingness to serve the school and community through service projects and outreach activities, and attending chapter meetings.
SCHOOL NEWSPAPER CLUB Instructor: Mrs. Jonsson Meeting Time: Tuesday Description: Students will learn to write and publish a school newspaper with student ideas, writing, submissions, information, and activities. They will learn the Who, What, Where, Why, and How of good news gathering and news story writing. This will include feature stories, departmental news, student news, sports, extracurricular activities, club news, field trips, projects, and student achievements. Students will learn to interview students, faculty, parents, administrators, and staff. There will be contests, questionnaires, cartoons, and poetry, prose and art contributions. The newspaper will promote student and school goals and enhance their purpose, school spirit, heroes, and outstanding character traits. They will learn about mass media, communication, propaganda, yellow journalism, bias reporting and how to become a good journalist. They will discuss news anchors, radio and television, newspapers and magazines. STUDENT COUNCIL Instructor: Mrs. Firmage Meeting Time: Tuesday Description: Beehive Academy's student council gives students a voice in determining our school's activities and environment. It helps promote activities for the entire student body and fosters a positive climate throughout the school. Being elected develops leadership skills and is a chance to serve their fellow students. It is both an honor and a responsibility that shouldn't be taken lightly. Student body officers will be expected to work hard to benefit both the school and the community.
YEARBOOK CLUB Instructor: Mrs. Stearman Meeting Time: Thursday Description: Mrs. Stearman is looking for dedicated, committed, creative, organized, enthusiastic individuals who are willing to work as part of a team. Yearbook staff members must be able to work with others, must be reliable, must meet deadlines, and must put in extra work sessions outside of the regular school day. Staff members must also be dedicated to having fun and creating the best yearbook this school has ever seen! We will be meeting on Thursdays after school, with added days closer to deadline. $10 fee will be required.