Mark be tech edition june 2016

the

MARK Manteca Unified School Board

Supplement 2—be.tech Edition June 2016

What is the be.tech story?

be.cuisine

be.industrial

What makes be.tech different?

be.first

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How are the academies unique? be.next

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#proudtobemusd

Vision

Manteca Unified School District will ensure every school day is relevant, rigorous, and leads students to become productive and engaged members of a global society while residing in the central valley.

Mission

Manteca Unified School District

is committed to providing a safe environment where all students will thrive with the tools, resources and support needed to achieve their academic and personal potentials.

“We are creating critical thinkers who can go out and build, create, innovate and become the next entrepreneurs of our society. That is what the be.tech program is all about.”

the

MARK Manteca Unified School Board

Supplement 2—be.tech Edition June 2016

Board Members: Deborah Romero, President

Stephen J. Schluer, Vice President

Sam Fant, Clerk

Nancy Teicheira

Evelyn Moore

Michael Seelye

Kathy Howe Superintendent: Deputy Superintendent: Deputy Superintendent: Senior Director Secondary Ed:

Jason Messer Dr. Clark Burke Roger Goatcher Clara Schmiedt

mantecausd.net twitter.com/musd

Jason Messer, Superintendent

facebook.com/proudtobemusd linkedin.com/company/ manteca-unified-school-district

August 2012 ­— Founded as MUVA (Manteca Unified Vocational Academy), with culinary arts and hospitality.

August 2013 ­— Second Academy added for Industrial Technology and Design.

December 2013 ­— Board changes name from MUVA to be.tech and approves item to allow for expansion grant applications. Academies renamed to be.cuisine and be.industrial.

May 2014 ­— Traditional high schools can apply to establish an expansion grant writing team.

August 2014 ­— Third Academy added for be.first responders (EMT, fire, police, etc.) on main campus, while expansion grant writing teams plan their programs.

August 2015 ­— be.tech adds two new academies: be.ourguest (Hospitality), at New Vision High, and be.next (Video Game Design), at Lathrop High.

became

August 2015—Non-charter career pathways also begin at traditional high schools be.connected at Sierra High School (Media and Communications). be.farm2fork at Sierra High School (Agriculture, and Culinary). be.spn at Manteca High School (AV Communications and Sports Medicine). be.vital at Weston Ranch High School (Health Sciences).

August 2016—East Union High School adds be.global (International Business and Logistics).

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The Manteca Unified School Board MARK was produced by the MUSD Community Outreach Department.

be.tech boundless education In four short years, the Manteca Unified School District Charter—be.tech—has flourished, creatively shifting the relationship between teaching and student learning.

be.cuisine students learn to work independently. Right: Students refine their recipe for their cupcake cook-off.

Initially named the Manteca Unified Vocational Academy (MUVA), this dependent charter school opened its doors in 2012 with the school of Culinary Art and Hospitality Services.

Below: Some cooking methods are a little hotter than others.

Be.tech’s vision is for every student to graduate with their high school diploma, career ready with the essential content knowledge and the 21st century skills that equip them to be successful. Be.tech provides their students with educational choices and career pathway options.

“The be.tech program offers students high level job entry skills that give them the advantage and confidence to seek a job in a career field that matches their interest while yet in high school earning their diploma,” noted Diane Medeiros, be.tech Principal.

diploma coursework gives students the opportunity to earn one or more certificates in a career field. Learning is facilitated by use of current technology, direct instruction and independent study, on-line courses and project-based learning.

Clara Schmiedt, Senior Director of Secondary Education, explained, “It is really important to celebrate student success.

Over the past few years, be.tech has done a phenomenal job of making students successful in their careers.”

be.cuisine As the longest running academy in the program, be.cuisine students train in a state of the art commercial kitchen and student-run café.

They prepare the food entrées and specialty items served in the café, cater local events, learn restaurant operations and develop independent business ventures.

Always one who believes in checking in on her students, often too offer an encouraging word, Principal Diane Medeiros stops by the be.tech cafe.

“Working in authentic work environments during their high school experience gives students’ confidence that cannot be provided in a traditional classroom setting. Our be.tech students have a clear advantage over most young people entering the job market.

They have both the soft skills and technical skills to be successful,” said Medeiros.

Students benefit from small classes, blended learning and flexible scheduling. Specialized study while completing their

Jarvis Holloway, a chef with the program for two years, explained, “Our kitchen is our classroom. We give them as much hands on as we can, and they are typically in my class for three hours a day.”

“We equip them for the real world. They know their way around the kitchen and this builds confidence,” said Holloway. “We are like a family in that we explore not only our taste buds, but how to handle stress and work with customers.”

“Our kitchen is our classroom.”

Jarvis Holloway

The culinary program has continued to expand its infrastructure, adding a finedining experience to its list of offerings, in addition to the cafe experience that many district office employees regularly enjoy.

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“This project costs about $800 in metal, then you could sell it for around $2,000.”

Alex Martell

Industrial students spend 20 to 60 hours on a project. Left: Alex Martell presents his finished orchard float to an industry evaluator.

be.industrial

Above: Brandon Portillo stands tall on his finished trailer project.

In 2013, MUSD expanded the charter school by adding a second academy for Industrial Technology and Design. The board continued to support District Leadership’s efforts to improve this existing school facility by adding a safe and effective industrial shop building, complete with ceiling crane, a CNC Plasma Laser and ventilated paint spraying room.

Ryan Costa, be.tech’s industrial teacher, explained, “It is a very large curriculum. I start out by teaching them the fundamentals of arc welding, Mig Welding, Tig Welding, Cold forming metal, and working with industrial machines. When doing equipment painting, they learn the basics of using a High Volume, Low Pressure Gun (HVLP), and the fundamentals of air brushing.”

Industrial Technology students learn design and fabrication skills in the fields of machining, welding and manufacturing.

They utilize plasma and laser technology to design and fabricate individual projects. Student entrepreneurship is encouraged. Green technology and sustainability are woven into all classes.

“As we developed out here, we got a Computer Numeric Code (CNC) plasma table and a universal laser,” explained Costa. “With their Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) software, they can print to the universal laser. For the plasma table, they have to learn GCode generation software, which turns their drawings into a list of directions. They have to tell the laser when to start and stop, what angle to turn, and how far to go.”

Essentially all of the industrial curriculum is project based, which increases the rigor and relevance because students often make things to improve their own homes, or to sell to community clients.

work, a lot of stuff gets kicked into the middle of the rows of trees. Farmers end up getting a berm in the middle of the row.”

“With this piece of machinery, you pull it behind your tractor and all these things get flattened out as the float is pulled across. Because the float arms are so long, it will push the dirt back where it needs to go and will also break up weeds,” explained Martell. “This project costs about $800 in metal and then you could sell it for around $2,000 depending on the quality of the work. A farmer already came and contracted us to build this particular one.”

Another graduating be.industrial student, Dexter Monroe, is already employed as the lead night foreman at West Star Industries. During his final project presentation to the adult evaluation board, he stated, “At the traditional high school, I was pretty bored to be quite honest, and then I came here and learned how to put things together and how to build things.”

“The cost analysis, and the CAD drawings, are all parts of this project that I didn’t know how to do before I came here, said Monroe. “I have learned some of these skills, I have a full time job, and I love building big projects.”

In December of 2013, the board approved the district’s decision to change the Academy’s name to be.tech—which stands for “boundless education.”

The board also approved an action item encouraging the traditional high schools to apply for a grant to

“The cost analysis, and the CAD drawings, are all parts of this project that I didn’t know how to do before I came here.”

Alex Martell, a senior and the top ranked academy student this year, explained, “This is my senior project, it is called an Orchard float. When they are harvesting and doing their daily

Dexter Monroe

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During his senior final project presentation, Dexter Monroe explains his material cost analysis and why he chose to use a heavier grade metal.

Above: the lead be.first student explains next steps to Mr. Ward while his fellow students prepare to extend the legs of the stretcher.

Right: be.first students have removed an injured student from the street scape bus and now prepare to strap her onto the backboard. create a pathway program for their school, or to house part of the be.tech charter school on their campuses.

be.first In August of 2014, the district added the third academy to the be.tech charter school. This academy would join be.cuisine, be.industrial, and would be called be.first.

This first responder academy explores the world of public safety, security and emergency services management through four first responder strands: fire, law enforcement, military and medical response teams.

They learn basic personal and public safety skills, disaster preparedness, incident command systems and response protocols, while training to maximize their own personal fitness level.

Simulation drills and training are conducted on a mock street scape that features realistic store fronts and street props built for the academy.

James Ward, the be.first instructor, summarized, “It is basically a public service academy. Most of the students have ambitions

to be a firefighter, police officer, or EMT. A few want to join the military or go into nursing.”

“The main hands on skills we do are focused on emergency medical skills. We learn patient assessment for medical and for trauma,” explained Ward. “This is where we simulate someone injured in a car accident or something similar.”

“The main hands on skills we do are focused on emergency medical skills.”

James Ward

Each be.tech academy is geared to providing students with job readiness competencies and technical coursework in their career pathway.

A work experience component provides students with practical employment experience while guest speakers and field trip opportunities provide broader career exposure.

This serves a key part of the board goal to develop communications and outreach efforts that enhance support of MUSD and its schools throughout the community. Mr. Ward constantly seeks community collaboration opportunities with outside agencies.

be.first students work together to safely move an injured person from beneath a fallen light-pole.

“French Camp Fire and Manteca Fire department have used our city scape for drills. AMR will begin using it for their drills as well,” said Ward. “We use it for real life situations, like active shooters, for vehicle passenger removal while maintaining a patient’s spine.”

Seeing the need to expand these community connections, be.tech administration tasked Carey Simoni with becoming the academy’s outreach coordinator—to work with outside organizations to build partnerships—in addition to her role as an independent study teacher.

“We have signed an agreement with the City of Tracy, Work Net, and Lathrop Chamber of Commerce so that different businesses will begin to look at our students through the Hire Me First Program,” said Simoni.

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be.next

“They can find

In the fall of their niche and 2015, having see what they are written successful good at.” grant plans and becoming a part of the be.tech charter school, Lathrop High School added the be.next academy, which focused on a STEM based Game Design.

Kenneth Myers

The ROP teacher at Lathrop High School, Kenneth Myers, has been running a programming and game design class there for fifteen years. Joining the be.tech charter, however, meant moving beyond that one class and becoming a full academy.

Learning over his student’s shoulder, Myers recommends that a student rotate his virtual car to make sure it is parallel to the pavement so that it doesn’t look strange to the player later.

“Becoming a part of be.tech with be.next has allowed me to build all the introductory classes to teach students the skills I wish they had before they came into my program,” said Myers. “Within a few years, it will really raise the quality of the work in my capstone class because I will have time to really cover things like lighting, music and game psychology.”

“My class is the capstone of the be.next game design program because it is the University of California A-G approved Math elective Game Design curriculum,” explained Myers. “When we program in code, students learn to program with X and Y coordinates, sign and cosign in math to make their interactive objects move.”

Justus Marson, a be.next student, commented, “I learned that coding isn’t really as hard as I thought it would be. I worked with 3D modeling programs that I never would have touched if I hadn’t been here.”

Because the academy is meant to offer more student choice, other subject areas typically become connected to game design as well.

“I was able to write an original story and then make it into my own video game,” explained Kalie Olvera. “For English, we had to play a game and then write a review. We had to discuss what we liked and didn’t like while we explained the game.”

they can find their niche and see what they are good at. When they move past high school, they can focus on becoming a programmer, or an artist, or a level designer.”

“At first I thought I wanted to be more art based, but I learned that I’m actually a lot better at programming than I am at 3D art,” said Olvera.

The two-year program is for juniors and seniors interested in careers in video games or computer programming. In a new makers space, the academy has added woodworking equipment like saws and sanders beside a 3D printer, a lasercutter station and a VacuFormer machine that allows students to create physically before they create virtually.

Michael Horwood, Principal of Lathrop High School, explained more about the structure of the program, “This is part of the be.tech umbrella. Students come from Manteca High, they come from East Union, they come from Sierra, and of course from Lathrop. We didn’t have any students from Weston Ranch this year, but I hope we will next year. They all have access. In two to three years, we can see this program growing to 120 kids.”

These first year be.next students join other be.tech graduates who follow their own path Kalie Olvera carefully adjusts a character sculpture. by choosing a career academy.

Compared to the average college computer science degree program where only 12% of the student population is female, be.next is double that “At first I thought I number. “We have a lot more diversity here with 25% female students enrolled,” said Myers. wanted to be more “I am really trying to show the kids a little bit of everything. We are not hyper focused on programming. By the end of the year, they will have written thousands of lines of code, they will have drawn all their characters, they will have sculpted with clay, they will have designed levels with commercial game engines,” said Myers. “That way,

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art based, but I learned that I’m actually a lot better at programming than I am at 3D art.”

Kalie Olvera

Students watch the 3D printing process, amazed at how the internal structure for the printed object varies based on the design and density required.

M.E.L.S. Garage Another recent addition to the be.tech campus is an engaging lab environment used heavily by their science classes—but also a fun place to create and innovate.

Sitting adjacent to other student classrooms, this re-purposed garage space has a meaningful name. The acronym is about connecting Manufacturing & Engineering to Learning Through STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math).

Kristen Messer, be.tech science teacher, commented, “Students love the non-traditional setting with its modular furniture.

They become makers, leading each other to figure out which tool works best. The hands-on activities provide high student interest.”

In the maker class, students learned several tools to help them create. While they learned, they studied some of the physics behind material science and design.

Students learned how to 3D print, were introduced to robotics, and made their own satellite in a can (CANSAT). This was in partnership with Magnitude IO. This project required students to solder their selected sensors to a programmable board. These sensors calculate velocity, temperature, barometric pressure, and elevation. They also 3D

Virtually anything that students can imagine can be 3D printed. Students learn from designs they find on line before they make their own. print their can to safely hold the satellite inside their rocket, and use their student computers to configure and read what the sensors were picking up.

Then, on April 3rd, Messer went with eleven of her students to the MUSD Magnitude IO launch day. They launched their rocket with their satellite inside. Once it landed, they read the data that the satellite collected.

All of be.tech’s programs encourage students to find many hands on applications to bring their learning to life—making it personal, memorable and immediately relevant.

By the Numbers - be.tech Growth Charter

Pathway

22

2012-2013

44

2013-2014

77

2014-2015

192

2015-2016

294 0

75

150

225

300

be.tech students learn to program line-following Ozobots as they watch how the robot reacts to different colors, guided

by Kristen Messer, be.tech science teacher. Students explore a variety of learning tools in MELS garage.

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Non-Charter Academy Pathways Also in 2015, many of our traditional high schools were awarded grants to form a pathway program within their school. Although not directly a part of the be.tech charter school, these grants would help each school provide new opportunities to their students.

Because these programs are so new, this provides them an opportunity to broaden student choice and opportunity while still having the full support and infrastructure of the school.

on the field. I have kids who have taken certification tests and are working in gyms as personal trainers right now.”

be.connected At Sierra High, Janet Lenards has started a program called be.connected, which is a digital media arts academy that combines research, writing, and multimedia. “Kids are being asked to communicate differently. They are learning to communicate what they think and feel beyond their words— through imagery, music and their own voice.

“I can now film and edit a good product in a timely manner,” said senior Jenny Anderson.

be.farm2fork be.spn students Julian Roach and Cerena Benson collaborate on a graphic for a sports video.

be.spn At Manteca High, a program called be.spn offers students an opportunity to experience sports medicine, sports multimedia and sports marketing.

Carol Creighton, co-pathway advisor, explained, “We are a pathway within MHS, and not part of the charter. These classes are open to MHS students only.”

Her students learn video editing and focus on live-streaming school athletic events over the internet. “Kids in our program are very committed because they have to volunteer a lot of hours after school in this program,” said Creighton.

Cerena Benson, a sports media student, wants to one day be an audio video technician. “I wasn’t experienced at all, but now I know a lot of Adobe skills. It is a lot of work, but it is really worth it.”

On the sports medicine side of the pathway, co-advisor Mark Varnum explained, “It is about giving them the background knowledge about injuries and to help get our students healthy and back

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Also at Sierra High, advisor Amy Lee has started a program for 10-12 grade students called be.farm2fork about how to grow your own food and how to prepare it for your home or the restaurant industry.

“Students learn how to use a greenhouse, run a garden, what grows in each season, and how the resulting plants are processed,” said Lee. “People are really interested in where their food is coming from. This is an opportunity for students to be more aware of what they are actually eating.

“I can now film and edit a good product in a timely manner.”

Jenny Anderson

“In our first year as a pathway program, we have started out with 152 students and next year we will have 168,” said Beaty.

“Students need a connection,” said Basepayne. “By having this academy that is directly related to the health field, students are engaging more with each other.”

Theresa Novoa, junior, commented, “I am taking the medical billing and coding course so that I can use this to pay my way through college.”

Senior Charles Udeze added, “I was able to take part in the pharmacy technician course. Right out of high school I will be able to work as a pharmacy technician.

I hope to eventually go on to medical school.”

Clara Schmiedt, Senior Director of Secondary Education, explained, “Our focus in the future will be to make more community connections so that we can meet our goal of having every student who comes out of be.tech able to go directly into their career.”

A new pathway program is in the works at East Union High School called be.global. It will focus on the world of international business and logistics.

This is one more way MUSD prepares students for their future in their world.

“We have ten local businesses who are signed up to help next year, some with student field trips and some who are offering internships—like at local nurseries,” said Lee. “We hope to eventually provide students opportunities for certifications be.vital students learn hands on skills like how to take blood pressure in the industry.” with a stethoscope or wrap an injury to prevent further damage.

be.vital At Weston Ranch High, a program called be.vital focuses on health sciences.

Co-advisors Jody Beaty and Tamara Basepayne applied for the grant because so many of their Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) club students wanted more.