September Investors Newsletter

The School of Inquiry @PHS

September 2012Volume 2, Issue #2

CONTENTS

Fundraising UpdateBuilding UpdateInquiring Minds-Thoughts from Mr. OlsonVisit the School of Inquiry

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Fundraising Update

The summer fundraising season is over, and the community continues to bless us with fantastic support. During the months since our last update 7 more individuals/companies have pledged a total of $151,889 in money/goods/services to the School of Inquiry bringing our donation total to $562,889 in a little over a year of active fundraising. New donors are: Sophia and Vito Amoruso, Oliver Ford and Lincoln, Pioneer Seed, Barton, Coe, Vilamaa, Coca Cola Bottling Co. of Plymouth, Business Furnishings of Michiana, and Dan and Julie Weidner. Thank you to each of these new donors as well as to our existing donors listed below for your commitment to the School of Inquiry and our Students.

Bill and Esther ThompsonCenturyLink

CELL-U of IndyDave and Ginny Gibson

First Source BankMarshall County Community

Foundation

Construction Update

We are currently about 2 weeks ahead of schedule, according to our bi-weekly construction meeting with our contractor Michiana Construction, and are looking forward to keeping that pace. This past week the construction crew poured the concrete for the ground floor so that we now have concrete poured on both levels, the elevator shaft completed, and floor boxes placed for electrical. The next part of the construction agenda will begin to build the framing for the rooms and bring in HVAC and other mechanical equipment.

Mike Anderson Auto GroupNew Tech Network

Teachers Credit UnionTreat’s Squire Shop

US GranulesWiers International

Zentis Foods

Previous Donors:

The School of Inquiry @PHS Page 3

Inquiring Minds Blog

Blazing a New Trail at the Speed of Light

Time amazes me as an economics teacher. It is the one quantity, that continually is being used up and replaced without us really being aware of it. For most questions of what is the opportunity cost it is the answer that students seldom think of. It is always with us, but can never really be repeated. It can move agonizingly slow when we are waiting for something to arrive, but incredibly quickly when that moment has come and we want it to last. As Steve Miller once sang, “Time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking, into the future”, and the pace remains consistent even if our perception of it is warped by our own timetables and desires.

I returned from vacation on July 29th to a finished temporary home for the School of Inquiry. Walls had been built, paint applied, furniture installed, technology in place. The next day the staff came in for their first look, followed the next day by our New Tech School Coach and another coach from the network. Two weeks later we held our first student event, and then two days after that we opened the doors for all of our students. Since that time we have had visitors from other schools within the Plymouth Community School Corporation that are looking to implement PBL in their schools, hosted a meeting of the town planning board using our technology, and welcomed parents and community members to the school to serve on panels to hear our students’ project presentations. The first six weeks of this school year have been one of those time that time seems to fly.

I can not believe that we are already six weeks into the school year, and I also cannot believe how much growth has occurred in that time. There have been a lot of exciting changes, but the most exciting change has been seeing the ways our students are growing, learning, and developing valuable skills for their future. As the weeks have gone on the best part of my day has consistently been the time that I get to spend watching our students work together to develop authentic products that continue to push their education forward. In the past six weeks they have learned about their strength’s through the SMART Strengths program, worked as consultants for a wedding project, assisted Michiana Construction with a billing issue, developed a history of themselves, created a blueprint for their school years complete that incorporated what they learned about their strengths, studied the development of ancient civilizations through the creation of a restaurant, and developed a program for the Boys and Girls Club based on Steven Covey’s Seven Habits for Highly Effective Teens. It has been an exciting time to be part of the School of Inquiry, I can’t wait to see what the next six weeks will bring.

Visit the School of Inquiry

Do you want to experience what class is like at the School of Inquiry? Would you like to serve on a panel for one of the projects our students are completing? Care to have a tour of the facility? Please contact our Director of Communication, Kelsey Flynn ([email protected]), to schedule a time to stop in and see what you are helping us to create.

The School of Inquiry @PHS

#1 Big Red DrivePlymouth, IN 46563

574.936.2178