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What Is Reach a Student?
Reach a Student is a website established to give students direct communication access to student mentors in various grade levels. Students will be able to reach out to other students and ask any questions they have regarding student and campus life. The site will also stream videos of students sharing their experiences at Windermere Prep as well as activities around campus. Find Out More
Dance marathon is a movement that has swept the U.S with the goal of raising money, spreading awareness, and showing the power of dancing and fun. WPS held our first dance marathon last year, called Lakerthon, and we raised over $35,000. It was an absolutely amazing experience, and we are hoping to make this event grow every single year. As most people don't know everything about Lakerthon, I figured I would summarize what Lakerthon is, the benefits, and how it makes a positive impact on our community.
Lakerthon is a fundraiser for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals that raises money for sick and injured kids. We raise money specifically for Arnold Palmer and Winnie Palmer here in Central Florida, so you know exactly where your money is going. We fundraise throughout the school year, leading up to Lakerthon night, which this year will be on February 1st, from 5-11 in the WPS gym. We have a bundt cake fundraiser, poinsettia sales, a spirit week, and so many other opportunities to raise money. It is an all school event and we try to connect the LS, MS, and HS in order to make the biggest impact.
On the actual Lakerthon night, there is dancing, food, games, and hearing from miracle families who graciously tell us their story. Everyone at the event stands for the whole night as a symbol for kids in hospital beds who can't stand. "We stand for those who can't". We commonly use the phrase #FTK, which means "for the kids", meaning that everything we do is for them, and all money raised goes towards helping them.
We raised $35,000 last year, but our goal this year is $60,000. This isn't possible without all of our miracle makers and the support of our community, both inside and outside of school. We encourage anyone and everyone to participate in Lakerthon, because there are so many ways that you can make a miracle in a kid's life.
As you transition from middle school to high school, you start to
get more work with due dates closer together. It's important to know the best
way to study for tests and the best way to turn in assignments. One important
tip is to know your teacher and figure out how they do the tests. Some give you
practice tests, and for some, you may have to go up and ask the teacher. I have
both of those cases this year as a freshman and it's important to know your
teachers, tests and the material. Another important study tool that I learned
is to not over complicate the question and just break it down, really
understand it.
An important study tip I learned, is to also prioritize your time.
This helps especially because if you have a very tight schedule and you think
very little time to study for tests or work on assignments its very important
you prioritize your time. Something I have learned this year is when I am
stressed, the 2 hours that I have to do homework, I need to shut off my phone
and just go and get it done. If you really try and just sit there and focus for
a solid 2 hours, you could get the work done you would typically do in 5 or
more.
I remember when the first day the Turning A Page project was introduced to me in 8th grade I was
nervous. I wanted to end middle
school strong and so I decided to do something unique. I wanted to do something that no one
had ever done before, and so I chose the topic of fortunetelling and
mysticism. I recommend to students
who are looking to challenge themselves to choose a topic out of the
norm. By not choosing a hobby or
something that I was familiar with, I learned new things. For example, I learned how to read
fortunes and I studied the culture of gypsies and fortunetellers. I think that choosing a topic that you do not know well adds a completely new meaning to this project.
Many students may believe
that they can start working on the project only a few weeks before their TAP presentation. I think that it is really
beneficial to start working on TAP as soon as you can because it takes a lot of
time to make your presentation the best that it can be. It gives you time to ask the teachers anything that you may feel
concerned about.
Before you start writing
your TAP script, start by writing out an outline. I personally preferred making a list. I numbered the
list from 1-10 and then I wrote the class subject and explained how my
topic could be connected to the subject. It helped to color-code the different class
topics. For example:
1. Edgar
Allen Poe (A Dream Within A Dream): Explained connection #1
2. Edgar Allen Poe (The Raven): Explained connection #2
5. The Giver (Conformity): Explained Connection #5
6. The Giver (Colors): Explained Connection #6
After you make your
outline, you should show each of your teachers the connections for their class
to make sure that they will accept all your connections. Also, it may be helpful when thinking of connections, to refer to Edmodo and look at all of the folders for each
class. For math I went through the
textbook and read the word problems because they can help for inspiration.
While you are thinking of
connections, come up with your visual aids. You can make certain connections by using visual aids. For example, on my topic of fortune
telling, I used items such as candles, a crystal ball, and tarot cards. Visual aids are extremely helpful if you
know how to use them to your advantage. I made numerous connections to what I read on the different tarots cards. For example I had written:
In the picture of the sun tarot card, you see the planets
revolving around the sun. Galileo Galilei, an Italian physicist, astronomer,
engineer, and philosopher, proclaimed that the Earth and the planets in our
solar system revolved around the sun – a controversial idea at the time as the
common belief was that the planets revolved around the Earth. He was also known
for throwing two rocks of different sizes off the Leaning Tower of Pisa to see
if the heavier rock would hit the ground first. To his surprise Galileo
discovered that the rocks, no matter the weight landed on the ground at the
same time. As a result of his findings, Galileo theorized that objects of
different weights and masses would have the same amount of force pushing them
down.
It might be helful when starting to write out
the rough draft of your script, to print out your outline. While you type
different connections into the script, cross them out from the outline. By doing this you are making sure that
you include all of your connections into your presentation. When you are first writing up your
script, don't worry about making your writing perfect, just type an outline of
your presentation just indicating how each connection will be used. Once you finish the outlining, then go
back to finalize and revise it. With your finalized script, it is really important to time
yourself as you read it out loud to make sure that your presentation will fit the 15 minute time
frame. At first, my script was too long by several minutes and it took a long time to shorten my it down.
One VERY important thing
that I learned while making my script is that it is more about making the
connections than going extremely in depth on your actual topic. I struggled a lot with time because I
had long sections where I talked about my topic and very detailed connections. If you are struggling with time like I
did, first simplify the descriptions
of your topic before making big changes to your connections. Remember that you are being graded more on
the connections, than how detailed you were in explain the topic.
In your presentation, be
sure to think of a way to interact with the teachers. Your teachers do not want to hear a 15-minute long speech;
they want to feel as if they are being transported into the setting that you
have created. Think of how you can use the space that you are
given to your greatest advantage. Decorate your
presentation area by making it authentic to your project. For example for my fortune telling
topic, I decided to make a tent with a lot of gypsy fabrics and lanterns. I researched my topic to see how
gypsies decorated their space for fortune telling. I think the visual appearance was one of the biggest contributions that made my project different.
When you are at the final
stage of TAP where you are practicing the presentation, and you find it difficult memorizing the order of your script, it may be helpful to make a
few note cards with generalized bullets that will prompt you to remember what
to say next. Try to
separate your script out into different sections and take some time every day
to memorize each section one by one, this will make memorizing quicker. For memorizing, I found it helpful to read each section over and over again until I could say the written words without looking at the
script.
