Three-D Printing

by Hannah Pj

From printing small insignificant items to full-sized automobiles, a relatively new, technological advancement will change the way people look at printers forever. At Science City, Accelerated School students recently observed a new dimension of printing... not with just a normal printer, but a printer that can print  3-dimensional objects!

Guided by an instructor at Science City, everyone in the class designed their own 3-D figures and watched them magically come to life. Using MacIntosh computers, students used an online program to design objects such as signs,  symbols, dogtags, or keychain fobs. Objects needed to be small so that there would be enough time for each individual object to actually print.  Most of the projects took 15-20 minutes to print.

The 3-D printers utilized melted plastic to recreate  students’ designs that had been made on the computers. Students were fascinated to see their designs appear as layers of plastic were applied by the many moving parts.  They also learned that not all 3D printers function perfectly, as some malfunctioned and did not print projects correctly.

Three-D printers vary in cost, from about $1,200 for low-end models to thousands of dollars. The models at Union Station were in the low range, but were impressive to watch.  Students were entertained by the experience.  Kimberlyn V. said, “Personalizing my name on the keychain and watching it print was my favorite part of the field trip.”

Another student, Josh J. commented, “ Since we got to design what we wanted, I printed a tag for my keychain that refers to an old video game that I like to play.”  

Prairie Fire Museum Field Trip, by Lily O., Junior Yearbook Staff

Appearances can be deceiving, that statement comes to life at the Prairie Fire Museum at 135th and Nall. A building made of 10,000 hand painted metal panels and over 258 one-of-a-kind dichroic sheets of glass. How it looks on the outside is quite different to the inte­rior view. The use of individual sheets of dichroic glass creates a contrasting color depending on the light­ing. So while the outside resembles a prairie fire consisting of warm oranges, golds, reds, and yellows, when one steps into the museum the glass takes on a colder hue with shades of blues, purples, and grays.

Heather Manning said, “I really liked the exterior of the building because I thought the way the glass changed colors from the outside to the inside was very pretty.

This unique building cost $30 million to create.  The students of Accelerated Schools of Overland Park had the pleasure of touring this new addition to the Midwest on September 11. The museum houses unique expositions on loan from its affiliated museum, New York Museum of Natural History, which is the famous museum in Central Park that is the focus of the 2006 movie, “A Night at the Museum.”   Each exhibit remains at Prairie Fire for 4 to 5 months. When an exhibit arrives it is displayed in an 8,000 square foot room for visitors to enjoy.

When the students were visiting Prairie Fire, the exposition was “Mythic Creatures.”  It featured information on dragons, unicorns, and mermaids. The exhibit rooms were full of interesting facts, many life ­size sculptures, and an enormous amount of information for the students to read or watch via video. While some of the information is created from pure imagination, most of the myths were also tied to something factual. The students were able to explore the exhibits that included multiple artifacts. Roaming around the room students stopped to appreciate the visuals, interactive games, and facts given at each station. All in all this field trip was a success with each student leaving having learned something new. The Prairie Fire Museum offers unique sights that everyone can enjoy.


(Photo by student Heather M.)

Changes As the School Year Begins

The 2014-2015 school calendar has been finalized.  Students will return to school on Thursday, August 21 for a half day.  

There are several changes to the school's calendar this year: 

First,  the school day will be 15 minutes longer. Monday through Thursday, full-days will dismiss at 3:15 pm, while early dismissal days and Fridays will end at 1:15 pm. 

Second: Three days have been added at the end of the school year, May 26 - 28, which are designated Emergency Closure Days.  These days will be used if there are closures due to unexpected emergency and/or inclement weather this school year.  So the school year could last until May 28.

Third:  Students will no longer have early dismissal on both final exam days. They will only have an early dismissal on the last day of each semester.

There also has been a major change to the daily report card program.  Instead of only reporting on the core classes - the first 5 classes of each day- the new report cards will provide a report on the afternoon elective classes as well.  The new daily report cards will account for a student's entire day at Accelerated.

This change will mean that students will no longer receive their payment at the end of the day.  Instead, students will still receive their report cards to take home at the end of the day, but will not receive their payouts until the next day.

We hope everyone has a wonderful year of learning at the Accelerated Schools of Overland Park.

Summer Programs Continuing

As the fifth week of summer school and camp starts, older students are keeping busy with their high school credit courses, while lower/middle schools students are focusing on individualized studies and art and computer activities.

Many art projects have already been completed.  Student learning continues. Several students have already earned 1/2 credit for high school classes completed in the first three weeks.

Summer programs continue through August 8.  Students can sign up at any time for a minimum of three weeks.  If you are interested, please check out the website at www.acceleratedschoolsop.org, or call the school at 913-341-6666.

Thursday, May 15, Graduation Day!

     Twelve students began the evening as high school seniors and ended the evening as graduates.  They worked incredibly and diligently to earn their degrees.  And each student deserves a large applause for completing high school.  Their proud families and friends and teachers were all able to see them make this major transition. One student was unable to be at graduation, but he was there in spirit. In all 13 students graduated from the Accelerated Schools of Overland Park this year.
    Graduating senior Tyler started the evening with a reading before dinner.  Seniors, families, friends, staff and faculty all enjoyed a wonderful dinner before the main celebrations began.  After dinner, students were awarded certificates for good/perfect attendance, wonderful results in standardized testing.  Siarah was awarded the Faculty Appreciation Award, a honor voted on by the staff.   Dimitri was awarded the Presidential Award in Education.  Nakysha presented the Senior Speech.
     Leonard Zeskind,  a 1998 John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellow, was the commencement speaker.  Mr. Zeskind  has devoted his life to the struggle for dignity and humanity for all people, and works to curb the influence of racism, anti-Semitism and white surpremacist groups.
    During his commencement speech, he told the students that although he has spoken to Parliament in England, Police and elected officials, speaking to them made him a bit nervous.  He told them that they had already accomplished so much with completing their degrees, but they had become life long learners, and lifelong teachers.  Their role in the future was to help the people of the world work together.  As the United States becomes a country made of minorities, everyone must learn to help each other.
   And then the students were presented their diplomas by Sara and Bob, while Jane read off their names.  Each student was greeted with applause as he or she received a diploma.  It was a wonderful evening of celebration.

Annual Award Banquet

Annual Award Banquet

The Annual Award Banquet was a wonderful event!

Twelve eighth grade students graduated into high school!

Nine students performed four musical numbers for the wonderful crowd of  students, parents, family members and staff who attended.

Every student received an award based on his or her special talents.

 Two students received special recognition: Zach was named Middle School Student of the Year; Heather was named High School Student of the Year.

Ten students were recognized for excellence on National Test Scores.

Four students had perfect attendance awards;  24 were awarded for their great attendance.

Every student at the school deserves praise and recognition for their excellence this school year!

     Due to the five snow days that the Accelerated School was closed this winter, two days that were originally designated as vacation days were added back to the calendar.  Students already came back a day early from Spring Break.  School started on Monday, March 24, instead on March 25.

     Students will also lose a vacation day in April.  Instead of enjoying a four-day weekend from Friday, April 18 , through Monday, April 21,  students will return to school on Monday April 21. However, they will still have a vacation day on Friday, April 18.

     With the addition of these two days,  students will not have to go to school beyond the original last day scheduled for Thursday, May 22.    Final exams will be held, as planned, on Wednesday, May 21, and Thursday, May 22.  Teachers will report to school on May 23 for a Professional Day.

Senior graduation is set for Thursday, May 15.