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In this eUpdate:
My Trip to Washington, DC
SIATech Homestead Graduate Jasmine Nails Recounts Her Experiences as an Intern for a Day
by Jasmine Nails
 My name is Jasmine Nails and I am eighteen years of age. In January of 2009, I
graduated from SIATech Charter High School in Homestead, Florida. SIATech Charter High
is located at the Homestead Job Corps Center where I am also a student. These two places alone have opened many doors for me, including the doors to Washington, D.C., twice.
In the month of July I visited Washington D.C. for a student Government
Leadership Conference. At that point in time I never thought that I could
become breathless, but I did. The sights were spectacular, the views were
fantastic, and the architecture was outstanding. I took in all that I could
and thought, "If I never got the chance to return to D.C., I'd remember this
trip forever." Luckily for me I was so fortunate as to experience this feeling
once more.
I was back in Washington, D.C. and this time the trip was to Job Shadow
Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart. Congressman Diaz-Balart covers the 25th
district in Florida, which is a part of Homestead. As a resident of Homestead
I was eager to have a chat with the man who contributes to decisions that
affect my life. So there was no other logical response than for me than to be
ecstatic.
On my trip I asked questions and I learned many things. I learned a
lot about how the office is conducted and the duties of everyone in his
office. I was told how bills were followed and by whom, what each "light" on
the clock meant, and how the congressman spends his day. Most importantly I
learned that Congress is really as busy as you'd think. Between the voting, the
meetings, the conference calls, the visitors, and all of the rush, the day is
constantly moving; which is comforting to know that Congress is steadily
fighting to better our lives. I loved the environment I was in and the entire
day was amazing.
Around noon, I sat in the office eating lunch and smiling to myself. I wasn't
just smiling about the "this is so unbelievable factor." I was smiling at the
thought that, everyone in this office seemed to be so young. I was informed
that the youngest person in the office was twenty-two years of age. You'd
think that this question alone would be such a small factor in my day due to
all I've experienced, but it was the most memorable. Because I had just
realized that my goals in life could become bigger and better and could be
obtained sooner.
I'm currently enrolled in the Pharmacy Technician Course at
the Homestead Job Corps Center in hopes of becoming a Pharmacist. Seeing these
young men and women achieve their goals made my goals seem much more
realistic. I had dreams that I thought were impossible but now I have goals
that I know are possible.
Jasmine Nails was one of many participants in the National Job Corps Association's 45th Anniversary Celebration. The event demonstrated how the Job Corps program has changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of its graduates. Stay tuned for upcoming newsletters to feature more news on how other center's celebrated the anniversary, including a special feature on the demonstration by students from the SIATech at San Jose Job Corps Center Robotics Team!
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What is the AI Team? Artificial Intelligence?
How a Collaborative Team Created Solutions to
Internet Access Issues in the Classroom
by Liz Hessom
 Over the past few months SIATech has had an AI team working on an important site challenge. No, the AI team is not about artificial intelligence and teaching computers to interact with students; it is a team working on how to support sites in monitoring Internet use—a.k.a., the Access Internet team.
This team set out to meet the challenge of how to give students real-life Internet experiences while supporting teachers who want to spend more time teaching and less time monitoring students’ surfing and downloading.
A site staff survey identified the major issues, and then an interdepartmental team worked together to find a technology solution that would work for all sites. The solution was the development of four classroom Internet profiles that allow teachers to select Internet access appropriate for their classroom needs.
Sapna Iyer and Greg Cohen launched this effort with a survey of Social Studies and Creative Technology/ Senior Projects teachers on technology issues. From their data, the team gleaned a lot of information, but one of the most telling statistics was:
- 82% of the 39 teachers surveyed reported being unable to conduct a teaching or learning activity because of access restrictions.
Conversely, some AI members had learned from other teachers that students had too much Internet access for their content area. These resulted in concerns of students being off task and using valuable bandwidth by streaming music and videos. Dave Davis confirmed this issue and cautioned that inappropriate Internet usage in some classrooms was prohibiting students in other classrooms from accessing curriculum resources.
So, with Nancy Middlemas as our taskmaster, we set out to find solutions to provide more options to classrooms with robust research requirements and restrict access in classrooms with minimal research needs. After many meetings and much research on programs and possible technology configurations, the team came up with a plan to allow teachers to choose a profile that would determine the quality of Internet access students will have in their classrooms.
The Internet Access profiles are:
- Researcher. Student access is almost like staff access, with all search engines available—but restricted for harmful or inappropriate content like pornography, gambling, and violence. By staff request, heavy download sites like You Tube and some music and video sites are also restricted, but students generally have real-life Internet access, with all the good and bad that entails.
- Limited Researcher. Students have just two search engines—NetTrekker and Google CSE (Custom Search Engine)—but have authentic search capabilities with these educationally rich search engines. Students can also access all Angel links and other websites by typing in URLs.
- Whitelist. Students can use curriculum websites only, by clicking on links. They have no search engines and no search capabilities, but BrainPop and links in Angel will be accessible.
- No Internet. Students can only get to SIATech internal sites—PLATO, Angel, SIATech.org, etc. External links in Angel and BrainPop are not accessible.
The biggest challenge that the team faced was the Limited Researcher profile. Many teachers had expressed an urgent need for research resources since the loss of our e-library last spring. We had to find a way to give students robust and meaningful research capabilities while curbing web-surfing distractions. Colin McCauley and Kevin Whalley worked to provide two valuable applications to make this possible: NetTrekker and Google CSE. The NetTrekker search engine provides only websites that have been reviewed and approved by teachers. It has keyword search for articles, images, and other media and contains tools to search by reading level. It even allows language learners to read some websites in languages other than English, and many other articles have a “read aloud” capability.
The Google CSE only searches websites that we put into it. Hahn Nguyen graciously volunteered to organize websites entered into the CSE. Working with content specialists, she started with all the websites that had been whitelisted at the school sites and continues to add websites as they are recommended by staff through a staff-only link in Google CSE. Google CSE also provides image searching—requested by so many teachers—with a “safe” image search that returns the top 56 images for each search term.
Once the team determined the solutions, it needed some guinea pigs. As the ESS representative of the team, I “volunteered” the Los Angeles site because I had already been working with them on several access issues they were having. Lori Belzman rolled out the classroom profiles, and Lori, Diane Fairchild, Dave Meyer, Dave Davis, and Kevin Whalley went to the L.A. site for training and troubleshooting. Granted, not everything went as planned, but Kendra Ladrido and Sapna Iyer constructed a staff questionnaire, and from the LA staff’s great feedback, the team was able to fix several issues and fine-tune the process.
Now we are ready to start implementation of this process at all of our sites. Sacramento, Jacksonville, and Long Beach are already scheduled for implementation. As each site is added, AI members, including IT, will be on site for training and support to ensure that teachers feel informed about their classroom profile decisions and that the technology to support the process is working smoothly.
As I worked with this team I observed great examples of our core values of Respect, Integrity, Learning and Service. Everything that we discussed and focused on was in support of these values. I would like to extend a huge thank you to the whole AI team and all staff at the LA site for their participation in this important project. As long as our organization continues to tackle these tough issues in a collaborative way that focuses on student success we will continue to be a good organization and continuously move to be a great one.
Liz Hessom is Director of Education, Area 2. The Access Internet (AI) Team consists of members of the Learning Support, Information Technology, Applications, Education Services, and Student Support Services teams. For questions or feedback, contact liz.hessom@siatech.org.
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SIATech San Diego Students Selected for the Young Legislators Internship Program
by Luke Sponsler
 The Young Legislators Internship Program is designed to establish a connection between SIATech San Diego students and local state legislative offices. This internship will educate students in the process and mechanics of local government and forge relationships that could prove beneficial for life after graduation. The goal is to help students gain workplace skills and a deeper understanding of the political process. This partnership will expose the students to a wide range of careers and fits with SIATech’s mission of Real Learning for Real Life®.
The applicants undertook a rigorous selection process and were interviewed by representatives from Congressman Filner's, Assemblywoman Salas', and State Senator Denise Ducheny's Office. I would like to extend sincere congratulations to the following students who have been selected as interns for the Young Legislators program.
U.S. Congressman Bob Filner's Office will be represented by students Isabel Escorcia and Josue Ibarra. California State Assemblywoman Mary Salas' Office will be represented by students Gabriela Gonzalez, Melissa Exler, and Daniel Tate.
Also, I would like to acknowledge the other students who did a fine job in the interview process, but unfortunately were not selected. Those students are Marisol Arvizu, Vianney Frias, Bianca Sanchez, and Marisol Sanchez. I have encouraged all of those students to apply again for the spring session.
On a personal note, this process has been a wonderful experience for me as a teacher. To have the opportunity to see your students flourish outside the classroom and expanding their vision of the world is an invaluable reward. It is a reminder of why you chose the profession, and encourages you to broaden your own horizons as well. I encourage all teachers to find opportunities to work with students outside the classroom.
Thank you to Social Studies Teacher Luke Sponsler and Learning Support Specialist Sapna Iyer for their dedication in launching the Young Legislators Internship Program.
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"Every school day, more than 7,000 students become dropouts. Lacking a high school diploma, these individuals will be far more likely than graduates to spend their lives periodically unemployed, on government assistance, or cycling in and out of the prison system."
"Everyone benefits from increased graduation rates."
- Alliance for Excellent Education,
The High Cost of High School Dropouts
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