FUSD Students Earn College Credits
-Without paying tuition costs
The Flagstaff Unified School District No. 1 and Coconino Community College team up to provide high school students with many opportunities to earn credits in both FUSD and CCC. The classes are part of a program generally known as dual enrollment. Some programs have been developed in partnership with both CCC and the Coconino Association for Vocational and Technical Education (CAVIAT) – known as central programs.
There are 43 different dual enrollment course offerings for the 2008-09 academic year. You can view the titles of the dual enrollment courses and the high school at which the courses are available here. The dual enrollment classes are offered on FUSD campuses and taught by high qualified FUSD teachers who also have community college certification. Upon completion of the courses students receive both community college credit reflected on a CCC transcript and credit toward graduation in FUSD.
Central programs are offered in the areas of Lab Assistant – Certified Phlebotomist, Medical Assistant that can lead to an AAS degree, Certified Nurse Assistant, Pre-nursing coursework, and Criminal Justice leading to an AA degree. You can view more about the central programs here.
You can learn more by contacting Doug Allan, Director of Career and Technical Education in FUSD (dallan@fusd1.org or 928-527-6117).
The courses and partnerships described here are all part of a long range goal of developing a more integrated educational system, P-20, for FUSD students. P-20 means preschool through higher education.
FIRST Lego League Regional Competition
- December 6, 2008
FIRST LEGO League (FLL) is a global program created to get kids excited about science and technology. Geared for ages 9-14 (up to 16 outside of the U.S. and Canada), FLL utilizes theme-based Challenges to engage kids in research, problem solving, and engineering.
Flagstaff Unified School District is hosting the first annual Northern Arizona FLL Regional Competition on December 6, 2008. There are about 28 teams from FUSD and around Northern Arizona that will converge at Coconino High School for the competition . Three other regional FLL tournaments will be taking place the same day in Central Phoenix, East Phoenix and Tucson. Winners will compete at the Arizona State FLL Tournament to be held December 13 at Arizona State University.
The cornerstones of the program are its Core Values, which emphasize contributions of others, friendly sportsmanship, learning, and community involvement.
Each annual Challenge has two parts, the Project and the Robot Game. Working in teams of up to 10 kids and guided by at least one adult coach, team members have about 10 weeks to:
- Build an autonomous robot that will, in 2 minutes and 30 seconds, complete pre-designed missions
- Analyze, research, and invent a solution for a given assignment. This year the assignment is geared around what is called The Climate Connections Challenge.
- Create a clever presentation about their solution to perform in front of a panel of judges
The culmination of all that hard work for many teams is the participation in an FLL event. FLL events are much like sporting events! Referees monitor and score the robot game. Judges review team presentations. Teams earn awards and trophies. It’s a pumped-up environment with music and excitement, and there is a ton of cheering.
Coconino Institute of Technology
-Coconino High School
A team of students at Coconino High School, part of the Coconino Institute of Technology (CIT), just returned from their worldwide FIRST Robotics Competition. Instructors Christine Sapio and Dave Thompson logged more than 600 hours outside the regular school day with students to create 2 robots.
The inaugural competition by the CIT team was at the FIRST Robotics Competition in Arizona last fall. The team earned the Judges Award for their first-time effort. The team excelled in all areas of the competition including creativity, team work, and sportsmanship.
In April 2008, the team went to the FIRST International Competition, earned the Inspire Award for their first-time effort, and gained a great deal of knowledge. One student was approached by recruiters from MIT who gathered information from the student about attending MIT after graduation! This is not uncommon at the FIRST Competition.
CIT students and instructors learned that many teams around the world are sponsored by major corporations that back the team with mentors and dollars. I once said that it would be a wonderful day when there is an arena full of screaming fans for an academic competition – well there is now! Take a look: http://www.sciencefriday.com/videos/watch/10100 , choose Robotics Games of Glory.
For more information about FIRST go to http://www.usfirst.org/
