One of the Top 100 Communities for Youth

Out of the thousands of communities across the nation, for the first time Kent has been nominated as one of the top one hundred communities for young people.

To celebrate this accomplishment, on February 18, 2011 the community gathered at the ShoWare Center in Kent where they watched performances, visited booths and got involved in different activities. These were all put on by different community members of Kent.

Kent-Meridian High School, Kentridge High School and Mill Creek Middle School performed several different styles of dance, including Tahitian, Bollywood and Rockette style. In addition to dancing, students from Kent- Meridian showed off their vocal talents. Several prominent members of Kent spoke, such as the mayor, Suzette Cooke, Chief Student Achievement Officer Dr. Merri Rieger and students of the Institute for Community Leadership.

Coming together as one, different corners of the community came together and proved why Kent earned this great recognition. Containing such a broad spectrum of diversity, the youth of Kent teach each other the concept of acceptance, creating a respectful environment. Not only do the community members accept one another, but they celebrate the variety of people within Kent, making Kent a comfortable place for the youth to live.

Communications Intern Michayla Tompson

Introducing Families to the Technological World

There is no I in team. This cliché held true for the members of the Student Technology Education Partnerships (STEP) Program and over 50 volunteers this past Saturday, February 12, 2011. The students and community members of Kent joined together to bridge the digital divide at the Bridging the Gap deployment, an event where refurbished computers are distributed to Kent families who cannot afford one.

The members of the STEP Program led groups of Kent School District students and community members in order to make the deployment successful. There were several different stations that the students and community members worked at which all linked to each other. Without one of these stations, all of the others would fail. Everyone did a great job at working together for a greater cause.

After four hours of lifting, cleaning, organizing and packaging computers, 97computers were granted to families in need, affecting 189 students in grades K-12 in the Kent School District. Thanks to Bridging the Gap, these families will now have a computer and an equal opportunity to access technology as other students do. And this is just the beginning! The next Bridging the Gap deployment will happen on June 4, 2011, so more families can catch up with the technological world.

Want to help? You can print off a Bridging the Gap Volunteer form at http://www1.kent.k12.wa.us/ksd/it/btg/volunteer.htm and also find more information on the event in general on Bridging the Gap at www.ksdbtg.org.

Student Writer Michayla Tompson

Visit STEP on Facebook!

You can now visit the STEP program's facebook by clicking here!

Closing the Digital Divide

I once read a book of wisdom. It says to gain more wisdom, observe ants working. So, I did! I was astonished to see a multitude of ants working together carrying supplies to their destination. These ants seemed to know what they were doing. Their operation seemed organized. I wondered, “How do they know where to go, what to get, and who ordered their actions?” We have superiors who direct us. I kept watching to see if I could spot a leader. Sadly, I could not find one ant that led everyone in the mass.

Saturday, February 27, 2010, I got to observe another ant crowd. This time, they were ants from the Kent School District. They were our high school and middle school students working at the deployment of Bridging the Gap. These students distributed refurbished computers to 156 families, affecting 318 students in the Kent School District, who cannot afford to buy a home computer. Through the Kent School District Student Technology Educational Partnerships (STEP), we have 11 STEP student leaders who managed the deployment. At our planning meeting, prior to the deployment, I told them that they couldn’t do the job alone, they needed workers. I challenged each of them with the responsibility to recruit enough workers to work for them at the deployment. On the day of deployment, there were 54 student volunteers working under the direction of these STEP leaders to run a very smooth operation. They completed a day-long job in 4 hours from set-up to clean-up. It was amazing to watch them.

Students have power and talent to affect change, especially taking ownership of their own learning. They need opportunities, resources, and empowerment to make this happen. This is where teacher and administrators come in – to provide opportunities, to provide resources, and to emplower our students to change the world, one community at a time.

(originally posted March 16, 2010)

Students help make NCCE a success!

Last week, 47 TechYES Kent School District middle school students from Mill Creek, Meridian, Meeker, and Cedar Heights were part of the tech crew at NCCE, the Northwest Council of Computer Educators state conference. These students helped with video and audio production, technical support for attendees, geocaching events, and support for speakers.

The Kent School District also had eight students in the STEP program (Student Technology Educational Partnerships) spend time throughout the week filming and editing video footage for the conference. NCCE asked for a video to be produced that would capture the spirit of Seattle and the energy of the conference to be shown during the closing keynote.

As always, the video turned out to be amazing!

(originally posted March 12, 2010)

Welcome!

Welcome to the new Kent School District STEP Program blog. News, updates, and announcements will be posted here from now on.