MACA Students Shine at Exhibition
Students help local non-profits with marketing
An impressive crowd including hundreds of students, teachers, parents and community members filled the Grand Ballroom in McMinnville on April 2nd for the McMinnville Arts and Communications Academy (MACA) 2nd Student Exhibition. Only open since the fall of 2007, MACA is making outstanding progress creating a new college-prep small high school using technology and innovative practices like project-based learning and community involvement to engage students in learning.
MACA students worked in small teams with seventeen different local non-profit and civic organizations to help them develop marketing and communications strategies and materials. Students spent nearly 8 weeks working with organizations like the local police and fire departments, elementary schools, the suicide presentation hot line, the historical society and many others. Before any brochures, videos or website were created students spent many hours doing research in the community and on the internet to understand more about their “clients” and the needs of the community, and to see how other similar organizations promoted themselves through marketing materials, websites and videos.
 
“It was very cool…like being in our own advertising agency,” said a student who had been working with the local police department (pictured above right). “We met with the police department to find out what they needed and then created this video and brochure to help young people understand how important it is to drive safely. I learned a lot about our own police department and what other people are doing to promote safety around the country.”
“Our student project teams are an important part of what we do at MACA and why our small school is so unique,” said Laurie Cooper, Principal at MACA. “We have a project-based learning model and use digital technology to focus teaching and learning for students.”
In addition to working with the local non-profit organizations, MACA students worked with several local and regional business professionals who volunteered their time to advise the teams about marketing strategy, and video and website design.
Students did more than just show their videos at the Exhibition. Audience members spent about an hour touring the ballroom and listened to students describe their work with the non-profit organizations. Parents and community members asked students to explain their projects and their strategy for communicating about the need of the non-profit. “I’m very impressed with quality of all these projects,” said one proud parent standing in front of their daughter’s display, ‘This is the best community turnout for a student exhibition I’ve ever seen in McMinnville.”
 Students voted on the six projects that would be presented on Exhibition night before the community and panel of communications experts. The “Best Of” projects included Print: Suicide Prevention Coalition and McMinnville Youth Basketball Association, Video: Suicide Prevention Coalition and Miller Woods (Wildlife and Land Refuge), Website: Suicide Prevention Coalition and the Plan Loving Adoption Agency (pictured right).
“Projects like this open up a whole new world for our students,” said Principal Cooper. “Working with our community partners and business professionals provides a rich learning opportunity for our students that just can’t be matched.”
Non-Profit Client List:
Cook School, Yamhill County Prevention of Homelessness, Willamette Valley Medical Center, McMinnville Fire Department, Suicide Prevention Coalition, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), Plan Loving Adoptions, Habitat for Humanity Restore, YCAP, Wascher School, McMinnville Police Department, Columbus School, McMinnville Aquatic Center, Memorial School, Newby School, McMinnville Youth Basketball, Yamhill County Historical Society and Miller Woods.
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Marshall Students Win PSU Engineering Competition
(Marshall Campus Students pose after winning the PSU Design Competition.)
Students from small schools on the Marshall High School Campus took 1st Place in the Portland State University Design Competition held in late February at the Maseeh College of Engineering & Computer Sciences. The competition is held annually for high school students with the goal of engaging the community and exciting the next generation of engineers. Students from Biz Tech Academy, Renaissance Arts Academy and Pauling Academy outscored hundreds of other students from across Oregon to win the overall award for best high school performance.
Working in teams of four, students competed in events that demonstrated understanding of engineering and physics, and built models that tested their designs and knowledge of science. Competitive events included: Mousetrap Vehicle Design; Trebuchet; Edible Car, Bridge Building and the always exciting Egg Drop competition.
  
Student Mouse Trap Vehicles were built to demonstrate accuracy and speed using parts from old mouse traps. The “cars”, powered by springs from the mousetrap, were judged on their ability to travel exactly 5 meters, or go the fastest on the short track. The Biz Tech team got their car within a fraction of the 5 meter mark to defeat all competitors, and Jorge Nava, a sophomore at Renaissance Arts Academy, won the individual award for his vehicle’s accuracy. Other winners included, Fidel Garcia, who took first for his balsa wood bridge, which held 238 pound of pressure and was one of the lightest weight bridges in the competition, and Brian Lee, who came in first for his egg drop container.
Students also created Edible Cars out of Oreo Cookies, Rice Crispy Treats, spaghetti, marsh mellows and other kid-friendly food items. The designs were tested on a sloped track to see if the car wheels would spin, and if the designs could withstand friction and hold together during the test. Failed vehicles often ended up in the stomachs of team members.
“The trip to PSU’s design competition was a great experience for our students,” said Tamara Purkey, teacher of advanced mathematics at Biz Tech High School. “Students had great fun testing their designs against students from other high schools, and it was valuable for them to interact with other science-motivated students, talk to PSU student volunteers and just to see what it’s like to be on a college campus. I’m so proud of them.”
Students will be show-casing their medals at school, some of their winning projects (the one’s that haven’t already been eaten) and the winning student teams will be recognized at an upcoming all school assembly on the Marshall Campus.
“I'm very proud of the hard work and ingenuity our students showed with their projects,” said Megan Whisnand, physics teacher at Biz Tech Academy. “For them to be rewarded with medals in front of a large crowd of participators is something that will stick in their memory forever.”
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Film Festival a Smashing Success
 
Nearly 200 students, parents, teachers and business leaders attended the third annual E3 Oregon Small Schools Film Festival on Tuesday evening May 13th at the Portland Art Museum and shared in the celebration of student film projects. Six short films were featured along with a special segment called Clips from Films of Merit.
The festival was created in cooperation with the NW Film Center and the Young Film Makers Program, to provide an opportunity for students to use the creative medium of filmmaking to express their thoughts about their schools and the world. Prior to the screening a reception was held in the art museum to honor the student film makers.
 The six featured films and their schools included “Love & Fate” from Renaissance Arts Academy (the Marshall High School Campus) and “If I were President”, also from students at Renaissance Arts Academy. A film about suicide prevention, aptly called “Suicide Prevention Coalition” was created by students at the new small school in McMinnville, Media Arts & Communications Academy (MACA). A music video called “The Apple Man” was produced by students from the Crater School of Business, Innovation and Science, and a school promotional film. “POWER Academy: The Heart of Roosevelt” was produced by students at Pursuit of Wellness Education at Roosevelt, one of the small schools on the Roosevelt Campus (pictured above left).
 
(The Machine team from BACH at South Medford Campus.)
The Jury Winner was a film called,“The Machine”. Filmed by Sam Wilder and Zach Campbell of Bridging the Arts, Communications and Humanities (BACH) one of the small schools on the South Medford Campus, “The Machine” tells the story of a young student who builds a time machine in the school to take him (or is it his mind?) to new places. The Jury found the film creative and technically well executed.
Following the screening, each of the schools and their team of student film makers were recognized with certificates of participation and a wild round of applause from the enthusiastic crowd.
 “This was a wonderful opportunity for students to showcase their creative voice and understanding of digital technology,” said Karen Phillips (pictured left), director of the initiative. “We were very impressed with the quality of the work produced by the students.”
Plans are already underway for next year’s festival, and the themes and registration information will be available in early fall to all schools participating in the Oregon Small Schools Initiative.
If you would like additional information about the E3 Small Schools Film Festival, please contact Charlie LaTourette at 503-595-7615.
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