Dayton Junior Council on World Affairs Team Places 1st in Region

The DRSS-1 team of the DRSS Junior Council on World Affairs Team, also known as "JAWS COMET" (an anagram for "STEM JCOWA") placed first in the region in 2015 for the second year in a row. This earned them a spot at the national Council on World Affairs Academic WorldQuest Competition, which takes place annually at Georgetown University.

DRSS-1 Team and advisors. From left to right: Arch Grieve (advisor) Ayana May, Vidur Prasad, David Sills, Tess Greene, Tyler Lutz, Bill Clifford (WACA Pres.), and Kevin Lydy (advisor)

The students did not place at the national competition, but they had a great trip and visited the European Union Ambassador's official residence, as well as many famous Washington D.C. stops.

The group met with EU Ambassador David O'Sullivan after hearing him speak and having time to ask him questions about the relationship between the US and the EU.

Ayana and Mr. Lydy in front of one of the many embassies the group visited during their tour of Washington D.C.

The group would like to thank the sponsors of the trip - the Dayton Council on World Affairs and Wright State University's College of Liberal Arts.

Jade McDaniel Internship at the GRILL

Our very own Jade McDaniel, who teaches Technical Reading & Writing and English at DRSS, worked with the Gaming Research Integration Learning Laboratory (GRILL) over the summer. The GRILL falls under the Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) 711th Human Performance Wing. Under the direction of Dr. Winston "Wink" Bennett, its mission is to use game-based, off-the-shelf technology to help increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the U.S. Air Force. It is located near the base at the Wright Brothers Institute.

Jade McDaniel, Technical Reading and Writing/English Teacher at DRSS, discusses her internship experience at the GRILL.

Jade's involvement with the GRILL was facilitated by one of our board members, Jennifer Winner, who works closely with the organization. Jade was working through the Wright Scholars Program, which provides internships for high school students to work with mentors from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB). Specifically, Jade worked closely with the Full Throttle Karting team to take one of their problem-based learning topics and create a unit lesson plan and support document that other teachers could use. Her role was to conduct a technical writing workshop for the GRILL students and provide them with feedback on their "deliverables."

Jade truly enjoyed the experience, explaining that "the neatest thing was that I've been doing project-based learning at our school for a while now, but I still learned a lot from the other educators in terms of thinking about these problems in another way." Jade used many resources from places like the Buck Institute for Education, Edutopia, and the Creative Teaching and Learning blog to help prepare for the unique experience.

Something she gained from the experience that she hopes to use in her own classroom is a better understanding of technical reports, which she plans to apply to her own classroom by having her students create Career Exploration Reports to better understand the industries and job prospects for the careers her students hope to enter. 

Find out more about the GRILL at http://www.gamingresearchintegrationforlearninglab.com/

Alumna Profile - Kris Cindric

With Wright State starting back next week, we wanted to highlight one of our many students who have gone on to attend Wright State University for their bachelor’s degree. Today we interview Kris Cindric, DRSS Class of 2015, who was getting her textbooks this week in anticipation of classes starting next Monday. While at DRSS, Kris was in the Junior Council on World Affairs and the National Honors Society. She is now entering WSU's Biomedical Engineering program’s “traditional path” and is hoping to do work with prosthetics when she graduates.

DRSS Alumna Kris Cindric starts her first year at Wright State next week!

When we asked her to share a bit about her experience at DRSS, Kris had much to talk about. Her favorite subject? Biology. When asked why, she explained that she really "enjoys learning about the way things work in the body and why certain things in nature work the way they do." She added that “lots of questions aren’t answered up front in Biology either, and you have to do a lot of research that might last months - or even years - to come up with an answer.”

While she has a passion for science, she also developed a passion for the social sciences during her time at DRSS. One of her favorite projects that she worked on was Matthew’s Bill, a project that current Government students are continuing in which students are seeking to pass legislation (which Kris’ class drafted) that would mandate the inclusion of adult changing stations in public restrooms across Ohio for individuals with disabilities. She loved the project because "it required so much from us and empowered us by knowing that you can make a difference with such a small community, and that it can start with one person and a determination to get something fixed.”

Kris and her class with Matthew, his mother Jennifer Helton, and Senator Peggy Lehner.
You can join them for their Call to Action Rally next Monday!

As for what she’ll miss most, she says it’s the “sense of community you get at DRSS. There’s always someone willing to give up their free time to help you.” This has served her well at WSU already, and after a grueling week of 12-hour days at Wright State taking math placement tests and performing well on them, she is thrilled to find just how much DRSS helped her prepare for college - “I knew study tactics from math that I didn’t even know I had!” Kris explained.

This past summer her educational journey began to come full circle. As a teaching assistant for pre-schoolers at the Jewish Community Center, she was excited to be able to teach the children of one of her former teachers from DRSS. She hopes to continue working there while attending WSU.

Kris still has time for fun, of course, and enjoys listening to music (her favorite band is "We The Kings"), watching movies (favorite movie is "Back to the Future"), and hanging out with her parents and four siblings. She’s also hoping to be able to continue playing soccer, having played in the Huber Heights Soccer Association throughout high school.

Good luck at Wright State, Kris!