Hi Guest,
Want to know why this is our favorite time of year? We know it’s stressful and we’re in the home stretch and with testing and all that fun stuff, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s really important. It’s our favorite time of year because it is when we get to see student and teacher showcases and celebrate their successes. We were recently invited to Cobb County to share MAD-learn with Elementary STEM teachers across the district as they look to expand MAD-learn district-wide next year.
We were also invited to judge the DeKalb County NFTE App Challenge where 17 teams across three middle schools pitched their apps to a cafeteria filled with community members, local businesses, parents, students, teachers, and judges. Here are the 4 winning teams.
In Nevada, we partnered with GEAR UP Nevada and UNLV to bring some amazing activities and experiences to students in Mineral County, Pahrump, and Clark County. It is always amazing to see what students and teachers create when given the time, space, and tools to do so.
– Alefiya Master
Teachers, if you’re feeling the crunch and stress of end-of-the-year activities, grades due, and everything else that comes with it, let us help! We would love to take a load off your shoulders, visit your students virtually, and take over a class period to do some fun mobile app development activities or provide you with activities and resources to keep your students engaged and excited about learning until summer break. Reach out to us at success@mad-learn.com to set this up.
We wanted to send hearty congratulations to all the student APPreneurs who participated in recent app design competitions.
On the homefront, we had several MAD-students place in the Georgia-based CS4GA App Design Challenge. Barber MS students Olivia and Anabella created Sound Society about noise pollution and its impact, and students Eunice and John developed Ocean Saver to help solve overfishing pollution, and other ways to preserve the ocean.
We also want to wish all the #HouseofCode Congressional App Challenge winners a BIG congratulations! We were so excited to see the app Telespy, which was started on the MAD-learn platform, among the Georgia winners. The Congressional App Challenge takes place every year with a deadline in November. It’s not too early to start planning for this year’s upcoming competition.
MAD-learn ventured to Honolulu, Hawaii for the ACTE Region V conference. Check out the video below from the conference. https://youtu.be/x2nh8nCW1Og We’re also excited to return to Hawaii in June for another App Camp with the Nanakuli-Waianea Complex Area. Special thanks to Vangie Casinas and her leadership and creativity to ensure her students can get access to powerful STEM and entrepreneurial experiences. If you are interested in learning more about our camps and what we offer, please contact alefiya@mad-learn.com.
Principals from across NYC DOE are seeing the amazing value and benefit of MAD-learn for their students. Denise Williams, principal of Lehman HS in the Bronx shared her teachers’ experiences using MAD-learn with fellow principals across High School Districts 8, 10, and 11 in NYC and how it can engage all students in STEM and computer science (pictured below). Elementary Principal Elisa Gomez, also pictured below, from PS 110Q is making plans to have us come in and conduct a series of Saturday STEM Camps for girls in the Fall – we can’t wait!
This month, we are celebrating one of our newer MAD-teachers, Marlon Stansbury, who teaches STEM at American Way MS in Memphis-Shelby County Schools. Our team had the pleasure of meeting Marlon in January at a professional development, and then again in February for the district’s Get Ready, Let’s Code event and we fell in love. Marlon’s energy and enthusiasm are infectious and he has become an awesome MAD-ambassador and supporter of MAD-learn. We LOVE it when teachers new to MAD-learn love it as much as we do and bring that energy and magic to their students. GO MARLON!
Experiencing totality (when the moon is 100% in front of the sun) was a life-changing experience! Alefiya got to see this with her husband by traveling to Higden in rural Arkansas for the total solar eclipse last week. The ability to take off your solar glasses, look at the darkness all around you in the middle of the day, but most importantly, look up directly at the sun and see this gorgeous halo that is formed around the moon, was a beauty that can’t be described in words.
