Hi Guest,

Gregg Stone here, filling in for Alefiya this week. She actually took the week off (upon our insistence, of course 😉 to celebrate her upcoming nuptials. The MAD-learn family is pleased to announce the addition of Mike Carroll, who is exchanging vows with our own CEO this weekend! We are so happy that she has found the one who loves who she has been, who she is, and who she will become. Please join us in wishing Alefiya and Mike all the best in their new life together.

We hear there is a yearlong global wedding celebration in the works, starting with an intimate friends and family gather at their family lake house, followed by trips and visits and celebrations with friends and family across the world – we can’t wait!

Gregg Stone

Director of Curriculum and Implementation

What’s hAPPening

The Wedding App

Our CEO and her fiancé decided to go green with their wedding and not have paper invitations. Instead, they built their own Wedding Mobile App! The app is eloquent yet simple to use, and it serves as a fitting resource for all the information the guests need, including directions to the wedding and other venues, weekend agenda, a photo album of the happy couple, and even an option to RSVP. What a great use of MAD-learn, and what a great thing to celebrate!

Virtual MAD-internship Program Grows

This week’s Monday morning zoom meeting included many windows, as MAD-learn welcomed six new virtual summer interns (with four more on the way). This strong group of high school students will be contributing animations, avatars, AR curriculum elements, and more in meaningful—and what will certainly be rewarding—ways. These virtual student interns are dialing in from Texas, New York, Florida, Kansas, and more and found out about our virtual internship program through the Congressional App Challenge, local CSTA webinars, parents who are teachers, and friends. We love the network effect! This is the largest group of interns we have ever had, and the skill sets they bring will help our program continue to improve and grow!

MAD-spotlight!

MAD-teacher of the Month

Virtual summer camps have unique challenges, but people like Gabriel Gomez help overcome obstacles in many ways. The most important of which are life experiences that have shaped his affective personality.

Born in the Gambia, Gabriel spent much of his youth in England. His life adventure began at birth. His parents were living in England during his mother’s pregnancy. His father, insisting his son be born in his native Gambia, flew his wife and unborn child (due in mere weeks) on a plane to Africa, where Gabriel was born!

When he moved to the U.S. he ended up becoming a student and standout footballer (soccer player, to us Americans) at Berea College outside Lexington, Kentucky. He is now a member of the CARES team, overseeing the progress of entering freshmen and working on projects like the college’s summer academies program. Oh, yes, he is also working toward a doctorate degree in psychology.

We have been fortunate to have him working with us during two separate three-week MAD-learn sessions for high school seniors. He knows the students well and is obviously well-liked by them. His easy-going attitude and level of engagement have helped keep the participants focused and our efforts well-received. We appreciate this fine young man and look forward to seeing where life takes him!

MAD-family Continues to Grow

We want to thank schools that have either renewed their partnerships with MAD-learn or are just joining our MAD-family. We are so happy to know we will be continuing our work to help students at:

St Ignatius College Riverview (Australia)
Putnam Valley Elementary (NY)
CESA 3 (WI)
Rich Township High Schools (IL)
Colonial Middle School (PA)
South Ocean Middle School (NY)
Walla Walla HS GEAR UP (WA)
Chattahoochee Valley Community College (AL)
Lake Shore Central Schools (NY)
ESC 12 GEAR UP (TX)
Duval GEAR UP (FL)

July’s Featured Tutorial

From the “Appreneurship 101” module comes an interesting guide to how creative logos help promote your brand. After reviewing several famous and small-scale offerings, the slide deck presentation includes an activity in which students can try their hand at building their own design.

This resource has been getting more use, these days, even with students who are not involved in this specific extracurricular program! Fair warning, though, you won’t be able to unsee what you may have overlooked in the past.

Don’t leave without…

… hearing from these amazing voices from each state here in the United States about their support of more computer science exposure for students through the Congressional App Challenge. Don’t miss Georgia’s voice!