Thursday, April 25, 2013

The 8th Grade Raft Race!


     The 8th Grade Raft Race begins at 8:00 AM on Friday, April 26th, 2013, at Wilson Morgan Park.    Students must remember to bring their raft race scrapbook to the park for judges' review, along with a life jacket for each student riding on the team's raft, and 2 paddles.  Additionally, a tow rope should be attached to the front of each raft for use by the Morgan County Rescue Squad in towing the raft, if needed.  Thanks to GE for providing the judges for this event; thanks to the Morgan County Rescue Squad for insuring students' safety and for directing the race; and thanks to Parks and Rec for allowing us to use the park.  Thanks also to the many parents who have supported this fun, extracurricular learning opportunity for their children!   Dr. Gillespie and Ms. Winton will be supervising the raft race.  Parents are invited to bring a chair and join Mr. McIntyre on the shoreline as he cheers on the race participants. Students may bring snacks and a canned drink, plus a chair or towel to sit on as they observe other rafts traveling around the race course. 



Thursday, March 21, 2013

Congratulations Decatur High School TSA!!


On March 12-13 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, approximately 560 middle and high school students met at the Bryant Conference Center to take part in the 34th Annual Technology Student Association State Conference. The two day event featured 43 different competitive events that range from engineering design to photographic technology. The theme for the 2012-2013 conference was A Tradition of Excellence, and Decatur High School is a great living example of this. Paul Allen, DHS chapter Advisor, led his students to victory winning an award for most individual members and placing 1st overall high school. Decatur High had two students recieve the honor of being elected to State Office for the 2013-2014 school year. Austin Rodgers, former TSA State Seargent at Arms, was elected State Vice President. Jessica Cofffey was also elected State Reporter, an office formerly held by Hughston May of Decatur High. 

Below are the awards given to the talented students of the Decatur High School TSA. These students will get a chance to compete at the National TSA conference held in Orlando, Florida from June 28 to July 2, 2013.

Career Comparison
4th Hadden Kershaw
7th TJ Romine
Computer Aided Design 2D Architecture
3rd Rowe Price
Computer Aided Design 3D Engineering
2nd Jacob Farris
5th Tyler Moore
Creed
3rd Davis Earley
Desktop Publishing
5th Shivam Patel
Dragster Design
1st Davis Earley
2nd Daniel Cater
3rd Austin Rogers
Essays on Technology
2nd Josh Echols
Extemporaneous Presentations
5th Jakob Breuer
7th TJ Romine
Flight Endurance
1st Connor Rawlings
2nd John David Kennedy
3rd Mason Kennedy
Manufacturing Prototypes
1st Bobby Doyle, Tyler Moore, Connor Rawlings
Photographic Technology
1st Hughston May
5th Mimi Walker
Prepared Presentation
7th Jessica Coffey
Promotional Graphics
5th Hughston May
6th Austin Rodgers
Safety Illustration
1st Austin Rodgers
2nd Mason Kennedy
3rd Josh Echols
State Pin Design
1st Austin Rodgers
2nd Ethan Paradise
3rd Saul Becerra
State T-Shirt Design
1st Hughston May
2nd Mason Kennedy
3rd Austin Rodgers
Structural Engineering
1st Logan Batchelor & Hadden Kershaw
2nd Bobby Doyle & Ethan Paradise
3rd Jessica Coffey & Austin Rodgers
Technology Bowl
5th Saul Becerra, Jessica Coffey, Peter Neil
Technology Problem Solving
5th Bobby Doyle & Ethan Paradise
6th Dock Hunter & David Petersen
10th Mason Kennedy & Briley Uptain
VEX Robotics
3rd David Petersen, Jay Hoffmann, Dustin Seal, Davis Earley

Congratulations DHS TSA! You have made us proud!

Congratulations to the Oak Park JUNA team!

Congratulations to the Oak Park JUNA team!  At the recent Junior United Nations Assembly held at Birmingham Southern College on January 31-February, 1, Oak Park students collected a lot of prestigious awards!  Madelyn Hoffman won the Erin McPherson Outstanding Leadership award.  Cayla Riehl and Madelyn Hoffman each received a trophy for Outstanding Girl Delegate (two winners from one school has never been achieved before at JUNA!), Beau Claborne and Stuart Thornton won a blue ribbon for outstanding display, Sanders White won $50.00 for a mini-grant proposal that will help a child in Ghana to have a save haven and an education. Sixth-graders Kira Williams and Raegan McNeil contributed research articles to support the team's written resolution which received an Honorable Mention Award.  Finally, Sadie Casteel did an excellent job as the team photographer!  Thanks to all the parents, teachers, and administrators who made this fabulous learning experience possible!  Great job Dr. Robin Gillespie and JUNA team.

Monday, March 11, 2013

The Doctors and Nurses of Tomorrow


Austin High School offers an excellent medical program. The program, taught by Mrs. Heather Tucker, is made up of three courses: Medical Professions 1, Medical Professions 2, and Medical Professions 3. The program gives students a solid background in medical technology, including anatomy, physical medical terms, career exploration, hands-on skills, CPR, and first aid. Third year students have the opportunity to shadow professionals in the medical field. This wonderful experience gives students actual hands-on experience, showing them the in's and out's of being a health care professional. The medical program can help save money for students who are considering a degree in the medical field by giving them the opportunity to see what the field is like before attending college. 
Last year, 100 percent of Austin graduates, who went through the program, went on to attend college to pursue a degree related to the medical field. Most of these students will eventually acquire a four year degree.  If the student decides that being a nurse or doctor does not suit them, they will have saved money that would be spent on another year of college, changing their major.
Mrs. Tucker says she enjoys teaching these classes, because she is a nurse with a love for teaching high school students. She also stated that the health care field is continuing to grow, and many career opportunities can be found in health care, making it a great path for students to consider.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Congratulations to the Decatur High winners of the Southeast Regional Scholastic Art and Writing Awards!

 Scholastic Gold Key                                                                                                                           
Warm by Emily Lepper   
                                                                                                                                            
Congratulations to the Decatur High winners of the Southeast Regional Scholastic Art and Writing Awards! Approximately 10% of submissions attain the Gold Key status and 20% attain Silver Key status. Portfolios and individual art submissions that earn Gold Keys will advance to the National level of the competition. DHS had both Gold Key and Silver Key winners. Two seniors earned Gold Key art portfolios. Jonathan Caldwell earned a Gold key Portfolio in 2D and another Gold Key portfolio in photography. Janessa Myers earned a Gold Key portfolio in 2D. These two seniors also earned Gold Key, Silver Key, and Honorable Mention designations in drawing, painting, and photography. Senior Emily Lepper earned two Gold Keys for her conte' drawings. Junior Hannah Clemons earned Gold Keys, Silver Keys, and Honorable Mentions for her drawings and paintings. Sophomore Will Hall earned a Gold, Silver, and Honorable Mention in the drawing and painting categories. Collectively, DHS students earned 12 'gold key' artworks, 5 'silver key' artworks, and 6 received an honorable mention.  Congratulations students!
Scholastic Honorable Mention
Breaking Chains by Jonathan Caldwell

Monday, February 25, 2013

Decatur Pedestrian Bridge - Beginning Phase




 Mrs. Alesia Doran curriculum engineering class is developing a Pedestrian Crossover Bridge with Rick Paylor, Director of Downtown Redevelopment Authority Partnership, Blake Mcannally, Donnie Lane, and many more. BP has also gracefully donated a good amount of money towards this excellent project. BP, Decatur City Schools, and the community is extremely proud of this project. Look for our monthly blog reporting the progression of this exciting project.






Safety Matters at DCS

Supervisor of School Safety, Dwight Satterfield

Decatur City Schools takes safety seriously! One way that we take care of schools is through the Safe Schools Decatur Tip Line; the Tip Line, (256) 227-8514, takes calls and text messages and is monitored at all times by our SRO officers. This has been an amazing tool in helping keep our schools safe. 

Dwight Satterfield, the Supervisor of School Safety, sends local and national reports weekly about the latest news in school safety from  to all principals in the DCS school system. His department works diligently to make sure all schools within the Decatur City system are safe and secure. Currently, new systems and procedures are being tested in different schools to improve safety including buzz-in procedures at Woodmeade and Brookhaven.

Parents should recognize that society is changing.  Threats and violent behavior in school offices will not be taken lightly. New procedures regarding transportation have been put into place recently including transportation.  If a parent wishes to talk to a bus driver, they should walk around to the driver's side and speak with the driver through the window.  Parents and care givers are no longer allowed to enter a bus.  

The DCS system creates a safe learning environment for all of our students and faculty. For more information on safety in the Decatur City schools, check out: http://www.dcs.edu/departments.cfm?subpage=109255

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Oak Park Introduces a New Robotics Program

Oak Park Introduces a New Robotics Program

The days of using LEGOs for instruction of advanced robotics students may be
numbered in middle and high schools! Oak Park Middle School is leading the way
with a new advanced robotics effort for the 6
th-8th grade Talented and  Gifted (TAG) program. All of it was made possible through a recent collaboration
between Dr. Robin Gillespie of Oak Park and Dr. John D. Williams, a Decatur resident
and Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UAHuntsville. Dr.
Williams volunteered time, money, and graduate students to develop and teach a
series of custom lesson plans that introduce microcontroller driven robots using a C
based programming language and student assembled electronic circuits. The
concepts applied at Oak Park are very similar to college level projects but do not
include high temperature soldering of electronic circuit boards. Instead, students
are learning to build circuits on breadboards that they can modify over time as their
robot becomes more and more complex.
Over an eight-week period, students explored general concepts in robotics such as
the physics of a DC motor and how solar energy can be harnessed to power
electronics. They were then introduced to an Arduino electronic controller package
that is used to program and control an ATMEGA328 microcontroller. The class of
21 was then tasked to write programs that control light emitting diodes (LEDs),
light dependent resistors (LDRs), DC motors, servos, and various sensor and
actuator mechanisms that can all be controlled by their Arduino electronics board.
In conjunction with the programming effort, students worked in teams of three to
build their own robots using kits designed and purchased for Oak Park. Each
student demonstrated a basic understanding of the assembly and programing of DC
motor driven robots with active sensing and control mechanisms.
This is just the beginning of the partnership between UAH and the Oak Park TAG
program. In the spring, Dr. Williams will return to continue the robotics effort and
the mentoring of a Destination Imagination team involved with exploration of
propulsion systems. He will also assist Dr. Gillespie, Ms. Winton, and Ms. Millwood
with the expansion of the annual Oak Park Raft Race into the eighth-grade honors
science classes.
Drs. Williams and Gillespie would like to thank Nucor and local vendors, including
Home Depot, Hobby Lobby, and Metal Fastener Supply Company, for their help in
making this project possible.


    






















Friday, January 11, 2013


  

Miss Alabama

     Congratulations to former Decatur High School graduate, Anna Laura Bryan, Miss Hoover and now Miss Alabama 2012. She will represent our state throughout the year and compete in the 2013 Miss America Pageant in Las Vegas. The finals will be on ABC Saturday, January 12, 2013. The  pageant's mission is to help educate young women in Alabama by providing scholarships for their college education. The Miss Alabama Pageant, Inc. awarded approximately $105,000 in scholarships at the 2012 pageant to colleges and universities throughout Alabama.

Vote for Miss Alabama 2012 Anna Laura Bryan

     The Miss America Organization is proud to announce your opportunity to vote for a finalist at the 2013 Miss America Competition, broadcast live from Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on Saturday, January 12, 2013 on ABC. Watch this video to learn more about our very own Anna Laura Bryan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwEoKqxcJt4

To cast your vote, click the link below.
http://www.facebook.com/MissAmericaOrganization#!/MissAmericaOrganization/app_128953167177144