CoE Field Trip? Details, Details, Details...

This week proved that there are many specifics that we need to fine-tune in the Partnership program. One of the TAs, Tiberius, will be presenting his research this coming Monday, and thought it would be a good opportunity to invite his students to campus. He involved his teacher in the plans, who suggested making a field trip out of it - including getting a tour of the 3D lab. So within a short time period, we needed to obtain a 3D tour, secure bus transportation, and determine an additional activity to fit the time window that the students would be on campus. Tiberius was extremely instrumental in assembling the research presentation and the additional activity, which looks to be a tour of some labs in the FXB. I contacted the 3D lab director who agreed to conduct a tour for the students (thankfully he was available at such short notice). The sticky issue occurred with securing transportation. We could not use YHS buses because after the buses drop the high school students, they are still needed to transport middle/elem students. This realization occurred later than expected. So we were then responsible for securing a UM charter bus to transport the students. At this late stage of the game where Monday's UM charger transport schedules had already been finalized, this involved some expedited processing and pleading with UM transportation. UM transportation confirmed yesterday that a bus had been assigned to the field trip, so everything is finally settled. What we need to do in the future is to determine a to-do list/course of action/contacts along with expected lead times so that for future field trips we are able to better execute. I'm excited that things worked out for this visit and I look forward to the students visiting the CoE. This is an important component of the Partnership!

Some of our tutors and TAs from the TA-Tutor workshop!

Additional programs get off the ground!

This past week was a very busy one in the Outreach office. There were two distinct streams that we made progress on:

1. The Parent program. A small group of representatives from YHS, CoE, and YHS parents met to discuss the next steps involved in the Parent Program component of the Partnership. This was a very fruitful meeting and we were able to collectively explore and come to a general consensus on the direction in which we'd like to proceed.

2. The Tutoring program. The Partnership has collaborated with the UM NSBE Chapter, who was already volunteering in YHS in a tutoring program, to provide the tutoring segment of the Partnership. However, through the Partnership we have provided additional structure to the tutoring program which includes pairing 2-3 tutors with each TA so that there is a holistic, continuious approach to the assistance provided through the tutoring program. I conducted the initial TA-Tutor workshop last Thursday where the TA-Tutor pairs were established and expectations of the tutoring program were outlined. I'm looking forward to seeing the effect of the restructuring and the impact of the program overall over the course of the year.

I meet on a weekly basis (sometimes twice a week) with other members of the Outreach office to discuss current/upcoming updates in all components of all partnerships. YPSD is one of other partnerships that the CoE plans on developing in the surrounding area. Most of the others are currently in the discussion stages so I'll be writing about those as events transpire in the weeks/months to come.

And We're Off....

This marks the beginning of a new school year and the launching of a K-12 Partnership that the University of Michigan College of Engineering has formed with the Ypsilanti Public School District. I came on board the partnership planning efforts in January 2007 to assist with the design and implementation of this partnership and much time and effort has gone into this project since then. This fall, I wanted to begin to document my activities and involvement with the partnership now that the new school year has begun and this phase of the partnership has started.

In subsequent posts, I'll probably make reference to past activities and events that occurred (before I started this blog) that impacted the current situation. I hope that you'll enjoy reading about my experiences and I look forward to any feedback, suggestions, advice that you have!

Here's to a wonderful and successful school year!