ACE ACADEMY Seminole Place

Dear ACE Families,

I hope this message finds you and your family well! As we embrace the changes of the season, I want to take a moment to express my heartfelt appreciation for each of you. Your support and partnership make our school community truly special.

Announcements

We are excited to share some updates about our enhancements at ACE:

• New Activities: Thanks to generous donations, we now have a Foosball table, ping pong table, and basketball for our students to enjoy! The energy in our space has been incredible as everyone engages in these fun activities.
• Monthly Treats: Mr. Thomas has initiated a delightful tradition where our students will bake treats each month. We recently celebrated our Summer, September, and October birthdays with cupcakes, ice cream, and special gifts from Link Studio.
• College Admissions Zoom Series: We kicked off our series by featuring two colleges, and we invite all parents and students to join any sessions that pique their interest.
• Guest Speakers: This past month we have hosted several guest speakers, including the Music Resource Center and a Game Design developer.
• Thank you! Thanks to all of the families who attended Parent Teacher Conferences. The majority of our teachers had a full conference schedule. We truly enjoyed seeing so many families attend! If you missed it and would like to talk with us, please feel free to contact us.

We are continually striving to create a nurturing environment for our students. Your feedback and involvement are invaluable to us, and we encourage you to share any thoughts or suggestions you may have.

Warm regards,

Jay Thomas, Principal

Heather Corpora, School Counselor

Rose Schindler, Office Assistant

ACPS Calendar linked HERE

ACE Academy Events

11/6 Radford University Admissions zoom

11/6 University of Lynchburg Zoom

11/20 Carter's Mountain Field Trip-11th and 12th Grade

11/20 Family Game Night-ACE Academy 4-7pm

03/25-SAT DAY

05/14-Senior Capstone Ceremony

👕 ACE Academy Spirit Wear is Here!
Show your ACE pride! Families and students can now order ACE Academy shirts and sweatshirts in a variety of styles and colors. It’s a great way to represent our school and programs. Items will be shipped directly to you.

🛒 Order online here:

https://rivannagearapparel-container.zoeysite.com/school-stores/ace-academy

Our 11th and 12th grade students will be heading to Carter’s Mountain Orchard on Thursday, November 20th for a fun fall field trip! We are covering the cost of the field trip which includes apple picking, an apple cider donut, apple cider, and a hay ride! Students will enjoy time outdoors, apple picking, and a chance to connect with classmates. Click here to access the permission slip. Permission slips are due Tuesday, November 11th.

Beginning today Wednesday, October 29th, the nomination window for the 2025-2026 Golden Apple Awards will be open. Anyone can nominate a teacher for a Golden Apple: students, families, community members, or other educators.

Golden Apple webpage: https://www.k12albemarle.org/our-division/golden-apple-awards

Nominations will close on Monday, January 26, 2026.

Pathway: Media and Video Technology

How long have you been at Ace Academy? “Two years.”

Why did you decide to join ace Academy? “I wanted to have skills that I could use in the future and have classes that I would like more than at my base school.”

What are your favorite things about being at the ace academy campus versus your base school campus?

“I like how it’s a smaller community of people and how you kind of know everyone at ace academy.”

What has been your favorite thing you have created while attending ace academy?

“I really like the VSBA film contest.” (the VSBA film contest 2025 is a contest which second year media students are currently participating in. The theme for this year’s competition is

“Champions for impact in public education,” so students are challenged to respond to that

in a 30 second video. This year, media students took a trip to the music resource center

(MRC) to film and interview the people who work there each day to make everything possible.)

What project are you currently working on?

“The 2025 VSBA high school student video contest.”

How does attending ace academy help you prepare for the future?

“It helps me build on skills that I would like to use in the future like video editing which can help me get a certification in the future.”

What are your favorite things to do in your spare time?

“I like to hang out and play video games with my family and my two sisters, ride my bike,

and go to theme parks.”

Ms. Travis’ English Classes

English 10

In 10th Grade English, students explored the complex themes of identity and community. By reading a diverse collection of short stories, poems, and non-fiction articles, they learned how individual experiences are shaped by—and shape—the groups they belong to. The quarter culminated in a significant analytical essay where students explored the concept of stories functioning as "mirrors" (reflecting their own lives) or "windows" (offering a view into a different world). This project challenged students to argue how literature performs this vital role in conveying universal human experience.

English 11

In 11th Grade English, students read a variety of articles, short stories, and poems authored by Native Americans, highlighting the history and experience of indigenous peoples in America. Students explored powerful themes of identity, tradition, and cultural interactions through these texts while also developing their understanding of literary devices and elements such as symbolism, irony, tone, plot, theme, and figurative language. The unit ended with an analytical essay in which students examined how authors utilized literary devices to convey their thematic messages.

English 12

Seniors in 12th Grade English read the classic Jane Austen novel, Pride and Prejudice. We focused on the way human experiences such as love, pride, prejudice, and wealth transcend time and place. We conducted analysis of the characters, setting, tone, theme, and irony. We explored various contemporary adaptations to see how the story can translate to other time periods and cultures. The unit culminated in a project in which students were challenged to develop and create their own adaptation of Pride and Prejudice – as a short story, a movie trailer, a song, or other creative medium – demonstrating their understanding of the story’s theme and literary elements. ~Ms. Travis

English 9 Honors

This quarter, we have explored a variety of texts and skills centered around storytelling, theme, and rhetorical analysis. Students read Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia as their first-quarter anchor text to study the sequence of the Hero’s Journey story structure and to analyze how the theme of a text is developed through character and plot. They also examined “The Maya Hero Twins” from the Popol Vuh to deepen their understanding of theme and plot in mythological narratives, and they read Francisco Madero’s “Plan of San Luis Potosí” to identify and analyze rhetorical appeals in historical writing. To conclude the quarter, they applied their knowledge creatively through the Hero’s Journey Migration Map Project, making connections between the fictional journey in Moreno-Garcia’s novel and the real-world geography of Mexico and the American Southwest. Looking forward, students are reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë and will be expanding their knowledge of characterization and theme through the analysis of Jane’s character throughout the novel.

AP English Language and Composition

Mrs. Bell’s AP English Language and Composition class has focused on identifying and analyzing rhetorical strategies in a variety of historical and contemporary texts. Students have studied works such as Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” and Jonathan Edwards’s “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” to understand how authors use rhetorical appeals and stylistic choices to influence their audiences. Additionally, students have read Trevor Noah’s memoir Born a Crime and are currently reading Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, annotating to identify rhetorical devices and analyzing how each author conveys purpose and meaning. Throughout the quarter, students have also participated in the “Wall of Awe” assignment, posting weekly reflections about something awe-inspiring and analyzing their classmates’ writing for rhetorical techniques through “resident artist” presentations. They have practiced writing Rhetorical Analysis essays to prepare for one of the major components of the AP Exam in the spring. To demonstrate their growing skills, students will complete their first timed rhetorical analysis essay this month, an important benchmark in mastering the reading and writing expectations of the AP course.

DE College Composition 1 (ENG 111)

Mrs. Bell’s DE College Composition I (ENG 111) class has focused on building the foundations of strong college-level academic writing. Students have learned how to use rhetoric strategically to achieve their purpose for a specific audience and how to read texts both rhetorically and critically. They have discussed potential essay topics for their fall research portfolios and developed their research skills by learning how to perform Boolean searches and locate credible sources using the JSTOR database. For their fall midterm, students drafted an annotated bibliography on their individual research topics, demonstrating their ability to summarize, analyze, and evaluate sources effectively. Recognizing that writing is both a collaborative and emotional process, students are now preparing a “short” essay to anonymously workshop in class next week, allowing them to give and receive constructive feedback without the pressure of personal attachment. In November, they will begin drafting their full research portfolios and enter “crunch time” as they revise, refine, and finalize their work ahead of the December submission deadlines. ~Ms. Bell

World Geography

Dr. Mound's World Geography students began the year by learning about the basics of geography, including the difference between physical and human geography.

The class then turned its focus to the study of populations, including key concepts such as population density, Total Fertility Rate (TFR), Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Natural Increase Rate (NIR), and life expectancy. As part of the study of migration, students have worked on a collaborative "Hero's Journey Migration Map," which combines material from World Geography and Ms. Bell's English 9 class.

U.S. History

Dr. Mound's U.S. History students have been on a thematic, reverse-chronological journey through U.S. history. Each lesson's key event determines where a topic will fall in the course: the class will start at 2000 and work to the present, then jump back to 1980 and work to 2000, and so on.

After each lesson, students complete a "choose your own assignment" project, where they are presented with several options—ranging from forming a nonpartisan election commission and designing a set of state election rules that maximize fairness to investigating and debating how new technologies from Napster to LLMs have disrupted intellectual property law. The class is now learning about 9/11 and the War on Terror.

Government

Dr. Mound's Government students began the year by learning about various types of government, as well as the interaction between government forms and economic types.

The class then turned its attention to the founding documents, as well as the philosophical influences on the U.S.'s founding. After learning about those influences in class, students were tasked with annotating the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution to identify the role of those influences on the founding documents. ~ Dr. Mound

In physics we have dived into the concept that are involved in driving the roads. These are concepts like velocity, acceleration, stopping distance, and reaction time. We are now beginning a project analyzing real intersections for safety concerns based on physics principles. ~Mr. Bertram

Our Cyber students have been hard at work developing technical skills and preparing for CyberPatriot competitions!

Cyber 1: Students are learning about social engineering and how to recognize and defend against common tactics used by attackers. They’re also practicing for CyberPatriot XVIII, focusing on teamwork and system hardening strategies.

Cyber 2: Students are diving into Cisco Packet Tracer, learning how to configure and secure virtual networks while continuing their CyberPatriot practice sessions to strengthen their networking and troubleshooting skills.

Cyber 3: Students are currently in Week 8 of CompTIA CertMaster Learn & Labs, mastering topics in 5.2 Network Security Appliances and 5.3 Secure Communications. They’re also honing their cybersecurity defense techniques through CyberPatriot preparation.

IT Fundamentals: Students recently completed their Unit 2 Project, where they researched a role from our IT department hierarchy and wrote a creative “Day in the Life” journal entry from that professional’s perspective. They are now applying their digital skills by designing personal websites using Google Sites.

~Mr. Sills

CyberPatriot Update:

I wanted to provide an update on our CyberPatriot teams, their current standings, upcoming competition rounds, and opportunities for advancement.

Team Performance (as of today: 231 VA teams and 2,787 total teams):

• Senior Team: 57th in Virginia | 648th nationally

• Junior Team 1: 35th in Virginia | 420th nationally

• Junior Team 2: 54th in Virginia | 609th nationally

• Sophomore Team 1: 165th in Virginia | 1,932nd nationally

• Sophomore Team 2: 200th in Virginia | 2,389th nationally

Upcoming Rounds & Key Dates (Virginia):

• Round 2 – Introductory Round:
  Dates: November 13–16, 2025

• Purpose: Builds on Round 1 to assess cybersecurity skills and determine team placement into skill-level tiers for the State Round.

• State Round – Virginia:

• Dates: December 11–14, 2025
  Purpose: Compete against Virginia teams for state awards and tier placement.

Competition Tiers and Advancement:

• Teams are placed into tiers based on performance, which determines eligibility for the Semifinals and ultimately the National Finals.
  Top-performing teams in each tier advance to the Semifinals.

• High school teams begin the Semifinals with a clean slate; middle school teams carry forward Round 1 and 2 scores.

• Semifinals:

• Dates: January 22–24, 2026
  
  

• Top teams from the State Round compete nationally for a chance to advance to the National Finals.
  
  

National Finals:

• Dates: March 20–24, 2026
  
  

• Teams qualifying through Semifinals compete for the National Championship.
  
  

Next Steps for Our Teams:

We are extremely proud of the dedication and hard work our CyberPatriot teams have demonstrated. With continued focus, our students have strong potential to advance further in this national cybersecurity challenge.

Thank you for supporting our students’ participation in CyberPatriot!

This past month students worked on video submissions for the Virginia School Board Association and Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Students visited the Music Resource Center to complete the VSBA video, which had the theme of “Community of Champions” this year. Both videos can be found on the ACE Academy at Seminole website on the media communications tab or can be found using the following link https://aces.k12albemarle.org/link-studio/media-communications- ~Mr. Berry

IT Fundamentals

The students have been learning about cybersecurity basics; hardware, software, and programming.

Game Design 1

The students have been learning the fundamentals of game design theory and have most recently been creating and playtesting original board games.

Game Design 2

The students are learning different aspects of 3D video game design in the Unity game engine. They are concurrently learning new techniques that they practice as classwork and then apply them to a semester-long video game project.

Digital Visualization

The students have been learning the basics of 3D modeling in Maya. Their most recent project was to create an autumn themed scene containing 5 objects, 1 which needed to be a plant and 1 that needed to be an animal.~ Mr. Stalker

We are approaching cold and flu season. We need to have a signed copy of the medication release form on file to administer any medication to students. If you would like the option for us to administer medications to your student, we need a signed copy of the medication release form. Please have you student pick up a form from the nurses office or you may print off the attached form. Parents will need to provide medication with students name and DOB on bottle . ~Zina

Immanuel's Closet is an organization that opens their clothing store once a month for families to pick up free clothing for their student. It will be open on November 1st from 12-2pm.

Location: Immanuel Lutheran Church, 2416 Jefferson Park Avenue

2025 Schedule

Saturday, November 1

Saturday, December 6

~Heather Corpora, School Counselor and Carly Haling, School Counseling Intern