BCA May Newsletter

Dear parents and students,

At this, the culmination of the inaugural year of the BCA, we are happy to report that the year has been a great success: we worked, played, and grew academically. Many events happened along the way - kickoff picnic, pinning ceremony, field trips to MTSU for all grade levels, research at the Walker Library, visits to the college writing lab, mentor meetings, speech class and/or critical thinking/reasoning class, speaker's series, the trip to SOAR for our juniors and seniors, the capstone project defenses, and the capstone gallery walk.

We appreciate teachers who helped, and we appreciate our community sponsors. We could not have done all we did without MTSU's support!

We could not be more proud of all of our BCA students, and we look forward to even greater accomplishments in our future. We thank the 24 seniors who took on a lot of work this past year in order to get in all of the requirements. You were trailblazers, and you set the bar high.

Some quotes to leave you with from BCA students:

"I know I can do college now at a very high level."

"I am much more confident in myself - especially speaking to a crowd."

"I had to go way out of my comfort zone, but it was all worth it."

"They wouldn't let me quit, and I'm so grateful. This is a huge accomplishment."

"We are ready to do great things!"

Next time you are in the high school, please look at the wall outside of attendance. You will see the first composite of our BCA seniors. This is a tradition we will continue, and we look forward to a special recognition at graduation as well. We are so glad to have you all as a part of the academy!

-Dr. Leisa Justus

Look at what our first graduating class of BCA seniors have accomplished! We are so proud of each of you!

• ACT- 27.57 avg
  
• 494 AP/Adv Honors/Honors/Dual Enrollment courses taken
  
• Involved in over 207 Clubs/Sports
  
• 3.8 Avg GPA
  
• 3 Valedictorians
  
• 16 graduating with distinction
  
• 21 graduating with honors
  
• 13 Summa Cum Laude
  
• 8 Magna Cum Laude
  
• 2 Cum Laude
  
• $1,979,000 in scholarship money

• Upcoming freshmen: Honors English I, Honors Biology, and Honors World History or AP Human Geography

• Upcoming sophomores: Honors English II, Honors Algebra II or Advanced Honors Geometry, and Honors Chemistry
  

• Upcoming juniors: AP English III, AP U.S. History or Dual Enrollment U.S. History, and Speech or Critical Thinking (highly recommended junior year before capstone)
  

• Upcoming seniors: Speech or Critical Thinking (if not already taken) and Capstone
  

The Annual BCA Kickoff Cookout is scheduled for the first week in August. All BCA members are invited. We will enjoy food, games, and a scavenger hunt. You will also have the opportunity to donate to a great local charity. Expect invitations over the summer. We hope to see you there!

• Andrew Dodge, Cody Ramangkoun, Rhyan Lake, Layne Nash, Kayla Reed, and Cierra Williams were selected as the BHS Boys' State and Girls' State delegates for 2016.

• Madison Huffine, Mary Hartman, and Savannah O'Kelley got accepted to the Governor's School of the Arts.
  

• Marisa Graham got accepted to the Governor's School for Humanities.

• Griffin Collins got accepted to the Governor's School of the Sciences.

• Crystal Dangerfield was named the 2016 AAA Tennessee Miss Basketball. This is the second year she has won this honor. Crystal has also won the Morgan Wootten award. The Morgan Wootten Award recognizes the nation's top high school basketball senior who demonstrates outstanding character, exhibits leadership, and embodies the values of being a student-athlete in both her school work and community affairs. This ultimately means, she was named NATIONAL player of the year!

• The following BCA students competed in the State Competition March 3rd- 5th: Cameron Almonrode, Alexandria Bartoszek, Nathan Bryan, Madelyn Chappelear, Madison Childers, Timmy Gardner, Paula Gonzalez, Jenna Kleinschmidt, Hanna Nordin, Jared Robinson, Taylin Spurlock, and Chandler Vongphachanh. The students who advanced to Nationals are Madison Childers, Paula Gonzalez, Taylin Spurlock, and Colton Tincher.

• Our Blackman Science Bowl Team competed in Knoxville, TN and out of 58 teams they were in the top 16. We had 3 BCA students: Nathan Bryan, Evan Daman, and Madison Fabber on the team.

• Madison Flannery has been selected as the winner from Blackman High School for the MTEMC writing contest. She has won $100.00 and a Washington Youth Tour.
  

• Madison Childers was named one of two Tennessee's top youth volunteers of 2016 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. Read the full story here. Congratulations Madison!

• Weston Hollins was accepted to the United States Military Academy at West Point and the United States Air Force Academy. What an exceptional honor!

• Nia Morris was accepted to the American Musical & Dramatic Academy (AMDA). AMDA is a very prestigious college for the performing arts in New York City!

The juniors will be going to MTSU for a research/capstone day on Thursday, May 19th. We will leave at 8 a.m. and be back by 3 p.m. Permission forms will go out next Wednesday, May 4th and should be returned to Ms. Bryan by the following Wednesday, May 11th.

What a great group of speakers we had this year for our Blackman High Speaker Series! BCA, NHS, and other assorted groups heard from:

• Vincent Windrow, Assistant Vice Provost for Student Success at MTSU
  
• Butler Touchton, Banker and Philanthropist
  
• Keith M. Huber, Lt. General, Retired, MTSU ROTC
  
• MTSU Biology Professor Dr. Ryan Otter
  
• Murfreesboro mayor Shane McFarland
  
• MTSU Psychology Professor and therapist Dr. Corey Teague
  
• Coreen King, BHS alumna, former DECA member and business consultant
  
• Chris DeGeorge, Vanderbilt grad, Project Manager for Qualderm Partners
  
• Sensei Bill Taylor from BSK Karate
  
• Mr. William Epps, Educator at Blackman High School

We have revamped our series as a question/answer session with a moderator. Possible speakers for the 2016-17 year include: a county judge, a sports CEO, a Nashville musician, an astronaut, an author, a restaurant owner, a Vanderbilt professor, a college basketball player, a realtor, a non-profit director, a film school professor, and a funeral home director.

We’ll see you next year!

Remember that you have to complete 40 hours of a Lifetime Experience by mid-way through your senior year. The summer is a great time to get this completed since numerous camps are offered around the middle Tennessee area. Here are just a few:

• www.innovationjcamp.org
  
• www.mtsu.edu/aerospace
  
• www.mtsu.edu/cimtsu
  
• www.acementor.org
  
• https://www.idtech.com/locations/tennessee-summer-camps/nashville/id-tech-vanderbilt-university/
  
• www.rutherfordchamber.org

These BHS classes can also count for your 40 hours:

• Blaze Bank
  
• Sketch it Up
  
• Blaze Bookstore
  
• The greenhouse
  
• IT Clinical classes
  
• Film/TV station work
  
• Supervised Agriculture Experience
  
• Culinary café
  
• Health Sciences clinical
  
• Pre-school work
  
• Work based learning
  
• School fine arts performances
  
• Yearbook
  
• Newspaper
  
• ROTC
  

If you have any questions or need direction on what you need to do, please email Ms. Cook at cookg@rcschools.net

Remember to turn in your extra-curricular activities hours to the front office as soon as you complete them. Extra forms are located in the front office or online.

• Seniors: May 18th (Graduation practice), failure to submit the 20 required extra-curricular hours could result in your Collegiate Academy graduation status being revoked.
  

• Underclassmen: May 27th, if you fail to submit the 20 required hours by this date you will have to appear before the BCA faculty board at the start of the 2016-2017 school year.
  

Want to help the school with something you already do? Do you shop at Publix or Target??

Through the Publix Partners program, you can get a Publix card and enroll as a member of Blackman High School. A percentage of any purchase you make at Publix will come back to Blackman High School!

Through the Target REDCard program, Target will donate 1% of your purchases back to the school. Just ask your local Target to get signed up!

Semester grades for Fall 2015 were checked on Jan 6th. BCA students were notified in writing if they have been placed on Academic Probation for the Spring 2016 Semester.

Also note that it is the responsibility of the BCA student to notify BCA Administrators if the student receives either ISS or OSS. BCA students have 72 hours to notify either Ken Reed, BCA Dean, or Andrea Holder, Academic and Disciplinary Committee Chairperson, of any suspensions.

Below are the policies for both Academic and Disciplinary Probation from the Collegiate Academy:

Academic Probation from the Collegiate Academy

Students in the Collegiate Academy are expected to maintain a 3.0 GPA and passing grades in all classes. If a student 's GPA falls below a 3.0 or if a student fails one or more classes, he or she will be placed on Academic Probation from the Collegiate Academy for the following semester. At the end of the probationary semester, the student's membership will be reassessed. If the reason for the probation has been corrected, he or she will be reinstated as a member in good standing. If the reason for the probation has not been corrected, he or she will be dismissed from the Collegiate Academy.

Disciplinary Probation from the Collegiate Academy

Students in the Collegiate Academy are expected to conduct themselves in accordance with Blackman High School’s Student Code of Conduct. Violations of the Code of Conduct, in which disciplinary action is taking by BHS administration, will result in one semester of Disciplinary Probation. At the end of the probationary semester, membership will be reassessed. If there have not been any additional violations of the Student Code of Conduct resulting in disciplinary action, the student will be reinstated as a member in good standing. If additional violations of the Student Code of Conduct resulting in disciplinary action have occurred, the student will be dismissed from the Collegiate Academy.

MTSU is offering a certain number of scholarships to Rutherford County high school students to attend free 5-day accelerated language camps. The Center for Accelerated Language Acquisition (CALA), the language training center of the MTSU Honors College, is proud to partner with the Jennings & Rebecca Jones Foundation to provide scholarships for high school students and teachers interested in attending its Language Institute this summer. Thanks to the generosity of the Foundation, a select number of applicants will have the opportunity to take up to two, 5-day accelerated language courses of their choice. Choose from the following languages: Chinese, French, Japanese, Spanish, Tamil (a popular language in India).

Take advantage of this opportunity by applying for a Jennings & Rebecca Jones Foundation scholarship at www.mtsu.edu/cala/scholarships.php (complete details on website). Awards will be issued on an ongoing basis through Friday, May 20th. Consideration will be given to applications submitted after this date as funds are available. Questions? Contact Brian Roberts, CALA Assistant Director, at acceleratedacquisition@gmail.com.

Innovation J-Camp is a five-day workshop held at the Center for Innovation in Media in partnership with the College of Media and Entertainment at Middle Tennessee State University. Innovation J-Camp is perfect for high school students interested in telling stories for mobile, social, digital and video audiences. There are only 25 spots in this year’s camp. Cost is $150, which includes lunches and all materials. Camp runs from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. from July 11th-15th.

Register for Innovation J-Camp online at: innovationjcamp.org.

Here is a link for MTSU summer camps: http://www.mtsu.edu/camps/. There are a ton of great opportunities!

Looking for an opportunity to develop leadership skills, volunteer and build a resume that will set you apart from the crowd? Intern with Camp Invention or Invention Project this summer for an interactive and engaging experience that will provide all these opportunities, and MORE!

Designed exclusively for high school students entering grades 10th, 11th or 12th, the Leadership Intern program will empower you to build leadership and communication skills while impacting the lives of young innovators and creative thinkers in your community! Visit http://campinvention.org/interns/ for more information.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the Dual Enrollment program, students must:
1. be a junior or senior in high school;
2. have a minimum 3.0 high school GPA; or
3. have a minimum composite of 22 ACT (SAT composite of 1020); or equivalent ACT Plan test score

**Admission to MTSU and the Dual Enrollment program does not guarantee eligibility for all courses. Some courses require prerequisites and/or certain test subscores, including Math and English courses.

Cost

The tuition cost of a Dual Enrollment class is $166.00 per credit hour. This cost can be offset by the Dual Enrollment Grant, if the student applies and is ruled eligible. Students must maintain a 2.75 GPA for dual enrollment courses taken to stay eligible for the grant. The student should be prepared to pay the tuition cost in advance and then be reimbursed. Other anticipated costs include textbooks, $25 application fee, online course fees, and any applicable lab fees.

Dual Enrollment Grant

The total amount of grant money per student is $1200 total for their high school career. Current juniors get $500 for class one and two, which will cover the cost of a 3 hour class ($498 total per class). Current seniors were only set to get $300 for course 1 and 2, but MTSU decided to scholarship the additional $198 for the first two classes so that they too could have class one and two covered in full.

• Current seniors

Current seniors who have not taken two DE classes in the fall can still take advantage of this additional money provided by MTSU ($198) for the Spring term to cover class one and two in full. For class 3 and 4 they will receive $100 per credit hour leaving them a balance of $198 for class 3 and 4.

• Current juniors

Current juniors who have already taken two classes will receive $200 for class 3 (leaving a balance of $298) and nothing for class 4 (leaving a balance of $498).

*Although class 3 and 4 seem like a lot of out-of-pocket money, in-state undergraduate tuition cost is currently $1,011 for a 3 hours course, resulting in a savings of $513 when paying the full tuition amount for a dual enrollment course.

If you are taking dual enrollment courses, click here for information on textbook rentals through Textbook Brokers.

Principal - Dr. Leisa Justus, justusl@rcschools.net, ext. 22901

Assistant Principal - Ken Reed, reedk@rcschools.net, ext. 22973

School Counselor - Christine Bryan, bryanc@rcschools.net. ext. 22906

Academics - Andrea Holder, holdera@rcschools.net, ext. 22960

Communication - Lois Walker, walkerlm@rcschools.net, ext. 22701

Electronic Portfolio - Ken Hardison, hardisonk@rcschools.net, ext. 22988

Extracurricular - Tim Pedigo, pedigot@rcschools.net, ext. 22995

Events - Hollye Dabney, dabneyh@rcschools.net, ext. 22738

Life Experience - Geneva Cook, cookg@rcschools.net, ext. 22942

Monthly Speakers - Brian Seadorf, seadorfb@rcschools.net, ext. 23036

Research - Rebecca Jones, jonesre@rcschools.net, ext. 22993