ECA News: The Inside Scoop

Here we are - at the end of the first Friday of our 25-26 school year. Routines are becoming established, and the work load is picking up in both ECA and EMU classes. The vibe in our school is so positive, and it has just been an incredibly lovely start-up of this school year. Let’s keep the momentum going!

We are looking forward to our Curriculum Night next week. I have sent detailed information via email to the students and families who are required to attend this meeting: parents/guardians of ALL new students (9th, 10th, and 11th graders) and Returning Academy 10th graders.

We have a LATE-STARTING DAY next Thursday, which will impact all students with ECA classes. The details are also provided below, but please note the adjusted class schedule for ECA classes that day:

- 1st Period: 12:25-1:05

- 2nd Period: 1:15-1:55

- 3rd Period: 2:05-2:45

- 4th Period: 2:55-3:35

• There will be no Seminar, Health, or PE classes on Thursday.

• Hybrid students may find that the modified PM schedule interferes with their EMU classes; please be in touch with your ECA instructors if you will need to miss their class due to an overlapping EMU class.

• It is OK for students to be on campus in King Hall prior to 12:30.

See below for more information.

Have a wonderful weekend!

~Dr. Fischer

• Thursday, Sept. 11th -- Late Start for ECA & Academy Classes (late start to accommodate Curriculum Night; details TBA)
• Thursday, Sept. 11th, 6-8:30pm -- Curriculum Night (mandatory meeting for parents/guardians of all 9th, 10th, and NEW 11th grade students--student attendance is not required; childcare provided).
• Monday, Sept. 15th -- Signup deadline for PSAT/NMSQT
• Thursday, Sept. 18th -- Pizza Thursday! Parent/guardian help is needed, see details below.
• Thursday, Sept. 18th, 6-7:30pm -- Monthly ECA Pi (Parent/Guardian Involvement) Meeting
• Saturday, Sept. 20th - ECA PI’s Tailgate party at EMU's Homecoming Football Game!
• Thursday, Sept. 25th -- Pizza Thursday! Parent/guardian help is needed, see details below.
• Thursday, Sept. 25th, 3:45-5pm -- Unity in the Community & Club Rush Event for ALL students to celebrate our diverse student body and learn about ways to be involved!
• Monday, Oct. 6th -- Teacher Work Day (no ECA High School Classes) & Half Day CLICK Seminar (and school pictures taken) for Ms. Fountain's students (9s, 10s, and NEW 11s)
• Tuesday, Oct. 7th -- Soft Skills Review Day (no ECA High School Classes or CLICK activities)
• Wednesday, Oct. 8th - Friday, Oct. 10th -- Student-Led Conferences for 9s, 10s, NEW 11s, & any student with ECA classes or in their first full-time EMU semester (no ECA High School Classes or CLICK activities, conferences by appointment with CORE Advisors)
• Saturday, Oct. 11th -- PSAT/NMSQT

Starting Next Week, Look Here for Ms. Peet’s 9th grade Academy Update! This will offer insights, tips, reminders, etc. for the Academy community. Until then, please look at your student’s ECA Planner! Enjoy the weekend!

Our amazing rose bush is blooming! Ms. Fountain & Mrs. Dace serving lunch, students waiting in line for lunch, and eating lunch - outside, inside; several students even scored free pizza in Marshall!

Curriculum Night is a mandatory meeting on Thursday, September 11, for parents/guardians of all 9th, 10th, and NEW 11th-grade students. Student attendance is not required; childcare is provided.

First, parking details: We have arranged for free parking in the Ford Staff & Commuter lots only for tomorrow evening. The parking will be first-come, first-served, and the lots that we have available will be clearly marked. I am including a map (below, and attached) that has the free lots circled and labeled, and the surrounding buildings labeled. HERE is the link to EMU's interactive campus map, where you can plug in the names of any of the lots or buildings and get driving directions.

Please be aware that ParkEMU will issue citations to anyone who does not have a parking pass and is parked in a lot other than those that we have reserved. If the free parking is full, I recommend using the Alexander pay lot or the Pease pay lot. There is also limited metered parking near the Pray-Harold building.

Late start details:

• ALL high school classes will meet according to the following schedule

- 1st Period: 12:25-1:05

- 2nd Period: 1:15-1:55

- 3rd Period: 2:05-2:45

- 4th Period: 2:55-3:35

• There will be no Seminar, Health, or PE classes on Thursday.

• Hybrid students may find that the modified PM schedule interferes with their EMU classes; please be in touch with your ECA instructors if you will need to miss their class due to an overlapping EMU class.

• It is OK for students to be on campus in King Hall prior to 12:30.

• School lunch will still be available at 11:50, and students are free to be in King Hall ONLY. We ask that parents/guardians do not drop students off in other campus locations to roam for the morning.

• NOTE: We will not have structured supervision for students, but we will have administrative staff in the building prior to 12:30. Please contact Ms. Peet if you have any particular concerns about your student during this time: peet@earlycollegealliance.info.

Curriculum Night Details, in brief:

• Check-in will be from 5:30-6pm

• The event will take place and Pray-Harold, starting at 6pm in Room 201

• Students do not need to attend.

• This program is just for 9th & 10th grade parents/guardians and ALL new 11th grade parents/guardians. Returning Parents/guardians with 11th grade and higher students do not need to attend Curriculum Night (even if their student has high school classes).

• See the email from Dr. Fischer with details about parking, childcare, etc.

Since we have a late start on Thursday, September 11 (Curriculum Night), I will have fewer meals. I will have meals for the students with EMU classes and several extras for students who need to come to campus early. My past experience is that even when students order on late start and CLICK days, they do not pick up, so I do not want to order a lot of food that will go to waste. If you know that your student will be on campus for lunch, and you want them to have a school lunch, you can let me know - dace@earlycollegealliance.info.

Menu:

Despite repeated requests for a menu, we do not have a menu for next week at this time. I will send out another email when we get the menu.

Order Form:

We will not have order forms for now. I have a good sense of how many meals we need each day, and I will just order the number of meals that we need.

Don’t go hungry - If you forget your lunch, or you're just extra hungry, come to King 122 and pick up a breakfast and/or lunch. I have extras.

Meals are free for all ECA students this year. Breakfasts and lunches can be picked up in King 122. Breakfast will be served between 8am and 9am unless the student makes other arrangements with Mrs. Dace. Academy Lunch (9th grade) is at 12:30. Everyone else’s lunch is at 11:50. All meals are pork-free. All meals are free of peanut products.

Please email Mrs. Dace (dace@earlycollegealliance.info) for any breakfast or lunch questions!

As per the Handbook (pages 9-11), the ECA attendance procedure involves actions by both the student and parent/guardian: Students must contact each of their instructors and CORE Advisor via email as soon as possible in advance of an absence, notifying them of their absence, tardiness, or home early. If your student will be absent for all or part of the day, parents/guardians must notify the ECA Attendance Office (734-487-7882) or attendance@earlycollegealliance.info so that the absence may be documented.

When you email or call, please state the reason that your student will be absent so that we can mark them with the appropriate absence code. Our absences are neither excused nor unexcused, but we do have different absence codes that we use to track absences. Excessive absences will result in student/parent interactions ranging from emails to meetings. If your student is ill and you know the nature of your student’s illness, please let us know. We are required to inform the county health department if we have flu, Covid, or other outbreaks. We only submit numbers; we do not submit names, and we only submit if we have an outbreak. If your student has a highly communicable disease such as measles, you are required to report it to the school, and we are required to report it to the health department.

REMINDER: Students must not leave campus during the school day without signing out in the ECA main office (221 King) first!

Mr. Kenney doing a very exciting chemistry demo involving fire & a smoking beaker of liquid air for the first chem lab.

We use PowerSchool to communicate grades and attendance in ECA high school classes, including CLICK courses at all grade levels. Teachers will begin putting grades into PowerSchool in the next week. Please take a look below for instructions, and contact Mr. Patel if you need help: patel@earlycollegealliance.info.

PowerSchool for Returning students & parents/guardians:
Login credentials for PowerSchool were printed on the schedules that were distributed to students in ECA classes on Welcome Day. Please see the directions HERE if you need to reset your password. Parents/guardians, your old usernames and passwords should still work.

PowerSchool for New Students:
Usernames for new students were printed on the schedules that were distributed to students in ECA classes on Welcome Day. Students need to set their own passwords. Please see the directions on page 1 of THIS DOC to set your password.

PowerSchool for New Parents/Guardians:
Login credentials for parents/guardians were printed on the schedules that were distributed to students in ECA classes on Welcome Day. HERE is the link to instructions for creating new Parent/Guardian accounts and linking student accounts.

**If your student has lost their printed schedule, don't worry! We will re-print PowerSchool credentials and distribute these to parents/guardians on Curriculum Night. In addition, any ECA adult can look up the access codes and provide those to you or your student.**

If you are a new student/parent and have not received PowerSchool credentials yet, please contact Mrs. Jackson (jackson@earlycollegealliance.info). There is probably something that we are waiting for in terms of documentation--either to us or to your School of Choice district. We really want to get all of these issues fixed as soon as possible so that everyone is up and running in PowerSchool by the end of next week.

If you are a returning student and have forgotten your PowerSchool login, please contact your CORE Advisor or any ECA staff member. We can get that for you! Even Completers need to look at PowerSchool, as this is where your CLICK grades will show up.

Mr. Griffin's class on a Geometry scavenger hunt today!

Make your way to Pizza Thursday on Thursdays during both ECA lunch periods from 11:50-1:00 in King Hall's MC Lounge (across from the main office, room 221).

Our first Pizza Thursday of the school year is September 18th! 😋

Enjoy HOT Little Caesars Pizza with other ECA students! In order to participate in Pizza Thursday, you must first buy a Punch Card:

• Punch Cards are $5 (cash only, please!) and are always available in Mrs. Jackson’s office (221 King). Punch cards will also be available for purchase at Curriculum Night (9/11), CASH ONLY!
• Each Punch Card is good for any 5 items (a slice of pizza, canned pop, water, or candy). We will have cheese and cheese/pepperoni pizza from Little Caesars.
• Punch Cards with remaining punches can be saved for use at a later date.
• Payment for Punch Cards must be made in full at the time of purchase.
• You must have a Punch Card to participate in Pizza Thursday.

Please note that pizza is on a first-come, first-served basis. If a student does not get pizza, they can see Mrs. Dace in King 122 for options from the food pantry.

Turn in your fully punched pizza cards for a chance to win a FREE pizza punch card, drawn monthly!

PARENTS/GUARDIANS! We need help picking up pizza (less than 5 minutes from campus) and serving pizza. If you have just over an hour to spare (or 30 minutes for pickup), please consider signing up to help with Pizza Thursday - CLICK HERE! Thanks in advance for your support!!

Email Mrs. Jackson (jackson@earlycollegealliance.info) with any questions.

Students and Parent/Guardians: The following items are CLICK assignments; please be sure you/your student has turned them in!

• Handbook Signature Page (very last page)
• Educational Benefits Form

Both forms can be turned in to your Counselor, Core Advisor, or the Main Office. Paper copies are available outside of the Main Office (King 221).

Last year’s Chromebooks should have been returned in JUNE. If you are a returning student and still have a Chromebook from LAST YEAR, please see Mr. Patel ASAP. You must have it checked and reissued if needed. If you have any questions about technology or Chromebooks, please email Mr. Patel, at patel@earlycollegealliance.info.

Academy, Returning Academy, and First-Year Students

Greetings students,

I hope that you have had a great start to the new school year thus far!

Just a few reminders:

• CLICK canvas class is now available, and you should have received your invite to accept the class. If you have not, please let me know asap.
• The 1st assignment due, on canvas, Academic and Personal goals, is due on Friday, Sep 26.
• If you missed attending CampUs on August 21st, right after Core Challenge, then you will need to reschedule with me asap, especially if you are new to ECA.
• Your 1st CLICK assignment, the signed Student/Parent Handbook acknowledgement page, and the Education Benefits form are due asap. You can bring it to my office at 327 King, give it to your 1st hour teacher, or bring it to the main office, 221 King.

Local Mental Health Resources

September is National Suicide Prevention Month

#Changingthenarrativeonsuicide

#YouareneverAlone

Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to stop by my office, 327 King, or email me at fountain@earlycollegealliance.info.

Juniors, Seniors, and Scholars

New school year, new beginnings, new opportunities….have a great Fall Semester!

Announcements:

• Your first C.L.I.C.K assignments (Back to School Kickoff Activity, the signed Acknowledgement Page from the Student/Parent Handbook, and the completed Education Benefits form) are due by September 12th, 2025. The completed forms can be dropped off in the main office 221 King. If you did not attend the Back-to-School Kickoff, you will receive zeros for the first 3 CLICK assignments.
• All CANVAS C.L.I.C.K classes are now available!!! Students should check their Canvas for the class invitation and accept it
• Semester Meetings will begin September 15th, 2025. Please schedule your meeting sooner than later
• The Senior Packages order form will be available soon….stay tuned!

Local Mental Health Resources

September is National Suicide Prevention Month

YOU Matter!!!

#Changingthenarrativeonsuicide

#YouareneverAlone

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me at squirewell@earlycollegealliance.info

Student pics in & around campus this week!

Pre-sales for 25-26 yearbooks are open! All books are ordered online via yearbookforever.com. The current price to reserve a copy is $32, but only this month!

There are still a few copies left of our 24-25 Yearbook, released in June. They can be purchased from Mr. Priest for $20 - cash only, please!

ECA Pi is an organization run by parents, family & guardians of ECA students to support and promote the ECA Program and its students. The ECA Parent Involvement group meets monthly and all parents/guardians are welcome to join.

Mark your calendars for the first ECA Pi meeting of the school year on Thursday, September 18th from 6-7:30 pm in King Hall’s MC Lounge, across from the main office (room 221). For more information about ECA PI, please email eca.pi.emu@gmail.com.

Join the ECA Parents & Guardian Facebook Group for this school year! CLICK HERE to join - you must answer both questions and the password this year is "Tenacity".

Tailgating with ECA & ECA PI! 🏈🏈

Join us on Saturday, September 20th, starting at 11am for ECA PI’s Annual Tailgate Party & Chili Cook-Off at EMU’s Homecoming!! There will be hot dogs and other food, yard games and fun for all – and you can donate to vote for the 2025 Chili Cook-Off champion!

If ECA PI has a minimum of 15 people to buy tickets for the homecoming game at $10 each, we get $2 for each ticket to further support our wonderful program! If you are interested in purchasing a ticket and would like to support, please CLICK HERE to order your ticket. The game starts at 3:30pm at EMU’s Rynearson Stadium.

Need parent/guardian volunteer hours?!?! We need help at the tailgate, and you can get some of the volunteer hours. Help with tables, set up, tear down, and so on. Please CLICK HERE to sign up!

Donations! We need things to make the tailgate run smoothly. Please CLICK HERE to see what is needed, and if you would like to donate something, we would appreciate it!!

We also need chili! We have a chili cook-off. You vote for your favorite chili with cash or change in the jars in front of the chili. Did you know all donations go back to ECA? The best part is you can be the chili cook-off champion of the 2025 ECA@EMU homecoming tailgate! (We have a generator for crock pots!) SIGN UP HERE to make some chili.

BONUS! Your student can get into the game FREE with their student ID.

This tailgate is for the students and parents, and friends, so if you cannot do any of the above, still come and hang out! We would love to see you!!

The tailgate will also be discussed at the first ECA PI meeting of the school year on Thursday, September 18th, at 6pm in King Hall’s MC Lounge (across from room 221), as well, but the tailgate is that weekend.

If you have any tailgate questions, please email Sherry at sherryv@med.umich.edu. Please email ECA PI (eca.pi.emu@gmail.com) for all other questions.

EMU Mental Health Task Force and Washtenaw County Mental Health Department Collab

The EMU Mental Health Task Force has been working with the Washtenaw County Mental Health Department to build partnerships with their support services and service providers within the county. This fall, they will also begin "Wish You Knew-EMU, a marketing campaign to accompany our "We Care" campaign, which include monetary research opportunities for participants.

Professional Youth Theatre of Michigan presents Urinetown the Musical

ECA student Roland Toole will perform with the Professional Youth Theatre of Michigan (PYTMI) in Urinetown the Musical, a hilarious and satirical Tony Award-winning show that pokes fun at politics, greed, and the world of musical theatre itself. Please CLICK HERE for more details including dates and ticket information.

Youth Tech Fest — Black Tech Saturdays

Please visit https://www.blacktechsaturdays.com/des25-youth for more information.

U of M's Girls Who Code Club

We are looking for applicants for our 2025-2026 UM DCMB Girls Who Code Club! Our free club provides a supportive environment for 9th-12th graders to learn how to code. Our curriculum is focused on data analysis with Python, where participants will learn core coding concepts and apply their new skills to a data science project of their choosing. We do not expect applicants to have any prior coding knowledge.

We will meet weekly on Tuesdays, September 16th, 2025 - April 28th, 2026 from 6:30-8:00 p.m. in-person at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor Central Campus. Here is the application link with more information! Priority will be given to those who apply by September 9th. However, we will accept applications up until the second day of club (September 23rd, 2025).

A2Y Chamber YpsiTasty Grub Crawl/Shop Local Event

It’s that time of year! We hope you will join us again this year for YpsiTasty! Every year it just gets better and better and that’s because of you, our participating restaurants, and retail establishments who look forward to welcoming you into their place of business.

Please CLICK HERE for a list of participating restaurants/shops and more information.

Ann Arbor - Skyline: HERE is a link to Skyline's weekly newsletter, where you will find a lot of info about building-level things that ECA students don't need to worry about--but also information about:

• Ordering Skyline yearbooks
• Athletics
• Homecoming

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Lincoln: Our Homecoming Dance will be on Saturday, September 27th, from 7-10 p.m. in the East Gym.

Tickets - Tickets will be available for online purchase until 12 p.m. on September 26th, 2025. Tickets will be unavailable for purchase after the purchase window closes - no exceptions. No admittance will be allowed at the dance if you have not pre-purchased a ticket.

Homecoming Dance Guest Pass - You can pick up a guest pass in the Main Office, and a digital version of it is included here as well. If you opt to bring a guest who does not attend LHS, be sure that you read the form carefully and that it is turned in fully completed by 3 p.m. on September 24th. No late submissions will be accepted. Also, outside guests must have a digital ticket purchased to gain entry to the event.

If you have questions, please email Ms. Melcher (melcher@lincolnk12.org).

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Milan: Picture day for Milan students is September 11th, from 7:30am-12:00pm. Please contact Ms. Werstein at 734-439-5014 with questions.