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Our 2022-23 Prep Year is off to a very strong start as students have enthusiastically embraced all aspects of the program. In the classroom, in the gym, and out in the field on our enrichment days, students are working hard, engaging in thoughtful discussions, and being challenged in new ways. The bar has been raised, and the growth already is evident as we finish our first quarter.
Registration for The Prep Class of 2024 is open and nearly full. Contact us to attend our next open house or schedule a call to learn about our program and how to secure your spot in next years cohort.
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Career, Culture & Current Events | |
Our social studies course has featured thoughtful, student led discussions on a number of current event topics. Already we have seen growth in the comfort of public speaking and have been impressed with the class's approach and contribution to these conversations. | |
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We have explored several cultural places in the area that have significant ties to our history. The Great Falls in Paterson, the second largest waterfall by volume east of the Mississippi, played a pivotal role in the development of industry in Paterson, and are an impressive sight to see.
The Van Allen House, where George Washington stayed one weekend in 1777 during the Revolution, still stands along Continental Soldier Highway. It was interesting to see and consider what it was like for Washington and his troops to march through the mud from Morristown that summer along what is now Rt 202.
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We learned the history of Dr Davies farm as we visited and got to sample the fresh cider, donuts, and apples. Our class has also gotten outside to enjoy several hikes with some beautiful views of the area this fall. | |
Another highlight to the early part of our year has been the opportunity to meet and explore a number of exciting career fields. Mike Malandra gave us a class in self defense and confrontation and shared his experience as an entrepreneur and small business owner. TJ Spizzo provided insight into being a Certified Financial Planner and what it was like to be a Division 1 college football player. It was a thrill to tour the factory of My Case Builder with owner Steve Holand and see how they make their custom foam cases for customers. Assemblywoman Lisa Swain capped our week of studying the framework of local and state governments and inspired with her commitment to public service while still competing as a nationally ranked endurance athlete. | |
We are excited for our upcoming enrichment outings as we look forward to meeting many more interesting, successful people to find out what makes them a good fit for what they do and how we can uncover some of the tips for achieving a happy, fulfilled life. | |
Through the first 2 units in math students have both reinforced many of the practical skills needed to prepare for the next level, and introduced and explored some of the concepts they will see in their high school mathematics classes. We have had thorough discussions and practice with number theory and sets of numbers, measurement, ratios, and percents. We have also brought in similarity and probability concepts that will appear in later courses as they correlate nicely with our topics. Many students have taken advantage of our support tools including online extra help sessions, and we are excited to start our enrichment curriculum for those looking to tackle some more advanced topics. | |
In our first term of language arts classes we began by exploring the book Boy21, by Matthew Quick and how the concepts and themes in the book can mirror situations that directly apply to their lives.. The concept of active reading as opposed to passive reading is a skill that we have been practicing and an approach that will help these learners in their comprehension abilities, as well as their essay writing skills. A focus on vocabulary and sentence structure is always included in our class discussions and homework assignments. One of our goals is to develop higher thinkers that can pull ideas, concepts and comparisons from the text that they are reading, and, to grow ideas and determine themes from the material presented to them. | |
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Our 2022-23 school year in science kicked-off with an opening day crime scene. This activity was used to see how well the students could observe and recall details from a crime scene. It gave the students a little taste of what is yet to come in this course. Our goal is to help students develop critical thinking skills through the study of Forensics and Biology. A foundation in Biology prepares children to better comprehend the course material to be learned in Forensics. Being perceptive and open-minded are key, not only, in becoming a good Forensic Investigator but also in handling everyday life situations. To date, some topics studied included Lab Safety, the History of Forensic Science, Deductive Reasoning, The Scientific Method, Graphing, the Metric System, and the Microscope. All topics covered this year are enhanced with many hands-on labs and projects that the students really enjoy.
In the upcoming weeks our focus will be on Crime Scene Investigation and the different types of evidence found at a crime scene. Our expectation for this dual Forensic/Biology Course is that it will be a gratifying learning experience for all students.
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The Prep Class of 2023 has already completed over 600 hours of personal development activities in the areas of service, leadership, and personal growth. Students have cooked with the family, completed household chores, tutored siblings, donated clothes, presented work to the class, and much more. Our lessons have featured decision making, taking ownership, and understanding the balance of give and take in life. Students participated in our first essentiual skills activity on basic car care, with a hands on session changing a tire, jump starting, and other important things to know for new drivers. We look forward to see what activities our students engage in this next term as they push the boundaries of their own comfort level, as that is where the most growth occurs!
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We've had a really successful first cycle in the weight room; every single student has made a lot of progress from a wide range of starting training histories. These early cycles are very general in nature but the athletes are already seeing benefits in their sports as they develop speed, strength and conditioning.
We've been teaching proper sprinting mechanics with hill sprints (whilst the weather cooperates), sled pushes and short accelerations. Change of direction and agility has been focussed on developing fundamental skills like shuffle variations and deceleration techniques. We've also covered the basics in jumping and landing mechanics.
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Bodyweight strength movements have a major focus (so many chin ups!) but we've started to introduce external loading with chains for loaded push ups; crazy to think that many of the athletes couldn’t even do a proper bodyweight push up when we started!
It has been gratifying to see every single student improve upon their numbers in every single assessment protocol. Whilst the program so far has been quite basic and general, this is evidence that we are moving well in the right direction as we start to introduce more complex movements and intensities.
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Follow The Prep Class of ‘23 as they begin their journey on the #pathlesstraveled | | | | | |
