Impact Award: Career Prep Teacher Connects Students with Internships

When teachers are asked the question, “What do you teach?” most will respond in the form of a subject area, such as reading, language arts, or math. Melanie Stillings describes her role in a different way.

“I teach students,” Stillings says with a smile.

As the Career Prep teacher at Ben Barber Career Tech Academy, Stillings works to prepare students for the real world by connecting them with internships in the local business community.

By joining a local business as an intern, students get a one-of-a-kind learning experience, and the opportunity to connect what they are learning in the classroom to real life experiences in the workforce.

The response from the business community has been overwhelmingly supportive, but it took a bit of convincing in the beginning. One of the first businesses Stillings reached out to was Klein Tools. As a worldwide provider of tools, Klein has an honored reputation to uphold. Although the company had never hired interns before, they were willing to give Stillings’ students a shot.

“They met with us and were so impressed with our engineering program and our robotics program that they took the gamble and hired our students,” Stillings said. “They ended up hiring some of them on as employees because they were so impressed with the skillset they had and how prepared they were for the work force.”

Through her involvement with groups like the Mansfield AreaChamber of Commerce and Leadership Mansfield, Stillings has developed a wide range of contacts in the local business community, and has been able to connect students with internships in the field they are interested in.

Throughout the semester, students work closely with their mentors to develop a capstone project, which is evaluated by a panel at the Senior Showcase Night. The panel consists of business and community partners that donate their time to assist the students with their unique projects, which range from detailed business proposals to actual products such as a fully developed iPhone App to a custom-built engine that runs on fuel vapors.

Under Stillings’ guidance, her students have been able to build a strong foundation for the future and accomplish some truly amazing things.

“She has such a love for what she does,” said campus counselor Michelle Smith. “She cares about their future and really wants to see them succeed and be the kind of person that she sees each one of them can be.”

Watch the Impact Award video on YouTube or the MISD Video Portal:

On behalf of the Mansfield ISD Administration, congratulations to Melanie Stillings, our latest Impact Award Winner!

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The Impact Award was established to recognize individual staff members, departments, campuses or other groups that have promoted teamwork and unity by initiating a program or event that made a positive impact within Mansfield ISD and the community. Impact Award winners may be nominated by staff, students or community members.

Winners are selected each month throughout the school year. Staff members who receive The Impact Award are eligible for other district honors.

Special Olympics Awards: Athlete and Unified Partner of the Year

On Friday, April 19, two athletes from the Mansfield ISD All Stars Special Olympics team received awards at the opening ceremony for Area 11. Raeka Phelps was named the Female Athlete of the Year and Justin May was named Unified Partner of the Year. A unified partner is an athlete without disabilities that competes alongside an athlete with disabilities. Both of these athletes have been with the Manfield ISD All Stars for several years. They both attend Mansfield Legacy High School. Congratulations, Raeka and Justin.

Elementary Robotics Teams Compete at State

Congratulations to the Mary Jo Sheppard Elementary Colts Robotics and Willie Brown Elementary Eagles Robotics teams that qualified for and competed at the Annual State Robotics Competition hosted by the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA).

The goal of the TCEA Robotics Competition is to inspire young people to become science and technology leaders. Robotics is an invaluable resource for teaching science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills. It also develops critical thinking, collaboration, and problem solving, along with other 21st century skills such as creativity, imagination, curiosity, innovation, and self-confidence. The contest was held April 13, 2013, at Deer Park High School South in Deer Park, Texas. View a photo slideshow from the state contest.

Colt Robots (pictured above front row L-R in black): Michelle Gery, Katelynn Veale, Morgan Bruton, Miles Shamburger, Mark Smith, and Rick McCase

Eagles Robotics (pictured above back row L-R in pink): Monica Abrams, William Osmus, Kyndal Waldo, Brynn Spicher, Sydney Webb

MISD Robotics 
Quick facts about the district-wide robotics initiative:

• Aligned with Part One of MISD Strategic Plan: Innovative and Inspiring Teaching Methods
• Established in 2011-12 with a pilot program at Willie Brown Elementary
• $50,000 in grant funds (LEGO Smart Schools and MISD Education Foundation) were secured to launch this initiative; MISD Technology Development committed another $40,000 in required matching funds
• 264 WeDo kits and resource packs and 96 Mindstorms NXT kits and resource packs were purchased with the funds.
• All 22 elementary campuses are implementing WeDo robotics into Technology Applications classes
• 18 campuses (elementary through high school) have launched after-school robotics programs using Mindstorms NXT robots this year

Related Information
Elementary students to name surgical robot

New District Website Launch

The Mansfield ISD website received a digital makeover this week to bring the district and department-level pages up to the same design and management standards as the campus websites. The new design and management uses the finalsite web software content management system. In May, 2011 the School Board approved the purchase agreement to put the website redesign project wheels in motion.

Following a comprehensive design and training schedule, the campus websites went live in April, 2012. After the campus sites were up and running, MISD Web Services Coordinator, Alicia Alford, moved on to the district and department redesign project.

A Website Redesign Committee was established and met to discuss the aspects of the district website that worked well in addition to things that needed improvement. Among the areas for improvement:

• Header (navigation bar) needed to be compatible with all platforms
• More consistency at lower level pages
• Cleaner, more updated look similar to campus redesign
• Mobile-friendly design and functionality

After the new design parameters were established, the redesign and content transfers began in November, 2012 and the site is ready for show @ www.mansfieldisd.org

Frequent users of the MISD website should notice some major changes and will hopefully be pleased with the new look. If you've bookmarked specific pages such as Skyward or Cafeteria Menus, you'll need to update those bookmarks to the new pages.

Elementary students to name surgical robot

Want to name a robot? @mansfieldisd students have a chance to name our da Vinci robotic surgical system! methodisthealthsystem.org/body.cfm?id=93…
— Methodist Mansfield (@methodistmans) April 12, 2013

Methodist Mansfield Medical Center and Mansfield ISD Announce da Vinci Naming Contest

What would it be like to test drive a robot in a surgical operating room? Methodist Mansfield Medical Center and Mansfield ISD are partnering to give elementary students with an interest in robotics a chance to find out.

MISD elementary students will have an opportunity to name the da Vinci® robotic surgical system at Methodist Mansfield Medical Center as well as learn about its unique ability to assist surgeons to help patients recover more quickly. On Thursday, April 11 OR Director Shelley Cook discussed the da Vinci robotic surgical system used at the hospital with robotic team students at Willie Brown Elementary School:

“We are pleased to give kids an opportunity to experience real-world engineering through the da Vinci robot and work side by side with board certified surgeons to mentor children and help them learn about health and science in our community,” John Phillips, president of Methodist Mansfield Medical Center says. “We hope this fun contest inspires these ‘little surgeons’ to pursue careers in health, engineering, and business.”

da Vinci® naming contest

Methodist Mansfield invites all MISD elementary school students to submit one name that describes the da Vinci robotic surgical system. The deadline is 4 p.m. on Thursday, May 2, 2013. The winning name will be announced during an upcoming school board meeting at the MISD Center for the Performing Arts.

The student who submits the winning name will receive a commemorative award certificate and an opportunity for the student and up to five friends to have an opportunity to operate with the da Vinci Surgical System and take a behind the scenes tour of the hospital. The winning class will also receive a healthy pizza party along with a special video of the da Vinci in action.

Download the Robot Naming Contest coloring page (PDF).

Superintendent Update - April 2013

Mansfield ISD Interim Superintendent, Dr. Jim Vaszauskas, discusses new developments in the Texas Legislature, the MISD superintendent search, Passport to Kindergarten and upcoming improvements to MISD staffing and classroom sizes.

Superintendent Update - April 2013 watch on YouTube or the Video Portal (inside the MISD network).

Icenhower Intermediate students donate supplies for DFW homeless children

Della Icenhower Intermediate School held its annual Baby Supply Drive to benefit Captain Hope's Kids, which helps our area homeless children.

"The Icenhower Character Club has sponsored this drive the past four years and it's a pleasure and an honor to see kids helping kids," said Icenhower Counselor, Lisa Fields.

Captain Hope's Kids is dedicated to meeting the needs of homeless children. Over the past two years, Captain Hope’s Kids has raised and donated over $1.3 million in clothes, diapers, school supplies and much more to the homeless children of North Texas.

Shining Star Award Nominations

The Communications Department is accepting the nominations for the District's annual Shining Star Award recognizing exceptional non-teaching Mansfield ISD staff members.

Please complete the Shining Star Nomination Form:

The six Shining Star Award winners will be selected and announced in May.

Note: Teachers are recognized through the campus and district Teachers of the Year program.

2013 Multi-Cultural Festival (photos and thanks)

Thank you to all who joined us for the inaugural Mansfield ISD Multi-Cultural Festival on Saturday, April 6 at The MISD Center for the Performing Arts. Attendees enjoyed a wide array of free activities, games, food, student showcases, performances, and more. We had a steady flow of people all day long. Culinary arts students from Ben Barber Career Tech Academy/Frontier High School provided an amazing selection of savory and sweet bites from over a dozen different countries and cultures. Many attendees asked for recipes from the students and chefs.

Check out the photo gallery from the event:

What did you think?
We hope you enjoyed the event and would love to hear from you if you came. Please let us know your thoughts about Saturday's event in the comments or via email to mansfieldisd@gmail.com. (You can also email your event photos to the address above if you'd like to share your great pics.)

A special thank you goes out to our many volunteer staff, students, and parents who helped make the event a success.