Education « HughHarris

What’s Bill & Melinda Gates up to in Chatty?

Putting their money where their mouth is for sure. The Gates Foundation and their Millennium Scholarships have funded 5 Chattanooga area students complete college education! In the past 10 years the Gates have given more than $614 million to this program.

View the FreeTimes article and learn more. http://tinyurl.com/78f2hcp

WHO’S ELIGIBLE?

To qualify for the Gates Millennium Scholarship, students must:

• Be an African-American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian Pacific Islander American or Hispanic American students who are U.S. citizens, or legal permanent residents.

• Have a cumulative GPA of 3.3 on an unweighted 4.0 scale or have earned a GED

• Have demonstrated leadership abilities

• Meet federal Pell Grant eligibility criteria

May 15, 2012 Posted by hughharrisfca | Education | Leave a comment

We made it! Backpacking To Cosby Knob & Davenport Gap Up on The AT.

The FCA men: KC Jorgenson, Michael Brooks, Andy Webb, Sam Deloach, Adrian Young, Paden Ritchie, Ghislain Vander Elst, Dave Deloach, Chad Webb, Jimmy Webb (75 yr old Dad & Granddad), & Hugh Harris made the trek up to the Appalachian Trail and the two shelters over this past weekend.

We spent Friday night at at Fox Fire Campground in Hartford, TN just up the road from the trail head and enjoyed the storm that blew through the area but missed out on all of the real bad weather. Just some rain and high wind.

We started our hike at Big Creek Camp Ground in the GSNP and headed up Big Creek trail to the Lower Gap trail that took us up to the AT and the Cosby Knob shelter . Quite the climb. Warm sunny day and lots of sweating.

Great fire in the shelter by the FCA guys and we spent th evening with some AT “through hikers” on their way to Maine and the “ridge runner” Bill who overseas the AT. The next morning we awoke to a light dusting of snow and drop in temperature. We packed up and headed East on the AT toward Mt. Cammerer Fire Tower. It was snowing steadily the entire section of the AT and the wind was very strong. Temps continued to drop to the point that everyone’s Camel Back water systems were frozen solid along with ice in our Nalgene bottles.

When we arrived at the fire tower the clouds broke just enough to see the mountains to the East and I40. We made it to Davenport Gap shelter by 1:00 pm to find a much less used, dusty, dark hovel but much appreciated none the less for its fireplace and roof. We were joined that night by 2 different groups so we had a total of 16 in the shelter. The FCA guys did an outstanding job of chopping firewood and building a roaring fire that lasted throughout the night. Great job guys!

The next morning we packed up and headed down the mountain spurred on by the thoughts and smells of fresh rolls and steaks at the nearest Texas Roadhouse for lunch as is our custom. I must say this group of 2 seniors and 4 freshmen represented FCA well. Us older guys did all we could to keep up with them. Well done gentlemen, well done! Can’t wait til next year.

March 8, 2012 Posted by hughharrisfca | Education, Exercise | Leave a comment

7th Grade Science

FCA STEM Science Fair Awards 8th Grade:
1st Place – Logan Starwalt
2nd Place – Lakota Dodging Horse Robinson
3rd Place – Noah Stewart

February 29, 2012 Posted by hughharrisfca | Education | Leave a comment

“In Today’s Economy, How Far Can A GED Take You?”

This is a great article by Claudio Sanchez from NPR about whether a GED is going to really provide the opportunities that it might have once given. Studies are showing that GED’s are not providing any more advancement than dropping out of high school.

http://www.npr.org/2012/02/18/147015513/in-todays-economy-how-far-can-a-ged-take-you?ft=1&f=1013

February 22, 2012 Posted by hughharrisfca | Education | Leave a comment

FCA Seniors Rock On Fun Day!

The FCA Seniors did a great job today planning and pulling off our annual Fun Day. Complete surprise for the student body. Great Dodge Ball tournament, outstanding grilling burgers & dogs, proud of the class of 2012. Sorry I couldn’t be there. H2.

February 11, 2012 Posted by hughharrisfca | Education | Leave a comment

E-gadgets shape future of education in Williamson County

E-gadgets shape future of education in Williamson County http://tnne.ws/ydIRic via @Tennessean.

Interesting article from the TN regarding Williamson County Schools allowing students to bring their own smart phone, iPad, or tablet.

February 6, 2012 Posted by hughharrisfca | Education | Leave a comment

How do we prepare our children for the next generation of jobs? STEM Them!

According to a NewsChanel5.com * article its estimated that in the next 6 years the state of TN will need to fill more that 100,000 jobs in the science and technology industry. That’s why STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics) educational initiatives are so crucial and that’s why FCA is leading the way with its STEM program.

The State of TN legislature has formed a caucus to develop information and strategies to help legislatures develop improved programs within the state.

Here are few things that FCA is pursuing in regards to our STEM Program. Jim Tannahill our math/science teacher at FCA & STEM coordinator is developing an exciting program for our students.

FCA STEM Initiatives:

Grants: we have received our first official STEM grant (see Sea Perch below). We are looking for grant ideas or leads. We need money for equipment, field trips and special projects, like the ability to bring in speakers for demonstrations or interactive learning events.
–FCA Science Fair
The first FCA Middle School Science Fair will be held on Friday morning, 24 Feb, from 9-12:30. Judges that have no students (guardian or relative) in the competition.
8th graders will be with their projects from 09:30-10:30, 7th graders from 10:30-11:30 and 5th/6th graders from 11:30-12:30. I will provide judges with a scoring rubric and some generic questions in two categories: science experiments and science demonstrations. You can judge for one grade or all three.

FCA would also like to give a prize to the top two projects in each grade and is looking for sponsors who are willing to donate gift cards, money or services for the Science Fair. Also, the 5-8th grade English teachers will be helping students write their abstracts and other supporting documents on the march to the fair!

-Middle School STEM Week Without Walls 12-16 March
Dawn Hoesel and I will be hosting STEM WWW with the 7th and 8th graders. We will be building Sea Perch Undersea Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV’s) and testing them on Tuesday, 13 March. Thanks to a grant from the Office of Naval Research’s Sea Perch Program, twenty-two $125 ROV kits and two $200 tool kits were provided free of charge.

FCA will be the 4th Sea Perch Program in TN and the only school in the Nashville area. Two of the programs are at the college level (Univ of Memphis FEDEX Institute of Technology and TN Tech in Cookeville) and the only other middle-high school program in the state is an all girls private school in Memphis. Success with Sea Perch makes us unique in the Nashville area.

We will also take a trip to the NASA Center in Huntsville, build water bottle rockets/launchers, build bridges from noodles, conduct a LEGO Crash and Smash Car Rally and do some Crime Scene Investigation.

-5th and 6th grade STEM
The 5th and 6th graders will rebuild the Sea Perch’s (with the exception of the remote controls and waterproofing the motors) after Spring Break. This allows FCA to reuse the $125 kits, use some of the 7th and 8th graders to help teach the younger ones while taking the skill level required down a grade.

FCA STEM is pursuing a week-long STEM Camp in June 2012, using the remaining 7-8 Sea Perch’s we have. I have also petitioned the Franklin Special School District to participate in their Young Scholar’s Institute with the Sea Perch’s.

* Newschannel 5 article:

http://www.newschannel5.com/story/16583307/stem-legislative-committee-meets-on-capitol-hill

January 24, 2012 Posted by hughharrisfca | Education | Leave a comment

FCA – Off to A Great Start!

The start of a new school year is always exciting, busy, and sometimes stressful. If I have learned anything over the years from these beginnings it’s – we’re going to be ok! For parents and students, especially those that are new there are so many questions – will I have new friends, what’s my teacher like, will my child adjust to this new setting? What are we going to learn this year?

One of the ways we help answer these and other questions regarding school culture is to begin the year at a camp for 4 days. We help develop community and a culture of discipleship among students, teachers, and families. We want students to get to know their classmates and teachers in a setting that fosters FCA’s vision. We also want Seniors and upperclassmen to learn and demonstrate what it means to be a servant leader. By starting this way we lay the ground work for an academic setting where teachers relate with students in a Christ centered environment.

Our staff and Seniors have been planning and preparing for the entire summer. They have met once per week at least to lay out the vision and theme of camp. To design camp t-shirts, develop team building games, skits and activities that drive home and communicate the theme. Worship times, devotionals, prayer, paintball, crafts, and meals are all designed to build a culture of
cooperation and community as we walk with students and get to know them and they each other in a fun, safe, exciting atmosphere.

Each year we divide the school into teams or activity groups that are “cross-grade” – meaning there are all grades represented in each group, 5th- 12th grade, this way students get to know other students that might not be in their grade. Teachers are assigned to each group but Seniors are
given much of the leadership responsibilities and are encouraged to serve and lead their teammates. Seniors stress looking out for each member throughout the day. During meals, rest time, activities they are constantly monitoring to make sure that all their teammates are engaged and included in whatever is going on.

Thanks to Tommy Rhodes and the folks at Barefoot Republic for hosting the FCA Camp for the 3rd year now. Thanks to FCA faculty, Rona Branson and Melanie Sutton, for spearheading our camp and of course our amazing Seniors! You wouldn’t believe what all they have in store for our students. We know and pray that God will meet us there and we anticipate everything He has
in store for us at camp and the 2011-12 school year!

August 13, 2011 Posted by hughharrisfca | Education | 1 Comment

Hugh & Lisa Speaking at Strong Tower Today

As a part of his “Go Means Go”” summer series Pastor Chris Williamson is asking Strong Tower members that serve in other ministries to share about those ministries. So, today Lisa will communicate what is going on at Servant Group and I will do the same about Franklin Christian Academy. If you can’t make it today you can watch us on the STBC web site:

http://www.strongtowerbiblechurch.com/media.php?pageID=38

It WILL be fun!

August 7, 2011 Posted by hughharrisfca | Education, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

My Mother-in-law, The Franklin Theater and Soul Surfer – The Trifecta!

Sometimes I’m not sure what to expect when I take my 95-year-old mother-in-law out on the town – will she like what we have planned, will we be able to help her arrive at the destination without incident (knees don’t work like they used to for her – at 95 its ok), will I say something that will make her regret me being married to her youngest for 36 years, you know – normal stuff.

But I think we hit a home run last night with our families beginning celebration of our daughter Rachel’s birthday by taking the girls to see Soul Surfer at the newly re-modeled Franklin Theater. Wow, did the Heritage Foundation do a great job or what? Check out their website for tickets, showtimes, and concerts coming up.

http://www.franklintheatre.com/

I must admitted I was a little skeptical about the movie. I had heard good things but sometimes the fact that a movie has a “Christian” theme should not give it a pass on critical analysis. I was pleasantly surprised. You can’t beat the price on the Theaters movies – $5 and the place was packed – sold out for the 7:30 showing. And Mrs. Cornelius had a great time! Winning!

So, if you want a great night out and a way to celebrate your daughter’s birthday (and impress the mother-in-law) take in Soul Surfer and if you can, see it at the Franklin Theater.