The Answer - A blog about Education, Preparation, and Commitment.

Political Cartoons and Rigorous Social Studies Instruction at YES Prep Southeast

April 14, 2010 by Bonnie

“What is significant about the year 1948?” While a simple answer, given by a normal student in any public school would be sufficient for this question, at YES Prep Southeast, we challenge our social studies students to dig deeper. While we understand that all of our students need to know certain things about our past and present, we also know that the most important things that a student can get in a social studies class are essential skills. How can we expect students to remember every single date or person that we throw at them? They need to know HOW to analyze the world that we live in. We aren’t born with the ability to determine how an event going on the other side of the world affects people, geography, and the future. We have to cultivate it.

YES Prep Southeast political cartoon This “skills focus” drives our

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YES Prep North Central Senior is a 2010 Dell Scholarship Winner

April 13, 2010 by Mark DiBella

I’m thrilled to announce that Fernando Luna, YES Prep North Central Senior, was awarded the 2010 Dell Scholarship! This is an incredible achievement for Fernando and all of the people that have helped him get to where he is today. Here are the stats:

· Over 5,300 applications were submitted and from there 924 semifinalists were named

· Of the 924 selected semifinalists, 810 submitted required follow-up materials to be eligible for scoring by the committee

· From the 810 reviewed (14 of which were from YES Prep), 300 were selected (2 from the Southeast Campus and 1 from the North Central Campus)

· Overall, 5.7% of applicants received the Dell Scholarship!

Dell Scholars Program Logo Fernando’s award includes $20,000 for educational expenses that he can use at

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YES Prep South 6th Grade Earns 2nd in Model U.N.

April 12, 2010 by Sarah Straub

ECOSOC, Plenary, WHO, MUN, Huh?!?!?! Sounds pretty intimidating, right? Well, it was intimidating for all of us on the YES Prep South Model United Nations Team, too. Beginning in January, a group of 6^th graders from YES Prep South began to meet after schools on Fridays – yeah! Fridays! – to prepare for the competition.

Model UN is an academic simulation of the United Nations with a goal to educate participants about civics, current events, effective communication, globalization and multilateral diplomacy. This Model UN competition is open to middle schools, high schools and universities. Our students competed against 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade teams who have been preparing in Model UN classes. And us? Once a week on Fridays… did we even stand a chance?

YES Prep South model UN team Well, yes… our Cavaliers took

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Spring Trip Q&A from YES Prep SE Junior Adrian Turcios

April 09, 2010 by Monique Calderon

About a month has passed since YES Prep juniors have returned from the annual spring trip. Each year, high school students set out on a week long journey to tour various colleges and universities. The junior spring trip is a particularly unique experience because these students get to travel on a plane to various regions of the country where they can gain further exposure to the wealth of higher education opportunities that exist. This year, YES Prep enhanced this experience with a cross-campus junior spring trip that combined students from our Southeast, North Central and Southwest campuses.

This truly unique opportunity provides juniors with more spring trip locations to choose from and allowed from across the system students to interact with an entirely new groups of students. The

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The Strong Take Care of the Weak

April 08, 2010 by Rita Vasak

YES Prep Southeast Robotics The strong should take care of the weak. This, the first tenet of the YES Prep Thinks and Acts, is a concept our students live with. They see themselves as strong – and they are frequently correct in that assumption. There is another side to this that our students have fewer opportunities to explore. There is not only an obligation to take care of the weak when one is in a position of strength; there is also an obligation to graciously and gratefully accept assistance when one needs it. This is a lesson that will serve our students well in college and in life. It is also a lesson they took to heart this weekend at the 2010 FIRST Robotics Lone Star Regional Competition.