Celebrating Five Years: A Day of Service with Habitat!

In 2007, fifty brilliant rising sixth graders and twelve passionate teachers came together for the first day of Student U. This past Saturday, students, parents, teachers, and community members gathered to celebrate our fifth birthday!

To kick-off the celebration, in honor of all the individuals who have had an impact on Student U, we worked with Habitat for Humanity on Saturday morning. What an incredible start to the day! Helping build two homes in Durham (or for those who were under 16 – writing letters to the new homeowners, painting picture frames, preparing rain barrels, and weaving rugs) was an amazing way to celebrate all that Durham has built and continues build at Student U.

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Read more about our exciting morning with Habitat here: The Herald-Sun – Habitat Helping Hands

As Mr. Kimberg described later that night at the Celebration Ceremony, “Just like the homeowners on Worth Street this morning, at Student U we keep our front door open because we know that the only way for us to continue to be innovative, for us to continue to be creative, to us to continue to strive to be excellent is for us to have the community come join us, come join in this building.”

Teachers share “I Am From” poem

It’s the final week of our summer program! The summer has flown by, and over the last five weeks, students and teachers have gotten to know each other very well as they bonded in their families, learned from each other in academic and elective classes, shared joys and concerns about the day’s lunch options, and shared many a field trip adventure. But for a closer look at some of our teachers, watch this video filmed at teacher orientation. And now for the grand debut!

Student U in The Herald Sun!

1. Check out the feature story about Student U in The Herald Sun!

“Then, coming [to Student U], they helped me realize that education is so crucial, so important, that it changed me,” she said. “It helped me want to go back to school and want to learn and do my work and not just do the minimum — but push to do the best that I can do.”

Find out who said this and hear from many more Student U leaders in the article!

2. Most importantly, Student U began as Durham’s idea. Learn about how the program has grown with Durham in another recent article from The Herald Sun!

 

Dissection in 7th grade science continues!

“I AM NOT TOUCHING THAT!” This was said by many students in Ms. Emily’s class. The activity at hand was the examination of a cow heart, and by the looks on the students

Students tentatively touch the cow heart under the guidance of Ms. Rumin.

faces they wanted nothing to do with it. Their facial expressions were priceless they looked so disturbed but I know that they were getting the learning experience. They were doing this lab to see how ventricles and atriums actually look. My partner Daniel and I were also allowed to be a part of the experiment as we also examined the cow heart. This was the most fun I have had sitting in on a class yet because I felt like I was a part of the class.

Written by: Tyler

Elective Brilliance Showcase!

Highlights from Friday’s elective performances from Alexis: On Friday, July 8th Student U had a dance performance and singing performance with Ms. Michelle’s class and the interns dance elective. Ms. Michelle’s class worked hard every week and excelled in practice recitals when singing songs that were provided to them. They sung Taio Cruz- Dynamite, Bruno Mars- Nothing on You and Makano- Te Amo. In the interns dance elective those 6th and 7th grade girls thought at first they wouldn’t be able to do the dance moves, but they ended up achieving it.The 6th and 7th grade girls danced to Beyonce- Girls Run the World. I was proud of both groups for how much effort they put into it, and I enjoyed every little bit of the dance show and singing show. Those two electives performed because it was the third week and the end of the first session of electives.

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The day’s excitement in review: From the arrival of the first students on Friday morning, Student U was buzzing with anticipation and excitement. After three weeks of hard work, discovery, and creativity, students would have the opportunity to share what they’d learned in their elective classes with their peers and teachers.

As teachers and students completed final preparations for the afternoon’s performances, it began to rain. But neither the lightning nor the small rivers of rain water passing through campus dampened the spirits of the young actors, models, singers, rappers, astronomers, athletes, and friends. Students flaunted their modeling skills on the runway of Ms. Samantha’s class, rapped about constellations they learned about with Ms. Amanda, and presented dramatic monologues rehearsed with Ms. Amy, to name a few of the talents shared. Watch the slideshow below for highlights from our electives in the past three weeks – including Friday’s stellar performances!

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The afternoon ended in the thrilling annual student-faculty basketball game with a halftime show filled with performances from Mr. Derrick’s step team, Ms. Iwinosa’s dance group, and Ms. Emma’s cheerleading team. In a diverse show of talent, students, their intern coaches, and teachers all celebrated and took pride in their amazing work. We look forward to seeing what this new session of electives brings!

Our first three weeks in photos!

It’s hard to believe that our summer has reached the halfway point! Academic classes are in full swing, the first round of electives invented by our teachers are coming to a close, and students continue to discover new places in the Triangle on their field trips. Here are some moments from our first three weeks together!

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We can’t wait to see how teachers and students continue to share their brilliance in the second half of the program, so stay tuned! The blogging and photography interns are working hard to take you behind the scenes and into the classrooms of Student U.

Student U’s new lunch program in the Herald-Sun!

“My interest was piqued the first day when I was invited to have lunch. I was served a salad of greens, yellow beets and vinaigrette dressing as good as any I’ve ever tasted in France, along with grilled chicken with Romesco sauce. Not my typical lunch fare during the school year, believe me. Hmmm, I thought, what’s up with this?”

Find out here: The Herald-Sun: Student U, A delicious partnership Read what’s so special about Student U’s food program in Ms. Teresa’s wonderful article in today’s Herald-Sun.

Thanks to Durham Catering Company, Mr. Jon and his team of interns who make our lunch happen for our hungry family of 210 students and interns every day!

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The Student U summer begins today!

Welcome to the first annual Student U summer blog! Throughout the next six weeks, we’ll be posting photos, videos, updates, reflections and quotes to our blog, and we’re so excited to share all the brilliance of the summer as it unfolds.

On our blog you’ll hear from different members of the Student U community in weekly updates, watch videos from Student U events, and see photos of our students’ amazing work. We’re lucky to have a team of high school interns who will take the lead on the blog, documenting this summer’s brilliance. Each week two teachers will also contribute their reflections and stories.

We can’t wait to share the energy that our students and teachers bring to Student U everyday with you, so be sure to check in this Friday for our first wave of posts from students and teachers!