E-Days

By Ian Block and Evan Bartek

When faced with extreme weather conditions that might

make it hazardous to drive to the school (such as icy roads
or too much snow), the DRSS administration will call a PlanE day. This is done by activating one call now, which sends a
phone call, text, and E-mail to the students parents or listed
guardians. On that occasion, students will, instead of
attending school, access their assignments from home via
electronic device. The teachers will post an assignment for
their class on Pilot by 9 oclock that day. Pilot is a website
were students can see their assignments and upload
documents for school related purposes. The teachers try to
make their assignments worthwhile and around 30 minutes
to complete.
We interviewed a fellow student, Sam Hass, for his opinion
on Plan-E days. I dont like them, he says, It is a snow
day, we should be able to enjoy them. Another student,
Payton Allen, does not share Sams dislike for them. We
asked what she thinks about Plan-E days. They are fun and
easy, she says. We asked why she likes them so much.
Based on my experience, they are easy, quick, and after you
can do whatever you want. So, overall, some students dont
like them, some do. But, what middle school student likes to
do work on a snow day?

Projects at DRSS
BY Rachel Saine and Pierce Doyle
At DRSS the students do many projects
and most of them affect the whole middle
school, like the agenda project that we
are currently working on. We also have
done a project on economics where we
made drinks and sold them on our
exhibition night where we showed off our
projects to the public and to the parents
at DRSS. In science we did a project on
the periodic table and we all had to
research a certain element and had to
answer questions on the element and had
to find some weird things about the
element are like Red Prosperous is on the
part of the match that you strike to get a
fire.
At DRSS we do Project Based Learning
(PBL) where we learn what we need to
learn by doing projects. Some projects
are one day and are based off of a
question, while other projects take many
weeks and possibly a whole month.
Those are only some of the projects the
6th graders did.

Created by Students in Ms. Roots 3rd Quarter Creative Writing Class

D.R.S.S.

BEHIND THE SCENES

STEMmersions
By: Patrick OConnor and Camey Ward

At the Dayton Regional STEM

School, students have an end of year
project that will still help them, but it is
also really fun! STEMmersion is a
great time for students to go on field
trips and to meet other teachers from
different grades, says Mr. Nelson, a
teacher at the Dayton Regional STEM
School. He and many other teachers
like STEMmersions and lead many
themselves. It starts on May 17th after
the 4th Quarter. It is just a big project
and it helps end the year with a bang!

Interview
By: Bella Ravana and Halley Tipton
We wanted to know what people thought of our school (the Dayton
Regional STEM School) so we interviewed two people, a student and
an adult, (Mr. Sears and Anah Hill) and these were our results:
Anahs answers
Q: Why do you enjoy being a student at the DRSS?
A: Because we do a lot of projects and because the teachers are
great.
Q: When did you start being a student at DRSS?
A: This is my first year here.
Q: What is your favorite thing about STEM?
A: The teachers & friends.
Q: What is our culture to you?
A: The culture here is so good that its hard to tell you but first off
our culture is we are all accepting. I personally have never seen
someone get bullied. I think our school would be a good choice for
anyone.
Now these were our results from Mr. Sears:
Q: Why do you enjoy being a Dean?
A: Working with the students and staff is great.
Q: What is your favorite thing about the Dayton Regional STEM
School?
A: Seeing the students engaged in the learning.
Q: What is our culture to you?
A: Project Based learning and students that enjoy learning.
Q: What is your favorite grade?
A: I like every grade but I like the 6th grade the most.

February 2016

Exclusive Stories from the Students at the Dayton Regional STEM School

History of DRSS

By: Haley Ebert and Isa Castillon

The Dayton Regional STEM School was founded in 2009

by a group of people at Wright State University. It was
originally founded in Beavercreek but it was later was
moved to Dayton. The group created the Dayton Regional
STEM School because the STEM School is the school of
the future so they started out with ninth grade added a
grade each year.
Some of the mens names were Matt Grushon and Bryan
Boyd. Some of the founders wanted to have a Language
class for the students. The language they have for 8-12 is
Chinese but for high school they can also take Spanish
instead. The Dayton Regional STEM School has been
around for seven going on eight years and has had many
accomplishments.

The Culture at the Dayton Regional STEM School

By Jillian Richards and Kaden Garber

The students at the Dayton Regional STEM School use the 6 thinking hats to critique each
others work. Students at STEM use this so that it can make their work a lot better and more
professional. It also gives students a better look at their work and this gives them a chance to make a
good way to improve and take advice from peers. It also gives students a great chance to show that
they can improve and also shows how willing they are to change their work. The hats stand for many
different things such as: green hat is what could be improved, yellow hat is what you like about it,
black hat is what you think isnt working, and white hat is what you want to know about it. The last hat
is for changing the type of critique, which is blue hat.
Another type of culture at STEM is the 5Qs, which stands for 5 qualities. These are used when
having a certain aspect of learning. They are also used when students are wanting to know how the
project will work and the kind of task theyll need to do. This is also helpful to students because it gives
them a chance to learn different ways to help and understand others you do things differently. The 5
qualities are Inquiry, Persistence, Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity. Inquiry is when you
are not afraid to get things wrong or ask questions. Persistence is when you work until you are done
and dont give up. Collaboration is when you work with the people you get grouped with and dont
complain. Communication is when you talk to each other and not just do it by yourself. Creativity is
when you are very brave and express your imagination with a positive attitude.

 Staff Spotlight: Mr. Sears

Schedule

Staff Spotlight: Ms. Brough

By: Zoey Shively and David Noel

The students at DRSS (Dayton Regional

STEM School) have schedules. You have 6 class
periods in 6th grade. Each period is 55 minutes
long and you have 5 minutes in between each
class to go to the bathroom/get a drink.
The classes in 6th grade are: Science,

By: Alanah Culbreath
STEM
Foundations,
Math,
Enrichment,

Mr. Sears is the Dean of Students. Language Arts, and Social Studies. In science

we do a lot of experiments. In STEM
Q: What is it like being the
Foundations we learn about the culture of our
Dean?
school and we do projects for our school. In
A: Fantastic, it is a great place. language arts we read lots of books. In Math,
The students, teachers, and
we get our memory wiped (not literally). We
parents are great.

learn about everything you learned in 5th grade
Q: What is your favorite thing to to algebra.
do with the students?
The Enrichments we have are Math

A: Working with the Science
enrichment,
Writing enrichment, Sustainability,
Olympiad team.
and
Engineering
Design. Math enrichment is

Q: Do you like planning projects? where we learn probability and make a carnival
A: Yes, planning projects are
game. Writing enrichment is where we write
lots of fun.
and type. Sustainability is where we learn about

Q: Do you like your job at DRSS? how to recycle and terracycle. In engineering,
A: Yes, more than I thought.
we learn about building something.

By: Ellie Sawyer

Ms. Brough is the Middle
School counselor. She loves
her job because she gets to
work with students every
day. She also gets to
experience something new
every day. Her favorite thing
to do is eat lunch with her
students and help them to
set goals for themselves. She
likes to plan projects with
other teachers and also
school wide projects. She
enjoys her job very much and
the students she works with.

By: Shameka Mattison

The 6th grade students at DRSS are making a unique difference at their school 2015-16. The
student learn to set goals. They learn to get ready for the real world. Most of DRSS learns by PBL (project
based learning), and the work that is not PBL is hands on. Project-based learning is where most of the
learning is by doing a fun project.
DRSSs mission is to let the students set their goals. In the first weeks, the 6th graders learn to set
goals and talk about what we would like to be when we grow up. They know what to do now to make their
dreams come true. There are a lot of good things at DRSS like PBL. The students at DRSS like the school a
lot and hope the future students will like the school too.

By: Jesse Williams

All students in 6th grade went
to manufacturing day where
we got a tour of various
engineering places. One was
Gem City
Engineering another
was PCU. To really get the
full experience you need to
ask
questions
and
get
involved, says Jesse Williams
a 6th grader. I learned
things could be easier with
technology but its not good
for the environment because
they
werent
very
sustainable,
says
Pierce
Doyle. So if you come to
DRSS youll go on field trips
and have fun.

What Makes the STEM School Different From Other Schools?

Manufacturing Day

School Dance

MSWD Field Trip

Exhibition Night

By: Sam Haas

The school has a school
dance every year, actually
two times a year. They are
really fun they are in the
fall and the winter. My
name is Sam and Im
going to tell you about the
dance. Its really fun
because they have a lot of
fun songs you get to dance
with all you friends at the
dance. Sixth grade student
David said it was fun at the
dance, because we get to
dance with our friends free
drinks and pizza there was
somewhere to cool down.

By: Jesse Williams

Here at DRSS students
who took sustainability
have gone to the MSWD
(Montgomery Solid Waste
District).
There
they
learned about the different
types of landfills and how
they deal with recyclables
at
the
MSWD.
Some
students said that it was
looked nice but it was
smelly.
Most
students
immediately noticed that
many
citizens
of
Montgomery throw away
reusable
&
recyclable
items.
Many
students
learned a lesson.

By: Sam Haas

The Dayton Regional STEM
school has an exhibition
night two times a year. One
student, Zoey, says that it
was fun and all her group
that tells her that she can
trust everyone on her
team/group. Her friends
had fun with her at the
Exhibition night Zoey said
that she had fun and there
were lots of different things
at the exhibition night,
such as homemade drinks
made by the 6th grade
science students.
The
night
was
great
at
exhibition.

A Day in the Life of a 6th Grade STEM Student

Student Experience at STEM

By Ally Miller and Lizzie Smith

On January 29, 2016 at DRSS (Dayton Regional STEM School)
Ally, a sixth grade, student was followed around to see what a day
in the life of sixth grade student is like. This was a great way to
see what a sixth grader learns and experience her at DRSS.
In first period, STEM Foundations, Ally and the class worked on
the agenda cover for next years sixth and seventh graders. The
next class up for Ally and some of her classmates is math class
with Mrs. Shores. In math, they were talking about area and
perimeter and how to find the area of a fixed perimeter. Allys last
class of the morning is social studies with Ms. Paul. Ally and her
group worked on their website that is all about ancient religions.
During the twenty-five minute lunch Ally talks to her friends. After
lunch it was time to go to advisory. On Tuesday and Thursday we
have study hall, on Mondays we have family meetings, and on
Wednesday and Fridays we go to our advisory teacher for indoor
recess or if it is nice outside we will all go outside. Ally told us.
When advisory is over it is time to go to writing enrichment with
Mrs. Miller and Ms. Root. It was Friday so Ally and the class had
free write Friday where the class writes for the whole period. Once
the period is over it was time for Ally to go to reading with her
teacher Mrs. Slone. During reading the class worked on their
website from social studies but added text structures. After the
fifty-five minutes of language arts it was time for Allys last period
of the day, science. In science Mr. Nelson passed out the new
biology books for the new unit. By the end of the day Ally was
ready to get home and take a break for the week but was exited to
come back to school. This has been A Day in the Life of a 6th
grade STEM Students.

By: Simon Tullis & Anah Hill

At the Dayton Regional STEM School the teachers
have asked the students to explain what projects
they have been doing at STEM from August to
February. This is to explain how STEM teaches in
general.
In science at the beginning of the year the students
did a 3D light model. It showed what light does so
you can see an object. Later in the year they did an
eye diagram to show different part of the eye. In
STEM Foundations they made a toolkit for new
students. One of the first projects they had done
was a project on a personal project.
In Language Arts they made a personal narrative on
the object. The story was to explain why the object
was meaningful. In Math they worked on a problem.
They were to make models to represent the
problem. They also had an economics project and
had to work on selling a product.
In social studies they continued the project. They
had to learn more about marketing because of that.
Before that they had to do a skit and power point
about trading. In one of their quarterly classes
called sustainability they had to also do a power
point. It was to talk about what they had learned
that quarter
Another quarterly class they had was math
enrichment. They had to learn about probability
and had to make a game about it. The game had to
have chance and almost no skill. Their latest class
so far is writing enrichment where they had to write
about a topic of their choice. STEM is an educated
school with a lot to offer.

Get Involved: Clubs and Activities

Muse Machine

Chess Club

Science Olympiad

Green Team

By: Victoria Allen

By: Victoria Allen

By: Patch Kelch

By: Patch Kelch

Muse machine is an
afterschool club about the
arts. Muse machine is a
club where students learn
about the arts, such as
acting, voice, etc. Muse
also boosts kids self
confidence
to perform,
says Ally Miller one of the
people in muse. Muse
takes place Mondays after
school from 3:30 to 4:45
in
the
6th
grade
commons. This is a club
for people who want to
learn
about
the
performance arts. All in
all I think its just a fun
club for young performers
who want to learn and
perform, Miller says.

Chess club is a school

club that was started by
Patrick OConner. The
club takes place every
Tuesday and Thursday
during study hall in the
study space. I started
chess club to teach
people who want to play
chess and so people that
wanted to play chess
could, says OConner.
Chess
club
provides
beginner
boards
for
people who are new to
chess. Its just a fun
place where a bunch of
people come to play
chess, OConner says. If
you want to join you just
need to see Patrick.

Science Olympiad is a
club advised by Mr.
Sears. The students and
coaches
compete
in
events at competitions.
Some of the events are:
Air
Trajectory,
BioProcess
Lab,
Bottle
Rocket, Bridge Building,
Disease
Detectives,
Dynamic Planet, and
Experimental Design
The first competition was
at Magsig Middle school
we DRSS scored 31 of
41 teams. We didnt
gain anything physical
but
we
gained
knowledge, said Jessica
Williams
moral
supporter.

There is also a club

called green team. It is
advised by Mr.Nelson and
Mrs.Shores. In this club
students
flip
the
compost, there is a
teracycle group where
they sort through the
teracycle, teracycle are
recyclable items that can
be sent to a building in
South Dakota that will
send you money if you
send them enough items,
and an advertisement
group where they made a
parody of the song Up
Town Funk. Compost
and teracycle is a good
idea, said Halley Tipton