New Year - Out with the Old

The Mount Carmel program was closed last year. Staff and students made some great memories there. To preserve some of those memories, some of the posts from the Mount Carmel Website have been archived on this site. You can quickly find these posts by searching the tag "MCArchive". Or, you can click this link - https://compassschuylkill.blogspot.com/search/label/MCArchive

Week Two

Week Two is already over. That would be 20% of the first marking period completed already. Time does not seem to be dragging on. This might be because we have been so busy.

Every morning students watch CNN 10, a down the middle new program for students, and answer questions based on the daily news. Friday's CNN News also includes a "week-in-review" news quiz.

The morning routine also includes The Pledge of Allegiance. The Green Team - the students are split into two academic groups - has also been studying flag etiquette. The Green Team presents the flag and folds it after the Pledge to the flag.

During the day, students participate in Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Studies, Science, and Life Skills. Other activities include group meetings and gym class.

Size Mismatch?

On Friday, some of the students volunteered to help with the set-up for the kick-off meeting of GO Mount Carmel. GO Mount Carmel is a community revitalization initiative in partnership with Bucknell University. Check out the story at - https://www.bucknell.edu/about-bucknell/communications/bucknell-magazine/fall-2017/stoking-hope-in-a-coal-town.html.

First Week of School

And then it happened. The summer came to an end and school started.

Compass Academy in Mount Carmel, the first Alternative Education site for JusticeWorks YouthCare, started on Tuesday, September fourth, with fourteen students.

The first day of school started with breakfast and a review of the new check-in procedure. Breakfast and lunch are being provided by the Shamokin School District. Shamokin has arranged for students to receive the meals free of charge through the free and reduced lunch program.

Students were then split into two teams, the Green Team and the Gold Team. Each team spent the day together. Throughout the day, students reviewed the student handbook and engaged in various ice-breakers and team building exercises. Wednesday proceeded much like Tuesday with the emphasis being placed on program expectations. After completing a review of the program expectations, everyone took a student handbook certification. Students need to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the academy rules and the program expectations before they can move onto the academic schedule. Students also met with our new counselor.

Parents interested in reading the student handbook or reviewing the expectations can find them in the file share in Jupiter Ed. (If you haven't had the opportunity to log onto Jupiter Ed., please contact the academy and we will send you directions on how to log in. A convenient link to the Student/Parent portal is on the left-hand column of this site.)

Placement testing started on Thursday. As students completed testing, the free time allowed for a little bit of classroom creativity. Some of the students posed for silly pictures. After the pictures were printed, the students cut their images from the photo and placed them on the wall in Mr. Eck's room.

Nate K., along with Joey D. and Brandon S., recreated an iconic image from the Sistine Chapel (Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam").

Friday was the first official day of academics. Math, English, Science, and Social Studies all had their official start. Both groups joined together in the afternoon for lunch and kickball. 

We are off to a fantastic start. The staff and students had a great first week and look forward to a safe and productive school year.

Compass 2019 - Week One

Compass Academy Staff Prepares for 2019 School Year

The Compass Academy staff has been busy preparing for the 2018-2019 school year. Staff from the Mount Carmel and the new Schuylkill Academy have been training together.

Audrey Williams, the Program Director, emphasized to the staff the importance of ensuring that the Academies are fun, productive, and safe places to work and learn. 

Along with training, the teachers have been preparing their classrooms and lessons in anticipation of the first day of school - September 4th.

2018 Open House Year in Review Video

Siete de Mayo

Rocket Launch - Spring 2017

Cinco De Mayo Photobooth

Open House Invitiation

Please join us for our Open House.

Students will be displaying and presenting

information about what they have been studying

this year at the academy. 

Visitors are welcome anytime between 9 and 10.

You can just drop by for a few minutes

or stay for the awards ceremony at 10.

(link to pdf file of the open house flyer)

Children from the Little Friends Day Care had a surprise visit from the Easter Bunny thanks to the efforts of students from Mount Carmel’s Compass Academy.

Students at the Academy were challenged to find a way to give back to the community. One of the ideas was to organize an Easter Egg hunt. In preparation for the event, the teenagers filled plastic eggs with candy and toys, made “bunny baskets” for the children, and acquired a bunny costume. The teens also cleaned up the town park the day before the event.

Children from Little Friends Day Care followed, from a distance, a very shy Easter Bunny. The walk ended at the town park. After sitting quietly, the children were able to coax the Easter Bunny over to them.

Students from Compass explained to the kids how to participate in an egg hunt, handed out bags to collect eggs, and then helped lead the children to find the eggs. Several eggs held coupons for larger prizes. After the egg hunt, the youth from Compass Academy provided other activities, including face painting and taking portraits with the Easter Bunny.

Mrs. Gidaro, the teacher supervising the Compass Academy students, said, “I’m very proud of the students. They worked very hard to put everything together for the kids. And I think everyone had a good time.”

Brandi McDowell, a senior at the academy, was a face painter. When asked what she had learned out of the whole experience she said that, “It required a lot of patience, I really enjoyed watching the kids smile and have a good time.”

American Heart Association - Walk for 30 Minutes

Supporting the "Move More in April" campaign, JusticeWorks Youthcare programs were encouraged to take thirty minutes out of the day and take a walk.

Students and staff at the Compass Academy in Mount Carmel took advantage of the request and the nice weather and went for a jaunt around town.

Visit at Triangle Tech

Today students had the opportunity to visit Triangle Tech of Sunbury. Mr. David Shipe, the Director at the Sunbury trade school, gave a personal tour to eight students from Compass Academy.

Compass Academy students visited all three of the programs offered at Triangle Tech - Carpentry & Construction Technology, Welding & Fabrication Technology, and Maintenance Electricity & Construction Technology.

Faculty from each program took the time to address the Academy students. Along with discussing the specifics of their personal trade skill, all of the instructors also had a common message that they delivered to the students. That message was, "show up!" The most asked question from employers calling about tech students who had applied for jobs is, "What was their attendance like?" Not "how are their grades?" or anything else. Reliability, knowing someone is going to show up for work, is a sought after characteristic.

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Triangle Tech - Sunbury

Christmas Silliness at Compass - Part Two

Halloween Festivities

This year at Compass Academy, the educational staff showed their festivity by dressing up as nurses and doctors for Halloween. The picture shows, Mrs. Williams, Mrs. Dietterick, Ms. Gidaro, Mr. Eck, and Mr. Olbrish. The teachers have planned a fun-filled day with their students.

Compass Academy has planned another fun festive day. Students socialized and carved pumpkins with their peers.

Students at Compass Academy received awards for perfect attendance, the student of the month, and most improved student. Tony Garcia received the perfect attendance award and the award for most improved student. Allen Baughman received the student of the month award for the month of November.

Notes from October

October ended with a celebration of Halloween and outstanding student accomplishments.

Ms. D found some pumpkins and brought them to school for the students to carve.

Tony G. was recognized for being the Most Improved Student and for having Perfect Attendance. 

Alan B. was recognized as Student of the Month.

October Open House

Staff and students welcomed parents and friends to attend an "Open House" at Compass Academy - Mount Carmel on October 26th.

The students prepared for the open house by decorating the building and organizing refreshments. Students also participated in a door decorating contest. 

 

Students also gave tours of the academy, highlighting many of the activities and projects that we have already done this year. Parents also had the opportunity to meet with the staff. Parents who were not already familiar with Jupiter Ed., our online grade book, were shown how to log onto the site and check their child's grades.

The next family event will be a Thanksgiving luncheon.

Bloomsburg Fair Field Trip

If you live in Central Pa, you know about the Bloomsburg Fair. If you don't know, check out the the fairs website - https://www.bloomsburgfair.com/

Mrs. Dietterick, Mr. Olbrish, and Ms. Gidaro took a group of students to the fair for a field trip.

Student Written Staff Profile - Mrs. Dietterick

Mrs. D was born July 15, 1983. She has 3 kids and has been married for almost 10 years. Her husband's name is Jack and her sons' names are Landon, Hunter, and Maddex.

She went to college at Kutztown University for her bachelor's degree and also went to Bloomsburg University for her 2 masters degrees. She attended college for 7 years. She worked at 5 different schools until she got a job at Compass Academy. She is in her 3rd year as a teacher at Compass Academy.

Mrs. D is 5'8" and wears a size 10 shoe. She has 4 tattoos. She got her first tattoo when she was 20 years old. She has an older brother named Kenny. The ideal place she would want to live is in New Zealand where she can lay on the beach as well as climb mountains. Her favorite color is purple.
She wears her sons' football jersey numbers painted on her nails during their football season. She likes football. Her favorite college team is Penn State and favorite NFL teams are Dolphins and Jets.

She has traveled to about 14 different states across the United States of America. She has also traveled to Barbados. Her favorite movie is Drop Dead Fred. Her favorite student is the one she has the most lasting impact on!

- Gavin A.

Student Written Staff Profile - Ms. Gidaro

Miss Gidaro was born April 25, 1991. She lived in Kulpmont along with her 2 younger siblings. She always dreamed of becoming a teacher. Miss Gidaro created a "classroom" in her grandmother's basement where she would force her sister and neighbors to come be her students. After graduating high school with stellar grades, she made her dreams a reality.

She attended college at Kutztown for a year and a half. She later transferred to Bloomsburg to finish off her Bachelor's degree. In 2013 she graduated from Bloomsburg University with a Bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education.

After graduating, she got a substitute teacher position in surrounding school district areas. She continued to teach around the area for another 2 years. In November of 2015, she was hired at Compass Academy as a math teacher.

She also teaches during the summer at North Central Secure Treatment Unit as a math teacher. Miss Gidaro is also a full-time mom . With two beautiful baby girls. Keira is in kindergarten, she was born in June making her a summer baby like her other sister. Shaelyn is her baby sister, both are summer babies. With no brother to protect them when they get older. Hopefully, there's a boy in their family soon. She looks forward to getting married in June.

- Sam S.