 Thank you for your interest in NCSSM's Open Enrollment Program. I am Camilla Breathers, the Outreach and Partnership Manager. This recording captures the information shared during the webinars hosted the week of November 16, 2020. During this session, we will share information about NCSSM's Distance Education Open Enrollment Program. Under that umbrella, we'll discuss the STEM Scholars Program and provide information about next steps. Most people know the School of Science and Mathematics for being the nation's first public residential high school focused on STEM concepts. Since then, we have grown. We now have the residential program, online program, summer programs, and the Open Enrollment Program. Today, we will primarily be focused on the Open Enrollment Program. The online program, like the residential program, has an application process. Students apply to participate in the program during their sophomore year. If accepted, students participate in the online program during their junior and senior years of high school. Additionally, all courses are asynchronous, meaning the class does not meet or happen at the same time each day. These courses may be considered self-paced. The Open Enrollment Program does not have an application process. However, many of the courses do have prerequisites. The majority of the Open Enrollment courses are synchronous. Meeting the courses do occur at a specific time and students are expected to be at each class session as scheduled. However, we do have two asynchronous courses scheduled for this spring semester. They are AP Macro Economics and Honors Forensic Science. We will look at the full course catalog in a few moments. Now, let's watch a video to tell us a little more about the Open Enrollment Program. Stand by. Coming to you in three, two... Hello everybody and welcome to the Global Public Health and Infectious Disease Show. Hey, good afternoon y'all. How are we doing? Hey, out there in TVland. How are we doing on this fine Wednesday? Good morning Honors Arrow. Welcome to the School of Wizardry. I am Dr. Gary Love. I am your instructor today. And our first lesson today will be a lesson in predicting the future. Welcome to a new way of learning. North Carolina School of Science and Math offers interactive teaching and learning opportunities for students across our state by using technology to nurture and connect young scholars. How do you think I should start up the stove? Zoe said hit the power button. Do you think that too, Preston? One would think. Through our Open Enrollment courses, students get to have this experience from the comfort of their own school in a distance education format that provides more support and connection than a typical online class. We offer a variety of advanced STEM and humanities classes in 70-minute 4x4 blocks throughout the school day. NCSSM accommodates multiple school calendars bringing together diverse learners from the mountains to the coast. Our instructors prioritize building relationships with every student and combine lecture, hands-on learning, problem-solving challenges, debates, project-based learning, gamification and more to make learning relevant and impactful. Our project here is to have people understand how animals perceive the world in an empathetic way, not a sympathy way, not all those poor polar bears, but no actually this is how it feels to be a polar bear. They also make it a priority to visit every student at their home school. These site visits help to bridge the gap between instructor and student by providing face-to-face opportunities for conversation. Some instructors even broadcast on location from partner schools. Technology advances mean that schools don't have to purchase expensive cameras and software to participate in interactive video conferencing. Students can take part in our open enrollment courses if they have access to a computer, a webcam and the proper software. Using our interactive video conferencing studios and our expertise in STEM education for talented students, we help public schools offer courses in hard-to-staff subject areas. As you see, it's a low to no cost way to support your STEM goals and offer advanced coursework to smaller groups of students. This affords students the opportunity to develop the skills required by business and industry. Let's take a moment to listen as Joshua shares his experience. Throughout high school, I had a difficult time finding courses and topics that I was passionate about. I knew that I loved science and planned to pursue a career, but the advanced courses I was looking to take weren't offered at my local school. As soon as I found out I could be taught courses like genetics and AP Environmental Science in real time with live teachers, I knew I found what I had been looking for. Through my two semesters with NCSSM, I was challenged and supported by excellent teachers. They went the extra mile when it came to ensuring that we understood the course material and showed us that though we weren't physically in the same room, our well-being was paramount. I made friends with other like-minded students from across the state as well. I'm so grateful for the wonderful experience NCSSM's IVC program provided me. Thanks Joshua. I'm going to stop the video here. We will cover the rest of the information during this webinar. We have four state-of-the-art studios on campus used to broadcast our open enrollment courses. However, due to COVID-19, many of our instructors will be broadcasting from a remote location. However, some will still be using the studios. This photo was captured prior to COVID-19. Students have always said how much they truly enjoy being able to see and interact with the other students from across the state. This also allows our instructors to engage and instruct and assess students in real time. That interaction still happens. It just looks a little different because classes are meeting via Zoom. So students can take an open enrollment course from any location with a stable internet connection. Here are a few frequently asked questions. Question one, who is eligible to take an open enrollment course? Well, any student enrolled in a public North Carolina high school is eligible to take a course. Home schoolers can also take our courses if there is a pre-established agreement with the assigned school district. Your assigned school district should be able to provide more information about if this option is available in your area. At this time, the open enrollment program is not able to serve students enrolled in private schools. Question two, how hard are the courses? Well, our courses are honors and AP level courses, so they are rigorous and demanding. However, our instructors are caring and very supportive. They're also trained to meet the individual needs of the students. So you don't have to be an AIG student. You just have to be a student that is willing to learn and try and do their very best. How much time will I need to dedicate to a course? This may differ slightly depending on the course taken. For the most part, students should plan for up to seven hours of engagement per week. And that both includes synchronous and asynchronous activities. For the typical course, students should plan for about one and a half hours of out-of-classwork per week. Well, taking an open enrollment course helped me get admitted to the residential or online programs. The residential and online programs are looking for well-rounded students that have participated in a variety and wide range of STEM related activities. Taking an open enrollment course would not hurt your application status. Here's a list of our open enrollment courses offered this spring semester. Students are not able to self-register for an open enrollment course. If interested in taking a course, the student will need to speak with his or her counselor to see if the school is interested in establishing a partnership with us. If the school is interested in moving forward, the counselor will determine if the course will fit in the student schedule and confirm the prerequisites have been met. Ultimately, the school counselor or another school official will register the student for the course. Now, let's have a little fun. We have a few brain games. Listen closely. When you have me, you immediately feel like sharing me. But if you do share me, you don't have me. What am I? If you guessed a secret, you are absolutely correct. Here's our second one. You are driving a bus. At the first stop, two women get on. At the second stop, three men get on and one woman gets off. At the third stop, three kids and their mom get on. And a man gets off. The bus is gray and is raining outside. What color is the bus driver's hair? If you said whatever color your own hair is, you are correct. Remember, you are the bus driver. This one is a little harder. What are the next three letters in the following sequence? What letters would fill in the blank? If you said S, O and N, you are absolutely correct. The sequence is the first letters of the months of the year. September, October and November are the next in the sequence. To find the most current information about our courses, visit our webpage. Go to www.ncssm.edu. Go across to four NC schools and go down to and click on Distance Education Courses. On our webpage, you will find all our open enrollment courses listed. When you click on a course title, you'll find more information about the course. You will be able to see the prerequisites, a video about the course, and a course description. There is also helpful information for schools such as other requirements and power. This is one of my favorite courses, Honors Discrete Math for Computer Science. If you are interested in being a computer programmer, software engineer, data scientist, security or financial analyst, this is the course for you. TechArt is one of our newly added highly desired courses. Let's listen to the instructor, Adam Grates, tell us a little more about the course. In this technology in the arts course, you'll learn a little something about all the artistic and technical components that go into the creation of video games. Exploring the history of video games, video game engines, traditional art principles, fundamentals of visual and audio design, and the elements of visual storytelling. You'll start by analyzing the artistic design process and creating original artwork based on your personal interests. You'll also create original sounds, 2D and 3D models, and use elements of AI machine learning to create new art. Each unit will have both technical and creative challenges, mixing synchronous and asynchronous activities. You will be encouraged to explore your personal interests and create something you're passionate about by identifying real world issues that need solving, creating solutions to problems through the design process, and ultimately building the type of virtual world that you want to see for yourself and your future. This course is for anyone who wants to know more about what goes into creating video games, virtual art, and how to create art in 3D spaces. If you are interested in video gaming, this is the course for you. The STEM workforce has grown to over 8.5 million jobs and is set to increase 17% over the next 10 years, compared to just 12% for other employment. These STEM jobs also have the highest starting salary on average than any other career field. The potential for growing minority presence in STEM fields is certainly strong, though research shows the percentage of minority college students desiring to enter STEM fields is similar to that of their white counterparts. However, by their second year of college, more than two-thirds of these underrepresented minority students quit their science focus for a different major. What happens to them? Underrepresented minority students in STEM seem to leave their field due to a weak math or science foundation in their primary education, cultural barriers in the highly competitive, unforgiving college atmosphere, and a lack of diverse pathways to STEM careers. Most underrepresented minority students likely look for a friendlier career path far away from STEM, meaning this enormous pool of potential talent and diversity will be lost if left un-nurtured. When we are referring to underrepresented minority populations in STEM, we are referring to blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Pacific Islanders. Here is a little more data that illustrates the necessity to support our minority students. What does this data tell us about women in STEM careers versus men? Women are also minorities in science and engineering occupations. Now, let's watch a video to tell us a little more about the open enrollment program. What is STEM? STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, but it isn't just those four subjects. STEM includes the cycle and journey of learning, growing, and aiming for success. You know who loves all that stuff? The STEM Scholars at NCSSM. The STEM Scholars program prepares you and gets you excited about the STEM subjects and the journey of learning. As a ninth grader, you can join this one-of-a-kind, cost-free program to develop your foundational skills by participating in awesome elective courses. You'll also have the opportunity to learn from dedicated instructors and you'll come out better prepared for your career choice and life. The STEM Scholars program at NCSSM helps students in all aspects of science, technology, engineering, and math. It helps to better prepare them to be the leaders of our state, our nation, and the globe, and to be the problem solvers of our tomorrow. By the way, my name is Anna, a graduate online student from the NCSSM class of 2020. I'm headed to New York City to attend Columbia University, and I sure wish I could have been a STEM scholar when I was in ninth grade, and it's not too late for you. The STEM Scholars program is a two-year cohort program designed to prepare ninth and tenth grade students for a pathway to STEM careers. Students would take Honors, Computer Science, and Computational Thinking in ninth grade and have a choice of four different courses to take in tenth grade. After completing this sequence of courses, the STEM Scholars graduate will receive special recognition. The instructor for the ninth grade STEM Scholars course, Honors, Computer Science, and Computational Thinking. Let's take a moment to listen to him tell us about this dynamic course. This survey course covering concepts and computational thinking in computer science is well suited to students that are interested in technology and want to get an overview of how computer science is used in different fields. In this hands-on class with multiple projects, students will learn about the principles of computer science by exploring topics like how algorithms shape our world, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and programming languages like Python, HTML, CSS, Scratch, JavaScript, and mathematical modeling. Students will meet mentors, leaders, and historic figures in a wide variety of STEM careers and discuss some of the obstacles they faced. The class is fun and challenging. Students will leave excited about future STEM coursework and possibilities for careers in STEM fields. As a ninth grader, these are the computational thinking practices that will be explored. Next steps. My information will be on the last slide, but please, I encourage you to visit our website, talk to your school counselor, and if needed, ask your school counselor to contact me. Now that you have learned more about NCSSM's open enrollment program, select the element from the periodic table of human emotions that expresses how you feel about taking an open enrollment course. Here is our website and my contact information. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Also, you're welcome to share my information with your school counselor. Thank you so much for joining us for this webinar.