IN Brentwood-Baldwin-Whitehall Fall 2016 | Page 97

By Mrs. Joyce Weber
●

●

New Meal Options: Premium-quality food stations along
with the all-you-can-eat salad bar are being offered daily
in the high-school cafeteria and specialty food bars are
being featured twice a week at Harrison Middle School. Look
for featured items being offered that are all-natural, organic,
Kosher, gluten-free, responsibly sourced, fair-trade, vegetarian,
and vegan.
Meal Benefit Applications: Meal benefits are only good for the
school year applied in. Parents must re-apply each year. To
apply online visit www.paschoolmeals.com or go to our
website (www.bwschools.net), select Parents, and click on Free
& Reduced Lunch Application.
● Meal Payments: Parents are encouraged
to make payments at least one week in
advance of intended purchases.
● To make an online payment with E-Funds
(best option!). go to the District website,
select the dropdown menu for Parents
and click on Lunch Payments.

●

●

●

Payments are
also accepted at
the cafeteria. Parents
are encouraged to send
checks or money orders
made payable to “BaldwinWhitehall School District.”
Menus: Lunch menus are updated
on a regular basis during the
school year on our website
(www.bwschools.net). Select Parents
from the dropdown menu and click on
Lunch/Breakfast Menus. Menus are also
available the first day of each month on the BWSD
mobile app.
Parents are encouraged to visit the Food Service Department
home page from the District website (www.bwschools.net >
under Departments > Food Service) for further details. Follow us
on Twitter @BWFOODSERVICE for events and news.

A FOCUS ON STEAM EDUCATION
The 2016–2017 school year promises
to be an exciting time of progress in the
realm of STEAM (science, technology,
engineering, art, and mathematics). As a
District, we believe that STEAM education
creates an intentional blending of realworld problems from these disciplines
into all curricular areas in order to create
authentic and relevant experiences that
prepare our students to be confident
thinkers and problem-solvers as they face
the challenges of the Twenty-First Century.
In the past year, several of our teachers
received recognition on a regional level
(PBS Digital Innovators and Champion
of Change) and state-level (Keystone
Technology Innovators) for their work in
STEAM, as did many of our students.
In our elementary schools, the library
media centers that house our District
Creation Stations continue to serve as
hubs of innovation and demonstrate
our District’s commitment to the Maker
Movement. In these creative spaces,
students have the opportunity to learn
new skills and explore their creative
inclinations, all while discovering,
learning, creating, collaborating, and
using multimedia resources. From robotics
to computer programming to using
green-screen technology, students have
utilized resources such as Bee-Bots, Makey
Makeys, Lego WeDo Robotics, and Scratch
to demonstrate their knowledge while
stretching their minds and empowering
their imaginations. To learn more about

some of these innovative projects, please
visit: http://bit.ly/29Y9vLK and http://bit.
ly/29DeChU.
Additionally, students continue to
participate in school-based science and
art fairs, enhancing their knowledge
of computer programming and digital
citizenship, and engaging in hands-on,
minds-on lessons through the District’s
continued use of ASSET STEM Education
modules in grades K–8.
At our middle school, STEAM initiatives
take our students to new worlds! In its first
year of implementation, the IKS Highlander
and Mission Ops learning lab transformed
a room into a themed environment by
simulating a ship that can travel through
time and space. In this creative space,
students took on specific jobs while

connecting cross-curricular knowledge in
real-world, open-ended scenarios, and they
found out quickly that they had to work as
a team in order to accomplish their mission
goals. Please visit http://bit.ly/29VSKDP
to view some of the highlights from the
many missions and to learn more about
this innovative, interactive, and immersive
classroom of the future.
Throughout the year, students
also continue to work on computerprogramming skills and robotics by using
Hummingbirds, and participating in several
mathematics and science competitions. This
spring, a team of seventh-grade students
traveled to Louisiana State University
to participate in the national SeaPerch
Challenge, after having won the Pittsburgh
regional competition—all in their first time
participating in the program.
At our high school, students demonstrate
their mastery of STEAM content in
a variety of ways. Each year, seniors
demonstrate their ability to connect
technology and communication skills
with newly reimagined senior projects.
From showcasing their inspirational words
and ideas worth spreading at our annual
TEDxBaldwinHighSchool
(http://bit.ly/TEDxBHS2016), to
participating in the Scholastic Art & Writing
Awards, our students continue to rise to
new heights. We are confident that our
students are prepared to successfully meet
the demands and competitions that the
future holds!

Brentwood-Baldwin-Whitehall | Fall 2016 | icmags.com 95

C AL
B
I T YDWI
OF NMC
- WHI
KE ETE
SPHAL
OR TL N
SCEHOOL
WS
DI STRIC T NE WS

Baldwin-Whitehall Food Service Department: News & Updates for the 2016–2017 School Year

McKeespor
t
Baldwin-Whitehall

NEWS IN FOOD SERVICE