Scholas - Connecting Students through Sports, Technology, and Art

Did you know that Pope Francis created his own educational entity in 2013, with the aim of bringing together students from around the world, especially those living in developing countries?

That organization is called Scholas. Drawing on the connected platform of web-based communications, Scholas works with governments, non-profits, and other groups to create, fund, and carry out project ideas for real schools, all around the world. The aim is to give students everywhere the chance to experience sports, technology, and the arts.

 Our middle school students will have the chance to submit a project idea to Scholas, as the result of a yearlong technology and research-based project that will be carried out mostly through their Skills class time. This project will become an authentic, real-world way to learn and apply technology and research skills. You can find more information below, in a snippet of the parents letter that was sent out today:

 This project will incorporate technology and research skills, with a varied focus each quarter. In the end, students will create a research project proposal that directly ties to the mission of both our school and Scholas, an educational initiative founded by Pope Francis.

 Their projects will have the goal of helping students in developing countries. Students will develop a topic focus based on this essential, or driving question: How can we connect, educate, and inspire young people around the world through sports, technology, and art?

 Related Links:
Please read more about Scholas here: http://www.unicef.org/media/media_81638.html 

The Scholas website can be found here: http://scholasoccurrentes.org/

Scholas Social has links to current projects: http://scholas.social/

Watch this official video introduction to Scholas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZPctI7oUow 

StMM’s Introduction to our Scholas project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8ZF69­Me2k

Diocese of Raleigh Information and Technology Curriculum Page: http://dioceseofraleigh.org/offices/catholic­schools/curriculum 

 Important Dates: By the start of Quarter 2, all students in grades 5­8 will need access to a family public library card with a PIN number (from any NC county) to access NC Live’s database system for research: h​ttp://www.nclive.org.​Students may put this information into a Google Document on their Drive account, come to Skills class prepared with the information, or ask a parent to e­mail it to Mrs. Cadran. This will be used for a variety of research­related projects for Quarters 2,3, and 4.

Thank you! Keep posted for more information about this exciting project!