Project Foundry Transcripts

Lumen is divided into eight blocks throughout the school year with each block lasting 4.5 weeks. At  the end of each block (4.5 weeks) in Lumen there are a couple of things that take place. First, our seminars and workshops switch every 4.5 weeks. For each seminar (2 hour period) students can earn a quarter (.25) worth of credit toward their classes. For example, in Elephants and Donkeys students earned .125 credits in American Politics and Policy (APP) and .125 credits in English. By the end of the year, those credits should total either a half a credit (0.5) or a full credit (1.0) depending on the class. In English they are required by the state to have 4 full credits, so students will have to earn a full credit in English each year. APP, however, is a semester class and students will earn .5 credits.

Secondly, all grades and credits are recorded in Project Foundry. This is Lumen’s version of Infinite Campus; however, there is not a gradebook feature in Project Foundry. Infinite Campus does not work well because of how Lumen is set up. If a student or parent would like to see an updated transcript, they can easily do this. Check out the video in this post to see how to print a transcript.

One thing that parents and students should be aware of is the credit situation. The minimum amount of credits that each student should earn each round is .75 credits in order to ensure that by the end of the year a student has a minimum of 6 credits. Many students earn more than this. Listed below are the dates for the end of each round and where students should be at to be on pace to graduate.

Round 1: .75 credits
Round 2: 1.5 credits
Round 3: 2.25 credits (December 7)
Round 4: 3.0 credits (January 18)
Round 5: 3.75 credits (February 22)
Round 6: 4.5 credits (March 22)
Round 7: 5.25 credits (May 2)
Round 8: 6.0 credits (June 9)

Teambuilding

November 2 marked the end of the second round of seminars in Lumen. To usher in the next round, Lumen students engaged in some team building activities. Our 60 students divided into three teams and in rotation, participated in three different activities: Birthday Line Up, Buzzwords and Pass the Buck. Ask your son or daughter how well they did! We finished up with  Spaghetti Marshmallow Structures. Students were given a bag of marshmallows, a box of spaghetti, and a couple pieces of masking tape. Students were charged with the task of building the tallest structure possible that would hold for at least 10 seconds to be measured. There were some very creative solutions to structural issues that arose.  After the activities, we circled up as a whole group and talked about how things are going this year. It was another successful team building experience and a great way to start Round 3 of our seminars.

Guest Speakers in Lumen


On Wednesday, October 24th, the Lumen students in the Elephants and Donkey seminar had two guest speakers visit the school. Students received information from each speaker, and they were able to ask questions as they arose.

The first speaker was Joan Ballweg. Joan is a Republican representing Wisconsin’s 41st district. As a Republican representative in this district, it is Joan’s responsibility to propose bills that she determines would better the area she represents in addition to voting on all proposed bills and acts. Through this responsibility, Joan presented a bill that she recently proposed, which was organized around her thoughts and what she felt the legislature would approve, while also pleasing the district. More than proposing bills, while running in the upcoming election, Joan is responsible for campaigning herself and ensuring that the public knows what topics she feels strongly about and what she will do to represent her district. Joan has been representing this area for eight years, once being mayor, to now being a representative of the district.

The second speaker was Samir Paul. Samir is a Democratic campaign adviser representing Barack Obama in the elections this year. Samir was an educator before becoming a Democratic campaign representative, and this year will be his first year in this position as a full time job, not just volunteer worker. As a Democratic representative, it is Samir’s job to understand the statistics involved with voting, acknowledge the best people to attempt to persuade, and follow with directing campaigns towards these people and making thousands of phone calls a day in attempt to persuade these people.

This was a great opportunity for students to interact with people with direct connections to the political process. Both speakers opened the floor for questions which led to lively conversations.