IDEA Public Charter School

Surprises await the new school year. 🎉🥳

The construction crew is making progress on our new kitchen & student commons. We are looking forward to enjoying this beautiful space. 👩🏿‍🍳

This is what our future looks like🤩!

⭐️ It is full of fresh ideas & untapped talent.

⭐️ It is unbound by unnecessary rules.

⭐️ It is ambitious and ready to take on new ventures.

⭐️ It is bold and audacious.

⭐️ It is ready to win.

IDEA’s class of 2022 is our future and we are ready for them to take their rightful stand.

Congrats to our new graduates, who will now lead the way!

Be a Timberwolf!

Watch IDEA’s class of 2022 graduate, LIVE, today! 👩🏾‍🎓🧑🏿‍🎓👨🏾‍🎓🎓

Idea Public Charter School Graduation 2022 This is "Idea Public Charter School Graduation 2022" by ArchiteX on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

Among our distinguished class of 2022 is our longtime Executive Director & CEO, Justin Rydstrom. 🎓

In his decade of leadership, Mr. Rydstrom was a guiding force in IDEA’s transformation, propelling us into a Bold Performance Award-winning school.

With his guidance, IDEA has exceeded our enrollment targets, ensured staff retention, and expanded building renovations, including a new state of the art kitchen and student commons slated for completion in August 2022.

His signature accomplishment was building IDEA’s CTE program into the leading program of its kind in the Washington, DC school system. He also secured an innovative partnership with Educare to create an onsite childcare center that both provides childcare for the Deanwood community and offers an onsite internship location for our Child Development pathway scholars. 🙏🏾

We wish him the best in his future endeavors! ❤️

Photo captions -
1. Mr. Rydstrom and Dr. Michele Walker Davis, executive director of D.C. Public Charter School Board, PCSB tour IDEA's classrooms.
2. Mr. Rydstrom and two of his IDEA mentees pose for a photo at IDEA's senior prom.
3. Two more mentees join Mr. Rydstrom for a photo at the prom.

Drum roll, please...🥁🥁🥁

The Board of Trustees of IDEA Public Charter School is pleased to announce Michael A. Wilson, M.Ed., Ed.S., as IDEA’s new Chief Executive Officer, effective June 27.

Mr. Wilson comes to IDEA from the Reid Temple Christian Academy in Glenn Dale, Maryland, where he was the executive director. During his time in that role, he boosted the school’s reputation as a high-quality school emphasizing communications, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (CSTEM) by implementing multicultural education, including Global Embassy Mentors and International Ventures programs, and emphasizing world language education. He also implemented effective teaching training for all teachers and ensured academic readiness for students with a core curriculum that included reading, writing, math, social studies, and science. 🙌🏾

We are thrilled to have Mr. Wilson join our team, and eager to work together to continue our mission of excellence!

Welcome, Mr. Wilson! ⭐️

Lifelong friendships were made here. 🥰

While this will not be our last time together, Senior Field Day was one of our final organized events for the class of 2022 and we are so glad we shared this memory.

⭐️ Shout out to the 14 sophomores and juniors who make up the prom/senior activities committee. They helped set up and run different activities during the afternoon. They did a fabulous job!

⭐️ Thank you Mr. Camacho, Ms. Randolph, Mr. Rose, Mr. Jones, Officer Davis, and the senior team for participating in this event and for helping to make it more fun!

From the teacher vs. student water balloon battles to the yummy food and ice cream trucks, Senior Field Day was truly a day to remember!

This is our absolute favorite time of year!

The senior prom is when we get to really see our scholars shine ⭐️🤩 and celebrate their many years of hard work & friendships.

We will share the professional pics when they come in but here are a few highlights from the prom captured by our staff.

We could not be more proud of the class of 2022! 🕴💃🏾

The scholars in our CTE Pathways program are crushing it!

Last week, they hosted their first ever bazaar, where they curated products based on select target markets of their choice.

Students in Principles of Business & Marketing sold goodie bags, including -

✅ School supplies
✅ Hygiene products
✅ Shoe restoration supplies

The Business Management students sold -

✅ Remote trackers
✅ Customizable hair bonnets
✅ Durags
✅ Ski masks
✅ Anti gun violence hoodies and t-shirts

They were so proud of their success! Thank you to everyone who supported their first bazaar!

What's the connection between these huge tree branches and the Capitol?

Well, last week our CTE students visited the farm in Berryville, VA, where they milled lumber.

You see, each year a state sends a tree to stand in front of the Capitol as the National Christmas Tree. This past year, California sent a white fir to DC. That's the tree seen in this pics.

Our scholars worked a saw mill to transform it into lumber, and it will be sent back to CA for students there to use it on school building projects.

While at Casey Tree Farm, they learned how to use the mill hydraulics to load and turn the tree, set the blade depth, run the saw, replace the blade and use a pickaroon to pull the lumber off. They also toured the tree farm and saw where all the DC street trees are born and the basics of tree farm management.

Each student was offered a piece of the tree to be taken home...sap and all!

Our English III scholars are getting into the creative writing zone, crafting stories about everything - from non-fiction to sci-fi.

We create the environment for creative exploration at IDEA. ✍🏾📝

Flashback to the competition - our 9th grade scholar Alaija Snowden is seen here engaged in a discussion about her essay topic during the board presentation rounds. The topic of her research was violence against women.

Alaija crushed it! 🙌🏾🤩