Success Stories

Involvement across the nation: GenYES students at Shadow Mountain High School have collaborated with Google executives and demonstrated "Innovation Projects" at a STEM conference. They have participated in an Apple Education Leadership Summit with CIO's, CEO's, and presidents from over fifty universities across the nation and co-presented at the National Education and Technology Conference with Apple. In 2011 and 2012, they presented at Microcomputers in Education. GenYES students developed their own Career & Technology Student Organization (CTSO) with impressive results and in 2013, they won state and competed at the National SkillsUSA Convention in Kansas.; Over the course of teaching technology classes and GenYES, I have found the more autonomy I give students, the more responsible they become. They are vested in the program and ultimately learn to manage coursework and tasks. Indeed those are workplace and college skills they will need to be independently successful.; So, I think the crux of what I am teaching is absolutely that. How to self motivate, manage time, evaluate what you are supposed to learn and accomplish it. Work independently, seek help when needed, find resources, collaborate with colleagues (other students) these are all life skills and college skills.; Debbie Kovesdy; GenYES Facilitator at Shadow Mountain High School

Annual Tech Fairs and Professional Development: One of the major goals of GenYES students is to promote technology integration into classroom instruction.; At Shadow Mountain, GenYES students are amazing innovators and are always looking at new ideas and technologies that can be integrated easily to improve the quality of teaching and student work. They have created learning environments (that are always evolving) to enhance instruction for any subject area.; GenYES students drafted lessons and worked many hours planning a professional development day for Shadow Mountain instructors. Many district personnel also attended.

Students at SMHS setting up a flight simulator for Microsoft

SMHS GenYES Students win State and compete in National Skills USA 2013

Implementation: "We first started as a club after school" with seven kids, says Debbie Kovesdy, a media specialist and GenYES adviser at Shadow Mountain High School in Phoenix. "Then we added a class, then two. This year, it's evolved to three specific periods. I had a few visions: to transform the media center into a tech center; to ramp up teaching with technology--core pedagogy of GenYES--and to create a solid foundation of relevant tech instruction for the kids to begin career paths in technology."; Today, 65 GenYES students contribute to the culture of technology at Shadow Mountain, providing support for teachers and troubleshooting hardware problems. But they are also learning how to use technology with the GenYES-based course work.; "I teach these amazing kids to be innovators and, in turn, put their ideas and research into cool practices to use in the classroom," exclaims Kovesdy. "Often, I give an assignment, such as 'Blender, 3D modeling' ( that uses ) a complex animation program. Then I do no instruction. Zero. I tell them the product outcome I expect, and give them two weeks to do it. The results are always fantastic. Less knowledgeable kids glean info from their favorite people--their peers."; All of Kovesdy's students can use GenYES' dedicated online forum to communicate with students from other GenYES programs, whether it's to solve problems, share resources, or simply connect with others over a shared interest.