It’s noon, and most of ACA is going on break. Ann Heppner isn’t. Instead, she’s preparing for what many ESes describe as a “tremendously helpful” class, one that can be “miraculously beneficial” for students’ grades. Mrs. Heppner walks into the classroom and greets her  two-person class. This is business as usual for any one of ACA’s “Lunch and Learns.”  The Lunch and Learn program has … Continue reading Underused Power-up Hiding in Plain Sight

Jack Taggart The Charter News 11/18/19 ACA’s Lego Robotics club got started when Tara McLaughlin, Lego team coach and mother of two ACA students considered starting a Lego team at ACA, similar to the one she and her children had participated in at a school they previously attended. “I thought a homeschool environment could really benefit from [a] robotics outlet… I know how many kids … Continue reading ACA’s Lego Robotics Club

By Rebecca Burton The Charter News October 30, 2019 You can now see dragons, elves, and witches roaming the halls of ACA! This year the school has added a new club, the dungeons and dragons club where people can discuss their favorite characters and levels. Come as you explore the world of dungeons and dragons. This club is for the inspired dungeons and dragons players … Continue reading Student Starts Dungeons & Dragons Club

By Kailyn McKay Oct. 23, 2019 Charter News The Harvest Ball was held in the cafeteria at 7:00 pm on Friday, October 25.  Twenty tickets were sold from the study hall in advance of the event, according to Merrie Miller, our study hall teacher and ticket salesperson. She said that usually kids don’t start buying tickets till the last week.  Sophomore Haladar Wright was one … Continue reading 2019 Harvest Ball

By Kailyn McKay The Charter NewsOct. 2, 2019 ACA has seen some new faces, since 2007. This year there are 70 new students that registered, according to Mrs. Diana Brainerd. So many family and friends of other current students want in and start a new schooling life here, she added. Alliance can accept, at most, 395 students each year and as of late September we … Continue reading Taking in new families

The second most common cause of death people ages 10-34 in the U.S. is suicide. Ranking 15th in the U.S., Oregon has one of the highest percentages of deaths due to suicide. This sobering statistic is all the more disturbing when it is brought into consideration that it is a subject that hits close to home, as some students at ACA struggle with suicidal ideation. … Continue reading The Issue of Suicide

On October 21st, Mr Holland’s PE class found the gym invaded by a faintly humming silver dome, 20 feet in diameter and 10 feet high. Fortunately, this was no alien invasion of ACA, but rather the Starlab, a mobile observatory and planetarium, brought in by Mr. Lancaster’s Astrobiology class to teach constellations and planetary science. “Constellations serve as a…sort of map that astronomers use to … Continue reading Astrobiology Brings Strange Visitor To ACA

By: Chloe R. Lute Over the summer a few of Alliance Charter Academy’s rooms got refurnished to be more functional and appealing. Some of the biggest changes include the Guitar room and the Study Hall. The Guitar Room, room 116, got a new paint job and is now completely reorganized. There’s now a board on the back wall which holds all of the smaller instruments … Continue reading Changes to ACA Building

Tazwell Brandabur The Charter News – 9/30/19 Much of success, both in school and later life, depends upon a set of critical skills known as executive functioning. These skills include scheduling, time management, and prioritization, which are all essential for staying organized.  With this in mind, ACA hired Karin Bright, an executive function coach based in Portland, to help students, and to help teachers help … Continue reading Student Planners: So Far, So Good

By Matthias Armstrong The Charter News – 11/09/18 A new Spanish speaking group has formed at ACA, and its goal is to build a learning Spanish speaking community within ACA. Starting every Tuesday, at lunch, the new spanish group will be meeting in the speech room to converse and learn new things, for instance grammar and vocabulary in Spanish. People already in the group have … Continue reading New Spanish Speaking Group

Sydney Starr The Charter News In June 2019, Chad Wynne, ACA’s Social Sciences department head, will be leading a small group of two students and one mom, on an educational tour through Spain and France. This tour group is unusually small, Wynne says “We are a very small group, and so it’s just me, two students, and one of those student’s mom’s. I was hoping … Continue reading EF Educational Tour to Spain and France

By RYLIE YOUNG – 08/03/18 On August 13th, at approximately 2 am, the Oregon City Police Department and Clackamas Fire arrived at Park Place Elementary to find the school’s playground engulfed in flames. The fire was contained and put out quickly. However, it wasn’t before an estimated $15,000 worth of playground equipment was burned, along with two picnic benches. After further investigation, the authorities discovered … Continue reading Arsonist Burns Down Our Playground

by: Rachel Shulikov There is a staff member, a teacher, an ES, that not everyone knows, because she was doing something that not everyone knew about.  Her name is Denise Dille. Dille was born in Oregon, then she moved to Arizona, and lived there for eight years, until she moved back to Oregon.  She likes dogs and cats. She got married to her high school … Continue reading Who is Denise Dille?

By OLIVIA SILBERNAGEL Anger and sadness over gun violence in America is present even in ACA. This was apparent on Wednesday, March 14th when roughly thirty-five students walked out of class in protest of current gun policy and the toll it has taken on our schools. The walkout was prompted by the Parkland school shooting which took place on February 14th of this year at … Continue reading ‘Never Again’ – ACA Students Walkout

By Victor Heimbigner Have you ever done Yoga before? If you would like to, we have a Yoga class here at Alliance Charter Academy. Todd Ingham, a teacher who teaches art class and in his free time, comes to school every Tuesday at 8:00 o’clock in the gym to teach Yoga to anybody who stops by. Mr. Todd helps his yoga students to become more … Continue reading Yoga With Teacher Todd

By Samantha Rands The Harvest Ball was October 27th Organizers consider the Harvest Ball and Haunted House success despite some technical difficulties. The profit made from tickets sales was $111.02, which will go towards funds for prom. Beth Sugrue, a mom at ACA and the Harvest Dance coordinator, said, “I think overall the dance went pretty well. We had a lot of logistical problems that … Continue reading Harvest Ball/Haunted House reactions

Nicole Engelke The Charter – News Although the students in this new club had probably never met before, or heard their parts, or even played a marimba, they were determined to learn their parts before the concert, and have lots of fun in the process. Margie Phillips, one of the music teachers at ACA, wanted it that way when she coined the idea before the … Continue reading New Marimba Club Welcomes All Students

By Alyssa DiLoreto, The Charter News –  This year, the Winter Concerts are being held in the gym at ACA. According to music teacher, Jonathan Cheskin, this year ACA has a new sound system, so we are able to do our own sound setup. There was also a temperature problem, at Jackson as we had no heat. In the past few years, ACA has held … Continue reading Winter Concert at ACA