Source: Mercy High School Recognized as Apple Distinguished School Press Release
Author: Mercy High School
Mercy High School Named Apple Distinguished School
Farmington Hills, MI - Mercy High School is pleased to announce that we have been recognized as an Apple Distinguished School for 2015 to 2017 for our integration of technology across the curriculum and school life. The Apple Distinguished School designation is reserved for programs that meet criteria for innovation, leadership, and educational excellence, and demonstrate a clear and consistent vision of exemplary learning environments.
The selection of Mercy High School as an Apple Distinguished School highlights our success as an innovative and compelling learning environment that engages students and provides tangible evidence of academic accomplishment. All students utilize an iPad. Teachers have both iPads and MacBooks and all classrooms are equipped with Apple TV’s. In their freshman year, all students are taught multimedia skills in digital photography, video, animation, web design and slide presentations.
“With the daily use of powerful technological tools, our students are deeply engaged in the access, use and evaluation of information and are therefore better learners.” Carolyn Witte, Principal.
Paperless workflow and grading prevails at Mercy. Most instructional resources are available through the learning management system Schoology which also provides seamless integration with applications like DropBox, Powerschool, and Google Drive. Students also collaborate and edit each other’s work using text, video, and audio applications.
At Mercy, young women have the opportunity to be technology teachers and program innovators through the iPad student team called the iWizards. The iWizards conduct iPad orientation for all new students and host an iCreate workshop for middle school students. This unique group of enthusiasts even created an iTunes U Course of iPad Tips & Tricks to provide training and resources to the Mercy school community and at Apple’s request, made a presentation last March at MACUL (The Michigan Association of Computer Users in Learning).
Mercy also hosts an annual Tech Talk Conference for Educators, has a Mobile APP, iMercy Multi-Touch book and various courses available on iTunes U.
“I am proud of how seamlessly technology has become woven into Mercy’s learning culture. Mercy is always positioned for change because it has developed the capacity to learn and lead in the field of technology.” Dr. Cheryl Kreger, President.
iMercy on iTunes
A brand new edition of iMercy is now available for free at iTunes. iMercy earned our renewal as an Apple Distinguished School - it describes all the strengths of our tech program. Many student projects and staff are featured within. Over two-thirds of the content is brand new. It is 27-pages long and packed full of multimedia. The book is designed for best viewing with an iPad. You can download it here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/imercy/id1056766203?ls=1&mt=11
About Mercy High School
Mercy High School, a Catholic college preparatory school immersed in the tradition of the Sisters of Mercy, educates and inspires young women of diverse backgrounds to lead and serve with compassion. Throughout its 70 years as an exemplary high school, over 14,000 students have graduated from Mercy. Mercy is proud to educate women who make a difference from over 70 metropolitan Detroit communities. Visit mhsmi.org for more information. Mercy High School is located at 29300 W. 11 Mile Rd, Farmington Hills, MI 48336.
Apple Distinguished School
Apple Distinguished Schools are K–20 schools that provide 24/7, schoolwide, one-to-one access to Apple notebook computers and/or mobile devices to all students, teachers, and administrators. They demonstrate an innovative and compelling learning environment that engages students and provides tangible evidence of academic accomplishment