d.tech Culture

Empathy, trust and commitment are core values at d.tech, and the expectation of the school community.

What each one of us has in common is the desire to feel safe, included, trusted and connected.

Building appreciation and support for others is like building a muscle—it takes mindfulness and practice, but it’s worth it.

Incoming 9th graders frequently comment about how friendly and welcoming the older students are. That’s because the current students are sharing what was modeled towards them when they first arrived.

A girl with long dark hair smiling and giving two thumbs up in a school hallway. She is wearing a white crop top, a beige sweater with red hearts, blue jeans, and pink shoes with cartoon characters.

The Community Meeting

The Community Meeting is a place where Design Tech High School comes together, creates a sense of belonging, empowers students, and leans in to develop empathy and understanding from numerous perspectives.

Meaningful student-planned presentations include:

  • Student speakers

  • Interview panels for Women’s History, Latinx, and Black History awareness

  • Halloween pie-eating & mummy-wrapping

  • Songs and personal stories

  • Student-staff challenges, such as dance-offs, eating contests, and more

Self Direction

Curiosity. Diligence. Confidence.

Students who enroll at d.tech bring the curiosity, openness, and diligence to become self-directed. They also need practice.

d.tech’s Design Lab program teaches students how to seek out authentic challenges and turn ideas into action. By steadily building creative confidence and learning to balance coursework, hobbies, rest, and wellness, students are preparing for an engaged and healthy life.

We start this journey together by fostering a strong sense of community. Each day students meet with their advisory group and engage in activities together. An Advisor is an ally who guides and supports students, just as students are encouraged to guide and support their peers.

Most school-wide communication happens during Advisory, through the online daily Student Announcements, and the weekly Community Meeting.

d.tech Community Handbook

Please note that the Community Handbook is reviewed and updated more than once per year. This typically occurs in August and towards the end of the first semester.  d.tech reserves the right to update the handbook as and when needed to remain responsive to the needs of the community. It is the parents’ and students’ responsibility to review the handbook periodically and when policy questions arise.

Whereas it is instinctive to follow one’s self-interests, the policies in the handbook ensure the best outcome for everyone in our community of 1,600 students/staff & parents, our neighbors at the Oracle campus and beyond, as well as the mentors and business leaders who support our students.

For example, getting students in and out of the Dragon Loop as safely and as efficiently as possible is a top priority for d.tech. Parents can help by carefully following the traffic flow, even when they’re running a little late. 

Students gathered in a school lobby, some sitting on the floor and others standing in the background, with banners hanging from the second floor celebrating anniversary dragons, championships, and first robotics competition wins.
Four teenagers standing in a gymnasium, smiling at the camera. Two are wearing black hoodies with orange lettering, one is wearing a white t-shirt with an orange logo, and the background includes a microphone and speaker set up.
A large hand-drawn banner on a bulletin board features an eye illustration with black lashes and a cratered eye iris, surrounded by the words 'see,' 'the,' 'good' in chalk or marker. There are numerous white slips of paper with text pinned below the eye, likely student responses or observations. A young woman with long dark hair is pointing towards the display, smiling.