Burlington Elementary students Leo Rodriguez and Diego De La Fuente-Sotos were looking for an activity when they discovered the KidWind Challenge. Little did they know they would soon be competing at a national level.
Rodriquez and De La Fuente-Sotos were invited to join the KidWind Challenge by their fourth-grade teacher Jodi Wilden.
Maya Thompson, a senior at Mead High School, has been a big influence on special needs organizations in the St. Vrain Valley area. Her legacy is one she hopes to leave behind.
As a freshman, Thompson searched for something to get involved with and discovered the Unified Sports program at Mead High School. Initially she thought it would be a fun activity, but little did she know the experience would change her and shape her future too.
Bustling viewers and booming orchestras could be heard from the parking lot of Skyline High School. Despite the never-ending drizzle of the gloomy Saturday, something warm and unique was flowing through the hallways.
On May 13th, the Skyline Feeder held their third-annual music festival, bringing together all of the bands and music departments of the feeder schools. Over a span of a few hours, more than 500 students ranging from grades K-12 performed. The wave of music was unceasing, with bands and choirs taking form and beginning as soon as the other stopped.
Students from Niwot High School created a virtual reality simulation to help eighth-graders transition into high school and hope to expand it to all St. Vrain Valley high schools.
Transitioning from eighth grade to high school can be stressful for some students. These students have many questions such as, “What are my peers like?” “What if I get lost?” “What do classes look like?”
Forty-four St. Vrain Valley seniors walked the stage at their college graduation, just weeks before graduating from high school.
These students are part of the district’s Pathways in Technology Early College High School program, or P-TECH. The students hail from either Skyline or Frederick high schools.
St. Vrain Valley School’s Special Education Department is excited to announce that a student-run print shop is in the works at Main Street School.
While it’s not officially open for business yet, the goal is to have it fully operational by mid-September. There will be a ribbon cutting ceremony in August and students will be hired and trained. They will also be involved in the naming of the print shop, as well as the creation of the website.
The print shop will provide students with hands-on learning experiences that will allow them to gain practical knowledge about print production, design, and business management. Students will also have the ability to earn a Workplace Skills badge and an Entrepreneurial Practitioner badge.
The shop will operate as a functional classroom and will be run by a team of student volunteers who will be supervised by a teacher advisor. The print shop will be open to LSACE students and Main Street School’s high school students who are interested in designing and printing posters, flyers, and other materials. The print shop will run like a real business and students will be required to apply and interview for a position and wear uniforms and name badges.
Gina Trujillo, principal of Main Street School, and Amanda Ferguson, assistant director of special education, were instrumental in the development of the print shop with an objective of providing real life work experiences for students. “Some of the goals of the print shop are to provide a unique learning opportunity for students where they can gain real-world experience in the print industry, create an environment that fosters creativity and innovation among students, as well as providing a cost-effective solution for the school’s printing needs,” Trujillo said.
The print shop is equipped with a range of printing equipment, including high-quality printers, scanners, and cutting machines that will allow students to produce professional floor graphics, stickers, decals, awards, flash cards, banners, vinyl lettering for bulletin boards, large posters and signs and much more! Any staff member within the St. Vrain Valley School District will be able to utilize the print shop services.
St. Vrain’s Unified Athletes will be coming together for a fun filled day of outdoor activities during the 3rd Annual Unified Day of Champions. The event will take place on Monday, May 22 from 9:45am – 1:00pm at Longmont High School’s Everly Montgomery Field.
Approximately, 104 unified athletes from the District’s eight high schools and 43 unified athletes from Main Street School will participate in the event along with their mentors.
This year’s events will consist of 10 different stations, including: outdoor bowling, cornhole/shuffle board, beach ball, tennis, basketball, kickball, 50 meter run, percussion, a dunk tank (where students can dunk their school principal), and a break station.
Unified sports is a collaborative approach to creating opportunities for students with and without disabilities to participate in extracurricular activities such as basketball, soccer, and bowling.
Parents and spectators are welcome and encouraged to attend the event to cheer on the athletes. It’s sure to be a good time!
Students in a conservation data science class at St. Vrain Valley’s Innovation Center are working to shepherd about 400 northern leopard frog tadpoles to maturity so they can be released in the wild with a higher chance for survival.
Their goal is to release the tadpoles when they’re past the high mortality rates of their early stages but before they complete the transformation into frogs. A fungus and a virus, both carried by invasive bullfrogs, are the main culprits of the early die-offs, the students said.
!["image of [Summer Meals]"](https://www.svvsd.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Summer-Meals-2023-791x1024.jpg)
This Teacher Appreciation Week, join us in celebrating the outstanding educators across St. Vrain Valley Schools.
Dear St. Vrain Valley Community,
The role of educators in our society is both admirable and vital, as they hold the keys to the development and progress of our future generations. The vast majority of our children in America, over 90%, attend public schools, where teachers and staff work collaboratively with parents and families to shape the course of their lives.
As I visit our schools and witness the myriad of exceptional accomplishments, I am constantly inspired by the skill, commitment, and nurturing attitude our teachers and staff demonstrate every day. They have displayed remarkable resilience, ingenuity, empathy, and an unwavering dedication to the achievement of every student. In St. Vrain, I am wholeheartedly convinced that we are home to the finest educators the world has to offer, and I am honored to work in partnership with them in the pursuit of excellence for our students, schools, and community.
As we celebrate this year’s Teacher Appreciation Week, I invite you to join me in recognizing the exceptional work of our educators and staff members who tirelessly advocate for the success and growth of our students and schools.
Teachers, thank you for all that you do to shape our collective future.
Sincerely,
Don Haddad, Ed.D.
Superintendent
@SVVSDSupt
For many of our teachers, the start to their first day of school in St. Vrain wasn’t greeting students in their classrooms. Instead, they spent their time being welcomed by their teacher and classmates as they began their educational journey. Little did they know, those teachers would one day become colleagues and mentors as they, too, accepted students into their St. Vrain classrooms for the first time.
To realize the purpose of public education and the life-changing experiences throughout our schools is first to understand the incomparable impact of the approximately three million teachers in public schools across the U.S. today – and the millions that served before them. Throughout their career, the average teacher will reach over 3,000 children, having an exponential impact on our future.
After nearly four decades in public education, I am convinced beyond question that our nation’s future is dependent on our public school teachers. They are the architects of the fires of curiosity and the passion for learning in our youth. We entrust them with the sacred task of molding the next generation of leaders, innovators, and pioneers who will steer the course of our society.
Each month, Stapp Interstate Toyota partners with St. Vrain Valley Schools to recognize a teacher in our community who is having a significant impact inside and beyond the classroom.
