We are Moving Forward

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While this year presented many challenges due to the global pandemic, our community continued to move forward. Through our collective resilience, innovation, compassion, and ingenuity, together we have strengthened our public education system, and will continue to advance excellence for each and every student as we plan to return to full in-person learning (five-days per week) next school year.

Over the past year, our students continued to achieve at the highest levels and engaged in exceptional opportunities to deepen their learning and magnify their impact on the world. Students reintroduced a protected species to the wild, engaged in artificial intelligence research and cybersecurity competitions, achieved global recognition in robotics and music, won numerous state athletic championships, reimagined socially-distanced performing arts, and so much more. Teachers adapted to new models of instruction, leveraged cutting-edge technology to engage students with disabilities, and built lasting relationships with students that will provide the foundation for their future success.

2020-2021 Achievements

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  • Mobile Innovation Lab Design Guild Challenge
  • Erie State Champions in Cheer and Pom
  • Designed and Implemented Badging System for Innovation Center Students in Design Thinking, Communication, and Team Building
  • Built a new school, Highlands Elementary School, in the Erie Community
  • Distributed millions of meals through lunch rooms and drive-up sites
  • Numerous Boettcher Scholars, Daniels Scholars, and National Merit Scholars
  • Altona Middle School – 2021 Colorado Trailblazer School to Watch
  • Most IBM P-TECH internships of any district in the U.S.
  • First class of P-TEACH apprentices
  • Skyline High School AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award
  • Campus rebrand for OCHS, SVOGA, CDC
  • Soaring Heights #greatFULL Luminary Event
  • We are #greatFULL campaign
  • Cybersecurity Competitions
  • VEX Robotics Online Academy
  • Robotics state, national, and world competitions
  • Increase in Graduation Rates and other student achievement data
  • Digital Innovation Award from RTM Business Group
  • 121 Class of 2020 graduates and 92 Class of 2021 graduates earn Seal of Biliteracy
  • Opened new Mead Elementary School building
  • New Teacher Orientation goes virtual
  • All-Staff Walking Podcast Convocation Event
  • Recognized by Recycle Colorado for Zero Waste Efforts
  • Niwot Cougars Sweep 4A cross country
  • Mobile Lab Virtual Solar Tour
  • Distributed 3,000 books through the Mobile Lab
  • Starting new P-TECH program in cybersecurity at SCHS
  • Mead Boys’ Basketball State Championship
  • Purchasing Team Recognitions
  • Launch of New District Website
  • Expanded Project Launch for Summer 2021
  • Music Instrument Drive brings hundreds of new instruments to St. Vrain
  • Students from all schools collaborated on a virtual song for the 2020 Gala
  • Jill Lliteras was Colorado’s Elementary Principal of the Year
  • District transition to remote learning on inclement weather days, and over 90% of students participate in virtual instruction on first virtual snow day
  • Extensive renovations completed at schools across the district, including Longmont High School
  • St. Vrain students design the Hospital Room of the Future in partnership with UCHealth
  • Sunset Middle School accepted into the Amazon Future Engineer Program
  • Erie High Student wins College Board Scholarship
  • St. Vrain hosts district-wide Unified Sports Day of Champions
  • Mead High and Stapp Toyota Partner on Instrument Donations to Mead Elementary and Mead Middle
  • Neil Shupe is recognized as the 2021 Teacher of the Year
  • Students at the Innovation Center and in the Lyons feeder continue conservation work with the Northern Red-Bellied Dace
  • Innovation Center students go for world record in the Giant Paper Airplane challenge
  • St. Vrain will host an Educator Equity Institute in partnership with with A Queer Endeavor
  • Finance Team wins numerous awards including: GFOA Award, ASBO Award, RMGPA Purchasing Manager of the Year – Tim Wellmann, RMGPA Purchasing Team of the Year, and the UPPCC 2020 Agency Certification Award – Purchasing Department
  • St. Vrain leadership gave multiple presentations to Chamber of Commerce, Latino Chambers and continue to promote the district and public education
  • Approximately 100 parents joined the district’s monthly Parent Coronavirus Update and Advisory Committee
  • St. Vrain launched the Beyond Brick and Mortar Video Weekly Spotlights
  • Bond Ratings Increased
  • Hired multiple additional support staff to bolster areas such as special education
  • LHS students qualified for national speech and debate tournament
  • The Innovate to Elevate Partnership between Innovation Center and Special Education provided opportunities to engage special needs students through technology
  • Finalization of Main Street School Building Renovation
  • Longmont Silver Crown Winners Yearbook Award
  • St. Vrain is advancing three bills in the legislation around safe to tell, accreditation, and internet access
  • Established and Broadened our multicultural community committee
  • Expanded Opportunities in Aeronautics
  • Supported partnerships with HEF, AWW, and various chambers of commerce
  • Niwot High Mock Trial had strong showing at state
  • Fielded first girls wrestling team that made it to the state finals
  • Saturday SAT preps and AP prep programs
  • School spotlight series on Twitter
  • Strengthened partnership with our business and corporate community, ex: Colorado Business Roundtable
  • Students Participate in Longmont Chamber’s Leadership Longmont
  • Engaged students in expanding a diverse perspective in our curriculum
  • Virtual Art Show with over 1,000 student artworks featured
  • Hygiene Elementary hosted HawkAir Japan
  • Lyons had a three-time state wrestling champion
  • LHS Smart Teams continued to apply research directly related to the global pandemic
  • Longmont drumline ranked in top 15 in the nation, competes virtually at international event
  • Kelly Christensen at Niwot High named the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association 2020 Cross Country Coach of the Year 4 the State of Colorado
  • Burlington Outdoor Classroom planted for first year
  • PIE calendar full of great sessions for our families in St. Vrain
  • Raptor Emma Stenner who recently competed in the 2021 HOSA – Future Health Professional State Conference and earned 1st place in her event: Emergency Preparedness EMT
  • Amanda Giuliani at Skyline High was a Boettcher Foundation 2021 Teacher Recognition Award winner
  • Skyline STEM Academy forms new partnerships with Western Colorado University for preferential admissions and priority selection for scholarship opportunities
  • 24 students graduated from P-TEACH with an average of 12 college credits earned
  • 7 NxtGEN P-TEACH Apprentices successfully completed their freshman year at CU Denver while working as part-time teacher apprentices in our schools
  • 21 St. Vrain leaders began earning their Doctorate in Educational Leadership in our CU Denver/SVVSD Cohort this year
  • 27 St. Vrain teachers began earning their Master’s in Educational Leadership in our CU Denver/SVVS Cohort this year
  • 78 student teachers mentored by St. Vrain teachers
  • $2.7 Million RISE Grant to support Project Launch in collaboration with 5 other Colorado districts
  • Configured and distributed 8,100 devices so all elementary students have access to an iPad
  • Presented at the Osiris World Education Summit on “Building a System-Wide Foundation for Powerful and Sustainable Innovation”
  • Implemented “Super Guest Teacher” program and provided training and technology to in-school substitutes
  • Awarded 790 hotspots through the T-Mobile “Project 10M” program
  • Awarded a total of $1.45M through the Connecting Colorado Students grant to provide internet to qualifying families in the district
  • Implemented new tools to monitor and protect our network and our users 
  • Implemented “Meet the Teacher,” a Virtual Conferencing platform to facilitate remote parent-teacher Conferences
  • Administered SAT to 12th grade students across St. Vrain in Fall 2020
  • Increase in student achievement on 11th grade National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test
  • Increase in the number of AP Exams taken while increasing the percentage of students scoring 3 or higher across populations. 
  • 201% increase in the number of concurrent enrollment courses taken in 7 years.
  • 7 out of 8 St. Vrain feeder high schools have at least one Boettcher Scholarship finalist in the Class of 2021 – 14 total finalists
  • 90.3% graduation rate for students in traditional high schools
  • Elementary students collectively read for 5,056,279 minutes (or 84,271 hours) using myON digital books this year
  • Niwot HS Team State Champions in Boys and Girls Cross Country, Boys Tennis, and Individual State champs in Boys Tennis, Boys XC, and Girls Swimming
  • Mead Boys Basketball State Champions
  • Erie High School Cheer and Dance State Champions 
  • Lyons High School had a Three time wrestling state champion 
  • 3 students accepted to the Colorado HS All State Choir
  • 9 students accepted to the Colorado HS All State Orchestra
  • 2 students accepted to the Colorado HS All State Jazz Band
  • District received NAMM 2021 Best Communities in Music Education Award
  • All SVVSD students who participated in the CHSAA Solo & Ensemble Festival received high ratings
  • The SVVSD Art Show went fully virtual with 1,480 pieces of artwork
  • At ThesCon (57th Colorado Thespian Conference), Erie HS awarded 7 superior and excellent ratings, Frederick HS awarded 3 superior and excellent ratings, and Niwot HS awarded 20 superior and excellent ratings
  • Marianne Martinez (Nurse Consultant) received the Sure Shot Award from Colorado Immunization Coalition for her dedication and commitment to vaccinate children.
  • Lourdes Buck received the “Friend of the Profession Award” from Southwest Conference on Language Teaching.
  • We switched our 504 data systems to Infinite Campus vs. the outside platform Alpine.
  • Created a Title IX training module via Public School Works.
  • Our Gifted and Talented Office provided equity focused professional development (trained school staff in Depth and Complexity, engaged in “Seeing and Serving Underserved Gifted Students Book study”, received training from a Queer Endeavor).
  • The GT department created a new parent education series called “G-Tea”.
  • A comprehensive equity definition was created by our community partners and leadership team.  
  • Brought a Diverse Speaker Series led by Dr. Rose Marie Allen to the Erie Feeder system. 
  • Engaged in book studies with school equity teams at various schools throughout the district.
  • Student Services collaborated with various departments to support students and families ranging from lunch drop offs, holiday gifts, A Woman’s Work grants, housing support and basic needs donations. 
  • Increased ASCA based professional development;  86 counselors have completed 136 courses.
  • Starting a new School Counselor Cohort to support MVE, TRMS and SHS. 
  • Implemented district-wide progress monitoring programs for MTSS.
  • Created a Social Emotional Resources for Educators Website
  • Created a Self-care resources and Professional development course through the Office of Professional Development.
  • Provided Virtual training in Sources of Strength.
  • 8 DLA students attend in partnership with CBOCES and will graduate with their HS Diplomas.
  • Hygiene Elementary was recognized as a John Irwin School of Excellence
  • Front Range and St. Vrain are the recipients of a grant totaling nearly $500,000 from the National Science Foundation to provide startup money for the SCHS P-TECH program
  • Students have successfully completed 22 Silver Creek Leadership Academy Capstone Projects positively impacting our community and beyond.
  • Silver Creek also finished construction on our new weight room and have begun the process of building our new SVVSD Aquatics Facility.   
  • Sunset was awarded the Colorado Department of Education Highly Effective Schools Through Libraries exemplar
  • Mary Ellen Graziani, Assistant Principal at Sunset Middle, was a finalist through CASE for Colorado Assistant Principal of the Year.
  • Erie Elementary students participated in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.  5th grader Elliot Johnson represented them at the state competition
  • Erie Elementary is leader in art education.  3rd grade artists had a Zoom art lesson with Andrew Wyeth’s granddaughter, Victoria Wyeth. 
  • Mead Middle won the district wide (for middle schools) Spirit Cup.
  • Longmont Estates Elementary started a Future Problem Solvers club and both of our teams made it to the State competition.
  • Burlington’s Geodesic Growing Dome’s construction was completed and, through thoughtful design thinking challenges, plants and fish are now thriving
  • Niche ranked NHS the #1 Magnet School in Colorado, #7 College Prep Public High School in Colorado, #11 Public High School in Colorado
  • Alumni Achievements:  NHS (’04) alumna Emily Harrington for becoming the first woman to free-climb Yosemite’s El Capitan in under 24 hours! ’20 alumni Cruz Culpepper broke the 4-minute mile barrier
  • The MHS Energy Academy doubled enrollment for the 21-22  school year, and established Advisory Board partners
  • Mountain View Elementary maintained a partnership with City of Longmont Storytellers program
  • Grand View Elementary 4th grader, Kellsie Montgomery, was featured on 9News with Kyle Clark for collecting over 6,229 baby items for Wee Cycle
  • 9 Grand View Students participated in National Novel Writing Month
  • All Grand View Students participated in a school wide Earth Day Design Challenge on what would make Grand View a better place
  • Mead Elementary added a Communication Board to playgrounds for our non-verbal students 
  • Westview student, Brooklynn Rowinski, was recognized with three Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for her photography  
  • Westview Competitive math team had four finalists at the UNC Math Competition; the MathCounts Gold Level Team Competed in theAMC 8 Math Competition, MathCounts competitions, and Math Olympiad series
  • The outdoor classroom space at Northridge Elementary was completed and garden boxes planted for the first time.
  • Northridge Elementary received a grant from the American Society of Engineering Education to revitalize their after-school engineering education program
  • Jim Dornan at Longmont High School was awarded the CHSAA’s Sharon Wilch Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to Colorado speech and debate
  • Timberline Pk-8 started a Pathway to P-Tech program: partnering with Skyline High School/Falcon Tech to provide a pathway for middle school students to enter Falcon Tech
  • Timberline PK-8 7th Grade Mariachi Group selected to play for Padres Involucrados en la Educacion/Parents in Education Final Celebration
  • Spark! Discovery Preschool created “Whole Child, Whole Community” wellness team to integrate healthy choices for students and staff using grant funds in ’21-’22 school year
  • The Altona Middle School Canopy Project was nominated by Next Gen Learning to be a partner school with the Canopy Project,  a partnership of K-12 schools across the country focused on innovation
  • Blue Mountain Elementary initiated partnership with Stuvz through parent Geoff Hess.  
  • Two Central Elementary students placed third and one student placed first at the State Stock Market Challenge.
  • LaunchED Virtual Academy hosted virtual meetings and presentations with authors, content experts and community members highlighting and sharing expertise and connecting real world experiences
  • All classroom teachers and interventionists at Alpine Elementary trained in Acadience assessments – advancing work as a Dyslexia Incubator school   
  • Alpine Elementary fully established PBIS system contributing to strong school culture
  • Alpine ELementary achieved International Baccalaureate Organization Reauthorization with the fewest recommendations in the school’s history
  • Otterbox Cares awarded Centennial Elementary a grant for $3,200 to enhance our Innovation lab opportunities for students.
  • During the Sanborn Read-a-Thon Fundraiser, students read 24, 066 minutes over a 7 day period- which equals 2 weeks, 2 days, 17 hours and 6 minutes of reading.  
  • Soaring Heights Vex Robotics VRC & IQ middle school state champions; 8 teams qualified for worlds
  • Longs Peak piloted the first Sketchnoting elective in the district for 8th graders.
  • Longs Peak robotics team took 11th at the state robotics championship in their first year of competition.
  • Longs Peak was accepted into the Amazon Future Engineers program
  • Coal Ridge received their second OtterCares grant to expand our design thinking space
  • Coal Ridge received the District Wellness Grant and created a new outdoor classroom space
  • Frederick High partnered with the CSU Department of Biomedical Sciences and their Biomedical Academy that brings CSU grad students and FHS students together through Virtual Reality
  • Amanda Fitzgerald, P-TECH counselor at FHS was recognized as the Colorado BioScience Teacher of the Year
  • Columbine parents successfully engaged in their first ever VIRTUAL parent teacher conferences
  • 88  Falcon Tech Students at Skyline High  will complete a paid internship with IBM this summer and 12 Falcon Tech alumni are employed full-time with IBM
  • St. Vrain’s Innovation Center & Erie High’s Academy of Aerospace and Engineering received a $50,000 grant from Boeing.
  • A 4th Grade student at Black Rock placed second in the Stock Market Experience for the North Region
  • Black Rock’s Future Problem Solving team is 1st in the state of Colorado and will be competing in the International Competition in June
  • Eagle Crest has continued our partnership with the Mwebaza Foundation and raised thousands of dollars this year to support our sister school
  • Eagle Crest received a wellness grant worth $2,500 for work completed by a team of teachers. Eagle crest used the money to enhance our Green Star efforts and purchase flexible seating in classrooms.
  • Red Hawk students participated in the Colorado Recycles Week Virtual Signing with Governor Polis 
  • Red Hawk students collected more than 150 pairs of socks for the Denver Coalition for the Homeless and organized the distribution of Epic Everything Dave’s Killer Breakfast Bagels 
  • Jeff Klipstein at Lyons Middle Senior High received the Teacher Recognition Award from the Boettcher Foundation
  • Two Innovation Center students were recognized as the Colorado Affiliate Winners for the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Award
  • Innovation Center student, Lillian McLellan, received underwriting for her business from the Young Americans Bank for full funding
  • The IC Studio team has been working with the City of Longmont Transportation Department and completed the first video in a series of 3 to 4 on the new EMUC (Enhanced Multi-Use Corridor) projects in the City. 
  • Two IC Cyber Patriot teams at the Innovation Center qualified for Platinum division (top 20% in the country)
  • First Female Private Pilot-Kalyssa Beringer (Erie HS) went through the IC Pilot Ground courses
  • Embry Riddle Aeronautical University has committed to scholarship opportunities for any St Vrain Innovation Center student who applies to their program
  • The IC VEX Team, Semicolon are the defending state champions from 2020; currently ranked 95th in the world in skills. Have won 4+ tournaments this season (both virtual and in-person)
  • The Innovation Center will host Colorado’s 1st MATE Underwater Robotics Tournament
  • The Innovation Center has five active teams in the AI/Cybersecurity Initiative
  • NAMM 2021 Best Community for Music Education (one of three districts in Co)

At Home Filtering

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Starting in May 2021, an extra layer of protection with Cisco Umbrella, an off-site Internet filtering solution, will be added to student and staff district provided devices.  This has been tested at multiple sites with great feedback.

The same protections that are currently in place at schools will be present anywhere there is Internet access. This protects from phishing, malware, and other security risks.

Our Graduates are Advancing the Future of America

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It has been another extraordinary year in St. Vrain Valley Schools. One filled with many challenges due to the global coronavirus pandemic, but more importantly, it has been a year full of great resilience, outstanding student engagement, robust creativity, and compassionate community support. For our Class of 2021, it is an honor to recognize the unwavering drive, strength of character, and rigorous academic preparation that has propelled approximately 2,000 students to this important moment in their lives.

The obstacles of this past year will not overshadow the thirteen years of hard work that has built our graduates’ foundation for future success. Our students today are graduating in a time of significant change across the globe and they are the generation who will become the future leaders and innovators who will be prepared to solve our world’s greatest challenges.

Students in St. Vrain graduate with a strong competitive advantage for future success, advancing their skills through enrollment in high-quality instructional focus academics in Biomedical Sciences, Energy, Engineering and Aerospace, Medical and BioScience, Leadership, STEM, Visual and Performing Arts, and more. They have been connected to the best technology and learning resources through our 1:1 technology initiative and nationally recognized Learning Technology Plan, and they have been highly engaged in their school communities, extending learning beyond the school day through the arts, music, athletics, advanced career and technology programs, and other co-curricular activities. Through all of this, they have also become highly engaged citizens who remain focused on building stronger, healthier communities and advancing our society.   

The Class of 2021 also enrolled in a record number of Advanced Placement exams, International Baccalaureate courses, and concurrent enrollment college courses, giving them the opportunity to start their postsecondary education with approximately 32,000 college credits on their transcripts, potentially saving their families over $8.1 million in tuition costs. Our graduating seniors have also received numerous recognitions for their academic achievements, talents, and innovative ideas, including Boettcher Scholarships, Daniels Scholarships, National Merit Scholarships, state athletic championships, All-State musicians, and thousands of college acceptance letters from institutions across the United States including many Ivy League schools, military academies, and other highly competitive colleges and universities. We are incredibly proud of what our students have accomplished in a time of increasing academic rigor and the highest expectations of leadership, community, and citizenship. 

Public education is one of the most powerful systems for driving positive change in our society. 

Across the United States, approximately 90 percent of our children attend a public school – and in the St. Vrain Valley, that percentage is even higher. With the future success of our community and nation dependent on the quality of our public schools, we have no greater responsibility than ensuring every child in our community receives a rigorous, engaging, and high-quality education. To this end, it is an honor to stand alongside our Board of Education, teachers, staff, parents, administrators, and other community partners to celebrate the Class of 2021 and recognize our students’ high levels of success.

Finally, I want to share my heartfelt gratitude to all of our seniors and wish you the very best in life. Our schools will forever be strengthened by your time in our community – you are truly a class of compassionate, dedicated, intelligent, and outstanding young adults who will boldly lead our country into the future.

Sincerely,

Don Haddad, Ed.D.
Superintendent, St. Vrain Valley Schools

Skyline High graduating senior receives full-ride Harvard scholarship

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Jose Quiroz Yanez dreamed of college while living in Guanajuato, Mexico, but never considered it more than a dream because of his family’s financial struggles.

After moving to Longmont with his mom and two younger siblings when he was 9, he began to believe the opportunities here would give him a real chance to be the first in his family to go to college.

Now, as a member of the second class graduating from Skyline High School’s P-TECH program, he’s headed to Harvard University in the fall with a full-ride scholarship.

Read the full story in the Times-Call

St. Vrain reaffirms our unwavering commitment to the human rights, respect, and safety of each and every person

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Dear St. Vrain Valley Community,

Yesterday, it was brought to my attention that a disturbing and disgusting social media post depicting the re-enactment of the murder of George Floyd was made by a group of students from Mead High School. We in the St. Vrain Valley Schools strongly condemn, and have no tolerance for, racism in any form and will be addressing this extremely serious matter immediately and accordingly. Our district reaffirms its commitment to diversity and equality in our schools and in our operations. 

There are many important issues facing our society today, however, our highest priority will always be the physical and emotional well-being, respect, and safety of every student, teacher, staff member, and community member in St. Vrain. We remain deeply committed to advancing the success of our students, and I want to reinforce my unwavering commitment to continue taking the necessary actions as the Superintendent of St. Vrain Valley Schools to ensure the human rights, respect, and safety of each and every person. 

Racism can have a deep and lasting impact. If you or your student need additional support, please contact your school counseling office. Thank you for your ongoing and continued support, and please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Don Haddad, Ed.D.
Superintendent

Estimados estudiantes y familias de St. Vrain Valley, 

Ayer, se me informó que un grupo de estudiantes de la escuela Preparatoria Mead hizo una publicación inquietante y repugnante en las redes sociales que mostraba la recreación del asesinanto de George Floyd. En las escuelas de St. Vrain Valley condenamos enérgicamente y no toleramos en ninguna forma el racismo y abordaremos este asunto extremadamente grave de inmediato y en consecuencia. Nuestro distrito reafirma su compromiso con la diversidad e igualdad en nuestras escuelas y en nuestras operaciones. 

Hay muchos problemas importantes que enfrenta nuestra sociedad hoy, sin embargo, nuestra máxima prioridad siempre será el bienestar físico y emocional, el respeto y la seguridad de cada estudiante, maestro, miembro del personal y miembro de la comunidad en St. Vrain. Seguimos profundamente comprometidos con el avance del éxito de nuestros estudiantes, y quiero reforzar mi compromiso inquebrantable de continuar tomando las acciones necesarios cómo Superintendente de las Escuelas de St. Vrain Valley para garantizar los derechos humanos, el respeto y la seguridad de todas y cada una de las personas. 

El racimos puede tener un impacto profundo y duradero. Si usted o su estudiante necesita apoyo adicional, comuníquese con la oficina de consejería de su escuela. Gracias por su apoyo continuo y por favor comuniquese conmigo si tiene alguna pregunta o inquietud.

Sinceramente, 

Don Haddad, Ed.D.
Superintendente 

Erie High School students achieve liftoff in the Great American Rocketry Challenge

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Erie High School’s Academy of Engineering and Aerospace students have once again pursued an ambitious capstone project, building and launching rockets to participate in the Great American Rocketry Challenge. 13 students from the senior design class formed two teams, the Robust Rocketeers and Apollo’s Arrows, spending months researching, designing, and testing their rockets.

To qualify, students were tasked with constructing a rocket that weighed under 650 grams, and measured up to 650 millimeters (25.6 inches). Then, they had to launch a hen’s egg inside the rocket to a height of 800 feet, for a total flight time of 40-43 seconds. To successfully complete the flight, the rocket needed to deploy a parachute and land in one piece, with no damage to the egg. The teams were scored on how close their flight duration and altitude came to the set goal.

“It is wonderful to watch students gain more and more independence and build leadership skills throughout their four year engineering pathway at EHS,” said teacher and program coordinator Kelsey Rasmussen. “During senior design, our capstone engineering class, students use agile methods to run their own team meetings and rapidly prototype, test, reflect and reiterate. As teacher facilitators we have the joy of witnessing students own their growth and celebrate their success.”

Leading up to their final qualifying launch on Friday, May 7, both teams experienced a number of setbacks and challenges, providing lessons in teamwork, patience, and adaptability. 

One of the big challenges this year was collaboration. The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted their normal hands-on class time, requiring additional coordination, organization, and project management. The Robust Rocketeers utilized cloud-based documentation to keep a collaborative engineering notebook, so that their entire team had access to shared notes.

The next big challenge was Colorado’s often unpredictable weather. Teams began working on their rockets in October, conducting their first practice launches in December, when they learned that their rockets’ altimeters often stop functioning in cold temperatures. The rockets’ performances were also negatively impacted by high winds, storms, and winter weather, making spring test launches challenging. 

Finally, the realities of launching a rocket brought a number of technical challenges, requiring the students to tweak their designs and strategies. “All of our practice launches had something go wrong,” said senior Sydney Rhomberg with a chuckle, “the rocket was too high, or too low, or too fast, or two slow. So we definitely felt some pressure coming into today’s launch.” 

These challenges all echo those frequently faced by engineers in the field, providing valuable real-world experience. In addition to their EHS senior design teachers, Kelsey Rasmussen and Tim Schuett, students were mentored by Cameron Schumacher from Boeing, gaining guidance from a professional in the aerospace industry. 

Despite any pressure the students may have felt coming into final launch day, both teams completed their most successful launches, besting their previous scores.

They sprung into action preparing their rockets. On the Robust Rocketeers, senior Joey Garza tied knots and loaded the parachutes, while team leader Kambry Fraser swaddled the egg in its holder and double checked their rockets’ assembly with junior Caleb Krause. Meanwhile, Apollo’s Arrows assembled their angled launch rig, members Sydney Rhomberg, Xander Maldonado, Erik Stanek, and Ian Ross examined their rocket’s wiring. Other teammates videoed, timed, or set up far afield to keep track of the moment their rockets landed. 

a male high school student in a red shirt and a face gaiter loads a parachute into a rocket inside a classroom
two high school students, one male and one female, in blue shirts look up outside on a bright day. The girl is pointing up.
3 students gather and crouch around a rocket to prepare it to launch in a grassy field

6 high school students - 3 male 3 female- gather around a pole at an angle where they have mounted a rocket they are about to launch

“We’re just so relieved the launches went this well today,” said Rhomberg. The teams gathered around with Rasmussen to submit their scores, and now await to hear if they ranked among the top 100 teams to be invited to Washington, D.C. for the finals, where prizes include $100,000 in cash and scholarships. 

In the meantime, they have gained the relief of a successful launch and priceless experience in the engineering design process.

Lyons students create, install wildflower garden to memorialize the COVID-19 pandemic

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Students at Lyons Elementary installed a remembrance garden of handmade ceramic wildflowers to commemorate the lives lost to the COVID-19 pandemic and the work of frontline workers.

Art teacher, Elena Danilescuruss, proposed the idea after seeing the remembrance garden based on the 2014 Tower of London’s Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red public art installation, which marked the 100-year anniversary and commemorated lives lost in World War I, according to parent volunteer, Claudia Paterno. 

“(Danilescuruss) worked with each child to make (wildflowers) out of clay and paint a flower,” she said via email. “Instead of only making red poppies, she gave the artistic license to the children to paint any color and design they wished.”

Read the full story in the Longmont Leader

Altona Middle School named a School to Watch

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St. Vrain Valley School District’s Altona Middle School has been recognized as a 2021 Colorado Trailblazer Schools to Watch by the Colorado Association of Middle Level Education, or CAMLE, according to an email announcement by Marketing and Communications Specialist Eunice Peinado. 

Altona is one of two schools that received this recognition this year in Colorado alongside Fountain Middle School in Colorado Springs, according to the CAMLE website.  

The local middle school is also one of over a hundred schools across the country that will be recognized as schools to watch in June 2021 byThe National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reforms, Peinado said in an email.

Read the full story in the Longmont Leader

UCHealth Today: Students from Innovation Center of St. Vrain Valley Schools take on ‘Hospital Room of the Future’ challenge

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In a similar fashion to the TV reality show, Shark Tank, young entrepreneurs from the St. Vrain Valley School District faced off as they pitched their brightest ideas about health care of the future.

They didn’t present to Mark Cuban and his TV team but rather a sophisticated group of top brass from UCHealth, including a physician in charge of innovation, a marketing wizard, and an IT chief who knows all about using technology to transform the health care experience.

The excitement and tension in the auditorium at the Innovation Center of St. Vrain Valley Schools in Longmont was thick, palpable almost, as very bright young people competed in the inaugural Hospital Room of the Future challenge. Ideas included:

Read the full story in UC Health Today

SVVSD celebrates a Unified Day of Champions

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A warm, sunny morning welcomed a day of champions for St. Vrain Valley School District at Everly-Montgomery Field in Longmont.

SVVSD staff, teachers and school resource officers, or SROs, were on hand at the athletics field at Longmont High School Friday, to celebrate the district’s Unified sports program, Day of Champions.

Unified sports give students with special needs an opportunity to play football, basketball and other athletic activities with their peers and get coaching and encouragement from partner students. 

Read the full story in the Longmont Leader
St. Vrain Valley Schools