SVVSD wins $100K grant to help more paraeducators get teaching degrees

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Blanca Perez started working as a preschool paraeducator at Longmont’s Indian Peaks Elementary when her oldest son was in kindergarten and discovered a love for working with children.

“I feel like they’re my own kids,” she said.

She had an associate degree from Front Range Community College and always wanted to continue her education but hadn’t been able to make it work while also raising a family. This school year, the St. Vrain Valley School District offered her an opportunity to take early childhood college classes for free, online and after the school day ended. She’s now on her second class.

Read the full story in the Times-Call

SVVSD students developing IBM-powered technology bring real-life solutions to life

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On Apr. 20, St. Vrain Valley School District high school students delivered a virtual class to University of Colorado Boulder seniors at the Leeds School of Business on building and managing IBM Watson-powered chatbots.

The Watson Assistant is an IBM-developed artificial intelligence pop-up window designed to provide website visitors with fast, consistent, and accurate answers.

SVVSD high school students bringing this technology to life are doing so through their participation in a robotics project team at the Innovation Center, which allows students to learn and apply skills related to artificial intelligence and cybersecurity fields, according to Axel Reitzig, coordinator of innovation at SVVSD Innovation Center.

read the full story in the longmont leader

Innovation Center celebrates women in aviation

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Spirits were soaring alongside hawks and drones at SVVSD’s Innovation Center on Saturday afternoon as young ladies from the St. Vrain Valley School district took to the skies. 

More than a dozen young women from across SVVSD gathered at the Innovation Center for Girls in Aviation Day on May 1. Presented in partnership with the Mile High chapter of Women in Aviation International, the program included a video of the female leaders of the United States Air Force Thunderbirds and a discussion with Delta Airlines pilot Nancy Hultgren on the life of a commercial airline pilot.

“You have to see it to be it,” said Trimbi Szabo, president of the Mile High chapter. “There is a social solidarity, when you can see other young women sharing interests in engineering and aviation, that’s so important. These girls are so lucky to see everything at the Innovation Center and have an opportunity to meet women making advancements in their fields.”

read the full story in the longmont leader

SVVSD performing arts adapt to keep theater alive during pandemic

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Skyline High School theater students aren’t just performing a spring musical, they also wrote it.

“It’s giving them a voice in what happened,” said Skyline theater director Amy Riddoch. “It’s a musical about 2020 and what they’ve experienced. Their ideas are hilarious and witty and clever. It gives them a creative outlet.”

St. Vrain Valley high school performing arts programs took the adage “the show must go on” to heart this school year, re-imagining their theater productions to ensure students could continue performing.

read the full story in the daily camera

From ACCESS to Harvard: A Longmont student’s story of success

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Born in a rural town in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, Jose Quiroz Yañez, moved to Longmont as a nine year old with his mother and two siblings.

What started as a long, winding road for an English learner in the public school system, turned into a story of success. At 19, he has now been accepted into Harvard University, where he will spend the next four years.

“Oftentimes children can feel that pressure from their families and think ‘oh my god, they did all this for me,’” said Louise March, P-TECH counselor at Skyline High School.. “Yet he was able to somehow really balance that and instead of having pressure, he turned it into gratitude.”

read the full story in the longmont leader

Career Development Center’s Neil Shupe named SVVSD teacher of the year

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Neil Shupe, who has taught everything from biology to advanced placement chemistry to, now, advanced manufacturing, received the St. Vrain Valley School District teacher of the year award during Friday night’s Tribute to Teachers.

“I went to college, and in the first semester, I struggled and failed a few of my classes,” Shupe said in a prerecorded video aired during the virtual awards ceremony. “I really just needed to get some extra credits. And so, I worked with one of my chemistry professors at the elementary school, and we were just working with the students doing these little science experiments, really fun stuff.”

From there, Shupe said, he began to realize what he was truly passionate about.

read the full story in the times-call

Opportunities to Learn More About Highlands Elementary – Virtual Community Meetings

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We are excited to be joining our outstanding Erie community this fall with our new school, Highlands Elementary. We have been hard at work preparing everything and cannot wait to open our doors this fall to welcome students. 

Whether you have already registered your child to attend Highlands Elementary, or are still deciding on your fall plans, we would like to invite you to learn more about our school.

We will be hosting two virtual community forums, May 5 at 4:30 p.m. and May 6 at 6:00 p.m., where you will have the opportunity to hear from school leadership, learn more about our school programs and offerings, preview the building’s interior, and ask questions. Please register here for your preferred date and time. You will receive a link to access the virtual meeting closer to the scheduled dates.

More news and updates:

  • Our plan team, made up of 6 teachers and one administrative assistant, continues to meet regularly to solidify school policies and final plans. You can learn more about our guiding principles on our website.
  • Our staff hiring process is nearing completion, and we are thrilled at the high-quality educators that will make up our Highlands Hawk team!
  • Our building is also in the final phases of construction. We look forward to sharing images and a sneak peek of the school’s interior during the forums.

Thank you for your involvement and support as we come into the final stages of creating an environment for students to reach their full potential and positively impact our global society. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Highlands leadership. 

View the full Highlands Elementary Community Meeting presentation.

Longmont drumline ranked in top 15 in the nation, to compete virtually at international event

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After a season of virtual rehearsals and performances, the Longmont Combined Schools Drumline — a St. Vrain School District program mixing music, percussion, athletics and theater — qualified for the Winter Guard International, or WGI, World Finals.

This is the seventh time the Longmont Combined Schools Drumline has been selected as a WGI finalist. In addition, the group has won ten Rocky Mountain Percussion Association, or RMPA, State Championships, seven in as many years, according to David Merrill, director of bands at Longmont High School.

“With our drumline, we’ve been competitive for many years and a world champion about every other year,” he said. “This year is a very, very different situation. We started the season remotely, and were not able to have rehearsals together, students would use Webex and would be practicing with drum pads and rehearsing that way, making the most of it.”

In what has been an unprecedented year for the organization, Merrill said student performers continued to thrive in a sport that has put Longmont in the map nation- and worldwide.

Read the full story in the longmont leader

SVVSD student art show goes virtual, opened for the whole community, all over the world

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The St. Vrain Valley School District student art show was launched today in a virtual format, featuring over 1,450 pieces of artwork showcasing students’ creative work from across all schools in the district.

For nearly twenty years, SVVSD has hosted the Unframed Student Art Show, which is an exhibition of art produced through a variety of media, including sculpture, painting, drawing, jewelry, digital art, photography, and others, that represents every grade level, according to Janay Bird, SVVSD fine arts coordinator.

Each art teacher in the district selects up to 25 student artwork pieces to be included in this annual show, allowing parents, school staff and community members to celebrate the students’ creation alongside them, stated Bird in a press release.

Read the full story in the longmont leader

Teacher Innovation Grant pave pathway to fun and learning

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Teachers are among the most creative people, especially in the St. Vrain Valley School District. Using funding from Teacher Innovation Grants, they are changing the way students are learning as well.

Awards for Teacher Innovation Grants, supplied by the St. Vrain Valley Education Foundation, or SVVEF, went out to 53 local teachers in the district in January. 

More than 80 applications were submitted, down 15% to 20% from previous years, from teachers looking to make a difference in their classrooms by trying something new.

read the full story in the longmont leader

St. Vrain Valley Schools