Parent Teacher Organization (PTO)

STEM PTO, a Chapter of the Foundation for Douglas County Schools, is a Parent Teacher Organization that uses its resources (materials, funds and services) to support our school, STEM School Highlands Ranch.

Who are our Members

Any parent and/or guardian with a student enrolled or teacher, faculty, or staff employed at STEM School Highlands Ranch shall automatically be granted membership into the STEM PTO.  No membership fee is collected.

STEM PTO Logo

Our Mission

“Enhance the overall experience for students, staff and families at STEM School Highlands Ranch.”

Our mission ensures STEM PTO works in partnership with STEM School Highlands Ranch to foster a strong sense of community, provide enhancement activities for student, faculty, staff and families and help increase the educational, social and emotional experience for the members and their families.

Connect with us

PTO Newsletter

Check out the latest edition of the STEM PTO Newsletter. A link is also included in the Weekly Newsletter that is sent out by STEM Communications.

PTO News

PTO Contact Info

PTO Contact Email Addresses

We have new email addresses.  Contact Us Anytime!

We appreciate your support!

Next PTO Meeting

More About PTO

Heidi Peterson, Co- President

Heidi joined the PTO Board as Communications Co-Coordinator in Spring 2018 and recently transitioned to the position of Co-President. Heidi has a degree in Marketing from Seton Hall University and has worked in Risk Management as an Assistant Vice President for Marsh McLennan, Inc. in New York where she met her husband of 14 years.  Alan is an IT Director for at Integrated Petroleum Technologies in Golden and he volunteers his time as Treasurer and Den Leader for troop 628. Heidi and Alan have two boys, Ethan, an 8th grader at STEM and Aidric, an incoming 6th grader this fall.

Jeanie Brevoort

Jeanie Brevort - Co-President

Jeanie Brevoort is a mom to give kids who all attend STEM. Her kids are in Elementary, Middle School, and High School. She joined PTO after joining the diversity committee. Once she learned that she would not have to bake or do crafts, she joined with the mission of helping to build a stronger community. Her passion revolves around building a safe and inclusive community within STEM – for students, parents, and staff. She works full-time in the edtech world in higher education. Her hobbies include all things outdoors: mountain biking, hiking, camping. She and her husband, Mike moved to Colorado from the east coast in 2003 to enjoy the great outdoors. STEM is where Jeanie and Mike wished they went to school. Jeanie serves as a Member at Large.

Holly Delants - Co-Vice President

Coming Soon!

Crystal Wurschmidt – Co-Communications Chair

Coming Soon!

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Samara Lyon-Frick – Co-Communications Chair

New to the Highlands Ranch Community in 2020, Samara has two children in STEM Elementary (and one more in 2023!). You may currently find her on volunteer duty, floating around the lunchroom or dropping off supplies – whatever is needed! Her family relocated from San Jose, Calif., where she was an Executive/Project Manager for various startups. Samara recently made the leap to not-for-profit work at the Mental Health Center of Denver where she is the administrative lead for her team as she pursues her Masters in Clinical Social Work. She already holds two bachelor’s degrees from Arizona State University in Human Development, with an emphasis in Family Systems and in Communications. She is eager to assist the PTO in becoming the glue between the leadership groups at STEM with all students, staff, teachers and parents working together for our future.

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Irene Shick - Co-VP Events

Irene feels like a Colorado Native with spending the majority of her life in this great state, alongside her two amazing boys, both at STEM – one getting ready to enter high school and her younger in elementary school. Irene has been married for over 17 years to Greg and she is flourishing in her long-term career as Residential Realtor with Keller Williams. Being a business owner and entrepreneur, for Irene the role of VP of Events felt like a fabulous place to volunteer and give back to the STEM community because she loves people, serving and being on the move! Hobbies and interests include making incredible memories with her precious family by traveling the world, being outside hiking and biking, trying out amazing new (and existing favorite) restaurants and will ALWAYS welcome any recs of little hot spots for a great drink and socializing!

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Mike Stone - Treasurer

Michael Stone is a father of two, husband, and IT professional. He has lived in Douglas County for over 20 years and has watched his two sons progress through the school system. Michael married Shannon Stone in 2005 and has raised two children with her. Of the two boys, Connor has already graduated high school and is one class away from earning a college degree. Alex, now a STEM 6th grader, has been attending STEM classes since 3rd grade, and has flourished under the more flexible and challenging instruction. As Alex progressed to middle school, Michael decided to become more involved with the school and joined the board in 2021 as PTO Treasurer.

Our Purpose

STEM PTO is organized for the purpose of enhancing the quality of students’ education, school, and community through the development of resources and participation of parents, school staff, and community. The STEM PTO Executive Board’s goal for fundraising is to coordinate donations from our members by organizing fundraising and enhancement activities to help increase the quality of STEM School Highlands Ranch, its student’s education, environment, and the community. To promote effective communication between parents/guardians, the school staff, and the community. To assist in the administrative activities of the school and support its policies and goals. To organize and support fundraising and enhancement activities. To serve in an advisory capacity to the Stem School Board of Directors or at the request of other groups.

Objectives of the Board

  • The STEM PTO Executive Board’s goal for fundraising is to organize and support fundraising and enhancement activities that enhance the quality of STEM School Highlands Ranch, its student’s education and environment, and the community.
  • To promote effective communication between parents/guardians, the school staff, and the community.
  • To assist in the administrative activities of the school and support its policies and goals.
  • To organize and support fundraising and enhancement activities.
  • To serve in an advisory capacity to the STEM School Board of Directors, or at the request of other groups.

We are excited to announce that we will be using Membership Toolkit for our Directory, Volunteer Sign Ups and PTO Communications starting with the 2019-2020 school year.

There are lots of opportunities to help make a difference at STEM School Highlands Ranch. Please take a moment to visit ALL our volunteer opportunities on our Family Directory. Thank you!

We are always searching for additional volunteers to fill committee positions. If you are interested in shaping the future of STEM PTO while helping STEM School Highlands Ranch reach its full potential, please let us know. Email [email protected].

We invite you to visit https://stempto.membershiptoolkit.com/to see everything your PTO has to offer this year.  Once you create a Membership Toolkit Account, you will have access to upcoming calendar events, sign up to volunteer and much, much more.

Here’s what you need to do: 

  • Go to https://stempto.membershiptoolkit.com/.
  • Click on the Register/Login button.
  • If you already have an account with another organization that uses Membership Toolkit you can use the same email and password to login. You can then proceed to the numbered steps below.
  • Select “Create Account” and fill in the name, email, and password information.
  • Click “verify my email” and then check your email for a link to complete the process. The link expires in 2 hours. If you do not receive the email, check your spam or junk folders.
  • Once you have verified your email address, log back in and finish the registration process.
  1. Complete the Parent/Family and Student Information.
  2. Complete the Directory/Publish Preferences.
  3. Once these forms are complete, you will be presented with forms for Signups.

Once the Primary Account is set up, the Primary User can “invite” other email addresses to access his/her account.  This allows the Secondary User to have their own login information, but still have access to the family account.

Please check out our many wonderful committees you can sign up for today!

Questions? – Please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

Please join us to make STEM School Highlands Ranch a special place for our children to learn, grow and build lifelong friendships. Every bit of talent and enthusiasm you share, every small block of time you can give, makes a big difference for our kids and our school. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! We could not do it without your help.

Join one of our many standing committees

Areas to Get Involved

  • Communications
  • Financial
  • Grants
  • Events
  • Fundraising
  • Hospitality
  • Audit & Accountability
  • Come to a meeting
  • Volunteer for an Event
  • At Home Projects
  • Cook or Donate one of many Meals
  • Donate Money
  • Donate needed items
  • For Events-see events page
  • Teacher Appreciation
  • Hospitality

How to Log Your Volunteer Hours

Please don’t forget: all STEM PTO volunteer hours count towards your annual STEM School family volunteer hours. Why is it important to log you volunteer hours? Besides fulfilling your annual family volunteer commitment to STEM School Highlands Ranch, logging your volunteer hours helps the school and STEM PTO win awards and grants.

Ensuring that every dollar is spent diligently, we put all our financial information for our members to review.  We open our PTO meetings with public comments to allow for discussion, questions, concerns and to celebrate our school’s successes. We encourage you to visit our website and read our financials and newsletters to see how your donation has made an impact on your student!

Our Annual Fundraisers

Retail Reward Programs

King Soopers

King Soopers: STEM PTO is now offering King Soopers cards! These FREE, reloadable cards are easy to use and STEM gets 5% back on every purchase. You can load the cards by using your credit card so that you continue to get your benefits such as miles or rewards.

The cards are available at the three school offices, at all our events or you can email us at [email protected] for delivery. The cards have absolutely no additional cost to you, but can raise significant funds for STEM.

Get one now to use all year long! Click here to see how much money has been raised from these cards and how we are using those funds to support our school. For every $500 you add to your card, you can earn 1 volunteer hour just by buying groceries or gas!

Milk Caps for Moola

STEM is proud to partner with Longmont Dairy Farm in an effort to reduce waste and support our school. Milk Caps for Mooola!

​If you are a Longmont Dairy customer, please turn in your milk, cream or juice caps to the designated collection boxes at the STEM middle school office. As long as the caps are from a glass Longmont Dairy bottle, they qualify. Remember to wash caps prior to recycling. Collection will continue throughout the school year.

Longmont Dairy will donate five cents to STEM School for every milk cap turned in and recycle the caps to reduce waste and minimize environmental impact.

For more information, please visit Longmont Dairy or email STEM PTO.

Corporate match

You can double your donation! As a 501(c)3 nonprofit, STEM PTO is a chapter of the Foundation for Douglas County Schools and qualifies for corporate matching. If your company matches donations, use this Tax ID number: 84-1165175 and please email us at [email protected]with the employee name, company name and amount so that we can track the corporate match.

“Welcome to the STEM Team!” and thank you for your support!

STEM PTO is a chapter of the Foundation for Douglas County Schools which is a 501(c)3 organization so your donation is 100% tax deductible.

What Your PTO Donations Dollars Paid for in 2018-2019

Spring 2019 Grant Cycle

  1. Water dispenser and plaque (This was a Gift to the Senior Class)
  2. TV’s for each lobby
  3. MS Commons furniture
  4. 6 Microphones
  5. Professional Network App
  6. 30 Keyboard Lapboards
  7. $825 to the PlayField
  8. 2500 STEM Strong Shirts for Students, Staff and Volunteers
  9. 500 Caribiners to the 2019 Senior Class Graduates (several to sell at a later date)
  10. $10,000 of King Sooper Gift Cards in $50 increments for our Faculty and Staff (1 for each teacher)

Fall 2018 Grant Cycle

  • Math Department $2,459 for calculators with an additional $350 for cases and storing pouches.
  • Music Department $7,490 for iPADS/Laptops for sheet music.
  • Google VR Sets (30 sets) excursions which provide supplemental learning material for student/teachers for $8,299.
  • Teachers’ lounge – request for $2,000 to update the teacher’s lounge.
  • Recycle Bins for $600
  • Art drying Racks $1489.40
  • Edison Robot for $1643.62 and Dash Robots for $1460.62 (Funded by a few wonderful parents)
  • Cameras with synchronous learning, $1766.
  • Playfield, $5,000
  • Total Grant request of the above items equals $32,557.42
The Foundation for Douglas County Schools