High School News and Updates (11/10/24)

Dear STEM students and families,

Happy Winter everyone! As the air grows crisp and the snow starts to fall (or pile up this week!), we’re excited to share the latest updates from our school community. Here are a few highlights:

The French students have arrived! This year marks the first year of our new French Exchange program. Last Spring, Madame Tomic had an idea of a French exchange program. She did her research and sought out the perfect partner school. The idea of the program is to build a relationship with a sister school in France and establish a short exchange program between the two. Our French students and teachers arrived at DIA last Friday afternoon and spent the weekend with their host families getting to know each other and seeing the sites in Colorado. Then, during the week they spent a few days at STEM attending classes with some of our french students, and spent the rest of the week on various scheduled tours in the area. While there have been a few hangups (luggage issues and snow), overall it was a huge success. Next year, it will be our turn to travel and our french students will have an opportunity to go to France and connect with their new friends, tour their school and see the sites. I would like to thank Ms. Kovalesky for hosting the French teachers, Madame Tomic for starting this program and Mrs. Gasser for putting in the time, effort and energy to make this a success. Finally, I would like to thank the dozen families who agreed to host a French student for 10 days. I met with each of them on Monday, and it was fun to hear about the amazing experiences they had with their host families. Each of you have made a difference, and I appreciate you. Overall this should be an amazing experience for years to come!

I would like to take a moment to congratulate our girls volleyball team. They have had an amazing season and are league champs! They qualified for the state playoffs this year, and will begin this Friday by traveling to Sterling on Friday to compete in the regional tournament! Good luck ladies! For more information on our volleyball team, or any of our other fall sports, please see our athletics newsletter.

As I mentioned in the previous letter, this is recruiting season for me. STEM is the most amazing school I have ever worked at, and I strongly believe that our education model is the best choice for students all over the district and state. Last week, we hosted our annual Perspective Spartan Showcase. The event was a huge success. Some of you may have met Laurie Veldhuizen, our Director of Enrollment. She did an excellent job advertising the night, which significantly increased the attendance. And once the families were here, they were greeted by our dedicated staff and countless amazing students who were here to help. We had so many students here that families actually commented about how much the students must love their school. So thank you to all of you who helped make it such a big success. 

While the showcase was a success, I still believe that we can do better. I know that there are students in every building in our area that would be better served at STEM. They just need to know about our school. If you are out and about with your neighbors or your friends, and the topic of education comes up, let them know about your experiences here. If they are interested in sending their kids to STEM, have them reach out to us. We would be more than happy to talk to anyone who is interested in what we offer. They can schedule a tour, or if they have a high school student, we could even invite them for one of our upcoming shadow days. The open enrollment window is open now, so this would be the ideal time to send people our way!

And now on to the snow…

We have already experienced our virtual day due to the delayed schedule, so I do not need to address that. However, students, I need your help. Now that the weather has turned colder, we have more of you eating lunch indoors. Many of you would like to find a quiet place to eat in the hallways, however, that is something that we cannot continue to do. If you are eating lunch at school, I ask that you eat in the cafeteria. We all have worked hard to minimize the noise disruptions to the classrooms during lunch, and I do not want to see that change. You are also welcome to go to the teacher’s classrooms if the teacher is open to that. Otherwise, people eating or hanging out in the hallways will be asked to go back to the cafeteria. Eating in the hallways causes noise disturbances for the classes, and the mess can attract visitors that we really don’t want to see.

Looking ahead, we only have a few more weeks left this semester. With that in mind, we must finish strong. Students, please continue to monitor your grades and complete your practice work so you can demonstrate proficiency on the assessments. If you have any questions about your progress, please feel free to reach out to your teachers, and they will be more than happy to give you a better idea of how you are doing. Please do not wait until the end of the semester. By then, it is too late. 

Thanks, everyone! Go Spartans!

Sincerely,

Ryan Alsup, High School Director

Proud to be a Spartan!

Friday, November 15th

Dear STEM Families,

We are dedicated to maintaining a safe environment for our students and staff. Safety is our number one priority and is a layered approach. One of the measures is to ensure that all students, staff, and visitors are identifiable on campus. Student IDs also alert office staff to who has off-campus permissions and allow students to quickly check in and out using our automated system. We ask for your continued support in ensuring your child is wearing an ID to school each day.

As time goes on, we understand that students will misplace their IDs and lanyards. We ordered another shipment of lanyards and ID holders, but our students are going through them pretty quickly.

After Fall Break, students will be charged $5 for replacements. This charge will run through their Myschoolbucks account. Please monitor the account and speak to your child about these charges if they occur.

Spartmart is looking into purchasing nicer, higher quality lanyards to sell as well and you may also purchase lanyards online.

Finally, because IDs are part of our dress code, if a student is not wearing an ID and does not have a temporary ID, they may be assigned a detention. Students have been made aware of this expectation.

Once again, we really appreciate your support. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to one of our building directors.

In partnership,

The STEM Admin Team

Our Math Society students are volunteering to assist with math homework during access periods (11-11:40 a.m.) on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Help will be available in both the Middle School and High School commons. Students who need support or want to catch up on homework should feel free to take advantage of this opportunity. Students should contact either their math teacher or access teacher to add their name to the list for help.

Hello, STEM community! Yearbooks will be available for purchase soon at yearbookforever.com. We have some important action items to make the yearbook as great as can be:

• SENIORS: Senior portraits and senior quotes should be emailed to yearbook@stemk12.org on or before October 31.
• PARENTS OF SENIORS: Baby ads are also due by October 31. They can also be purchased at yearbookforever.com as you purchase your senior’s yearbook.
• PREFERRED NAMES: If your student would like their name printed as any name other than what is listed in Infinite Campus, please email parent permission to yearbook@stemk12.org or michelle.wesley@stemk12.org.

The National Security Agency (NSA) is looking for high school juniors who possess outstanding academic credentials in business, computer technology, engineering, graphic arts, manufacturing, construction, Chinese language, Russian language, or humanities.

The program is designed for students who plan to participate in a paid part-time internship from September through August for a minimum of four hours a day, Monday through Friday during senior year. For more information, please see the attached flier.

Are you interested in a healthcare career? If so, the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus is now accepting applications for their CU Pre-Health Scholars Program (CUPS). The program serves grades 6th through 12th and exposes scholars to high-impact events, research, STEAM, and Healthcare careers. At the same time, preparing our scholars to be competitive applicants for post-secondary education and matriculation into professional health careers or graduate school programs. The application is open until December 1, 2024. You can find more information about the program on their website.

Merrick & Company is seeking a high school student interested in Engineering or Drafting & Design for a paid apprenticeship program for Fall 2024 in the Greenwood Village, CO headquarters. The apprentice will support client projects such as those involving aerospace missions, national defense, research laboratories, land development, water systems, sustainable energy, bio-manufacturing, and industrial manufacturing, as well as being exposed to training and development opportunities!  The apprenticeship program has a commitment of approximately 18 months to 2 years.

Are you looking for a summer internship? Merrick & Company is accepting applications from now to November 2024 for a paid Mechanical Equipment Designer Intern. The Merrick Intern Program will provide an opportunity to gain technical experience in the field of mechanical equipment design. The intern will be exposed to a variety of mechanical design items, potentially including detailed machine design, 3D modeling in CREO (Pro/Engineer), and creation of drawings in CREO (Pro/Engineer). For more information and how to apply, please visit Merrick’s application page.