Secondary News and Updates (02/12/21)

Deadline extended to February 28, 2021

Do you Intend to Return for the 2021-22 School Year?

For enrollment planning purposes, please let us know, either way, if your child plans to return to STEM School Highlands Ranch next year.

Please complete this form for each of your currently attending STEM students. If you are currently enrolled at STEM please let us know that your child is returning. You do not need to “open enroll” to remain at STEM. If your child is currently attending STEM, they will be automatically enrolled for next year. Please also complete the form if your student is planning to seek enrollment at another school so that we can have an accurate count of returning students.

Do you Have a Sibling Who Wants to Attend STEM Next Year?

Does your current STEM student have a sibling who is interested in attending STEM for the 2021-22 school year? Did you know that they have priority on our waitlist? Please add them to our waitlist now! STEM’s open enrollment is now open and we will begin notifying families of accepted spots for the 2021-22 school year beginning Tuesday, Dec. 1.

Now Accepting Names for the 2021-22 School Year!

STEM is now accepting names for the waitlist for 2021-22 and beyond. Please spread the word to your family and friends. They can add their child to the waitlist here! We will begin notifying families of accepted spots beginning on December 1, 2020. Please note that STEM does not follow the Douglas County Open Enrollment process.

Intent to Attend Your Neighborhood School

If you wish to attend your neighborhood school, you must return this form to that school no later than January 5th. This will allow your child to attend that school in the fall of next year (2021-22).

Questions? Please call the MS office at 303-683-7836 or check the website for more enrollment information.

Whether you’ve never before addressed mental health issues, have started to see symptoms, need additional/different resources, or just want to ask questions, STEM Highlands Ranch is committed to ensuring that everyone in our community has easy access to all the mental health resources we can make available. We can provide support for in-school services and out-of-school services, as well as general information and answers to specific questions.

Please contact Elizabeth Brown, our Recovery Coordinator, at Elizabeth.Brown@stemk12.org, or via phone at 303-884-1576 (cell), or 303-683-7836 ext 1583.

The STEM Business Office would like to remind families of seniors, that if there are any outstanding fees on a student’s account, they must be paid for prior to graduation. Emails have been sent to families who have an outstanding balance. Fees can be paid for through MySchoolBucks.

March 1-5, 2021

We’re preparing for our Love of Reading Week coming up from March 1-5, 2021. We’re looking for local, regional and national celebrities to help read to our students via Zoom and show their Love of Reading. If you know someone who may be interested in reading, or submitting a recorded reading, to our students, please use the sign-up form via the button to the right.

Hey STEM Spartans! How many batteries do you throw away in engineering class each year? 10? 25? 50? SNHS’s Recycling Committee is placing used battery bins in each engineering room to recycle old batteries. Instead of harming the planet with used batteries, you can join the fight toward a cleaner earth. All you have to do is put any used batteries in the battery recycling bin. Thank you for your support!

Girls’ soccer is projected to start this spring! We are looking for any girls grades 9-12 interested to join. Any experience level is welcome! Please email co-captain Ryleigh Johnson or Coach Cooper if you are interested in joining or would like more information!

Contact: Ryleigh Johnson at ryleigh.johnson@s.stemk12.org or Coach Cooper at edward.cooper@stemk12.org

In late August/early September of 2020, STEM had to make an adjustment to its Academic Calendar to extend the school year by a few days in order to account for our delayed start. The last day (half day) for Elementary is Friday, May 21 and the last day (half day) for Secondary is Tuesday, May 25. You can view the updated Calendar here. Additionally, graduation has been moved to Thursday, May 20 at 2 p.m. at EchoPark Stadium.

Due to the delayed start at the beginning of the school year that has impacted our required academic minutes, if DCSD calls for a SCHOOL CLOSURE due to weather, STEM will operate on a Virtual Day Schedule instead. This decision was made to prevent having to add additional days at the end of the school year to make up for a snow day. If DCSD calls for a DELAYED START due to weather, STEM will operate on a Virtual Day Schedule.

Don’t Delay! Show your STEM Spartan Pride by ordering from the NEW gear that is available in the SpartMart Store. Check out the flier to the right for more information. The SpartMart is operated by STEM students and the gear is designed by STEM students as well.

11th graders:  Please be aware of these important reminders:

• Students must register in advance if they wish to take the SAT with optional Essay
• The essay registration window is Monday, January 18 – Tuesday, February 16, 2021.
• This will be the only opportunity for students who wish to take the optional essay to add it to their April school day test registration.

When taking the Colorado School Day SAT this spring, 11th-grade students will have the option of taking the SAT with or without the optional essay. Adding the essay to their SAT registration is a student choice. Students may add the essay to their registration through their online College Board account or by calling the College Board during the window.

Additional Information

• The SAT Essay is scored separately from the SAT. A student’s score on the essay will not improve or reduce their score on the SAT.
• The essay may be required by some colleges and universities. To find out a particular school’s essay policies go to: https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/register/college-essay-policies
• SAT test day information can be found at the following link on the school website School Assessment Schedule
• For questions regarding the SAT please contact your school counselor, your school testing coordinator or the college board.

NHS is partnering with other STEM honor societies to offer tutoring for Middle and High School students. Students can request tutoring in different subjects or with time management and organization, and they can also specify how often they need tutoring (one-time, weekly, etc.). Tutors will not assist with any graded work to avoid violations of the academic integrity policy. Click the button below to sign-up.

National Honor Society is searching for businesses to sponsor our annual Wish Week in March. Wish Week is a school-wide fundraiser for Make-A-Wish® Colorado dedicated to granting a wish for an ill child. If you work for or know of any businesses that may be interested in sponsoring this event, please let us know or have them contact nhs@s.stemk12.org for more information. All proceeds will contribute to granting a child’s wish.

The community service and assessment requirements have been waived for graduation and for STEM Scholar for 2021 graduates. Students just need to meet the credit requirements to graduate.

All Secondary Students can pick up their yearbooks from last school year at the Middle School Front Office. People who have yet to purchase their yearbooks from the 2019-2020 school year and would like one can email sherry.wise@stemk12.org to request and get payment information.

Online ordering is now available for 2020-21 Yearbooks. Click here to purchase yours today!

DCSD will be providing weekly remote meal bag pick-ups at all neighborhood Middle Schools in Douglas County (pick-up not available at STEM). Meal pick-ups do NOT require pre-order. Simply pull up to our curbside pickup locations and request a meal for kids, just like our Summer Feeding sites. Kids do not need to attend DCSD Schools and do not need to be present for pickup. Please see the flier to right for more information.

DCSD Nutrition Services is hiring! They are offering four- and six-hour per day Kitchen Assistant positions in Highlands Ranch, Castle Rock and Parker. Partial or full benefits are available with pay starting at $12/hr. Nights, weekends and school breaks off! Click the button below to apply.

We are gathering interest for a co-ed High School Ultimate Frisbee team this Spring. The team will practice and play outside only, starting late February / early March. Please fill out the survey below to express interest and receive more information as it becomes available.

If you have an interest in Chess, we have two opportunities for you!

One – Fill out this interest form for our new Chess Club

Two – Participate in the DCSD Online Chess Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 13. Open to Grades 6-12. Click the button below to register.

STEM Enrichment has partnered with Sarah’s Spanish School to provide after-school Spanish lessons for our Elementary students. Last year, we had several students participate in our after-school Spanish class. For the entire month of February, families can access FREE Spanish lessons, accessible at any time.

February 8 – March 10, 2021 

The National English Honor Society is collecting books to go toward the 50/50 Books organization, a nonprofit organization promoting literacy through greater access to books for schools in need. Last year, the organization distributed over 20,000 books to our local community. NEHS is asking for students and families to donate gently used books in order for the STEM community to help other communities in need. Books can be dropped off in the designated bins at the Middle School Office during the weeks of Monday, Feb. 8 through Wednesday, March 10, during school hours.

February 8 – March 21, 2021

Applications are now open for Worlds’s Denver partner STEAM Discovery Lab program, an excellent opportunity for STEM School Highlands Ranch students who are interested in international exchange, particularly with Egypt.

The Discovery Lab is a fully-funded (free!), virtual exchange program bringing together U.S. and Egyptian youth to explore leadership and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) for three to four hours per week from February 8 to March 21, 2021. Upon successful completion of the program, participants receive a Certificate of Completion, access to the U.S. Department of State’s International Alumni Network, unique project funding opportunities from the U.S. Department of State, and a $400 scholarship towards participation in one of The Experiments in International Living’s programs around the world in 2022.

You can learn more, register for the virtual information session, and submit your program application on the STEAM Discovery Lab website. This opportunity is a great way for students to develop an enhanced understanding and practice of leadership as well as mutual understanding between youth from different cultures. Please feel free to contact Ms. Simi Basu (simi.basu@stemk12.org) with any questions you might have about this program!

Tuesday, Feb. 16 – Friday, Feb. 19

Show your STEM School Spirit by participating in our Valentine’s Spirit Week.

• Tuesday, Feb 16: Hat Day
• Wednesday, Feb 17: Twin Day
• Thursday, Feb 18: Dress Fancy Day
• Friday, Feb 19: Pajama Day

Tuesday, Feb. 16 at 5 p.m. – Girls’ Volleyball – Zoom

Tuesday, Feb. 16 at 5 p.m. – Boys’ Soccer – Zoom

Friday, Feb. 19 at 5 p.m. – Boys’ Lacrosse – Zoom

Friday, Feb. 19 at 5 p.m. – Girls’ Soccer – Zoom

Fill out the form below to sign up for an interest meeting for any of the sports listed above. A Zoom link will be sent to you by Ms Magle-Haberek upon sign-up.

Tuesday, Feb. 16 at 3 p.m. – Zoom (Passcode: 135324) – HS Students Only

The SCSC is entirely student-led and pushes to further engage the STEM CS department by organizing people and resources, enabling you to work on amazing projects!

The SCSC discusses CS topics beyond the scope of courseware, conducted in a student-led, peer-to-peer format built to empower communities in the recesses of computer science with deep interest that students may not have an outlet for otherwise and promote peripheral aspects integral to a computer science interest that may not be directly related to computing theory and practice.

In emphasis of holistic computing, the SCSC fosters technological philanthropy through computing for social good and seeks to instill computing ethics in members.

We instill core values in our members, using humanity’s greatest problem-solving tool–the computer–to solve the world’s greatest problems.

School pictures for students that do not have a current photo for this school year:

We will be offering a picture day at STEM on February 16 & 17 (Elementary on the 16th only)

• Elementary students will go with their class at a time of their teacher’s choosing (teachers will communicate the time with their e-learners).
  • There will be a Class Composite created for each class.
  • Parents will have the opportunity to purchase individual and class composite photos.
• Secondary students should go to the gym during their lunch hour to have their picture taken.
  • Please remind your student on picture day as they will not be called down.
  • E-learners should come in their cohort day between 11:15 a.m. – 1:15 p.m.

If your student is unable to take advantage of this picture day at school, please set an appointment to have their picture taken at the photographer’s studio.

• The deadline to have the updated picture included in the yearbook is February 17, 2021

Tuesday, Feb. 16 from 4:30-6 p.m. – Zoom

Middle and High School students are invited to attend the Chinese New Year Virtual Celebration on Tuesday, Feb. 16 from 4:30-6 p.m. There will be online games, presentations, dumpling making and Chinese cultural activities. This is the year of the Ox, so please join us for a fun, lively afternoon of cow-related fun

Friday, Feb. 17 – National Acts of Kindness Day

Wednesday, Feb. 24 – Submission Deadline

Whether you’re giving or receiving it, kindness can make you feel better, do better and make the world a better place. So let’s show, share and inspire kindness and see just how kind we can be. Visit the website below and upload an original photo, drawing or video, or tell a story about what kindness means to you. We’ll share your submissions on our site and social media, and we’ll all celebrate kindness together. Submit your photo, drawing, video or story by Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021.

Thursday, Feb. 18 from 3-3:45 p.m. – Zoom

Student Forums are open to STEM Students only and is a great opportunity to ask questions, get to know our STEM Leadership Team and make recommendations on how STEM can improve.

If you’d like to take part, please sign-up via the button below. A Zoom link will be sent to you via email prior to the event.

Friday, Feb. 19 – Interest Form Deadline

April 3 – TEDx Event

STEM National English Honor Society is excited to announce our 3rd annual TEDx Talk! It will be fully virtual this year. This is an officially recognized event and will include a mix of students and professionals speaking over the course of roughly two hours. It will take place on Saturday, April 3, 2021.

If you are a High School or Middle School student interested in being one of our speakers this year, please fill out the interest form below by Friday, Feb. 19. There is no theme for speeches this year, so choose whatever you connect with! We will email you with more details about a recorded audition once you demonstrate interest. If you are selected to speak, you will have time to develop your talk with a few check-up meetings.

Monday, Feb. 22-Friday, Feb. 26

High School Student Government is having an animation-themed spirit week from February 22-26. Show up to class (even virtual ones) wearing fun costumes to show your STEM spirit!

• Monday dress as your favorite Marvel character for Marvel Monday
• Tuesday wear your tackiest tourist outfits for Tacky Tourist Tuesday
• Wednesday show your STEM Spirit by wearing blue and yellow or your STEM attire
• Thursday dress as your favorite character from any show or movie for Character Day
• Friday wear your favorite tie-dye clothing for Tie-Dye Day

Keep an eye out for emails about spirit week and check out Student Governments Instagram for updates.

February 25, 26 and 27 from 7-9 p.m.

STEM School Highlands Ranch is proud to invite you to our very first live virtual theater performance. Digi-Tales is a collection of four short live digital shows in various genres designed for Zoom. Each performance will be a live broadcast from the comfort of each actor’s home, and streamed to you, to bring you theater you can watch with your sweatpants on.

Digi-Tales is a collaboration between Middle School and High School, and includes the following four shows:

• ‘The Magic of Zoom’ is Hogwarts meets Zoom! Visit our magical student’s in their first day of Professor Snope’s classroom.
• ‘The Edge of Noir’ is a dark detective mystery in the digital world.
• ‘Who’s There?’ is a suspenseful tale of high schooler’s stuck at home when things go bump in the night.
• ‘Attack of the Zumitrons!’ As a fleet of starships returns home from a mission, they are ambushed by angry Zumitron aliens.

Tickets for the Youtube Live performance are available at $10 per household. Click the button below to purchase tickets. Links to the live shows will be sent in the receipt email, but please reach out to Sara.Phelps@stemk12.org with questions.

Friday, Feb. 26 – 8-11 a.m. – Zoom

Women in Engineering (WIE) is an event for STEM middle school students that Lockheed Martin is hosting. They will be doing virtual labs for the students. The activities will focus on space exploration scenarios through virtual demonstrations on gravity and the use of a robot to identify responses to different events that occur with space travel. The event will be virtual to support everyone’s health and safety. Please fill out the form if you are interested in attending. Contact Simi Basu (simi.basu@stemk12.org) for more details.

Friday, Feb. 26 – at 4:30 p.m. – Zoom

Do you like movies? If so, High School Student Government is hosting a Movie Night on Friday, Feb. 26 starting at 4:30 p.m. for all high school students!! We will be showing these movies over three streaming platforms:

• Disney+ hosting Ratatouille
• Hulu hosting Shrek
• Netflix hosting The Lorax.

Please note, you must have a streaming subscription AND Teleparty in order to watch the movie on these platforms. Instructions on how to download Teleparty is attached below. To sign up please use the link below. The Teleparty streaming links will be sent out to those who signed up on Thursday, Feb. 25. There will also be an optional Zoom meeting open during the movies for questions or technical difficulties.

Tuesday, March 4:30-7:30 p.m. – Zoom

Join STEM’s French Honor Society on Tuesday, March 9 at 4:30 p.m. to learn how to make crêpes the French way.

Sign up via the button below for the virtual event (we’ll send you a resource list after registration is processed so you have plenty of time to be prepared). This event is for Middle and High School students only.

NOTE: Middle schoolers must have a parent present to participate.

Bonne journée et bon appétit!

Signé,

Société Honoraire de Français de STEM

*Due to COVID 19, no visitors or volunteers are allowed inside the building at this time. Volunteer requirements will be adjusted as needed. If you are making a donation, please keep track of your donated items for the time being until we provide additional instructions on how to log your hours.

Volunteer opportunities below are all outside of the school building.

Staff Feedback Team Donations

The Staff Feedback Team is seeking “treat” donations for staff. If you are interested in donating any of these items, please bring to the MS Office labeled “SFT Treats” – thank you so much!!

Individual bags of:

• Mixed nuts
• Pretzels
• Vegan Variety pack
• fruit leather
• oreo snack packs
• BBQ Lays
• Justin’s Nut Butter squeeze packs
• Olives to go
• pickles to go
• Sparkling water
• regular water
• small soda pop cans
• bottles of tea
• chips
• goldfish
• cookies
• crackers
• rice crispy treats
• jerky sticks/pouches
• non-food options: lip balm and lotion.

PE Donations

Our Physical Education Department would love to take your students on new and exciting adventures, but sometimes that requires extra equipment. There was recently a disc golf course built within walking distance from our campus, and we would love to use this space in our community to enhance our curriculum. We are looking for donations of frisbee golf discs that students can use. Anything and everything would be greatly appreciated!

Please bring these donations to the MS office labeled PE Donations. For questions, contact Megan Lipe, Secondary Physical Education Teacher megan.lipe@stemk12.org.

ES Counseling Donations:

• Water beads refill
• Assorted sports beads
• Craft beads like these or any of these
• Plastic funnels

Please bring to the ES Office labeled ES Counseling. Thank you!