Secondary News and Updates (03/04/22)

Monday, March 7 & Tuesday, March 8, from 3:15-3:45 p.m. – Zoom

Wednesday, March 9 & Thursday, March 10, from 3-3:30 p.m. – High School Cafeteria

We would like to hold several concurrent enrollment information sessions for students and parents that want to join. The purpose of these sessions is to better inform students and parents on how CE courses work and the new process that needs to be followed to sign up for CE courses for Fall 2022.

The same information will be covered in each session so please pick on that best fits your needs.

• Monday, Mar. 7 – 3:15-3:45 p.m. – zoom call led by Amelia Reinkensmeyer
• Tuesday, Mar. 8 – 3:15-3:45 p.m. – zoom call led by Sheri Langston
• Wednesday, Mar. 9 – 3-3:30 p.m. – in-person meeting led by Alyssa Woodward in HS cafeteria
• Thursday, Mar. 10 – 3-3:30 p.m. – in-person meeting led by Kelli Myrick in HS cafeteria

Wednesday, March 9, from 3:30-4:30 p.m. – Theater Room 167

The STEM Comedy Club will have a show on Wednesday, March 9 from 3:30-4:30 p.m. in Theater Room 167. Come see our Secondary students put on a great performance full of laughs. Cost is $5 and can be purchased via the button below. Cost includes a pizza and a drink. Please park in the Secondary Parking Lot and enter through the Secondary Main Entrance.

Wednesday, March 9, from 6:30-8 p.m. – Zoom

Tuesday, March 22, from 3:30-5:30 p.m. – High School Commons

The Math Honor Society is hosting our annual Pi Day on March 22nd. Families and children of all ages are welcome to attend. It will be in the High School Commons beginning at 3:30 p.m. The cost will be $5 for general admission and $1 if you have a Wish Week Activities Band. All grades! We encourage attendance from all ages.

All proceeds will go towards the Make-A-Wish foundation. We will have a wide variety of activities, such as, but not limited to: pi reciting competition, mental math competition, pi bracelet-making, pie teachers, and pi game. If you have any questions, please email ankit.mukkamala@s.https://stemk12.org.

Wednesday, March 23, from 5-6 p.m – Zoom

This webinar will focus on our implementation of SBL for next year. We will answer the following questions:

• What is Standards-Based Learning?
• Why are we making the switch?
• What does this mean for my student?
• How will grades be reported when we implement SBL?
• What does SBL mean for college acceptance?”

Contact: Michelle Gasser, michelle.gasser@https://stemk12.org with any questions

Thursday, March 24, from 6:30-9 p.m. – Mission Hills Church

The annual STEM’s Got Talent Show will be on Thursday, March 24 from 6:30-9 p.m. at the Mission Hills Church at 620 Southpark Drive, Littleton. This is a night filled with our STEM students and staff showcasing their talents. Cost of tickets are $10 each. Click the button below to purchase tickets.

Thursday, March 31, from 5-8 p.m.

Save the Date! All STEM Families are invited to join us for STEM Fest 2022, which will be a celebration of who we are and what we do. More details will be shared in the coming weeks.

Dear STEM School Highlands Ranch Families,

Due to the construction, the West side of the Elementary Parking Lot (active loading zone area in front of the Elementary School Doors) will be closed for two weeks starting on Monday, Feb. 28. It will directly impact the Elementary morning and afternoon drivelines, and indirectly impact the Secondary morning and afternoon drlivelines.

Elementary Driveline will be rerouted through the parking lot, along the East side of the Elementary Building, exiting through the Secondary exit. This is the same impact that took place in January.

This will cause delays during the morning and afternoon driveline. The drop-off in the morning begins at 7:10 a.m. Secondary Driveline begins picking up at 7:30 a.m. We are asking all Elementary families to please arrive prior to 7:30 a.m. to avoid a conflict with the Secondary Driveline. In the afternoon, we are asking parents for patience during pick-up as students and staff will be getting used to a different pick-up pattern.

Morning Directions to follow:

• Enter ES driveline through the West Entrance (normal entrance)
• Families will either be direct to go straight and stack, or turn to the right to snake around the parking lot (like normal) and stack in all three lanes.
• Please follow all directions from the driveline attendants.
• Cars will be stacked in the Unloading Zone on the East side of the Elementary School Building and attendants will come to unload students; Please do not unload students anywhere other than the unloading zone.
• Once cars are unloaded, driveline attendants will direct cars to proceed forward along the East side of the building to then exit the Secondary Parking Lot.
• Cars will merge several times throughout this process so please be patient, show kindness and allow cars to merge for the driveline to proceed efficiently.
• Cars will be allowed to make left and right turns out of the Secondary Driveline onto Ridgeline and will be directed by a Sheriff deputy. In the event there is no one to direct traffic, all cars should make a right out of the parking lot.
• All ES students will be let into the Elementary School cafeteria once dropped off.  Students will be picked up by their teachers at 7:30 a.m.

Afternoon Directions to follow:

• Enter ES driveline through the West Entrance (normal entrance)
• At 2:10 p.m., families of K-1 students will be allowed to enter the parking lot and go straight and stack, following the instructions of the driveline attendants.
• At 2:25 p.m., families of students in grades 2-5 will be allowed to enter the parking lot. Driveline attendants will direct families to either go straight or go right to stack in all three lanes.
• Only cars in the Active Loading Zone on the East side of the Elementary School Building will be loaded.
• Please make sure that you are using PikMyKid and that your account is updated.
• Once cars are loaded, driveline attendants will direct cars to proceed forward along the East side of the building to then exit the Secondary Parking Lot.
• Cars will merge several times throughout this process so please be patient, show kindness and allow cars to merge for the driveline to proceed efficiently.
• Cars will only be allowed to make a right turn out of the Secondary Driveline onto Ridgeline, heading south.

Walker Pick-Up:
Walker pick-up will be from the front of the Elementary School Building.

Access to the Elementary School Entrance will still be accessible for BASE and for normal operations. There will be parking spaces open in front of the Elementary School Doors.

Thank you so much for your understanding.

STEM School Highlands Ranch Communications

Ultimate Frisbee is starting and we’d like to invite anyone interested in taking part to join us. Our first practice was Thursday, March 3, so if you still want to know more and join us moving forward, please email robert.weiffenbach@s.https://stemk12.org with any questions.

Want to help our a class project? Click the button below to take part in a Carbon Emissions survey for a student entrepreneurship class project.

Gary Community Ventures is accepting applications and nominations for its Piton Fellowship Youth Cohort, which is open to Denver-area 14- to 20-year-olds who are looking to expand their learning and accelerate their leadership journeys alongside a network of peers. The Youth Cohort runs from Monday, June 20, to Friday, July 29, and fellows can expect to learn from inspirational changemakers, connect with their communities, build leadership skills, explore career pathways and develop as human beings. Those who complete the program will also receive a $2,100 stipend. Gary Community Ventures will prioritize applicants of color and youth from diverse backgrounds. Applications and nominations for the early acceptance period are due Friday, Feb. 25, and will be prioritized over applications and nominations received in the final acceptance period, which ends Friday, April 1.

Attention High School Students! Join the Spanish Honor Society (Sociedad Honoraria Hispanica, or SHH), sponsored by Madame Lutz as a partnership in the language department. Spanish Honor Society focuses on exposing people to Hispanic culture and encouraging students to experience it through various activities. SHH is a fun and easy extracurricular for students to participate in and get involved with. We have activities such as going to museums, hosting movie nights, going to restaurants, and more! Additionally, we also participate in events like Trunk or Treat as well as hosting our own events like a telenovela watch party and Hispanic holiday celebrations.

We plan to meet twice a month, and more information about meeting dates will be released soon. Students interested in joining who are currently enrolled in a Spanish class must be in Spanish III, IV, or AP. Students interested in joining who are not currently enrolled in a Spanish class must have been previously enrolled in a Spanish class from Spanish III, IV, or AP. Fluency in Spanish is not required. We also require that you maintain a B average in all completed/current Spanish classes, and be willing to attend our activities in and outside of school.

For instructions on how to join or have questions, email alexandra.choudhury@s.https://stemk12.org.

Hello STEM Families!

As some of you might know, every year we have a Wish Week in partnership with Make-A-Wish Colorado to raise money to help a kid with a serious illness to go to their dream vacation. This year, we are raising money for Samuel, a 5-year-old with leukemia who wants to go to Noah’s Arc.

The National Honor Society is reaching out to all of you to see if any of your companies would be willing to sponsor our Wish Week so that we can raise enough money for Samuel. If you have any questions, would like to learn more, or if you know that your company can sponsor us, please email nhs@s.https://stemk12.org. Thank you so much and have a wonderful day!

Next week the Science National Honor Society will be hosting a food drive. Items will be collected during Second Period on Monday and Wednesday. The Second Period class with the most items will win a breakfast.

• Freshman & Juniors should bring in Peanut Butter
• Sophomores & Seniors should bring in Jelly

Our 5th-grade team with 100+ students wants to study existing ways we explore space. The teachers were hoping that each class (6 classes) could be assigned a mentor to listen to student ideas (Status Reports).

Time Commitment for Mentors:

Only one hour per week for 3 weeks. (virtual or in-person)

• Week One: March 7-11
• Week Two: March 21-25
• Week Three: April 4-8

At the end of this adventure, the students will present a proposal for a mission to explore space. The final proposals may end up as podcasts, videos, websites, art, or other creative formats. The mentors listen and offer simple advice. Please email michelle.gasser@https://stemk12.org if interested.

We are partnering again this semester with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office for the YESS Program. Deputy Sean will be in the Middle School Computer Science Classes in March and April and will be talking and teaching students about various important topics in a positive way. The topics will be covered based on the grade level. Topics will be Teen relationships, Internet/Digital Safety and substance use. Thank you to Deputy Sean, DCSO, and STEM Computer Science teachers for this partnership.

On Tuesday, Feb. 22, the SBL Subcommittee presented at the monthly Secondary Student Information Session in the High School Commons. Click the button below to view the video of the presentation, access the slides and submit questions to the Feedback Form (Students Only). A parent information session will be held in March.

STEM PTO is fundraising for our Senior’s After Prom. Consider purchasing your loved one an item from Touchstone Crystals and a percentage of the proceeds will go to support After Prom. Click the button below to order.

STEM PTO wants to help give our seniors the best After Prom experience. Our students have been through so much and this is a great way to show them how much we support them. Scan the QR Code below to donate through MySchoolBucks.

My name is Amy Dupays. I am the elementary BASE Manager for STEM. The STEM BASE team is looking for additional staff to support the after-school child care demand in our Elementary STEM community. If you or someone you know is looking for a fun job after school, is great with kids and ready to work with a dedicated, fun team this is the job for you. We need you 3-5 days each week 3-6 p.m. Full-time hours are available during school breaks and summer. NO WEEKENDS – Yay!

Please email me acdupays@dcsdk12.org for more information or submit your application using the following link: DCSD STEMBASE Program Leader Position.

Nominations are now open for the CBS Denver Future Leaders Scholarship. If you know a High School student who is thriving in the STEM core subjects please consider nominating them for this $1,000 scholarship.

Click the button below to access the nomination form and to find out more. One student will be selected each month to receive this special recognition award that will include a $1,000 award along with a student profile on CBS4. The nomination window will run through April 22, 2022.

Attention Middle School and High School students!

Don’t forget to purchase your yearbooks. Go to Yearbookforever.com to buy your yearbook for $45. Buy it while you can because come October 31 the price goes up to $55. Additionally, if you would like your photo in the yearbook, you can share your photos with us. You can share them using the Yearbook Snap app using the code STEM22. It’s available on the App Store and Google Play Store, download it today and share those photos. If you have any questions about the yearbook or how to use Yearbook Snap, please email one of the yearbook editors-in-chief at elizabeth.noethlich@s.https://stemk12.org and cadence.coan@s.https://stemk12.org or stop by room 110 after school.

Families can access their photos by visiting the link to the right or going to dr-photo.com, selecting the School Portrait Proofs link, and when prompted enter their private password in the following format: Student ID#

April 18-21, from 4-7 p.m. (virtual event)

The second annual statewide Colorado Youth Career Fair is taking place virtually on April 18-21. This educational event is intended to expose Colorado youth to a broad sampling of career fields. Registration is now open for youth, families, and educators as well as career panelists. Free, virtual event for youth, families, and educators. This event is sponsored by the Colorado Workforce Development Council. Visit youthcareerfair.org for more details and registration

Check out AllHealth Network’s Colorado Spirit Youth & Family Offerings which are all offered at no cost.

WeAreTeachers: 5 Things I Wish Parents Knew About Reading

These days, the pressure of reading levels, words per minute, and standardized testing has put tremendous pressure on not only teachers and students, but also parents. Here are five literacy tips for parents that I wish I could share with all families.

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia – Fun Ways to Keep Kids Active in the Winter

Rachel DeHaven, an exercise physiologist with the Healthy Weight Program at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), has lots of ideas to help kids (and adults!) stay active through the winter, and all year long!

Long Range Planning Committee Seeks Members

DCSD’s Long Range Planning Committee (LRPC) is currently accepting applications for members. This citizen-based group keeps close track of new housing developments and student enrollment trends in order to provide the Douglas County Board of Education with feedback regarding school district facility and capacity needs. If you reside within the Douglas County School District and are interested in serving on this important committee please complete and submit the LRPC Application for Membership. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis or until all positions are filled.