Secondary News and Updates (03/05/21)

Deadline extended to March 31, 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.

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@https://stemk12.org) with any questions you might have about this program!

Tuesday, March 9, 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

March 10, 6-7:30 p.m. – Zoom

Join us for our ninth annual STEM’s Got Talent event on Wednesday, March 10 from 6-7:30 p.m. via Zoom. The event is free for everyone! You’ll see our amazing STEM students show off their talents, virtually. And! Don’t forget about our annual Teacher Lip Sync. Hope to see you there.

Monday, March 22-Friday, March 26

Join your Middle School Student Government for a Spirit Week after Spring Break!

• Monday- Teacher Student Swap Day
• Tuesday- Crazy Hair Day
• Wednesday- Decades Day
• Thursday- Hat Day
• Friday- Zoom Icon Meme Day

March 26, 4-6:30 p.m. – Zoom

Join MS Student Government for our next VIRTUAL movie night! More details to come soon!

March 29-April 9

This year, National English Honor Society will be hosting a writing competition. Students can submit a piece of writing answering the pivotal question: “What is something good that has come from the pandemic?”

All grade levels K-12 are eligible to participate. We are hoping to have parent volunteers judge the pieces and announce first- and second-place winners.

April 19-23 – Virtual Events and Dress-Up Activities

During the week of Earth Week, the Science National Honor Society is planning to have a spirit week-like event over the week of April 19-23. Each day will include fun dressing, and some days will include a simple activity.

• On Monday, we will have a whiteout day; everyone wears white in order to raise awareness of melting glaciers.
• On Tuesday, everyone will dress as their favorite season.
• On Wednesday, everyone will dress as their favorite animal, and can bring a stuffed animal to class (in-person or on Zoom).
• Thursday is Earth Day, so everyone will be encouraged to wear green and blue, or Earth Day shirts that would be available to buy.
  • We will be creating these shirts to sell, and all the funds collected will be donated to Grand County Fire Departments in thanks for their courage last year. On this day, we would also be releasing education videos for the entire school, as well as creating educational color packets for the elementary school students. For all secondary students, we are hoping to do a recycled-materials activity, such as building something useful in their household, that they can make from other materials.
• Finally, on Friday, everyone will be encouraged to dress like a scientist, as the end of the week will follow with student-produced tutorials on at-home experiments for all students.

All of these after-school events would be virtual. Contact: ryleigh.johnson@s.https://stemk12.org

April 19-22, 4-6:30 p.m.

This explorative & informative fair for youth will feature career panels representing a wide variety of industries throughout the state. REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN for youth attendees, parents, educators, and potential career panelists via the website: www.youthcareerfair.org!

The Colorado Virtual Career Fair is a collaboration between the Colorado State Youth Council, Colorado Workforce Development Council, Colorado Association of Career & Technical Education, other Colorado professional education agencies & organizations; and many Colorado school districts.

The design of this fair has the intention of facilitating access and awareness of career path opportunities to students who may or may not have been able to access the options before. Beyond the barrios of geographic location, beyond zip code, beyond regional location and beyond school district – students & families, youth & individuals of any age or grade level are welcome to attend. Explore more: www.youthcareerfair.org

Panelists will represent the diversity of backgrounds, ethnicities and races and are intentionally recruited to help our students ‘see themselves’ in that future career.** If you are interested or know of others (think of your own friend, family and contacts) who would be a perfect fit, please see the attached Panelist Flier AND extend the ‘application’ here: https://forms.gle/6Gf1mFtZ1N64jvfm8

Equity and Mental Health within our youth communities is an investment the design committee wanted to focus on and the Attendee Registration form reflects this.

If any questions arise, please contact admin@youthcareerfair.org.

Tuesday, April 27, 5:30-6:30 p.m. – YouTube

STEM will be holding its first-ever STEM Film Festival on Tuesday, April 27 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. via YouTube. This event is to showcase the creative, video work that is being done within our student body. This event is for Middle and High School Students.

A max of 15-minute Short MP4 Films should be submitted by April 15 to https://stemfilmfest@https://stemk12.org. Categories include:

• Horror/Thriller
• Comedy
• Drama
• Educational

Contact Dan Levinson (dan.levinson@https://stemk12.org) with any questions.

Wednesday, April 28, 6-7 p.m. – Zoom

New to STEM Secondary students and families are invited to attend our “Welcome to STEM” Webinar event on Wednesday, April 28 from 6-7 p.m. via Zoom.

This event is New families and students to STEM and for returning STEM families who have a student moving into sixth and ninth grades.

Topics will include:

• STEM’s Formula for Character
• Behavior Expectations
• Review of Required Courses
• Course Progression
• Block Schedule
• Sample Schedule
• Teacher Expectations
• Tips for Success
• Enrichment
• The Role of the Counselor
• Driveline

Contact your grade-level counselor for more information:

• Coleen Sullivan (coleen.sullivan@https://stemk12.org) – Middle School students with last name A-L
• Vicki Dix (vicki.dix@https://stemk12.org) – Middle School students with last names M-Z
• Alexa Nichols (alexa.nichols@https://stemk12.org) – High School students with last names A-K
• Alyssa Woodward (alyssa.woodward@https://stemk12.org) – High School students with last names L-Z

Dear STEM Secondary Students,

We gathered some data from students and teachers about how they would feel about asynchronous Fridays in high school. Both students and staff (70%) would like more asynchronous time. Based on this feedback, STEM administration made it clear to teachers last month that it is completely acceptable to be asynchronous on Fridays if it is right for their students/class. Please note that some CE and AP courses may remain synchronous for a variety of reasons.

For the remainder of this school year, advisement will be a mixture of synchronous and asynchronous lessons provided by our Sources of Strength team.

The Parent Trust Committee of the Strategic Plan Goal “Building Parent Trust” would like to collect some data from our community (students and parents) on some of the favorite implementations of Problem Based Learning that teachers have created in their classrooms. The committee gathered feedback during the Town Hall in January that included helping to build a repository of PBLs for teachers to use.

Problem based learning is STEM’s instructional model. Teachers utilized different techniques to have students solve a real-world problem, while teaching the state standards and core competencies.

AIAA’s (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics) is offering free membership for high school students. STEM School Highlands Ranch has been a partner with AIAA. We are piloting this first-ever AIAA outreach in several projects, including our internships and a project called “Martian Greenhouse.”

Click the buttons below to see the Fall 2020 Honor Rolls for grades sixth-12th.

STEM is hiring. Check out the positions below on our Employment page to find out more.

• Elementary Instructional Assistant – Full Time
• Middle School Educational Assistant – Full Time
• Middle School Computer Science Teacher (Part-Time)
• Classroom Monitor
• In-House Substitute
• After-School Programming Assistant (Part-Time)

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.

We are asking parents to take a minute to fill out this hearing and vision observation screening survey. This survey will help us to determine which students will need to receive hearing/vision screenings. The deadline to complete this survey is Friday, March 5.

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.

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.

STEM had picture Day on February 16 & 17 for students needing a current school photo. If your student was unable to take advantage of the picture days at STEM, please set an appointment to have their picture taken at the photographer’s studio. Check out the buttons to the left to schedule an appointment or order photos.

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.

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@https://stemk12.org to request and get payment information.

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

Elizabeth Brown joined STEM in January 2021 as the Recovery Coordinator for STEM. While her desk is located in the new admin side of the P-TECH building, she will be spending the majority of her time in the school. The broadest description of her position is to provide overall coordination for the recovery of students, parents, and staff. Dr. Euker has stated that it is a huge priority for her that Elizabeth reaches out and provides the necessary support and information to our community. Elizabeth is working under a grant that can make all kinds of resources available to those who would like them.

Her role is specifically to support all who have been impacted, so if there are needs that aren’t being met, questions that aren’t being answered, or services that aren’t being provided, it would be really helpful to let her know so she can be sure to address those issues. Please email her at elizabeth.brown@https://stemk12.org.

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.

The STEM First Robotics (FRC) team has been hard at work preparing for a modified robotics competition! The team has been meeting weekly over zoom since last March. This year’s competition was changed into a series of challenges the teams must complete with their robot. Instead of the game, the teams would have played all together in person, the team competes from home! There are awards to be submitted for and, now virtual, judge’s awards. The team has been working on not only getting the robot up and running but also on writing and designing for awards. All presentations for these awards will be over zoom or submitted digitally.

Other news on the FRC team comes from the students who have done internships at Lockheed Martin. Some of our wonderful students have been hard at work over the summer at different Lockheed campuses. Some of the projects they’ve worked on include the heat shield for the Perseverance Rover, release mechanisms for the Orion Capsule, and much more. Two of our alumni are also working on these projects with software development.

*Due to COVID 19, no visitors or volunteers are allowed inside the building at this time. Volunteer requirements will be adjusted as needed. There was a consideration to switch volunteer hour tracking syhttps://stems, but we will stay with our syhttps://stem we have been using at this time.

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@https://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!