Secondary News and Updates (03/10/23)

Secondary-School News

Director Updates

A message from Mrs. Ridder, Middle School Director

Dear Middle School Families,

Words cannot describe the incredible loss that our STEM family has suffered last week. Carlos Martinez, former student (Class of ‘21) and former EA to our middle schoolers, passed away on Thursday. He was a bright light in our STEM family and will be missed dearly. Carlos will always hold a special place in our hearts, and he will be missed beyond measure. Please know that we have support and resources in place if anyone needs them so please reach out.

Middle School Celebrations

I want to take a moment to celebrate this quarter. We have so much to celebrate, from TSA to Science Olympiad, to our Chess Team, to Wish Week, and to STEM’s Got Talent! Wow! What a talented, smart, motivated student body we have here at STEM. Thank you all for your support in each of these events. As for academics, our students are growing by leaps and bounds and finally adjusting to Standards-Based learning.

Student Assembly on Monday, March 20

This semester, there has been an uptick in online bullying, racial slurs, the transmission of inappropriate photos, and inappropriate touching. As a community, WE ALL NEED to address these issues with our students and inform them of the real repercussions. Deputy Gabe Uribe, counselor Michael Link, and I will be addressing these issues with our middle schoolers when we return. We are informing our students of the school discipline vs. the legal consequences of these behaviors.

Cell Phones are not allowed to be used in class

Students are not allowed to use their cell phones in class. This has been a policy all year, yet, we continue to see students on their phones and off task in classes. After the break, teachers will reinforce this expectation and require all students to use the cell phone pockets located in their classrooms. Any support from home in this endeavor is greatly appreciated. Below, is an article Mr. Griffin shared with me from the Wall Street Journal. Take a look!

Tardy Update: Good News!

I am happy to report that we are making progress and our tardies are declining. Thank you to our parents who are dropping students off on time in the morning. As you are aware, when students are late for school, it is not only a source of anxiety for the student, but it is a disruption to the student’s learning and the entire class. When a student walks in late, it is very distracting for students and the teacher, and the entire class has to then refocus. While our first-period tardies are declining, students are still showing up to later periods tardy. We are working to curb these as well, and are slowly but surely making progress. Again, thank you for your support!

Important Upcoming Dates

Monday, March 20 – Tom’s Traveling Coffee Truck on Campus from 7-8 a.m.
Tuesday, April 4 – Board of Directors Meeting at 5:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 20 – STEMFEST

Have a wonderful break, everyone!

In partnership,

Maura T. Ridder, Middle School Director

“College Should Be More Like Prison”

The inmates I teach are serious, disciplined, hard-working students eager to engage with ideas. By Brooke Allen

Many of us who care deeply about education in the humanities can only feel despair at the state of our institutions of “higher” learning. Enrollment in these subjects is plummeting, and students who take literature and history classes often come in with rudimentary ideas about the disciplines. Interviewed in a recent New Yorker article, Prof. James Shapiro of Columbia said teaching “Middlemarch” to today’s college students is like landing a 747 on a rural airstrip. Technology such as messaging apps, digital crib sheets and ChatGPT, which will write essays on demand, has created a culture of casual cheating.

Never have I been more grateful to teach where I do: at a men’s maximum-security prison. My students there, enrolled in a for-credit college program, provide a sharp contrast with contemporary undergraduates. These men are highly motivated and hard-working. They tend to read each assignment two or three times before coming to class and take notes as well. Some of them have been incarcerated for 20 or 30 years and have been reading books all that time. They would hold their own in any graduate seminar. That they have had rough experiences out in the real world means they are less liable to fall prey to facile ideologies. A large proportion of them are black and Latino, and while they may not like David Hume’s or Thomas Jefferson’s ideas on race, they want to read those authors anyway. They want, in short, to be a part of the centuries-long conversation that makes up our civilization. The classes are often the most interesting part of these men’s prison lives. In some cases, they are the only interesting part.

Best of all from my selfish point of view as an educator, these students have no access to cellphones or the internet. Cyber-cheating, even assuming they wanted to indulge in it, is impossible. But more important, they have retained their attention spans, while those of modern college students have been destroyed by their dependence on smartphones. My friends who teach at Harvard tell me administrators have advised them to change topics or activities several times in each class meeting because the students simply can’t focus for that long.

My students at the prison sit through a 2½-hour class without any loss of focus. They don’t yawn or take bathroom breaks. I have taught classes on the Enlightenment, the Renaissance, Romanticism, George Orwell, South Asian fiction. We’ve done seminars on Adam Smith and Alexis de Tocqueville. Together we have read Montaigne, Rousseau, Keats, Erasmus, Locke, Montesquieu, Wollstonecraft, Byron, Goethe, Petrarch, Rabelais, Saadat Hasan Manto, Rohinton Mistry. The students write essays in longhand; during the pandemic I taught a correspondence class via snail mail. Some of them do read “Middlemarch,” and their teacher finds the experience far more gratifying than trying to land a 747 on a rural airstrip. We encourage them to treat different societies in history as experiments in time travel, where they try to understand the mores of particular eras as though from the inside. They are very open to that approach, unlike university students, who tend see the past only as one long undifferentiated era of grievous unenlightenment: not just one damn thing after another, but one damn oppressive thing after another.

Like students at elite institutions, most of my incarcerated scholars are politically liberal. Unlike them, many are religious, and that proves surprisingly enriching in studying these authors, who would have been amazed to know they would one day be read by classrooms full of atheists. One of my more devout students, a Protestant who converted to Islam, was so distressed by Voltaire’s disrespect for established creeds that he had to be comforted by other class members. They informed him that he was exactly the sort of person Voltaire was aiming his polemic at, and therefore he could understand the force of it in a way his irreligious peers couldn’t.

My hours at the prison are rich in such moments. In many ways, it is the Platonic ideal of teaching, what teaching once was. No faculty meetings, no soul-deadening committee work, no bloated and overbearing administration. No electronics, no students whining about grades. Quite a few of our students are serving life sentences and will never be able to make use of their hard-won college credits. No student debt, no ideological intolerance, no religious tests—whoops, I mean mandatory “diversity” statements. And in our courteous, laughter-filled classroom there is none of the “toxic environment” that my friends in the academy complain about, and that I experienced during my own college teaching career.

If prison inmates, many of whom have committed violent crimes, can pay close attention for a couple of hours, put aside their political and personal differences, support one another’s academic efforts, write eloquent essays without the aid of technology and get through a school year without cheating, is it too much to ask university students to do the same? Or ask professors to try to create an atmosphere where these habits can prevail? Perhaps prison education can serve as a model of how to return to true learning and intellectual exchange.

A message from Mr. Alsup, High School Director

Dear STEM Spartans and families,

Typically, when I write a March newsletter, I center my message around the need for our teens to be safe. The reason I do that is that the spring and summer months are some of the most dangerous times for teen drivers. Those messages come from the heart because I care deeply about each and every one of our kids. Unfortunately, tragedy has struck our community again. And while it may not be a car accident, we as a school community have suffered another loss. I know for many of you, Thursday’s news can be very difficult to handle. And while I do not have the answers, I ask that we take care of one another, and if you are struggling, please reach out for help. I recognize that we included this information in our message last week, but just in case you need it, here is the information again.

  • Colorado Crisis Line – 844-493-8255
  • Suicide and Crisis Line – dial 988
  • Colorado Crisis Text Line – Text “TALK” to 38255
  • National Suicide Prevention Hotline – 800-273-8255
  • In case of an immediate emergency – please dial 911

The Center for Strength is also a great resource. They are open over break, however, I would double-check their website before coming in. You are also welcome to visit our Social and Emotional Support page for additional resources.

International Women’s Day

Wednesday, March 8, was International Women’s Day. Around the world, the day is used to recognize Women’s rights. The United Nations took an active role in the observance and hosted a panel discussion with female leaders worldwide. One of those leaders was our very own Gitanjali Rao! She did an excellent job, and we are so proud of her!

Athletics News

Our Spring sports are now underway. This spring we have eSports, Boys’ and Girls’ Track and Field, Girls’ Soccer, Boys’ Volleyball, and Boys’ Lacrosse (which is a co-op team with Highlands Ranch High School). Girls’ Soccer started two Saturdays ago with a round-robin scrimmage with various high schools in our area. The competition was tough as all of the other schools were 4A and 5A, but they held their own. Our Boys’ Volleyball team is in its inaugural season and participated in its first scrimmage on Friday, March 10. Our Boys’ and Girls’ Track Team competed over the weekend in the “We are Columbine” Invitational at Jeffco Stadium. Finally, on Saturday, March 11, our STEM/HRHS boys lacrosse team played Heritage High School.

Last July, we included a special sports article in our newsletter that listed the sports we were offering and the rules of participation now that we are a CHSAA school. However, over the course of the year, I have received a few questions, so I want to take a moment to highlight what we offer and what the participation expectations are. CHSAA operates on a two-year cycle. What that means is that when we make commitments to teams, those commitments are made for a two-year period. This was year one of the two-year cycle. So, our sports offerings for the two-year cycle are as follows:

  • Fall: Boys’ Soccer, Boys’ Golf, eSports, Boys’ and Girls’ Cross Country, and Girls’ volleyball.
  • Winter: Boys’ Basketball
  • Spring: eSports, Girls’ Soccer, Boys and Girls Track, Boys’ Volleyball, and Boys’ Lacrosse (co-op with HRHS).

I have received requests to consider expanding our sports offerings, but we can only do that at the start of the next two-year cycle. Here are a couple of other things to keep in mind. First, all of these sports are for high school students only. We have received multiple requests to allow middle schoolers to play on the teams, but CHSAA does not allow that.

Second, if we offer the sport here, a student cannot play it at any other school. There are state statutes around that, and it is non-negotiable. However, if there is a sport that your high schooler wants to play that we do not offer, then they are welcome to play for their neighborhood school. This would include sports such as football, wrestling, gymnastics, girls’ golf, etc. If you choose to have your student play at a different school, please remember that if we offer it in the future, your student will be required to play for our team instead.

Secondary Conferences

With the sudden loss of one of our own, we had to postpone our conferences. However, we will reschedule them soon, so please watch for the date. In the meantime, seniors, graduation is in sight! Please make sure that you are checking your grades and passing all of your classes. Parents, you are welcome to contact your student’s teachers anytime with any questions or concerns. We want to make sure that all of our students can graduate on time.

Thank you, everyone. Please have a safe and relaxing spring break!

Sincerely,

Ryan Alsup, High School Director

Upcoming Events

STEM All-Events Calendar

Please take a moment to check the STEM All-Events Calendar on our website.

There are lots of events already scheduled so please take a moment to take a look at the calendar to familiarize yourself with some of the events at the start of school. This calendar will continue to be updated throughout the summer as we get closer to the start of school.

NEHS Writing Center Dates for Middle and High School Students

Tuesdays from 3-3:30 p.m., in Room 103 and on Google Meets

We are excited to announce that STEM’s Writing Center will be open to all Middle and High School students. Students looking for additional help on their English assignments can join us either in person (Room 103) or over Google Meets after school on Tuesdays from 3-3:30 p.m. Students can sign up for a 15-minute slot during which we can help them with any essay, assignment, or project.

We can’t wait to see you all!

Dates: 3/21, 3/28, 4/4, 4/11, 4/18, 4/25, 5/2, 5/9, 5/16

Spring Break 2023

Welcome Back to School Tom's Coffee Truck Event

Monday, March 21, from 7-8 a.m. – High School Staff Parking Lot

The STEM Administration Team would like to welcome back our community from Spring Break with a morning treat! Tom’s Coffee Truck will be on campus on Monday, March 20 from 7-8 a.m. selling coffee to students, staff and families. See the attachments below for the menu.

The truck will be located in the High School Staff Parking Lot on the West side of the School. Cars may only park in the High School Parking Lot temporarily if they are purchasing from the Coffee Truck. (students may not be dropped off here)

Spring School Picture Retake Day

Don't forget to order your school photos

School photos have been uploaded for families to view. Families can access their photos by visiting the link below, selecting the School Portrait Proofs link, and when prompted enter their private password in the following format: studentid#.

News and Updates

Important Information About Senior Class Game

Dear STEM Spartan students and families,

I am writing to you about a senior game that some of our students are playing. Before I go into details, I want to caution you that some of you may find this alarming, and some of the words may be triggering.

The name of the game is “Senior Assassin.” This game is not sponsored or supported by the school in any way. This game is played by high school seniors across the country. Students who have signed up to play this game target one another with squirt guns, and when a student is hit, they are eliminated from the game. While I do not know which seniors are playing, it appears that there are a large number of them participating. This is a very public game with kids playing across the Highlands Ranch Community.

Senior parents, please take a moment to discuss this with your student. As I mentioned, this game is not sponsored or supported by the school. Students cannot play the game here, and school and district policies will be enforced. Squirt guns or any other gun facsimile is strictly prohibited. The “rules of the game” also list schools as off-limits. However, we need help getting the message out so our kids stay out of trouble.

Thank you very much for working with us on this. If you have any questions, please let me know.

ACC Accuplacer Exam

Friday, April 21, from 9-11 a.m. 

Arapahoe Community College will be at STEM to administer the Accuplacer Exam. The Accuplacer is needed for any student (grades 8-11) who would like to take Concurrent Enrollment courses.

Contact Nicole.Ryan@stemk12.org with any questions.

After Prom Butter Braid Fundraiser

Concurrent Enrollment Information

Hello Spartan Students and Families,

If you want to participate in concurrent enrollment in the Fall, this email is for you! Concurrent enrollment (CE) allows you to enroll in college coursework in high school. STEM offers college-level courses at STEM, and students can attend our local colleges and universities.

If you plan to enroll in a concurrent enrollment course (at STEM or another college/ university), you and your parents must complete the STEM Concurrent Enrollment Agreement. If you are taking classes at STEM or ACC and have yet to apply to ACC, you must complete the ACC application first (see instructions below). You can complete the STEM Concurrent Enrollment Agreement here: STEM Concurrent Enrollment Agreement Form.

New STEM CE and new ACC students only: All students completing a CE course (at STEM or ACC) must apply to ACC (even if you are completing the courses at STEM). If you still need to apply, please do so online. You will need to create an account and complete the ACC application. Typically, applications are processed within three business days. You will need your S# from ACC before completing the STEM Concurrent Enrollment Agreement Form. Applying to ACC

At ACC registration: If you will be taking courses at ACC and still need to complete the ACC orientation and admissions/ registration, you need to complete them before you can register for classes through the ACC portal. You can follow the step-by-step instructions: ACC Orientation & Admissions/ Registration. ACC course registration begins on March 13th.

MSU Denver: Please see the attached flyer for online course selection options. Other MSU courses will be available but may have additional fees. If you want to register for MSU, please select your courses and indicate your preference on the STEM Concurrent Enrollment Agreement form. I will reach out regarding the registration steps.

CSU, Extended Studies: We are tentatively looking at ANEQ 103, Introduction to Animal Science, and PSY 100, General Psychology. Please indicate your preference on the STEM Concurrent Enrollment Agreement form if you want to enroll in one or both courses. I will reach out regarding the registration steps.

CSU, Pueblo: Coming Soon! Reach out to me for registration information.

Other College/ University: If you intend to enroll at a college/ university other than those listed, don’t hesitate to contact me directly.

Prerequisites: Please ensure you have reviewed the course prerequisites to ensure you are eligible to enroll for the course. For ACC courses, you can check courses, prereqs, and course descriptions on the ACC website here: ACC Course List. If you plan to enroll in the English Comp or Literature courses, you must meet English proficiency. For English proficiency, current high school students must have a 3.0 GPA or higher. For incoming first-year students and students that do not have a 3.0 GPA or higher, you can take the Accuplacer to meet the prereq. The Accuplacer will be held at STEM on April 21st at 9 AM. Curious about other ways to meet proficiency, visit the ACCs English & Math Placement Guide.

Keep in mind, it is your responsibility to ensure that courses selected align with your high school requirements. You can review high school requirements with your counselor.

Please complete the STEM Concurrent Enrollment Agreement form by April 21st. The deadline will allow time to register and ensure course availability and credit review.

If you have any questions, please let me know. Again, all students, regardless of college/ university selected, must complete the following form: STEM Concurrent Enrollment Agreement Form.

Niche $25,000 No Essay Scholarship

DEADLINE: March 29, 2023

Help cover the cost of college without writing a single essay!

Niche is giving one student $25,000 to help pay for tuition, housing, books, and other educational expenses.

Apply below for your chance to win so you can focus on what really matters instead of worrying about finances. Good luck!

Community Service Hours for Seniors

Attention Seniors and Families! It is that time to be turning in your community service hours. Please don’t forget that ALL seniors must have 20 hours of community service in order to graduate. If you do not have twenty hours turned in, you will not graduate from high school. For those who declared STEM Scholar, you must have 100 hours of community service turned in ASAP.

Spring break is a great opportunity to finish any outstanding hours. Be reminded that we must have all hours turned in no later than April 15.

STEM PTO Restuarant Night

STEM PTO Restaurant Night Flyer 2023

Eighth Grade Boston Trip Recording/Information

Click the link below to see the Zoom recording from the Parent Information Meeting.

Please note on the website there is a price discrepancy: At this time, due to the date of our trip info meeting being past the usual early registration date, you will only see the regular pricing ($1799) on the registration page rather than the early registration pricing. However, WorldStrides has confirmed that we are still eligible for the $1699 early registration total trip price through March 17. The best way to work around this situation is to register with the “Pay Monthly” option. WorldStrides will then manually apply the $100 early discount to your account within a week after you complete the registration process. That way you won’t be overcharged. If you choose the “Pay in Full” option, you will be charged the regular price of $1799 but will receive a $100 refund later. Let Heather Dillon know if you have any questions.

Trip Dates: October 24-27, 2023

Price: $1699 for all-inclusive trip, based on quad occupancy

Family members and dependents of current educators, the military, and first responders receive a 5% discount off the base trip price.

Registration Deadline: Sign up by 3/17/23 to receive the $1699 discounted price above which includes $100 off! www.worldstrides.com/register

Trip ID: 208086

Optional Full Refund Protection Plan: $219

Summer STEM Camp Opportunity

Attention Rising Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors! Are you looking for something to do this summer? The US Air Force Academy is hosting a week long STEM Engineering & Construction Camp this summer from July 6 – 12, 2023. The deadline to apply is March 15, 2023! See the attached flyer for more information.

STEM Eng & Const Camp

Lunches will be FREE Next School Year

FREE lunches are back for students! Starting in August of 2023, students will once again receive free lunches. Students must chose an entree, fruit/vegetable a milk for the free lunch. Snacks are not free.

While lunches will be free, it is important for families who need additional financial support to still complete the Free/Reduces Lunch application. Those who qualify for FRL status will only receive the additional benefits (free/reduced school fees, free/reduced trips, priority for scholarships in non-FRL field trips or Enrichment programs, and/or graduation fee reductions, etc.) of the program if they complete the application.

In order to assure that the District and STEM receive accurate data, DCSD and STEM are requesting that ALL families complete the FRL application that opens on July 15, regardless of financial status. A new application must be completed each school year. Families can also still apply for this school year using the link below.

Applications now open for spring 2023 session of Civic Academy

Applications are now open for the spring session of Civic Academy, which begins Tuesday, April 18. This free, seven-week course of study is hosted bi-annually by the Denver Regional Council of Governments and invites Front Range residents to learn more about regional issues, such as transportation, economic vitality, affordable housing, planning and development. Each week is led by a variety of community leaders, with sessions that range from interactive workshops to site tours of facilities like Denver Union Station. At the end of Civic Academy, students create an action plan of their continuing public engagement. Academy alums have gone on to campaign for elected office, become employed in the transportation sector or contribute to nonprofit work.

Applications close March 24, and you can apply online via the button below. Civic Academy (formerly Citizens’ Academy) began in 2007 as a program of the nonprofit corporation Transit Alliance. Since 2018, DRCOG has organized and hosted Civic Academy.

Mentors Needed for Business & Resume Workshop

Our high school entrepreneurship class is seeking in-person professionals for our Resume-Building Workshop on April 6th from 3-4 p.m. Please email mackenzie.harper@stemk12.org if you’re interested in participating.

Student Laptops Being Charged in IT Offices

Our IT department has been graciously allowing students to charge their computers in their offices; however, lately, it has become overwhelming for them. We are asking all parents to help support their students in bringing their computers to school charged each day and ensuring that they bring a charger with them to school. Starting Tuesday, Jan. 17, students cannot charge their computers in the IT department.

Student Fees Reminder

Reminder!! If you haven’t yet, please log into your MySchoolBucks account to pay your student’s fees. We currently have approximately $30,000 in outstanding student fees, and we anticipate that is due to the technical issues at the start of the school year with Express Check-In. If you have questions about your student’s fees or want to get on a payment plan, please email ashley.westfall@stemk12.org.

Calling all Industry Experts, Parents and Community Members!

Career Discovery Information (Facebook Post)

Learn about the NEW Career Discovery Program at STEM

After Care Program for Secondary Students

Did you know that STEM has an affordable and safe option for your middle or high school student(s) when they need to remain on campus after school or after their club/activity? With the freezing winter temperatures upon us and Colorado’s often unpredictable weather, After Care is peace of mind that your student(s) is warm, able to access water and bathroom, and with a trusted adult in case of an emergency that can be utilized as needed. Drop-ins are welcome!

The After Care program is operated by STEM Enrichment in the Middle School Cafe and is available from 3-6 p.m. every day, school is in session throughout the school year. The cost is only $8/day.*

SmartCare allows parents to know that their student(s) are safe, as well as make easy payments online. Contact hiroko.ichijo@stemk12.org to get your student registered with After Care today.

*Students that receive FRL benefits can attend After Care at no cost to the parent. FRL contact ashley.westfall@stemk12.org.

Secondary Yearbook Information

This school year will live forever in your yearbook. Buy a yearbook. It’s easy.

Yearbooks may be purchased at yearbookforever.com

Enter STEM School Highlands Ranch and click on Buy a Yearbook. Follow the directions online. Enter your name and credit card, debit card or PayPal information, and click
Submit.

Cost: $55 

If you want to personalize the book, name stamping starts at $6 extra and must be purchased before January 29, 2022.

Questions?

Contact Michelle Vitale, the STEM Secondary Yearbook Advisor at michelle.vitale@stemk12.org.

After purchase, you will be emailed a confirmation receipt. You may also verify your order at yearbookforever.com by entering your email in the “Find an Order” field.

Free Chromebooks for Free-Reduced Lunch Students

We are happy to share that we will be offering students who are part of the Free and Reduced Lunch program the opportunity to get a Free Chromebook if the following parameters are met:

  • Chromebook is signed out by a parent
  • The student must remain enrolled at STEM for three years. (if the student leaves STEM during those three years, they will need to return the laptop)

Laptops can be kept over the summer. For more information, please email ashley.westfall@stemk12.org to confirm your Free and Reduced Lunch Program status. Not sure if you qualify for Free or Reduced Lunch? DCSD recommends that you apply regardless so that they can assist you further. Click the button below to access the application.

Updated Snow Day Policy

As the winter season approaches, we want to announce updates to the current Virtual School Day for Inclement Weather policy. Last spring, one of our STEM students presented a proposal and justification regarding changes to our current Virtual School Day policy. As a result, the administration and Board of Directors determined that a change is recommended to the Snow Day Policy. We appreciate the leadership and voice our STEM students display and are happy to announce that STEM will follow the DCSD Snow Day policy with a closure. STEM also reserves the right to modify the calendar, schedule, or this policy, due to unforeseen circumstances such as weather or construction that interrupts the required instructional minutes as set forth by the Colorado Department of Education. The following is a reminder of the current policies.

Late Start Schedule

STEM does not mimic the Late Start Policy and schedule put forth by DCSD. In the event that Douglas County calls for a Delayed Opening, STEM’s Virtual School Day Policy will take effect.

Virtual School Day for Inclement Weather

If DCSD determines that the district should follow the Delayed Opening protocol, STEM School Highlands Ranch will abide by its Virtual School Day Policy. When it snows, our school’s operation and instructional expectations will be determined by one of these three scenarios:

  • Updated: Snow Day – Douglas County Schools calls a snow day – STEM is closed (check www.dcsdk12.org)
  • Late Start Day – Douglas County Schools calls a Late Start day – STEM is closed and implements a Virtual School Day.
  • All Schools Open – Douglas County Schools declare Highlands Ranch area schools open – STEM is open and operating to our regular schedule.

Update about Secondary Student IDs

Your School Directors (Mrs. Ridder and Mr. Alsup) wanted to share the following information with you in regards to Student IDs, Lanyards and the ID pouches.
  • Replacement IDs if lost/stolen: Students who have lost their ID should complete the Secondary Student ID Replacement Form to order a replacement. IDs are free for the first one and $5 for any duplicates. Duplicates will be printed by the front office and students will be notified when they are ready for pick up.
  • Lanyards and pouches: Lanyards and pouches can be picked up at the Secondary Front Office. Please show your student ID to receive one.
Starting on September 19th, all students must have an ID badge visible while on campus.

Center for Strength News and Events

DCSD News and Resources

Mental Health Resource of the Week

Let’s Talk Colorado offers many resources to use as a guide for teaching, sharing, learning, and speaking about mental health.

Health and Wellness

March is Brain Injury Awareness Month. Together we can help bring about awareness to prevent brain injuries and assist those living with brain injuries to have a good quality of life. Our Douglas County School District BrainSTEPS committee is committed to supporting school teams with ideas for supporting students who need assessment and intervention after a brain injury. Please visit our website DCSD BrainSTEPS and reach out when you have a question or a case you want to discuss.

Nominations for Douglas County Youth Awards Due March 3

Please nominate a student and pass along to others! The Youth Award recognizes teenagers between the ages of 13 and 19 who have overcome personal adversity and created positive change in their lives. The Youth Awards focus on teenagers who have triumphed over great odds and serve as inspirations and role models. If you know young people who would be good candidates for the Youth Awards, please help us identify them by completing the nomination form. Nomination forms are due by: March 3, 2023.

The reception honoring nominators and award winners is: April 24, 2023, 6-8pm, Douglas County Miller Building, Castle Rock.

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