Secondary News and Updates (05/21/21)

Volunteering and giving to STEM are vital to the success of our school.  Our school has a charter that requires a commitment of 30 volunteer hours per family (15 hours per single-parent family).

To make volunteering easy and seamless, please refer to the Volunteering Basics section that will allow you to set up your volunteer account and keep track of your hours.  We are extremely grateful for the time and energy donated by STEM parents each year.

With COVID 19, and visitors or volunteers not being allowed in the building this year, STEM has continued volunteer needs as the year finishes.
Please consider what your family can contribute with time or donations.

The hummingbird represents an ancient symbol of joy and happiness. Its colorful appearance brings good luck and positive energy to our lives.

Thank you for sharing your energy!!

We would like to thank these volunteers, who even though we have not been able to have volunteers in our school, have found a way to fulfill our charter commitment.

• Elizabeth Banko
• Olena Beck
• MacClain Figueroa
• Jennifer Gonyea
• Laura Graber
• Jane Kim
• Brett Kingman
• Karen Lee-Toy
• Jeong Lee
• Jue Liu
• Jane Parsons
• Julie Prince
• Brett Smith
• Amy Winans
• Jan Zhu-Gilje
• Kelly Reyna

Please come to the Middle School Front Office to pick up a gift of appreciation.

Saturday, May 22, from 6-10 p.m. at the Backcountry Outdoor Park

STEM PTO Community Movie Night Featuring Back To the Future will be on May 22, from 6 – 10 p.m. at the Backcountry outdoor park.

This will be a complimentary outdoor event in Backcountry for our STEM School Highlands Ranch families, staff and community. Community partners are invited to set up tents/booths.

PTO will be providing Free Popcorn and Food Trucks and Candy will be available for an additional charge. Email pto@stemk12.org with any questions.

Saturday, May 22, from 2-4 p.m. in the Middle School Parking Lot

Tuesday, May 25 is your LAST DAY, WOOHOO! It has been such a challenging year, we hope to end the year celebrating all of your perseverance.

School on Tuesday, May 25 will be from 7:50am until 11:30am. All students must be picked up/leave campus after dismissal at 11:30am.

All students will report to your Advisor’s classroom. You will NOT report to 3rd period. Virtual students: keep an eye on your email for virtual options if you won’t be in-person.

8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th graders: You are invited to Student Government’s Welcome to High School Party! If you have a favorite game (board game, cards, etc) and would like to share, please bring them as well as your computers to play computer games such as Among Us!

6th and 7th graders: There will be a fun end of year party for you too, including an ice cream social sponsored by Middle School Student Government. If you have a favorite game (board game, cards, etc) and would like to share, please bring them as well as your computers to play computer games such as Among Us!

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and #FridayNightLights will be the kick-off for NFL player Ben Garland’s new Pediatric Mental Health Awareness campaign with Children’s Hospital Colorado.

Teens, kids, and their families are invited to join Ben Garland and several Denver Broncos players in climbing the stairs “under the lights” at the Denver Broncos Stadium! All ability levels are welcome, and wheelchair-accessible activities will be available. Come check out, Miles the Mascot, Denver Bronco Cheerleaders, Thunder the horse, photo booth, giveaways, and tools for mental strength.

Limited Capacity! Register now to secure your spots. Registration will close on May 25.

Semester grades are available in the Parent/Student Portal. Grades will be posted to transcripts by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 25. If your student is enrolled in a Concurrent Enrollment class on STEM campus, credit values will be adjusted over the week after school has closed. For students that are taking courses off the STEM Campus, please send an official transcript of your grades to the registrar, Tiffany Klenke at tiffany.klenke@stemk12.org.

STEM School has decided to adjust the second-semester grading scale for our secondary level, as outlined below (with the exception of Concurrent Enrollment courses).

STEM Secondary Grade Scale – Second Semester 2020-2021

• 88 – 100% = A
• 76 – 87% = B
• 64 – 75% = C
• 52 – 63% = D
• below 52% = F

We strongly feel this decision is the right thing to do for our secondary school students to ensure that their future plans are not derailed due to a pandemic that is out of their control. Thank you again for your continued patience and support for the STEM community.

Our yearbooks will be printed and shipped in July. Seniors received a signature page insert at graduation so that they can have a signed yearbook! Seniors will also have their yearbooks shipped to their houses while others will pick up their yearbooks at STEM. More information will be shared once the yearbooks arrive at STEM.

Hey STEM Spartans in Grades 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th!

As the school year is coming to an end, Student Government is electing our new officer team for the upcoming year! Please fill out the form via the button below to vote for your representatives in the upcoming year. Attached in the form are their speeches and a brief profile about themselves to help you gauge who you think would be the best for the positions. Voting will close on the last day of school at 11:59, so make sure to get your votes in by then!

Applications for Fall 2021 Lockheed Martin Executive High School Internship Program are now open. STEM students in grades 11 and 12 are eligible to apply. Please fill out the new STEM Career Discovery application and be sure to list the Fall 2021 Lockheed Martin Executive Internship Program in your request.

Lockheed Martin Executive High School Internship Program
August 24 – December 7, 2021

Project Goals:
Students will be introduced to real engineers in order to think critically in the framework of spacecraft, exploration, engineering, problem solving, and development of skills such as oral communication, public speaking, research skills, media or engineering tool literacy, teamwork, planning, self-sufficiency, and goal setting.

Secondary Goals:
Through cross-district collaborations and presentations, students will be ambassadors for younger students, community building, and outreach.

Students will be asked to select an engineering research topic, engineering discipline, or project management topic that interests them. Students will conduct research on the subject, maintain a collaborative portfolio of findings or results, and create a final product. Final products will be presented to other students and again as a more technical presentation for subject matter experts.

Structure:

1. Tuesday Virtual Forums: Students will meet weekly for full-group presentations by Lockheed Martin volunteers. The Lockheed Martin presentations are designed to inspire and inform students by discussing what happens at Lockheed Martin and how our students can best prepare to thrive in the aerospace industry. (3:00 – 4:00 pm MST) *Required Attendance

2. Small Groups: Students will be assigned to a small group. (4-5 students each) Every group will have a lead mentor from Lockheed Martin that will facilitate projects, inform solutions, and connect students to aerospace resources. The assigned groups will meet with their Lockheed Martin mentor weekly to check on progress, present ideas, and learn from a Lockheed Martin professional.

3. Students must collaborate 1-2 times per week with their assigned group to ensure continuity and spend enough time on projects to fulfil EHSIP & STEM Internship hours. This will be a combination of virtual meetings and shared documents. Each student will have responsibilities to contribute to the group’s project.

4. Students will submit weekly reports. Each log entry will contain dates, hours, “what I did,” and “what I learned. These hours will include individual time spent on research and completion of projects.

5. Two presentations will be required.
• School Presentations should be aimed at getting students excited in the topic.
• Technical Presentations are aimed at professionals. They can inform them of another field, an advancement in a field, or use to their current field.

Timeline
August – September: Literature Review, Project Proposal, Team Roles, Design and Planning
October: Implementation of the Project
November – December: Peer and Subject Matter Expert Reviews & Presentations

For more information contact gregg.cannady@stemk12.org.

To apply, create a profile on Tallo – a free online platform and app that lets students showcase their interests and experiences and get discovered by colleges and companies everywhere, including Lockheed Martin.

This survey is for our Parents to provide us with feedback on families’ projected plans for the new school year. Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey to allow us to gather data for our Leadership Team to review and to assist with planning. Our projected plan for the 2021-22 School Year is to return to five days of In-Person learning.

VIRTUAL LEARNING: We are hoping to have a virtual learning option available, but need to gather the data in order to plan. Families choosing the Virtual Academic Plan would have to remain in that plan for the entire semester and understand that if in-person enrollment is at capacity for their grade level, they may not be able to switch to in-person learning for the next semester. For Secondary, the number of course offerings will be limited for each semester so some students’ schedules may need to be adjusted. Virtual learning will also include more synchronous learning opportunities per the updated guidance from CDE.

Please fill out one survey per student that you have.

Students interested in taking any of our music classes next school year should reach out to their counselor via email as soon as possible.

Please check Infinite Campus to make sure we have your current address. If you have a change of address please email Tiffany Klenke (tiffany.klenke@stemk12.org), K-12 Registrar, with a proof of residency. Douglas County School District and STEM School Highlands Ranch only accept the following legal documents as proof of residence:

• warranty deed
• deed of trust
• lease agreement
• tax notice
• county assessor
• notarized letter

On Tuesday, May 25, the accounts with outstanding fees that fall into the following categories will be sent to collections:

All outstanding student accounts over $200 that have not:

• Contacted Ashley Westfall (ashley.westfall@stemk12.org) personally or responded to outstanding fee emails.
• Actively set up a payment plan with the school
• Made any payments against the balance

If an account goes to collections, it will not negatively impact your credit if you respond to them within 30 days. Once it is sent to collections, STEM can no longer accept payments on our end so you will have to work it out with Alpine after they are submitted on May 25.

As is a tradition at STEM, your class shirts for the 2021-2022 school year are now available for purchase! Please use the links below corresponding with your incoming class to order today! All orders close on May 5, so make sure to order soon. If you have any questions, you can email tavin.turner@s.stemk12.org.

As we prepare for the 2021-22 School Year, we’d like to remind our families on the important medical documents that will need to be completed. There have been some updates to the non-medical exemption forms. Please take a look at them in the Health Services section of our website.

We’d like to thank our entire community for their cooperation this school year in keeping our school nurse Karen Lewis informed of COVID-19 positive and presumptive cases. Your collaboration with our team helped to keep our school doors open with only two outbreaks throughout the entire school year.

As we move into the summer, we’d like to let our families know that you will no longer need to update our school nurse if your student has tested or is a presumptive positive for COVID-19. You will only need to inform us if your student is taking part in any event at STEM, where we would need to quarantine. Please email communications@stemk12.org with any questions. Thank you again!

We’re so excited! The Spartan Lacrosse Team has finally started practicing. Practices are at Plum Valley Park Monday through Friday from 3:30-4:45 p.m. The season began on April 26 and is comprised of ninth through 12th-grade students. See the photos to the right to see our team!

The Spartans had an amazing day at the D’Evelyn Track & Field Invitational held at Jeffco Stadium yesterday!! It rained for the first half of the meet, then turned into a very pleasant Colorado spring evening. I saw STEM athletes learning about how a track meet runs, competing hard, having fun, supporting each other AND people they had just met!

Here are the official results from the 1st track & field meet in STEM history!! Highlighted marks are new school records (for now…more to come!) When you see these student-athletes, please congratulate them!!

Girls 100m: Kaelin Goss 16.34
Mia Ketter 19.15
Girls 200m Paige McEnerny 34.07
Girls 400m Paige McEnerny 1:17.30
Girls 800m Olivia Staab 3:27.06
Girls 1600m Olivia Staab 7:23.03
Ellason Arendale 7:39.48
Girls Long Jump Ellason Arendale 12-01.50
Kaelin Goss 12-00.00
Girls Shot Put Ellie Wyse 22-10.00
Boys 100m Ethan Lee 14.64
Boys 800m Jacob McCallister 2:31.33
Ryan Liedtke 2:40.14
Boys 1600m Jacob McCallister 5:45.09
Ryan Liedtke 5:58.49

This week Team 4418 IMPULSE is celebrating our graduating seniors! We are all so proud of all the hard work they’ve put into this team, into school, and into themselves. This group of seniors has been an absolute joy to work with and to see them grow. Noah, Erin, Kyle, Aurora, and Josh; we will miss you on the team and look forward to seeing what you’ll accomplish in the future.

This summer Team IMPULSE is hosting a LEGO Robotics Summer Camp! The camp is for incoming and current 4th-6th graders. Run by the team, we will be working with LEGO Mindstorm bots to learn more about design, programming, sensors, and teamwork! More info such as dates and registration can be found at this link! Lego Robotics Summer Camp 2021 (ejoinme.org) (Can also be found via the STEM Enrichment Page)

We are excited to host a variety of summer camps this upcoming summer.

• Camp Invention (K-6) | June 7-11, 2021
• Cyber-SPY Camp (K-2) | June 14-18, 2021
• Cyber Detectives (3-5) | June 21-25, 2021
• FRC 4418’s Lego Mindstorm Camp (K-5)
• Peter Pan Theater Camp (K-5) | June 21-25, 2021

Please visit our Enrichment page to view current openings and sign up.