Welcome to Tiger Pride Magazine, a new publication from the Cedar Falls School District! The purpose of Tiger Pride is to provide an avenue for the people of Cedar Falls to discover the amazing things that make our district great, as well as, an opportunity to get to know some of our students, teachers and staff. Tiger Pride will be published twice a year. We hope you enjoy!
The District was awarded the 2019 John Milton Overman Business and Industry Award for Education Investor for Aldrich Elementary. Pictured accepting the award:
Front: Susie Hines, board member; Joyce Coil, board president; Dan Conrad, Director of Secondary Education; Kim Cross, Aldrich Elementary Principal
Back : Denise Aalderks, Aldrich Elementary 5th grade teacher; Dr. Andy Pattee, Superintendent; Pam Zeigler, Director of Elementary Education
Thank you, teachers,
for all that you do! 

The Endeavor Recognition Project announced its 2019 winners. The project recognizes students, staff and school volunteers at Black Hawk County public and private high schools who make outstanding contributions to the common good of their school or community. Allen College-UnityPoint Health and the University of Northern Iowa are co-sponsors of the awards. Cedar Falls High School winners were Jack Campbell, student; E.A.T. — Environmental Awareness Team, Maya Gabriele, student group, Jason Lang, staff sponsor; Pam McDowell, staff; and Linsey Zimmerman, teacher.
Congrats to Mix93.5 Teacher of the Week Lisa Klenske, CFHS art teacher!
What makes her deserve this award?
 "Well there is a lot of reason she deserves this. Mrs Klenske goes above and beyond for her students. Not only does she teach art but she teaches many life lessons preparing us for the future. She understands what we go through and is also there to offer her word of advice. She also teaches an art class just for the kids with disabilities, but also offers them into her normal art classes, with patience and perseverance really encourages not only those students but others. When it comes to art she always pushes us to be better and do better. Her positive rays the class room making it feel like a home away from home. So to answer the question at the beginning she is a wonderful mentor not only in the works of art but in guiding her students in the walk of life."
Kenton Swartley has been named the Cedar Falls Lions Club’s outstanding educator for 2019. The award, handed out Monday, was recently established to recognize full-time educators from the Cedar Falls School District, Valley Lutheran School or St. Patrick’s Catholic School. A six-person selection committee looked for a nominee who fosters student growth, embodies civic action, engages others in service, and inspires and promotes a spirit of lifelong learning.

Swartley has been a teacher in the Cedar Falls School District since 1996 and, for the past two years, served as its K-12 STEM facilitator and community partner. He has also coached Cedar Falls High School’s nationally-recognized FIRST Robotics Competition team since establishing it in 1998.

“He is there for us every step of the way, but he puts students in charge of our own outcome for everything we do. Student leaders direct our progress,” wrote Megan Pezley, a Cedar Falls High School senior on the robotics team, in her nomination letter.

“As a result, Mr. Swartley led multiple trips with the team to China to lead a three-day workshop and help run and participate in the China Robotics Challenge Scrimmages,” she continued. The team’s efforts “helped increase the number of Chinese teams from one to 115 in five years.” In addition, he was “the driving force” in hosting the annual Iowa regional FIRST Robotics Competition in Cedar Falls since 2016.

“He has caused a STEM revolution in our schools,” Pezley wrote.

Swartley was honored with a plaque and a $500 check.
Watch this Parent University episode on the high school planning process; including research, analysis, comparisons and community survey results.
Sign up for FIRST Team!
Students interested in being part of a  FIRST  team can use the links below to sign up. Teams will be forming now through the end of August. Please contact Kenton Swartley ( kenton.swartley@cfschools.org ) with any questions.

FIRST  LEGO League Jr. (grades K-3): Teams consist of 4-6 students and meet for 12 weeks in the fall or spring. Students work as a group to learn about the theme for the year, robots and coding. The team shares their learning at an Expo at the end of the season.

FIRST  LEGO League (grades 4-8): Teams consist of 5-10 students and meet throughout the fall. Students work as a group to research a topic related to the theme for the year and program a robot they have built to complete missions. The team participates in an FLL Regional Qualifier at the end of the season.

FIRST  Tech Challenge (grades 7-12): Teams consist of 7-15 students and meet from September through January. Students work as a group to design, build and program a robot for competition. The team competes with other schools in several League Meets during the fall and a League Championship in January.

FIRST  Robotics Competition (grades 9-12): FRC Team 525 consist of 30+ students and meets weekly during the fall and daily during build and competition seasons from January through March. Students work in small groups to complete tasks associated with sustaining a successful FRC Team. Students can pursue multiple interests including such things as programming, design, finance, awards, website design, scouting app creation, parts fabrication and more.
Digital Devices & Our Kids: A three part series focusing on the rapid change with today’s youth and digital devices, specifically smartphones. Our goal is to help train our students and equip our parents to manage this area in healthy ways as we shift with today’s culture. As educators we want to work together to build a healthy digital culture in our schools.

Part 3, Did you know? Social Media
Twenty years ago one of the first social media sites launched and our culture has not looked the same since. Originally intended as a networking tool for companies, clients, and working peers; social media took off into an internet world of its own. Today popular platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snap Chat, and Twitter has millions accounts world-wide.

Raising the next generation through this constantly connected culture has proved to be challenging, if not harmful at times. As educators and parents we are recognizing a need to bring awareness to the impact social media is having on our students. We hope to educate on the value of creating healthy habits, encourage providing age appropriate exposure, and understanding safe communication within social media. We can shift the weight social media has put on so many of our kids today. It can be used for the purpose it was originated for; community, connecting, collaboration, and communication. It’s starts at home!

What to know about Social Media and Our Kids: A Few Statistics
  • 96% of students (ages 14-20) use social media daily
  • American teen’s use almost 7-9 hours daily on a digital device (from entertaining themselves, streaming movies/music, playing games, social media, browsing, and school-work)
  • Tweens (ages 8-12) are spending about 6 hours on digital devices
  • 98% of kids has access to a digital device at home
  • 50% of teenagers say they are addicted to their phones
  • 80% of teenagers have their phone within arms reach 24 hours a day
  • The recommended age for smartphones is minimum of 13, Social Media hasn’t been given appropriate screening yet.
  • Social media is one of the top resources used for sexual exploitation, pornography, and human trafficking targets.

Yes, these statistics are alarming. The reality is that as a generation we’ve never managed this before. But we believe as parents and educators working collaboratively that we can transform our culture to use these platforms for good! Many of the latest social media programs were designed with our youth in mind, based on a reward system to initiate consistent consumerism of their product. Without intentional habits established and safe precautions put in place to use them, they easily become an addictive tool with little benefits that can leave some harmful side effects. It also provides an unmonitored space for youth to be exposed to a variety of unhealthy measures.

Many neurologist have shared that the developing teenage brain needs multiple resources of stimuli to properly develop. Without a variety of healthy stimuli, parts of a developing brain can prune off what is not being used and resulting in long-term underdeveloped brain function. Understanding how our children’s brains work can highly impact how we encourage them to use them. Digital devices can quickly turn from a learning/safety tool to an unsafe tool no longer helpful for learning. Social media, especially, can leave a lasting negative imprint on one’s overall health. Understanding how the brain works and how to manage social media can help a child succeed in this area!

So what do we do as the adults in our children’s lives? Social media is here to stay. Setting healthy habits, making a social media use plan, and understanding social media ourselves are a few first steps to helping our next generation find success in this area of their lives. The use of a smartphone is fast becoming a 21st Century life skill to master as social media is one of the top influencers of today’s youth. As parents and educators, we have the opportunity to help build a generation of emotionally and physically healthy future adults. Social media does have an alarming side when misused. However, it can be used well when it provides good through connecting, encouraging, and inspiring all of us positively. We believe our students can learn the skills to manage these areas of their lives and have great hope for what technology can do for future generations. Let’s keep talking about it and helping our next generation!

If you missed the first two parts of this three part series, email Jess Hansen at jesshansen21@gmail.com for a collective newsletter of the articles, also including educator and parent tips for how to start a conversation in your classroom or at home for healthy living with our digital devices.
Target Corporation awarded the Cedar Falls Police Department with a grant which is used to sustain an annual reading program. With the grant money, the Cedar Falls Police Department purchases a book for every kindergarten student in the Cedar Falls School District. Nearly 500 kindergarten students are served annually by this reading program. The Cedar Falls Police Department uses this as an opportunity to team up with Target and the school system to educate and to provide a positive experience for students while spending time with police officers. This grant is part of ongoing efforts by Target to strengthen families and communities. Pictured above are officers visiting Lincoln and Southdale Elementary Schools.
Thanks to Cedar Falls Channel 15 for covering the Cedar Falls Rugby Club match in Waverly!
Congratulations to the CF Rugby Club on advancing to state!
Veterans of the Cedar Valley - AJ Jackson
The Environmental Awareness Team has launched a new recycling project at Cedar Falls High School. Twenty full size recycling bins were donated from the University of Northern Iowa that are now next to almost every garbage can at CFHS. This video should help educate users on what items they can recycle and why recycling is important.
Monica Boyer has joined the
Cedar Falls Schools Foundation as its Executive Director!

“Cedar Falls is a great community, and Cedar Falls community Schools certainly add to its vibrancy. We’re a fortunate community to have such an impressive school system focused on developing students to their greatest potential,” stated Monica. “This Foundation was started by an incredible group of individuals who care deeply about our youth and our educators. It’s been the work of countless volunteer hours that have brought the Foundation to where it is today. To be trusted to keep expanding those efforts is an honor.”

Founding Board Member and past Executive Director Susan Lantz has retired after 13 years. “We applaud Susan for her years of contributions to the Foundation and welcome Monica,” said Dave Deaver, CFSF Board President.

Originally from Lawler, Iowa, Monica earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Iowa State University in 2009. Prior to joining CFSF, Monica served as the Marketing Specialist at Waverly Health Center for eight years.
Would you like to honor a graduating senior with a tribute gift?
If you'd like to give a donation to the graduation breakfast in honor of a senior, please send a check to the CFS Foundation, 602 Main St., Cedar Falls, IA 50613, or make an  online donation here . In appreciation for your donation, your name or business will be listed on the table recognition cards at the breakfast. You will also receive a thank you letter from the Foundation for your tax deductible contribution. Thank you for helping to support their celebration!
Take the time now to schedule your child's sports physical for next year!
Board of Education Meeting April 22, 2019
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