The latest news from STEM School Highlands Ranch

Weekly news & updates

Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020 | Newsletter Archive | View as Webpage

Upcoming Events

See what's happening this month .

Reminder! All Visitors, Including Parents Must be Badged

Any visitor (including parents) must be badged in at either the Elementary School or Middle School Offices between the hours of 7:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Admittance is not allowed through the High School Office.

Also, teacher office hours are for students only. Parents that wish to speak to teachers must schedule an appointment in advance. Thank you for respecting the safety of our staff and students, as well as our teacher's time.

STEM Town Hall Coming up on January 30

The STEM Town Hall is our community's opportunity to provide feedback on the goals of our Strategic Plan.

STEM School Highlands Ranch TedX Talk

STEM School Highlands Ranch was chosen as an official host for a TedX Talk, which will take place on Saturday, Feb. 29 from 4-8 p.m. at the Wildcat Auditorium at Southridge Recreation Center (4800 S McArther Ranch Rd., Highlands Ranch, CO. 80130)

CMAS Online Practice Test

Students may access the Pearson website to practice for the CMAS testing at home.

Practicing will help improve students' ability to drop and drag, scroll up and down, and navigate themselves through the test.

College Friday

Tomorrow is the first Friday of the month, which means it's College Friday! Students and staff are encouraged to wear their favorite college wear. Please keep school dress code in mind, which can be found on the student parent handbook.

Thank you for your service and dedication, Mark Alpert

On Tuesday, our Board of Director president Mark Alpert stepped down from his duties to spend more time with his new wife and his busy consulting work and I would like to take a few moments to recognize his service and dedication over the last four years.

Mark stepped into the board leadership role as we were beginning construction on the Elementary School to prepare for our K-5 students. His dedication to completing the campus master plan kept him engaged in the complicated side of permitting and bidding of projects.

Outside of his duties with STEM, Mark had a distinguished career as an executive with CH2M Hill, now Jacobs Engineering. Mark’s civil engineering career involved building large water projects throughout the world. He has agreed to continue as an advisor to our school and board and to continue serving on the Safety and Wellness committee that he co-chairs with fellow board member Trevor Fitzpatrick.

Mark exemplifies service leadership. I have profound respect for his stalwart dedication to our school and its mission of Never Stop Innovating. Mark attended one of the first STEM schools in the country, Baltimore Polytechnic High School, founded in 1883. He immediately felt at home when he toured the school and especially the engineering labs. His dedication to STEM School Highlands Ranch has only increased over time.

Thank you Mark for guiding our school during great challenges and great victories. You will forever be a STEM Spartan. You embody what it means to be #STEMStrong.

Moving forward, Nicole Smith was elected interim-chair to finish the term until the Board has new elections in May. Thank you Nicole for your continued dedication to our school.

Feel free to send your own good wishes and gratitude to Mark at mark.alpert@stemk12.org.

Warmly,

P.J. Eucker PhD

Executive Director

VOLUNTEER/DONATION NEWS

Volunteer/Donation Opportunities

Check out all the opportunities to volunteer at/donate to STEM.

Space Foundation Event

Lockheed Martin has asked the Space Foundation to provide an opportunity for a week-long class immersion on January 13-17 with the Space Foundation’s education team. It's called the Jr. Space Entrepreneur Program, and we are looking for parent volunteers. To sign up, click here.

Graduation Meeting for Seniors

There is a meeting on 1/17/20 for senior students, and we are seeking snacks. Please click here to view sign up sheet.

SCHOOL UPDATES AND REMINDERS

Elementary Updates

Elementary updates include good news of the work that our students are doing, important reminders for parents and students and upcoming event information.

Secondary Updates

Middle and High School updates include good news of the work that our students are doing, scholarship/internship opportunities and upcoming event information.

Enrichment Updates

Find out more about our Enrichment Programs, including how students can get involved and the latest news.

Athletic Updates

Find out more about our High School Athletics, including how to get involved and how they are doing.

STEM's Got Talent Auditions Coming Up on February 6

Come audition for our Eighth Annual Stem's Got Talent show on Thursday, Feb. 6 from 3-6 p.m. in Middle School Music Room (Room 149).

Additional Supports from All Health Network

The All Health Network has two opportunities for families and students to receive mental health supports. Click here to view the Parent Flier and click here to view the Student Flier, detailing the dates, times and locations of the support groups.

New Year, New Optimism

2020 has started off with excitement and anticipation of the year to come. It was wonderful to see all of the smiling faces of our students as they walked through the doors on Tuesday morning. As I reflect back on the 2019 portion of our school year, I am filled with hope about the resiliency of our students, staff and community as we head into an exciting new decade.

While we started off the 2019-20 school year fully staffed, we did experience a few situations in which teachers choose to leave STEM during the Fall semester. Our efforts to recruit top talent and the nationwide teacher shortage did sometimes result in longer than desired vacancies. We are fortunate, however, to have a talented group of in-house substitutes who step in when the assigned teachers are unable to attend.

Back in October, Stephanie Mendrala, our Director of Professional Development, presented to our Board of Directors about Teacher Retention and Attrition. In her presentation, Stephanie included data indicating statistics from 1990 through the 2016-17 school year. Throughout this time, the subject matter areas with the highest percentage of teacher shortages were in special education (94%), mathematics (88%), science (86%), foreign language (76%) and TESOL (English as a second language) (62%).

Any time we have a vacancy, I hope you will assist us in recruiting new, talented staff. The challenge of recruiting and retaining the best staff is best overcome with a team effort!

Thank you for all that you do to support our #STEMStrong staff as we move into a new decade.

Thank you,

Leanne Weyman, EdD

Director, STEM School Highlands Ranch

ADDITIONAL UPDATES

Read the latest from the Student Support Team

Walking the Beat with Deputy Gabe Uribe

Read the latest edition of the STEM PTO Newsletter

The Foundation for Douglas County Schools

The Foundation for Douglas County Schools is a 501(c)(3) non-profit which works with corporations and organizations to develop private resources to enrich education within Douglas County schools for the fulfillment of lifelong learning experiences of our students, citizens and community. Visit the website.

What to help raise money for STEM?

The Foundation for DCS has exciting upcoming community events for our STEM School Highlands Ranch Community. There are great discounted tickets to see the Nuggets (3 options!), National Western Stock Show events, the Mammoth (2 options!) and the Avalanche (2 options!). With every ticket purchase, we get a percentage of the proceeds. Thanks to your help and support, we are breaking ticket sale orders for all events so far this year!

Click to view the Flier of Upcoming Events

STEM School Highlands Ranch| stemk12.org