Weekly Update: March 15, 2019
Weekly Update: March 15, 2019
Dear Grinnell Board of Education, Families, Friends and Staff:
Happy St. Patrick’s Day this Sunday! This week has been busy! Our Band performances this week were spectacular. We also learned about Scholastic Arts and Writing Award winners, hosted a school board meeting in which we celebrated staff and students, and celebrated the Chamber Award winners. #WeAreGrinnell is a wonderful place to be! Enjoy this weekly update. There is such wonderful news included this week.
Just a reminder:
There is school on April 1. There will be a 12:30 dismissal for students.
Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards:
The Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards have two levels. The first was a regional competition, in which Iowans compete against students with students from seven other Midwestern states. GHS's students did exceptionally well in this competition. Several students received Honorable Mentions, Silver Keys, and Gold Keys—which denote their writing as among the top 15%, 10%, and 5% (respectively). Two GHS students also received special accolades at this competition (in addition to Gold Keys). Claire Baechtel's poem, "Thoughts from the Inside," won the "Best in Grade" award, which is given to the best piece from each genre in each grade. Maile Latham won the "American Voices Nominee" award, which is given to the five best pieces of writing in any grade and any genre—the highest honors the regional competition gives. Grinnell was one of few schools to have multiple students earning these special awards. We attended the ceremony celebrating these achievements on March 13th at the Belin-Blank Center. Here's a photo of the students who could attend:
More Good News:
Maile's science fiction story, "The Doorway Effect" (which was originally written for an open-ended narrative assignment in one of Mr. Sloat’s classes, English 11A), received the highest recognition possible—a Gold Medal and an American Voices Medal. Of the 400,000 submissions to the Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards, only 42 receive American Voices Medals. To my knowledge and light researching, no GHS student has won an American Voices Medal before. Additionally, no other Iowan received this honor in 2019.
Maile's work will be published, and will attend an event at Carnegie Hall on June 6th for a ceremony with her teacher Mr. Sloat, at which Maile's work will be recognized and several famous artists will come speak to the students (last year's speakers included R.L. Stine and Ansel Elgort). Further activities for teacher professional development and student activities will be hosted during this event.
Board Meeting Update:
The Board celebrated staff for above and beyond this past week. Recognitions were celebrated for the GMS recycling club and the GHS music Department. Very proud of our teachers and students.
Above & Beyond:
Chamber of Commerce: GMS had quite a showing of recognition at the Chamber event this week in the 40 and under category. Grinnell Newburg had 4 staff recipients. Josh Ellis, Clayton Harrold, Chelsey Kolpin. Jill Hollingsworth was recognized for volunteer work with a group who decorated central park for the Holidays.
Outside of the school setting but every bit connected, Nikki Laug, our very own connected PTO member was also recognized for her efforts in the areas of wellness. Ashley Shaefer, GNSF Foundation also received an award. It was great to see all of these recognitions connected to the school district. Congratulations!
Band Concert: Here are a few shots of our band performances. Our students performed beautifully under the direction of Levi Dressler, Emily Van Arkle and Adam Van Arkle.
Pictures from Early Childhood STEAM Event: Fun for all at this event!
Spring sports….Wait… There is still snow?
The track girls helping clear the track by making snowmen. Spring sport coaches are getting creative with the weather. I am most certain it was an amazing workout!
These 5th and 6th-grade students sang the national anthem at the Jungs Taekwondo Tournament held at Grinnell College. You sounded great! Way to go!
Check the Virtual Backpack for some new opportunities!!
Upcoming Events:
Friday, March 15
12:00 JV/V Indoor Track & Field Meet @ Central College
Saturday, March 16
9:00 Scholarship Workshop @ Grinnell High School
Tuesday, March 19
5:30 Connected PTO’s Free Family Game Night @ Davis Elementary
Thursday, March 21
8:00 HS Music Solos & Ensembles 7-12 with ISU Statesmen Choir @ Mayflower Hall
Have a wonderful weekend!
Janet