May 26, 2024
Focus on the Fabulous
The last week of school kept everyone busy with all of the different celebrations and events. On Monday, CHS juniors presented their final Capstone Projects. The projects ranged from providing elderly support to hosting a car show. The students shared why they chose their projects and their work's impact on the community. It is impressive to see the time, energy, and commitment that our students have put forward to make their projects successful. Mrs. Rounds has been a tremendous support to the students throughout the year, and the final products are a testament to everyone's hard work!
Mike Martinez has worked in the district for over 27 years. He has been an integral team member, keeping the district in tip-top shape in the facilities department. He is retiring this year, and he definitely deserves it. He kept all of us on our toes and loved giving our food services team a hard time. Even though he tried to be a grouch, everyone knew he had a soft spot for his Viking family. I appreciate his willingness to take on extra responsibilities after COVID and with security. Mike stepped up to keep the buildings secure and welcome students and staff as they arrived. We appreciate all his hard work over the years, and we wish him the very best.
Fifth graders had their continuation ceremony on Wednesday afternoon, and our 8th graders had their celebration that evening. Friends and families celebrated their students' accomplishments as they moved on to the next level of their education.
Our youngest Vikings celebrated their completion of preschool on Thursday night! It was a fun celebration with fun songs and entertaining dance moves as the kids demonstrated all they had learned this year!
Saturday, we held our annual graduation ceremony. Twenty-nine Viking Seniors walked across the stage and were awarded their diplomas. Mrs. Neufeld welcomed everyone and reflected on their time together as she was a Kindergarten teacher to many of our seniors. Mrs. Bishop gave a touching speech encouraging students to do what it takes to become their own puzzle pieces based on their passions, strengths, societal impact, and needs. Valedictorian Arazeliz Garcia reminisced on the class’s high school years. We are proud of our student's hard work and accomplishments and know they will go out and make a difference in the world because they are #VikingStrong!
Rewind
I visited Mrs. Stilly’s 1st grade classroom on Monday. Students presented the storybooks they had written to the class. The presentation included visual animation with the books actually reading to the class. The students demonstrated their writing skills and artistic talents with the stories they presented. After the presentations, I had the chance to read a book with the kids. We read Wacky Wednesday together and had a great time picking out all the wacky things in the illustrations throughout the book. It was a high-energy story time, and I loved it!
Tuesday evening, we had a Special Board meeting to approve the CHS and ARC graduates and to review and approve the preliminary budget for the year.
On Wednesday, Chris Hintz, our district librarian, did the butterfly release for students. Over the last several weeks, the students have had the chance to watch the butterfly transformation. The butterflies emerged from their cocoons and slowly gained the strength to be released into nature! Seeing this amazing process was a great life lesson for our students.
The District Ownership Team (DOT) met Thursday afternoon for their end-of-year meeting. The DOT reviewed the Ownership Plan and established specific, targeted goals aligned to each focus area in the plan. The Curriculum and Instruction team is working on getting professional development in place for next year to address our improvement strategies. MLT is working on ways to assess student belonging. We’ve discussed that, as an ownership team, we need to establish some system assessments to measure the effectiveness of the structures we have in place. That will be a goal for the summer and heading into next year. The PWR team will ensure the graduate profile is aligned with graduation guidelines. The R & R team is working on getting organized to attend more teacher job fairs next year, along with the necessary items to promote the district.
Thursday was the last day of school with students, and on Friday, teachers wrapped things up during their work day.
It was a great year with many things to celebrate. Thanks to all of our students, staff, and families for working together to support our kids and their success.
Have a great summer!
Fast Forward
Calendar Dates
Monday, May 27th- Memorial Day
Saturday, June 1st- ARC Graduation
Monday, June 3rd- Haskin Elementary Summer School starts
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