Examples of Excellence (Jan 2023)

USD 231 is proud of the daily accomplishments in our classrooms and buildings. We are frequently notified of awards, generous donations by community members, and other occasions that warrant special attention. The USD 231 'Examples of Excellence' newsletter is produced to share the stories of our student and employee successes!

Do you have a 'feel-good' story or accomplishment to share? Let us know by submitting the information HERE.

Congratulations to the students who represented GEHS in the Midwest Art Region of the Scholastic Art and Writing competition. Their art work was recognized by a panel of creative professionals as the most outstanding work submitted among their peers. Since 1923, the Scholastic Awards have recognized some of America's most celebrated artists and writers while they were teenagers, including Tschabalala Self, Stephen King, Kay WalkingStick, Amanda Gorman, Charles White, Joyce Carol Oates, and Andy Warhol.

Gold Key works have been automatically advanced to the national level of judging in New York City. National Medalists will be announced on Wednesday, March 22, 2023. National medalists are eligible for scholarships.

Alyssa Ratcliffe: 2 Gold key Photos, 1 Silver key Photo, 1 HM Photo

Brenda Paramo: 1 Gold key Photo

Hillary Solano: 1 HM Photo

Joanna Valdez: 1 HM Photo

Madison Orth: 1 HM Digital Art

Pictured above from left: Hillary Solano, Joanna Valdez, Alyssa Ratcliffe, Madison Orth, Brenda Paramo

The Fire Science Students got to show off their skills when they worked with Fire District 1 out of New Century to start a burn on the pollinater garden at the high school.

We just finished reading a book called "Change Makers." It's a nonfiction book about kids from different parts of the world who have made an impact in their communities. One of the kids we read about was named Zach Bonner from Arkansas. As an 8 year old he started making care packages for homeless kids.

There was a text box on the side of the page that said, "There are more than 2 million homeless children in the US." When we read this, the kids in our class got really upset. One kid said, "We have to do something to help them." Another kid replied, "I have my old backpack from last year. We can fill it up with stuff!" Then the conversation snowballed into all the things they could do to help! It was a really powerful moment to see these kids see a problem and rise to action! This is authentic learning, and things a teacher can only wish for! The book teaches the kids that (ideas + action = change). They were ready to take action, and who am I to stop them? I told them this was all really awesome, but we also can't have the action without a plan. We don't want to bring all this stuff and then not know what to do with it all. So, I talked to our district social worker, and she suggested working with KVC. She said that many kids coming into foster care do not bring many things with them, and KVC is always looking for donations.

We decided as a class that we wanted to prepare care packages for kids coming into foster care. Each care package will have a backpack with personal hygiene items and some little toys or something fun for the child. I showed the list of things on KVC's website and they picked a few other things to add to the list as well. Our goal is to be able to fill 20 back packs. The kids have made posters to hang up in the school, created a commercial to play on the announcements and share with families, and wrote persuasive letters to their families asking for help. Just three days in, and we already have 34 backpacks donated along with several packages of socks and underwear, toothbrushes, toothpaste, personal hygiene items, coloring books, and other little toys.

We are excited to see how much we accomplish!

Link to commercial

Cooper Bright & Brenley Cunningham

Andrew Kamtio & Kassidy Dye

Mitch Mauk & Reese Kehl

Nathan Pascarelli & Ella Kleinsorge

There were 930 students across the State of Kansas that auditioned for the Elementary State Choir this year, and only 160 were selected. We would like to congratulate these students from Gardner Edgerton USD 231 that qualified:

Gardner Elementary - Lily Hartley

Madison Elementary - Cali Campbell, Allyson Chenoweth, Haven Hensley, Annie Ward, Lydia Weil

Wheatridge Middle - Gabby Doroh, Lily Workman

Oliver Carter, junior, and Elizabeth Fiedler, senior, were both invited to share Martin Luther King, Jr.-inspired essays during the 19th annual National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP - Overland Park, Olathe and Leawood Units) Johnson County MLK Scholarship and Awards Dinner. The event was presided over by Henry Lyons, president, and Jim Terrones, vice president, and attended by over 250 people. Oliver and Elizabeth represented USD 231 well and elegantly captured the essence of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s work!

The essay question and responses can be found below:

What is the responsibility of today's youth in practicing Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of everyone being treated fairly and equally?

__________

Oliver Carter

As a child, you are affected by your surroundings and absorb everything around you. Children are a big reflection of their family life. And like the reflection in personality, parents can also push beliefs on their children such as racism, inequality and homophobia. It is a basic human right to treat others equally. That's where the children come in.

Children are responsible for the future of this world, and for future generations. It’s seen on all posters, and administrators present a speech once a year about the things you're supposed to do, but children, in general, don’t listen to those messages, or to adults. You can be reckless sometimes as that’s how a teenage brain functions. However, the longer the years progress, the more reckless and irresponsible they seem to get, being influenced by things like social media, and wanting to be like celebrities or content creators they like. They watch others do something dumb and they want to recreate it.

The combination of being impulsive and bullying others makes bad and envious people lose the progress we once made. To people who aren't white, straight men, it’s hard, and if we keep influencing children to think that white men are superior and will dominate the world, that people of color, LGBTQ, and women are weak, it’s not going to change. Even cartoons and streaming shows today tend to cut out the important things children should be learning to be a better person. They could learn more about the world instead of being based on stereotypes.

So what can children do to improve our society? It’s crucial to have a kinder environment. Pointing out bad behavior, and reassessing how to handle it, is better than criticizing and yelling at children. That clearly is not how they should be raised. Teach them to be respectful and responsible, something schools, and even parents, don’t emphasize enough. Hear out children, or peers, when they feel down, because bottling up emotions can lead to being bitter.

Teaching morals can also help. If given everything children want, they won’t think any differently and grow up entitled. It needs to be a balanced amount of love and support with an understanding that you won’t get everything you want. But it’s best done young, as it’s harder to make these changes as an adult. If a child grows up that way, and passes it to theirs, we won’t progress.

If we were a more equal society, like MLK suggested, we could help things like poverty, reduce violence, education, human rights, economy, and justice. Maybe one day we can make people like MLK, Sojourner Truth, James Baldwin, and Marsha P. Johnson, be satisfied in a world where it’s not based on race, gender, sexuality and disability. It has gotten better with the Equality Rights Act and Affirmative Action bills, but it’s still apparent that some won’t accept that times are changing.

__________

Elizabeth Fiedler (Senior)

Inequality and discrimination have plagued the lives of minorities throughout history and continue to do so today. Martin Luther King fought against this discrimination to better his community and gave his “I Have a Dream” speech in the process of doing so. This didn’t only apply then though. The responsibility of today’s youth in practicing Martin Luther King's “I Have a Dream” speech is to organize and fight for the right of everyone to be treated equally, especially as we see discrimination in our local communities.

Without people continuing to fight for and uphold liberty, there can be no equality. Martin Luther King advocated fighting for your community in his “I Have a Dream” speech when he said, “there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted… rights.” It is crucial for young people to remember that when fighting for justice, those responsible for oppression deserve no peace. Young people need to take action to protect their community from discrimination. You can fight against injustice peacefully, but you must still fight. There is no incentive for corrupt authorities to fix injustice without disturbance. Martin Luther King used this by organizing large peaceful protests and boycotts to fight for his community. Young people have both the ability to organize these same movements and a reason to. We must fight to protect our own rights and the rights of others because it is our responsibility to continue the legacy and progress of those that fought before us.

However, it is not only our responsibility to fight but to fight now, protecting minorities is not a cause that can be put off. It is crucial to react swiftly and harshly to injustice. As Martin Luther King said in his “I Have a Dream” speech, “We have also come … to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to … take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.” Youth have a critical role in responding efficiently to injustice, especially because of the prevalence of social media; allowing younger generations to be aware of injustices almost immediately after it happens. Information on injustices is the first step to responding because you cannot react to something if you are not aware of it. Using social media as a tool to spread information allows us to uphold Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. However, it is important to remember sharing information is not the same as protesting. Information is important but action is crucial to change.

Youth have a critical role in ensuring that everyone is treated fairly and equally. Justice is not something that can be fought for just once, it is something that must be fought for continuously in order to maintain. Youth have a unique ability to spread information and organize efficiently and it is our responsibility to use those skills to progress the standard of equality in our country.

__________

The Arts Council of Johnson County (ACJC) announces six finalists from the Gardner Edgerton School District have been nominated for the 2023 Shooting Stars Awards.

The Shooting Stars Program promotes the positive impact arts education has on our students by honoring student achievement in the literary, performing and visual arts, providing students with resources to help them achieve their creative career goals, awarding scholarships for college and supporting teachers with honorariums.

All finalists will be recognized and Shooting Stars scholarship award recipients will be announced at the virtual Shooting Stars Gala on Sunday, April 2, 2023.

“This special recognition program was created in 1997 by former ACJC chairman Bob Endres,” said Sarah VanLanduyt, ACJC Executive Director. “Bob’s vision was to create a program that celebrated young Johnson County artists for their artistic excellence in high school. Only the best of the best high school artists are chosen to participate in the Shooting Stars Program.”

Since its founding, the Shooting Stars program has awarded more than $400,000 in college scholarships and $65,000 in teacher honorariums. At the Virtual Shooting Stars Gala on April 2, 2023, nine first place scholarships of $1,400 each, nine second place scholarships of $700 each and nine teacher honorariums of $300 each will be awarded. The program is supported by Johnson County and area foundations, corporations and individual donors.

Students are nominated by their Arts teachers for this recognition. Arts teachers from schools throughout Johnson County are invited to nominate students each year. Students who live in Johnson County but attend school outside of the county also may be nominated by their Arts teachers.

To participate in Shooting Stars, students must meet these criteria:

> be in the 12th grade and will graduate in the spring;

> live in Johnson County, Kansas;

> be nominated by an Arts teacher from their high school, and submit an application.

Nominations were accepted from October 28 - November 11, 2022 and applications from October 28 – November 18, 2022. After being selected as a finalist, the high school seniors will audition or submit a portfolio of work for review by independent judges in the following categories.

“The arts are essential to supporting critical thinking skills and fostering creativity and community,” said Sarah VanLanduyt, Arts Council of Johnson County Executive Director. “We know that especially during this year students’ passion for the arts is playing an important role; helping them stay connected, career-ready and helping them manage unexpected challenges.”

__________

Theatre Performance

Piper Warren, nominated by Jason Hagg, Gardner Edgerton HS

Voice Classical

Elaine Jensen, nominated by Kelli Baker, Gardner Edgerton HS

Production & Design

Sophia Krauskopf, nominated by Jason Hagg, Gardner Edgerton HS

2D Visual Art

Madison Orth, nominated by Toni Britt, Gardner Edgerton HS

Photography

Alyssa Ratcliffe, nominated by Mary Schulte, Gardner Edgerton HS

Winds & Percussion

Josh Droegemeier, nominated by Will Biggs, Gardner Edgerton HS

Join us in thanking our Board of Education

Public education is the backbone of American society, and local school boards are deeply rooted in U.S. tradition. In fact, in 1966, the people of Kansas amended our state’s constitution to specifically call for local public schools that are ‘maintained, developed and operated by locally elected boards.’

The seven individuals on our board of education are responsible for setting the vision for local education programming and partnering with staff and other members of the community to provide the facilities and infrastructure to achieve that vision.

Their service to our school district is voluntary, and they spend hundreds of hours serving our schools. They research, study, and then discuss issues so that they can make informed decisions on countless complex challenges. Too often, we forget about the personal sacrifices school board members make.

Each board member is a strong advocate for the success of every child in our schools. They spend hours in meetings and on committees and also advocate for our schools with elected politicians by speaking out against budget cuts or pushing for policy and program reforms.

Our board of education includes Tom Reddin (President), Lana Sutton (Vice President), Greg Chapman, Russ Ellis, Jeff Miller, Nick Robinson, and Katie Williams.

January 2023 marks the annual observance of School Board Recognition Month. This is a time to shine a light on how local boards prepare today’s students to be tomorrow’s leaders. Please join with others throughout our district and state to thank the people who provide leadership for our public schools.

Jennifer Miller, first-grade teacher at Nike Elementary, and Stephanie Matz, English teacher at Gardner Edgerton High School, have both been recognized by the Kansas State Department of Education as outstanding first-year teachers. Dr. Randy Watson, Commissioner of Education, called to congratulate Jennifer and Stephanie on January 5, 2023.

The Horizon Award is reserved for those teachers who have successfully completed their first year of teaching and have performed in such a way as to distinguish themselves as outstanding.

This marks the fifth time in five years that Gardner Edgerton teachers have won this prestigious award. Sydney Clarke, fifth-grade teacher at Wheatridge Middle School won in 2021, Emily Hinrichs, third-grade teacher at Nike Elementary won in 2020, and Katey Foley, French teacher at Gardner Edgerton High School won in 2019.

To view the phone calls with Commissioner Watson, click HERE. To learn more about the Kansas Horizon Award program, click HERE.

Jennifer and Stephanie will be recognized during the February 6, 2023, Board of Education meeting.