#FOOD4FRIENDS AMS Food Pantry Drive
The Ames Middle School Cyclone Leadership Council (CLC) organized a food drive where all of the donations went directly toward filling the…
Read more
Fellows 2nd Graders Engineer to the Story of the 3 Little Pigs
The Three Little Pigs is fairy tale about three pigs who…
Read more
ESL Bookland Night at Ames Public Library
ESL Bookland Night took place at the Ames Public Library on October 13, 2017, and was organized in collaboration with the Ames Community School District (ACSD), the Ames Public Library, and the Future Teachers - Future Leaders Learning Community at Iowa State University. The event was a great social function for students and families who have English as their second language and an opportunity to distribute books to families to support literacy. The after-hours event saw 141 attendees (ESL students and family members) and approximately 40 ISU students who assisted with the activities. In total, approximately 200 individuals including Ames Public Library, ISU, and ACSD staff were in attendance. Shaeley Santiago, K-12 ESL TOSA / Instructional Coach for the ACSD, said “It wouldn't have been possible without each of our ESL teachers handing out invitations and encouraging students to attend, and volunteers arranging their Friday evening so they could be there, too.”
Read more
Youth Diversity and Inclusion Summit
On Friday, September 29, Ames High students participated in the inaugural Youth Diversity and Inclusion Summit, hosted by the Des Moines Public…
Read more
Meeker Elementary Buddy Bench
Last year, a group of 5th graders at Meeker Elementary worked with the middle school builders club on a project to make their…
Read more
Storm of Kindness School Supply Campaign
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb3vns56JtA Hurricane’s Harvey and Irma ravaged southern parts of the United States and Christy Franco’s 4th grade class at Fellows Elementary School followed the events closely as a part of their current events study. The students began asking questions about what would happen with the schools in the area and were genuinely concerned about the welfare of the students and schools that were impacted by the storm and flooding. Franco capitalized on their enthusiasm to help and began organizing the “Storm of Kindness” school supply campaign. She reached out to Principal Brandon Schrauth and Fellows PTO President Angie Weber to organize the drive. Students made posters for the campaign and with the help of a local videography company and Fellows parent, Tom Haggas from Cheshire Moon Films, produced a video to highlight their efforts and to educate the community on how they can help.
Read more
A Brief History of High Schools in the ACSD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFMFolCA_58&t=3s This spring, voters will be asked whether they support a bond for a new high school to the tune of $95 million. Let’s get it out of the way and just say that that is a ton of money. But it’s not the first time that the Ames community has had to make this decision on whether to build a new high school. Let’s look back at the history of high schools in Ames. High Schools #1 & #2 In March of 1880, the Ames school board submitted a request to issue bonds for the purpose of building a new school house. They were asking for $10,000. When the votes were counted they had 148 citizens in favor, and only 28 against. The debt was contracted and the first brick school house, known as Central School, was constructed on the west side of Clark Avenue, currently where City Hall is located. The new building had six large classrooms, two of which were used for high school classes. An addition was built in 1900, but its construction was so shoddy that the addition was condemned in 1910 and removed. After Bearshear Elementary School was built in 1903 and Welch Elementary School opened in 1906, this building was used exclusively for high school students. When a new high school was built just across the street in 1911, the original 1880 building eventually became Ames's first junior high school. Neither building stands today, with the original building being demolished in 1937, and high school #2 being taken down more recently in the 1981.
Read more
Old Edwards Cornerstone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvSPToGp_0c The original Edwards Elementary was built in 1951 and the Board of Education honored the work of David Edwards by naming the “new Fourth Ward school” after him. Edwards was the owner and operator of the Edwards Coal company in Ames and was an influential member of the school board for 18 straight years. During that time, he saw a number of building projects completed, including the construction of Louise Crawford School, the reconstruction of what was the Central Junior High, as well as the Senior High School. He passed away on January 25, 1948. In 2012, when the Ames community approved a bond measure to rebuild or renovate all of the elementary school buildings, the fate of the old Edwards building was sealed. Unlike other school properties such as Meeker Elementary where a new structure could be built on the same site, there simply was no room on the Edwards property. The Ames Community School District took the opportunity to build a new elementary school in a growing part of town. History has interesting ways of making itself present. After Edwards Elementary was built in 1951, Meeker Elementary was finished the next year in 1952. Both buildings were done by the same architect and have a similar floorplan. Six decades later, both buildings are new again and followed a similar pattern. The new Edwards Elementary was completed in 2014 with the new Meeker Elementary finished in 2015. They were done by the same architecture firm, and also have a similar floorplan.
Read more
Ames High Junior Performs at Prestigious Sydney Opera House
Julie-Michelle Manohar, a 16-year-old junior from Ames High School, recently performed at the world-renowned Sydney Opera House as part of the prestigious 2017 High School Honors Performance Series (HPS) honor choir. The HPS program provides a selective learning and performance opportunity to qualified high school musicians who are invited to apply after being nominated by music teachers/directors familiar with their accomplishments. Students are accepted after a review by the Honors Selection Board based on their talent and achievements demonstrated in the application and audition recording. Julie-Michelle (pictured right) auditioned and was selected to sing Soprano-1. HPS processed 18,000 nominations this year for their various programs at the Carnegie Hall and Sydney Opera House. According to the director, Nancy Richardson, 750 of these nominations were for the 2017 High School HPS at the Sydney Opera House of which only 150 were selected- 80 for the HPS choir, and 70 for the HPS orchestra. This was an international program; performers arrived from 44 states within the United States, Guam, several provinces of Canada, Australia, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and South Korea.
Read more
AHS Girls Swimming & Diving Team Defines Dynasty with National Championship
Congratulations to the 2016-2017 Ames High Girls Swimming & Diving team for being rated the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association (NISCA) National Champions for the second straight season. Head Coach Dan Flannery is proud for the work that this team put in. “We had a great year and the girls worked so hard to put themselves in this position.” In many ways, the second consecutive National Championship is the work of years of training and commitment by the community. The Ames High Girls program has entered the “dynasty” conversation and has some staggering statistics to back up that claim: Undefeated for 7 straight years Conference Champions for 7 straight years State titles 6 of the last 7 years Back-to-back NISCA National Champions (‘16 and ‘17)
Read moreDiscover More from Ames CSD
