Speak Back: A Photography Collection from T’Ana Selah Smith
For senior T’Ana Selah Smith, photography is more than just a hobby, it is an avenue to use her art to produce a socially conscious commentary on what students experience. As an Advanced Photography student, Smith wanted to create a “message to the world” and produce something that could make an impact. “I wanted this project to be something that starts conversations with people. I particularly wanted to look at issues that are close to the heart, especially for minority students.” The result of her work is a photography collection that she has titled Speak Back. The collection represents painted messages on students that “speaks back to society about a generalization.” Messages in this collection include those on mental health, body shaming, how gender is assigned to eating disorders, racial stereotypes, and many others.
Read more
New Ames Middle School Principal Announced
We are pleased to announce that Yonas Michael will be returning to the Ames Community School District to serve as the principal…
Read more
Falls Sports Highlights 2018
Girls Swimming and Diving The Ames High Girls Swimming & Diving team entered the 2018 Iowa Girls State Championships as the only team to understand what it felt like to be team state champions. Ames High had won 3 straight state titles, and 7 of the last 8 years, heading into the competition this year. Needless to say, this year’s squad not only had the pressure of the competition weighing on their minds, but the pressure of continuing Ames High’s dynasty in girls swimming. The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) state meet was held on November 2-3 in Marshalltown. For the first time in head coach Dan Flannery’s storied career, he qualified every entrant, 30 for 30, for the state meet.
Read more
All-State Music 2018
On October 20, Iowa High School All State Music Festival Auditions were held across the state and Ames High had 32 students selected to participate in the prestigious event. The 2018 festival is celebrating its 72nd anniversary and will be held at Hilton Coliseum on the campus of Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa on November 16-17. According to an all-state press release, only about 17% of students who audition are selected for all-state. Ames High has traditionally made a great showing at all-state, and last year qualified 28 students across all ensembles of band, orchestra, and choir.
Read more
Amazing Grace Lemonade Race
This story was originally published in Volume 4 of Amazing Magazine that you can download here. When Grace McCunn was 10 years old, she passed out at school for the first time, seemingly for no reason. It’s a phone call that no parent ever wants to receive. Her mother, Mary Jane, raced to the school where she found Grace conscious and alert, and brought her to McFarland Clinic for evaluations. She said, “That night, they admitted her because they didn’t know what was happening. She was having chest pains at the time, so they kept her over night, but they just couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her.” The McCunn’s, who have some experience spending time in a hospital with their older daughter Sarah, reached out to Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines and the neurologist who treated her with migraines. Grace got admitted and the doctors at Blank immediately diagnosed her with Chronic Daily Migraines, the same as her sister. What they determined that worked for Sarah, did not for Grace. Mary Jane said, “With Grace, they gave her this new medicine and within 30 minutes she felt great. What it did was put Grace to sleep immediately. When she woke up, she was a new person.”
Read more
AHS Girls Swimming & Diving Team awarded National Champion status
On August 18, the Ames High 2017-2018 Girls Swimming & Diving team was awarded National Championship status by the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association (NISCA). Coached by Dan Flannery, the Little Cyclone swimmers and divers out paced every other public school in America ranked on class size (enrollment 900-1,400 students) by over 250 points. That is an unprecedented margin and marks the 3rd consecutive year that the Ames High girls team has won this prestigious national title. Ames High girls swim teams have won 7 of the last 8 state team titles, including last year’s competition.
Read more
Ames CSD Ranked Best District in the State for 6th Consecutive Year by Niche
Niche recently released their 2019 K-12 Rankings of the best schools in the country. For the sixth consecutive year, the Ames Community…
Read more
Dr. Tim Taylor: Superintendent Retires after 46 Years in Education
This story was originally published in Volume 3 of Amazing Magazine that you can download here. Superintendent Dr. Tim Taylor announced his retirement at the November 20, 2017 school board meeting. After 46 years in education, 26 of those years in the Ames CSD, and the last 8 as Superintendent, his last day within the Ames CSD will be June 30, 2018. The next day, he will take a much needed and well deserved golf vacation to Scotland to kick start the next chapter of his life. The IPERs Rule of 88 says that an individual has qualified to retire when their age plus years of service has reached “88.” Dr. Taylor has reached 115. Taylor grew up in Iowa Falls and is proud to be an Iowa kid. His first teaching job was in Janesville, Iowa, near Waterloo, and later he taught and coached boys basketball in Winterset. After he finished his Ph.D. at Iowa State University in the early 1990s, Taylor began working with the Department of Education in Human Resources. “I had been involved in graduate school and been a graduate assistant for years at Iowa State University. So I lived in town and commuted to the Department of Education. As a graduate student, I fell in love with the community and wanted to be a part of it,” he said, reflecting on his collegiate days.
Read more
Brian Carico named new Associate Principal at Ames High
The Ames Community School District is excited to announce Brian Carico as the new Associate Principal at Ames High School. Mr. Carico is replacing long time Associate Principal, Dr. Mike Avise, who announced his retirement earlier this year. Mr. Carico most recently served as the Field Experience Coordinator at Grand View University where he secured placements for practicum and student teachers. Prior to that, he served as the associate principal at Waukee Middle School, and before that building principal at Johnston Middle School. He received his Specialist in Educational Administration from Drake University, which is where he also received his Master of Science Educational Administration. He has 26 years of experience in education and has held a number of leadership positions in building level administration.
Read more
Girls Tennis Runner Up State Champions
The Little Cyclones Girls Tennis team finished the 2018 regular season with a 10-0 record and a conference title. A week later on May 21, they punched their ticket for the 12th straight year to the team state tournament after beating Johnston to be one of the final 8. Tennis is a unique sport in that athletes have an opportunity to compete individually and as a team in the post season. For Ames High, most of the girls did both. The girls nearly swept the regional singles and doubles state qualifying tournament on May 16. Freshman Arunadee Fernando was the overall singles champion, and the doubles team of Chloe Wilson and Caitlyn Hanulikova won doubles over their teammates Lauren Couves and Shria Chug. As a result, Ames High qualified 5 out of 6 athletes individually, setting up a busy week from May 30 - June 2 with both individual and team tournaments taking place.
Read moreDiscover More from Ames CSD
